Sugar cookie madness

After Grandma and Papa left this afternoon, I thought it was a good time to make sugar cookies and decorate them for Santa. I am so SICK of cookies after doing this....good thing we don't have to do it for a looong time again! :) The kids did help with cutting the cookies out, and of course with frosting them too! Ryan lasted longer this year than in the past years, and actually took time to decorate the cookies! Hailey made her own cookies...not just those from the cutters. She made a little girl sleeping with a blanket and then a mountain...ALL ON HER OWN. Then she took the time to decorate it. Seriously, I have NO IDEA where this creative, artist gene came from. It is amazing! SHE is amazing! :)

Here is Ryan decorating a cookie! :) Soon after this picture I made him take his shirt off because there was more frosting on his shirt than the cookies! :)

And my little artist! Seriously, look at the mountain scene! That is a single cookie! I LOVE HER!!! :)

Santa is sure going to enjoy these cookies (and there are 3 more trays like this!!).

Early Christmas

On Saturday night (12/12) we celebrated Christmas with my parents. We had the meal we normally have for Christmas eve...complete with shrimp cocktail! :) Then, the kids were excited that they got to open a few presents from Grandma and Papa (and Becky & Brad too...sorry Becky!). It was nice to spread the presents out a little so there won't be as many on Christmas morning and trying to figure out which present was from whom! :) It was a fun night!

Here is a super cute picture of the kids with Grandma and Papa before they left...and ALL the animals! :) No picture is complete without the kittens and Hunter too! :)

And, a final shot (ha ha) of the kids with their guns! They both got them on their 5th birthday...and they are the same gun, just different colors. LOVE IT! :) And, they love it too!!!

Ryan turns FIVE

My baby is FIVE! How is that possible?!?!? What a day we had, honoring him. We love you, little man!!

He started the day with a stack of 5 pancakes with candles on his birthday plate. He was so excited to blow out the candles again! :) Too bad he grabbed the candles and got some wax on his little fingers. No birthday boy should cry on his birthday!!! Poor guy. Then it was time for preschool (and more cupcakes!)

Chris and Papa B. picked Ryan up from preschool and the 3 boys went out to lunch on their way to the cabin. He was so excited to go to the cabin with the boys...not the girls! :) The girls came up after Hailey got out of school :) We played games and read books and just played until after supper when it was time for more presents! :) We celebrated both Ryan's birthday and Grandpa's birthday as well...and Ryan wanted the pattern that Ryan would one one, then Papa, then Ryan, then Papa. Love it! :) Here are a few pictures of Ryan opening some gifts (Hailey was glad to help! :) ).

Papa even got a few good laughs opening his gifts...especially when he got the toaster he thought was gone!! :)

One last present. The big one. We were so excited.....Here is how it went....

Chris : Hey buddy. What was it that you wanted for your birthday?
Ryan : A pretty blue gun.
Chris : What is this??! (he pulls out the gun Ryan wanted!)
Ryan : A PRETTY BLUE GUN!

He was so excited and happy. And wanted to know where and when Chris got it! :) It was very cute and he was ready to go hunting RIGHT THEN and THERE! :)

Happy Birthday little man. We all love you so much (and cannot believe you are FIVE already! :) )

The Cabela's birthday party

This was Ryan's first year to have a kid party in addition to a family party. I tried to see if he wanted to go to Chuck-e-cheese...but he said no (thankfully!). He wanted a water park, but I wasn't interested in taking 4 and 5 year olds to a water park! :) Then Chris saw that Cabela's had birthday parties...so I called and booked it right away! It was PERFECT for Ryan! And, in a surprising twist, all the kids RSVP'd YES and were coming mostly with their dads! :) love it! We had 11 kids from preschool there, Hailey and Ryan, a friend for Hailey, and a little sister of one kid. FIFTEEN KIDS! HELLO!?!?! Thankfully some parents did stay and help..and the night was perfect! :)

The Birthday boy...and the AMAZING CAKE that Grandma Pilcher made. AMAZING!

The cupcakes that I made (I was happy with how they looked!) and the goodie bags for the kids (the girls have pink around their initial).

Playing bingo (Kari made the boards so every square had to do with Ryan! THANKS KARI!) and coloring hunting pictures.

Time for supper....pizza of course! And, the whole group by the elk! I love this! :) Then we went on a little tour of the store (the kids were amazed at all the animals...it was so fun to see them :) ).

The LOVED the fish!!! And, they LOVED the archery range EVEN MORE! They all got to take a turn and I got a picture of everyone (to send to their mommy). Ryan had great form and LOVED it so much. He got to go back again after the kid party for more shooting! :)

Finally time for the cupcakes and presents. Lots of fun, but it was time for the kids to go home...then a 1/2 hour break....then the family party! :)

We had the family party immediately following the kid party. We had the room so I figured we would get it all done at once! :) We ordered a yummy fudge tray from Cabela's to have with the cake that Doran made. Ryan kept saying "I can't hear you" when we were singing happy birthday to him! What a clown! :)

Then it was time for even MORE presents! Spoiled little boy! :) He loved everything...and put on quite a show for everyone. A few highlights.....

Ryan was so happy he got his "camo jersey" aka a sweatshirt! :) Then, he got a whole bunch of dollar bills from G/G B. and he LOVED that!! :) (Hailey was quite jealous!)

He got a camo hat to match his clothes...and had to try them all on. He is SET to go hunting...too bad the season is over. :)

Ahhh...all done! :) Ryan's first kid party and family party day and it was successful! :) Ryan had a great time and that is what I wanted! Happy Birthday my little hunting boy! :)

Pretty cupcakes

I had to share a picture of these great looking cupcakes I made for Ryan to take to preschool for birthday treats. The pictures don't show them justice at all! They are all SUPER BRIGHT and look amazing. I made 5 colors...yellow, red/pink, green, purple and blue. How fun to bite into a cupcake that isn't white or chocolate!!! Warning....they are messy! :) I hope the kids enjoy them as much as I did making them! :)

S.P.O.I.L.E.D.

The kittens have taken over the house! They do what they want, where they want, and when they want. Their new place to sleep....up on the entry table with the fake snow on it! Little stinkers!!! :) And, I never would have thought BOTH of them could fit up there, but they made it work! Yes, I know, they are spoiled! :)

Gingerbread Houses

Last night we spent time decorating the Gingerbread houses!! This year we changed things a little. Instead of just one big house that both kids work on, I got a set of these little houses (5 of them...but one didn't want to break apart nicely so we threw that one away). The kids LOVED having their own to decorate...and TWO of them too! ;) And, they did turn out very nice! Each kid got their own bag of frosting and they shared the candy. Hailey took her time on hers...and Ryan asked Daddy for help! :) They really are cute and would recommend these little ones to others as well. I decorated the tree in the middle of the last picture. Cute, but next year I think I will skip because it was more fun with the kids! :) Now we get to see these for the next few weeks...goodie! :)

It's beginning to look a lot like...

CHRISTMAS!!!

After the Maczkowicz's left, we spent Sunday getting the house looking like Christmas! We got the tree up (but didn't decorate it until tonight...Monday). We got all the decorations out and up. The kids were excited to get their trees up in their rooms!! :) When I was putting out the snowman village with fake snow, my little photographer went into action. Before I knew it, Hailey had both kittens covered in fake snow, snapping pictures away. She even used some fake holly with berries! Ryan was the "assistant" and loved it. I am sure she got some great pictures, but I like mine more. Look at how she got right down there with the kittens...she has so many choices for what she wants to be when she grows up! :)

The kids did like helping with the ornaments too. It is unreal...we have the tree up and ready to go ... and it isn't December yet. I LOVE IT! :)