Building a Manger

We have a wooden manger (Grandpa and Grandma Church made one for each of my siblings' families last winter). The idea of it is to do kind deeds or acts of service for others. When somebody does something good, they may put a piece of straw in the manger, and by Christmas day, the manger should be soft enough for the baby Jesus. The boys love putting straw in the manger. Another thing Ethan likes to do though, is take the manger apart and then try to put it back together. What a cutie.

Landon's Hobby

Sugar Cookies

The boys have enjoyed making batch after batch of sugar cookies this holiday season. They always pick out the shapes and I let them cut out the cookies. Then, after they are baked,  I squirt a bunch of frosting on them and the cookies quickly disappear!



 

Another Christmas Tradition

Grandma and Grandpa Gallaher gave the boys some gingerbread house kits. They had a blast decorating their houses. They spent a good portion of the time squirting icing into their mouths as well.

Ethan was more into eating the candy than he was decorating, but he did cover one side of his gingerbread house with gumdrops.

 Landon was very much focused on decorating his house, and I only helped him with a few things (the snow being his main concern, and of course outlining his windows and doors).

What a cutie!

 What have you got in your mouth, there, Ethan?

The end result. They turned out great. Landon's house is on the left and Ethan's is on the right. 

O Christmas Tree

Our family went and picked out Christmas trees with Grandma and Grandpa Gallaher this year. We picked this lovely 10 footer for our house. Here, Ken is cutting the netting off of it.

 The boys loved decorating the tree. Landon really got into it.

 Ethan's method for decorating the tree involved throwing the ornaments on. Most of the decorations ended up in one big pile somewhere on the tree.

Landon, however, was very careful. He liked it best when I would hold the branches out for him to put the ornaments onto. He said he didn't like the tree getting him dirty.

  After the boys were done, this is what the tree looked like.

 This is another close up view that shows off Ethan's decorating skills.

 While the boys were sleeping, I went ahead and put the rest of the ornaments on the tree. The little stockings were clashing with the bows, though, and so I ended up removing the stockings. I felt a little guilty undoing some of what the boys worked so hard on, but the tree turned out pretty good, I think.

 The boys still love looking at the Christmas tree. I keep finding ornaments in random places throughout the house. They play with them like they are toys.

 

A Christmas Tradition

Grandma and Grandpa Gallaher introduced us to a new little Christmas tradition. There is a story book called, "The Elf On the Shelf." The story says that Santa has little elves that go to the homes of all of the children and watch to see if they are good or not. Then, every night they fly to the North Pole to report to Santa Clause. So we now have a little elf that Landon named Steve. Every morning he is in a different place in the house. The boys look for Steve to find out where he is sitting to watch them that day.

Delivering Packages

Lately, Landon has been pretending like he is delivering packages. He normally fills up a bucket, a box or a bag full of toys and then pretends like he has to make a delivery. Ethan, of course, joined in on the fun. This time, they put on backpacks and went around delivering packages. Landon didn't want me to take his picture for some reason, but the boys were so cute playing together.

Thanksgiving

We had a good Thanksgiving. The night before, we had dinner with Mary and Grandma and Grandpa Church, and then on Thanksgiving day we headed over to Quincy to celebrate with all of the Trapps.

Toward the beginning of November, the boys traced their hands and made turkeys. They had so much fun. I took their picture in front of the door by a big turkey that I made. It was another thing I used for singing time when I was the song leader. You pull the feathers off and find a song on the back of them to sing. Also, my sister Cindy wanted to see these alphabet letters. Each letter is suppose to look like something that starts with the letter. I started teaching Landon the letters in his name first. I have many left to do.

"L"-leopard, " "A"-apple, "N"-nails, "D"- dog,

"O"-octopus, "B"-bumble bee, "C"-caterpillar, "E"-Easter eggs,

"F"-fox, "G"-grapes