Riverwoods

The Riverwoods Shopping center goes all out for the Christmas holiday. We decided to head down and enjoy a little of the holiday spirit. There were lights everywhere..

And Fire..  {a boys dream!}

 Candy canes.. {gross!}

Even a Nutcracker.. 

 Can't forget Santa..

And Santa taking pictures with fun families..

 Even sissys. Thanks for playing with us!

With their crying babes.. He was such a good sport.

 There were a lot of other fun things going on all around us.. music.. toy stores..  a fun wedding reception of one of Tim's friends children.. games.. hot chocolate.. carriage rides..  And Lastly and maybe the most important.. children having way too much fun on a chilly night..

 Thank you Riverwoods.. we'll be back!

Gingerbreads

Happy Gingerbread Party. This is one of my favorite traditions. I love any excuse to have a party.. and gingerbread are fun.. and Christmas time is super duper fun.. . This is us.. minus Grandma Lettie.

This is us .. CRAZY!!

We usually have some sort of Dinner.. This year we had bread bowls and soup.. It turned out pretty good.. YUM!

And a snickers salad Max and I prepared as a pass off for scouts.

 Here are some fun pics of my crew.. The mister.. {love him and his craziness.}

 MEEEEEEE! Cheeeeeese..

 Maxer. He be loving our soup.

Alexander. Cheesin'' for the camera.

Barrett Boy and his creation.

Jacq. She is so stinkin' creative. Love her.

Lola. She was the happiest when she had her mouth full of candy. So she was pretty much happy as can be all night long. This Lola girl is a big time sugar bug!

 I wanted to add a picture of our Grandma. She went home before our group pictures. We try to drag her to all our fun parties. Thanks for being a good sport Grandma. We love you.

 Lastly.. our creations. Yeah for another successful party!

Years in the past. 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007. 

"Opening day!!"

Friday morning, Max woke up saying, "Opening day! Opening day!" I honestly had no idea what on earth he was talking about. He knew.. he was stoked.. he had been talking with his friends at school about Opening day at Sundance. My 4 kiddos love the mountain. We didn't end up going skiing on opening day. We decided to shop around.. find boots to fit everyone.. wax skis.. and check gear. We did ski the next day. The kids could not get enough!! They skied their little hearts out and loved every minute of it. Hopefully the snow starts falling so we can have a super fun ski season.

Stop my heart..

OH MY!! For a boy that was terrified to sit next to a girl.. Max has sure come a long way!! It was so much fun to see his moves on the dance floor. I was half giddy watching him offer his arm to the ladies... turning the girls around.. and around.. and his fancy footwork was awesome. He has been attending an after school program twice a week.. I honestly had no idea what to expect, but I think we may have a little lady slayer on our hands. It was really exciting to see him in action. Way to go Max..