Christmas Fun in California

There are only 3.5 short weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Add to that our company, trip to OR and graduation trip to TX....and this season is sneaking up on us.  I knew I wanted to give Rachel a gift for Christmas. I thought back to our early years and wondered if a few hours to herself would be a nice gift.  

We got back Tuesday night - I have kids coming in over the weekend.....Wednesday I asked Rachel if I could have the kids for a few hours today. We had a blast. She got some alone time done for shopping.

It's good for our younger two to have little ones around and see what it is like to have younger siblings.

We began by assembling the gingerbread train we didn't assemble on Thanksgiving.  Nolan was our master engineer for this project.

Zach and Zander were very happy to help fill frosting bags. I found the original bag in the bathroom garbage licked clean....Hmmmm....

Nathan holds the sides of a box car together

I wanted to give the train as much time to set up as possible before we began decorating it. We moved to the BIG TABLE and made Christmas ornaments. Stacia is THRILLED she will have THREE on the tree now. I feel  good that I've made great strides in remedying our oversight.

Seth made this charming star

The glue was frustrating  to work with - but we  persevered and made quite a few nice looking ornaments. 

Who can blame Joy for getting bored with all the tiny pieces? She loved bringing books to Arielle, "Good book."

Oops -  they jumped at her

 We turned to decorating sugar cookies.....a plate for both families and a plate for lunch. I decided to put the rest in the freezer to do "later."

Joy loves decorating cookies

Seth was thrilled with the results of Nerds on sugar cookies - surprise exploding cookies

Yummy 

I sent the kids outside to play (run off some frosting energy) while I cleaned up the table and got  lunch ready. I laughed as I cooked. It's been a long time since I've had a houseful of kids who needed me to fix lunch...and it was fun...honestly, I was tired. It was GOOD to remember how tired a young mom of many can feel. I commented to Arielle, "I wasn't sure this was a good gift, but I think Rachel will appreciate the time." ::snort::  And we were having a BLAST...you're like a traffic controller when you have eight kids in the house - even when two of them are more like assistants. Frankly, I don't know that I could handle a houseful of preschoolers day in and day out again without youth helpers. LOL

After lunch we finally decorated and the gingerbread train. Yeah, I have a lot of photos like this.....did I say youth "Helper"?

We enjoyed a quick visit with Rachel when she returned......the older two went to practice for tomorrow's Japanese final.  God is good. It was a fun day and we're blessed we got home in time to make it happen. I sat and stared at the Christmas tree for a bit of time - happy and tired....Yuuki seems to feel the same. She was GREAT with the kids.

I think pizza, hot tub and movies tonight. 

Choosing Joy!
©2013 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...