Dash is Back

Our elf, Dash, is back in the house until Christmas Eve. He made the boys breakfast for tomorrow :)

Gingerbread House 2013

The Kempsons and the Harrisons came over for our annual gingerbread house decorating fun. The kids ate LOADS of candy and had SOOO much fun playing together. I wish we could do it more often---the kids love hanging out and the parents too!

Click here to see all of our Gingerbread House pics

Thanksgiving ABC Book

I got the idea from my friend Wendie to do a Thanksgiving ABC book with Cason. She whipped up the pages for the book in no time for us to use---Thanks Wendie! For a boy that doesn't like to write or draw much,  I think he did great. It will be fun to look back on several years from now. Here are a couple of his pages....

Boys!

My house is full of boys----which means we have lots of cars, trucks, trains, and dinosaurs!



If you didn't already know by Cason's reference to the coconut tree----we had just finished reading Chicka Chicka Boom Boom :)

Pilgrims and Indians and More!

Cason and Corbin had their Thanksgiving Feasts at school today. Corbin was a Pilgrim and Cason was an Indian---Big River Cason was his Indian name....

Sweet brothers...

Big Foot...

Corbin's Bump----Cason picked him up (I have to tell him not to pick him up a million times a day) and then he accidentally fell over and poor Corbin's head went right into the corner of the door. Cason felt really bad :(

Corbin is still doing great and not crying when I drop him off at school. AND today he FINALLY sat in one of the cars for his haircut. I always have to let him sit in my lap when they cut his hair but not today :) So proud of him!

School Updates

Let me catch you up on the reports I am getting from the boys' teachers when I pick them up from school....

Cason:

-Loves being the class clown

-He LOVES when he has a captive audience. The more the kids laugh at him the louder and more rowdy he becomes. 

-When he is doing something he is not supposed to---he tells his teacher that he is sorry and then asks her to please not tell his mommy. 

-Cannot be quite/still during books and belly time. Apparently he has to move his nap mat to the tile floor (away from the other kids) often. 

Corbin:

-Cannot sit in his chair and eat lunch---runs all over the room and hides under the table. 

-Cannot sit on his bottom during circle time---runs all over the room. 

-Will not help clean up toys during clean up time

-Will not sit down during arts and crafts time. 

-Will not line up on the blue line when it is time to line up to walk in the hallway. 

-They are constantly having to locate him because he likes to run and he likes to hide. 

-His teachers have to keep a constant eye on the door because he likes to try to escape. 

On a good note: Corbin officially stopped crying at drop off for the first time on Halloween----that makes 4 drops off tear free so far---I'm so happy about this. And both sets of teachers tell me that the boys are happy and in a great mood during the school day :)

Play Dough Turkeys

It was very cold outside this afternoon so we decided to stay in and make play dough turkeys. I used my favorite play dough recipe....

1 Cup of Flour

1 Cup Water

2 teaspoons Cream of Tarter

1/3 cup Salt

1 heaping Tablespoon baby oil or vegetable oil

Then I added in these spices from a gingerbread play dough recipe to add some scent...

• 1 tbsp. ground cinnamon
• 2 tsp. ground ginger
• 1 tsp. ground nutmeg
• 1 tsp. ground cloves
• 1 tsp orange extract {optional}

I also added in a tiny bit of brown food coloring for color. Then, mix well and cook on low---stirring constantly until it all clumps together in a ball.

Then I gave them:
-Small pumpkins and leaves from the dollar bins at Target
-Fall cookie cutters
-Small and large feathers from Michaels
-Orange straws cut into thirds
-Googly eyes
-Plastic acorns

Corbin got bored with the play dough after a bit and moved on to sticking his feathers in the colander...