'Twas three weeks before Christmas...

Saturday we decided to overdose on Christmas activities with the kiddos beginning with breakfast with Santa. You will not see any pictures of the breakfast with Santa because it is difficult to get three children and one baby to all cooperate at the same time while trying not to break Santa's legs or tear his beard out. After consuming ten pancakes, three servings of sausage, two servings of bacon, four servings of eggs, three cups of hot chocolate, and two cups of coffee our family decided it was time to leave some food for the rest of the guests and we headed to our next activity - a life size gingerbread house themed after



The Grinch Who Stole Christmas. Not fully knowing what to expect at the life size gingerbread house, I did not tell the kids much beforehand. They loved it, although Sofia was a little dismayed that she couldn't actually walk into Whoville and place the candy she'd brought onto the display. Yeah, I'm sure the pastry chefs who worked diligently for eight days would not have minded??? Corina wanted to eat it and Malcolm wanted to touch it.
It was really quite amazing and cool even for an adult who sometimes acts grinchy herself.
After Whoville we headed to Arts in the Parks which had art from the community and lots of Christmas art for the kids to do. The kids had a great time making Christmas cards and getting to use all sorts of glitter, ribbons, punches, and stamps. By the time we left Corina had ink and glitter all over her and they all had beautiful art to show for it. We ended our day out at Cheesy Janes. We had a great time celebrating and being with the kids. Aw! Well, this is still my family we are talking about...baby screamed all the way home from Cheesy Janes and after listening to her scream at home for an hour longer mommy had a melt-down and everyone was in bed by 7:00 p.m. ;o) Well, it couldn't all be perfect now could it? Then we would be the Cleavers.