December 2020: Christmas Gingerbread Houses

One of our "12 Days of Christmas" activities is often decorating gingerbread houses. One year I made all the cookie pieces from scratch and was shocked at how much cookie dough it actually took to make tiny house pieces for 3 (or maybe there were 4 at that time?) kids. So the next time we did it I only made a couple houses and the kids had to share decorating duties. There was much clashing of artistic visions. So I gave up on it a couple years. But this year, I discovered IKEA has gingerbread house kits and they're small but large enough to decorate and they're cheap so it was no problem to get each kid their own. We mixed of big batch of icing cement (which ended up being a little marshmallow-y and spongey but still did the job) and they each had complete control of their own house decorating.

Of course I bought all the colorful, cheap, and gross candy (and some breakfast cereal apparently) that we don't normally eat, and they went to town. When they were done we actually had a whole gingerbread house town to display!

Agnes was so excited. Daddy was tasked with being her Construction Manager.

She got the brilliant idea of filling up the entire chimney with candy, and I don't think the pictures show just how pleased with herself she was for coming up with that one.

Michael Jr was having juts as much fun, but he doesn't squeal and clap his hands as often as Agnes does.

Gingerbread Town!

December 2020: Christmas Day & Family Photos

Christmas! I can't even title this post "Christmas in July" because it's actually about last Christmas and we're well into August as I write. But I'm still determined to catch up posts so there are at least some details of Agnes's early years that are rescued from my terrible memory.

Michael much prefers watching the kids open presents to opening his own.

Agnes loves opening her own presents, and everyone else's presents, and presents that aren't even supposed to be opened yet. Presents are her favorite.

I didn't take pictures of all the kids opening all the presents because I also enjoy just watching them, but this one needs a special recognition. Catherine crocheted that house boot for Mary. But she had only finished one of the pair as Christmas rolled around, and then decided it was even funnier to give Mary just one house boot, so that's what she did. She was right - it was funny.

Here's our annual Christmas feast camera-timer family photo! I love this one.

Cell phone stocking hat photo, and I have no idea why Michael is showing off (or hiding behind) his cow socks.

Michael and Catherine both received pajamas this Christmas. I think Daddy is jealous of Catherine's zip-up onsie.

In addition to opening other people's presents, Agnes also really enjoy stealing other people's presents. Catherine asked for this little backpack lunch bag to use for packing for tournaments, and Agnes immediately absconded with it because it was "just her size." She's also wearing a hat that Dema crocheted out of strips of plastic shopping bags. Covid hobbies.

Michael Jr really wanted some goggles to wear while riding the 4 wheeler at the farm. He looks amazing in them.

Aunt Ann and Uncle Greg gave all the kids this awesome saucer swing. Sometimes I go out back and Gussie and/or Edie are just lying in under blankets.

Speaking of blankets, this giant, fluffy, warm and fuzzy wearable blanket from Dema has a head hole big enough for two. 

A while back we took Grandma's Christmas card photos while Thomas, Jena, and Jo were visiting. Grandma wanted a nativity scene this year and I love everything about it.

Two shepherds, a sheep, an angel, Joseph and Mary, baby Jesus, and a wise man. And don't forget the donkey!

Here are a few closeups.

Merry Christmas 2020!

December 2020: Christmas Eve

We went back to our fake Christmas tree this year. In a normal year, it is very difficult to find live trees by the time we are ready to put ours up for the O Antiphons the week before Christmas, but apparently in a pandemic year, the demand for live Christmas trees rivals the demand for toilet paper. Who knew. Real tree or plastic, the kids love pulling out the boxes of ornaments and I love sitting back and letting them bring their tree to life.

Edie likes to show me each ornament before she puts in on the tree.

Agnes wanted to put every single last ornament on the tree (there really isn't enough room for that so the kids pick their favorites for the year and the rest stay in the box). 

Although the way Agnes decorates she might actually be able to fit every single ornament on the tree; this is her favorite branch.

Dema helped by entertaining Agnes when we had to get the breakable ornaments up and clean up.

We still had Christmas Eve at Mamo & Papa's this year, but it was more of an open house for the day instead of everyone crowding in at the same time. We didn't get to see all of the extended family that is usually there together but it was nice to have some time to sit with Mamo and Papa without too much chaos.

Agnes still loves opening presents. She had enough of her own that she didn't make too much of a fuss about opening everyone else's presents this year.

Michael has been desperate for a new water bottle to fit his bike. He's ready for lots of rides with Daddy this summer!

The kids always have to break out and play with all their presents immediately. Agnes made everyone in the room read her new books to her.

And Lego sets were immediately torn open and assembled on the floor.

Thank you, Mamo, for another lovely Christmas Eve! Since we stopped by earlier in the day, we had time to take everything home and get dinner before going to the late mass for Christmas. It was an exhausting but beautiful day.

December 2020: Edie's Nutcracker Ballet Recital

Edie loved the ballet studio she was in a couple years ago, but they were forced to close permanently due to pandemic shutdown so we were looking for a new option for Fall 2020. Every place we could find made the kids wear masks so we were going to give up on ballet for that year until a friend came through with an underground class. Another friend who had been teaching at a co-op decided not to when the co-op required masks for the kids, and instead she set up a studio in her basement and there were more than enough of us parents wanting to enroll our kids with her to make it worth her time. The only problem was where to hold a recital, but this teacher was also friends with Edie's old ballet teacher who had not yet finished out her lease on the studio space she had to abandon so she let us use it without asking any pandemic-mitigation-policy questions. Small win.

Edie had two roles in their little Nutcracker, first as a mouse in the mouse king scene and later as one of the Chinese dancers. Another friend whose daughter was in one of the classes and is a professional photographer was there to take pictures so I just sat back and tried to keep Agnes quiet.

Congratulations on a beautiful recital, Edie!

December 2020: Some Christmas Prep

One of Grandma's fun annual Christmas activities is to have all the local cousins over for a sleepover filled with Christmas preparation. Agnes wanted to join this year but wasn't quite ready to sleep over without me, so when we dropped off the kids we stayed for a bit to help decorate Grandma's Christmas tree.

Catherine and Mary also went to a painting class with Grandma where they painted lovely Christmas trees.

Grandma also helped the kids each make one of these snow frosted candle jars. I know I took a picture of both of the girls' finished paintings and all the candles once I got it all set up on the entry table, but I can't find it anywhere. It's a 50/50 tossup whether I accidentally deleted it or Agnes deleted it from my phone. But here is one finished with a first attempt at candle arrangement.

Grandma and Grandpa also took the kids out to dinner with their new light up hats. They packed a lot of Christmas fun into one overnight!

We also started some Christmas fun at home with some cookie decorating with Dema. Agnes LOVED helping cut out sugar cookies. 

Aah look how hard she's focusing! Christmas preparation is my favorite.