Gingerbread Houses

Here's my tribute to gingerbread houses......I mean, I "only" made 60 of them. I suppose it deserves a tribute. Too bad I didn't get a picture of my house looking like Gingerbread Land. We had to eat at Taco Bell that night because there was no room in the inn. I spent ALL DAY constructing my mini-masterpieces. Granted, it is only graham crackers. But you would be surprised at how long it takes to make 60 of them. (Or maybe you wouldn't.) Luckily, I had help from 2 neighbors.

Here's the kids creating their houses at the school Christmas parties. I went to Kendri's kindergarten party first and Kyson made his gingerbread house. Then I zipped on over to Lexi's classroom to help there. It was very busy but it is a fun tradition for the kids!

Parcel-Post, Please

Going.......

Going..............

Gone! I decided to send a present to Grandma and Pa in Colorado this year. COD. Do you think it'll get returned???

Santa Claus and Hay Rides

We took the kids to Jackson in the beginning of December for a hayride through town to see the lights. We went with some friends and had a great time! Here we are on the hayride. It was a bit chilly, but no need to fret.....we had free hot chocolate and cookies to keep us warm!
The kids love doing this. We went last year and it's become somewhat of a tradition now!

Before the hayride, we got to visit with someone very important......

It was Shayli's first time to see Santa and I dare say she liked it! There were no tears for her!

Lexi and Kendri are old pro's at sitting on jolly old St. Nick! I think there was talk about a certain microscope Lexi is hoping to have on Christmas morning. (btw, her probing, scientific mind takes after me. Wink, wink.)

Kyson didn't ask for anything except the candy canes sitting next Santa. Shocker, right?

And I think Kendri was interested in some crafting iron beads. We'll see if Santa delivers!

Christmas Princesses

Lexi and Kendri have been stealing Shayli lately when I haven't been watching. They like to take her to their room and have her become a part of their make-believe games. Shayli usually ends up being the "baby" in their game of house, but sometimes she gets a little more dramatic role......like princess! Oh my, is Shayli in for it!

Shayli is 5 Months

It's really hard to get any pictures of Shayli smiling. Remember my beef about it when we were doing the ultra-sound? When we couldn't get any good head shots? Well, nothing has changed. Every time I get the camera out, she starts to glare at me and get fussy. This is the closest thing to smiling I've got of her. But we'll take it!

Shayli turned 5 months today.....it's hard to believe less than 6 months ago I was waddling around trying to imagine what our new little baby would bring! I feel like Shayli has been a part of our family for much longer than 5 months. In fact, I can hardly remember life without her (or maybe that's just sleep deprivation)! I must say, she is the best snuggler around. She likes to be held facing toward me which is opposite of all my other kids. She buries her little face in my neck and nuzzles me. It is her favorite way to fall asleep. I love giving her kisses on her little lips. It's so hard to resist when my nose fits perfectly above her little nose. It's obvious we were made for each other! :)

And on to some stats......She gets up 1-2 times a night. We are NOT on a good napping schedule. Every time she falls asleep it's time to load up in the car. She's rolling over like a champ and is starting to end up in different places than where I put her. She's scoots a little bit and the kids are having a good time helping her practice sitting up. Overall, she's growing and developing her own personality. She weighed in at a whopping 12 lbs 8 oz (25 percentile) at her 4 month well-child appointment. And she was 25 inches long (75th percentile). She's been such a joy to our little family!

Christmas Traditions

Every year the women in the Reese family get together after Thanksgiving and help Pam (m mother-in-law) decorate her house. We make a weekend of it and go hog-wild! We usually spend the night without any children except the babies. This year Shayli came. We decorated Friday night and through Saturday. By the time the afternoon came, we were ready for a change of scenery. We went to lunch and hit up some of our favorite shopping spots. Whooooo-hooooo!

Black Friday

Does anyone else have Black Friday traditions??? This was actually my first year of leaving the house to shop. The past couple of years I have shopped online and then Ryan will head out for some shopping. (He is half-girl. Most people just don't know that. JK. Sort of :)

This year my friend and I decided to head out to the crowds but we certainly were not the die-hard type. We left Friday morning at 5:30 and headed to the Roseville area. I was surprised that there were not hordes of people. Apparently everyone was done and sleeping! And we were still scoring door busters! I have to say, I was happy with what we found. To be honest, most of my Christmas shopping was done so I was sort of along for the ride. But I did pick up some fashion tights for $5 courtesy of JC Penny. I don't normally shop there, but let me tell you, I spent $50 and saved over $100! I thought that was pretty good. :)

Lots of fun and I'm still waiting for my sweater to arrive. I got it for 40% off. It has a little bling and who can say no to that!