m&them

Snow, Snow & More Snow!

This year it seems like we got the snow we should've gotten last year plus this year's snow. So...a lot of snow. The first snow wasn't a lot, but Cruise managed to build this little guy.

Miles was excited/curious about the white stuff.

One Friday, we went and visited Santa's reindeer at Thanksgiving Point and then came home and built a giant snowman. Okay, I supervised. But they did a great job despite Miles crying most of the time. I couldn't figure out why exactly he was crying. He didn't want to come in, but I think he wanted more control over the snowman construction.

We also got some sledding in. We all visited the hill behind Harvest Elementary and did some sledding and the older boys practiced some snowboarding. Miles loved sledding and was really mad when we had to leave. Unfortunately we didn't get any pictures of that outing. Dave has also been taking the boys out to sled behind the Jeep and they really love that. The benefits of living in a neighborhood the city doesn't plow.

Getting them all ready for the snow is like that scene from Christmas Story. It has been in the teens here this week and getting them bundled up enough should be an Olympic sport. But at least it results in ultimate fun!

Class Christmas Parties

Being Room Mom for both classes, I have the awesome task of organizing parties. Luckily, Jett's teacher pretty much plans what the party is going to be, so the other room mom and I have to delegate and then do the leftover stuff no one signs up for. Jett's class decorated little edible trees using ice cream cones, royal icing, and all the candy you can think of. Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures of the party because I had to bring Miles who has been very much a 2 year old lately. But I did get a picture of both Jett's and Miles' trees before they went in the garbage.

For Cruise's class, I have a little more responsibility. I have to arrange the time, plan the entire party, and get parents to volunteer to help. Luckily a lot of moms from last year are always willing to help out or send their kids with stuff. This year, I decided it would be a lot of fun for the kids to decorate gingerbread houses. Well, graham cracker houses. I found on Pinterest that a lady suggested using hot glue to put the houses together beforehand. So I got moms to sign up to make royal icing, bring candy, help in class, and a mom to help put the houses together the night before at my house. Unfortunately, the mom who volunteered to help put them together bailed on me last minute, so good ol' Dave helped. It took a couple hours since we only have one glue gun, but they turned out pretty good! I was just glad there weren't more than 12 kids in the class. Whew!

I provided each kid with their own piping bag (of course we caught a few kids sucking the frosting down straight from the bag, ha ha!) and we had the candy divided up in muffin tins for each table. They all had a blast decorating and being creative! After they finished, I had a mom provide a game for them to play, and then with the extra time, their teacher gave out gifts to all the students. I was super impressed that he got them something he knew they would love. Cruise and his friend Jack both got Pokemon cards. It was a super fun party!

The Annual Harris Christmas Party

Once again we attended the Harris Christmas party at Cruise's school that was held this year on the 14th. I love that Mr. Harris does this every year for current and former students and their families; I don't have to go find a mall Santa somewhere and wait in a ridiculous line.

We got there a little early, which means the kids helped themselves to the snack table. Then the party started with the usual indoor snowball fight game:

Then the kids all got on stage and sang songs. Well, Jett just sat there with an unamused look on his face the whole time. Apparently he's too cool to sing. Miles just sat on the stage and drank his bottle.