Gingerbread Houses

We had so much fun this afternoon building gingerbread houses with Eli's friend Ryan and his mom, Carol (my friend!). The first time we did this together (I think this is our 3rd time), the big boys were just over 2 and they were only interested in eating the candies. Cole was only 5 months old and too wee to join in the action. Fast forward....and here we are for more fun!! Gingerbread house building has become something of a tradition for us. The boys look forward to it each year. This time they were all interested in decorating and did a great job with their houses. It started off super messy but we salvaged their designs and had fun doing it. The boys ended up running all over the house while Carol and I enjoyed a little bit of time to talk. Such fun with our friends.........Christmas Memories!!

Ready....set.....decorate!

Ryan was serious about his gingerbread house creation. I think his Mom helped him with the curves, not sure. 

The more icing the better!!

Even Cole was into it! He was serious about his icing, on his house

and in his mouth!!

Then we moved to spreaders to even out the pile on the roof

and THAT wound up in his mouth too!

My little sugar boy - busted!

We also had Ninja Gingerbread men to decorate. 

A pile of icing and lots of sprinkles

how could you not be happy?!

Don't miss any icing now Cole. 

You talking to me?!

Silly boys

They've been friends for a LONG time (since 6 weeks old!!)

Eli taught Ryan how to scale the doorway. Carol and Kevin may not be too happy about that. 

Tres Amigos

Silly boys

Ryan's house

Eli's house

Cole's house

Photo BOMB!

As I've been practicing with my new camera, the boys have been practicing their Photo Bombing. I'm not sure where Eli picked it up but he and Cole were hilarious this afternoon. 

Such a wonderful Sunday afternoon scene!

Basketball - Game #5

Today's matchup - Nuggets versus Thunder, what a battle! The Thunder was a very scrappy team and didn't exactly play by the 1st grade league rules but our Nuggets played a great game, stepped up to the challenge and, although they don't keep score, I know they won by a large margin! Super coolest of all, Eli scored FOUR POINTS!! He scored two baskets and was super psyched. There were quite a few members of his team that scored and that made it fun for everyone. The other fun part about today's game is that I got my Christmas present early - a DLSR camera! - so I enjoyed catching awesome shots at today's game. 

Warm Up

Practicing his shot

He looks SO big!!

They say this prayer before every game - love it. 

Pledge of Allegiance

I think this was one of Eli's shot (it didn't go in though)

Good defense

Hands up Eli!!

His dribbling skills have definitely improved. 

The Nuggets played such a great defensive game. When someone stopped, they surrounded them. 

THIS is the shot I've been wanting to capture all season. Look how happy Eli, Morgan and Anthony are. Anthony scored the basket here but Eli gets so excited when anyone scores. I hope he will always be a team player and happy for others successes as well as his own. 

Oh Christmas Tree

We had a fun evening tonight with the Christmas tree lit up and indoor football games going on. I'm not sure what Eli and Cole are going to do when football season is over!!

Love our tree!!

Such a neat shot

Cole's soccer ball ornament - that he then proceeded to break with his fingers.

Eli's football ornament

The boys latched on to Tim's legs when it was bed time and made him carry them all the way up the stairs and to their rooms. It was so funny to watch and probably a good workout for Tim's legs!

Decorating the tree....

After days of waiting and begging to get the ornaments out, the boys finally got to decorate the tree tonight. I'm pretty protective of my ornament boxes (don't want the boxes destroyed) so I take the ornaments out and the boys then get to decide where to put them on the tree - with a little help from Daddy. Of course, I enjoy thinking about each ornament as I hand them to the boys but they don't care about that stuff just yet. They do however enjoy their ornaments and putting the ones they made on the tree. This year, the tree was mostly about the boys and the ornaments they wanted to put on the tree. We had a few select ones to represent me, Tim, Miss Belle and pre-Eli/Cole life but we mostly let the boys decide what they wanted. Our ornaments have evolved over the years and the "important" ones change each year but what doesn't change is our tree is filled with wonderful memories. 

 With their new ornaments - football for Eli and soccer ball for Cole

 Placing the ornaments

 Cole kept going for the same branch (not this exact location) so Tim had to help get his ornaments higher on the tree. 

 All finished!

 All pretty and aglow

 I busted Cole 

taking a BITE out of one of last year's cinnamon ornaments. Hilarious!

Let there be (Christmas tree) light!

Tonight while Eli & Tim were at Cub Scouts, Cole & I got started decorating the Christmas tree by putting the lights on. We had fun doing this together and Tim said it was the best light installation ever - I think that was only because he didn't have to do it!! With the boys, getting our tree all decorated is a multi-day, take it easy and as they behave event. =) Tomorrow night is basketball so hopefully we'll get decorations on it Wednesday night. 

 Getting started

 Yes, my little helper is awesome. =) 

 Cole by tree light

Look at our pretty tree!

Finding our Christmas tree

Another year....another trip to Cranberry Tree Farm! Tonight we headed out in search of our Christmas tree. We've come to love the guys at CTF. Not only is it close, they are great NC boys with reasonable prices and they let the kiddos have fun exploring around the trees. This year Eli and Cole were more interested in running amongst the tree rows (and even made a running buddy out there) so Tim & I scouted out for our tree. We found one, even took pictures in front of it as "the" tree but then changed our minds and went for a different one. It's now inside the tree stand, in the corner waiting for some love and decoration......starting tomorrow night! 

Cranberry Tree Farm!

Our almost tree

And our Real tree

Apparently Christmas tree hunting wears them out!