December memories

December is one of my favorite months because I just LOVE Christmas.  We definitely took advantage of the holiday theme and made crafts, cookies and presents with the kiddos to share with our friends, family and neighbors.  Jax and Abby made these cute Santa hats and Christmas tree ornaments with popsicle sticks, cotton balls and pom poms.  Jax was excited to use glue by himself, which was so fun to watch.

We went to feed the ducks with Papa one December afternoon, and even though Jax was a bit hesitant at first, he really loved it after a few minutes... until the aggressive geese wanted to take the bread from his hand - he wasn't into that at all and decided he would rather go on the swings.

 We have a number of deer meander through our yard on a daily basis and this guy just wanted to stand there and look at us through our windows.  So cute!

A big thing we did this year (many times) was to drive around after dark and look at the Christmas lights.  Below is one of the craziest yards we saw, although Jackson's favorite was a house in East Moline that has synchronized music that plays along with three singing faces, made from lights.  We went there quite a few times and when they took them down in January, Jax was devastated that we couldn't go watch the "singing lights" until next year.  

Random shot of Jax playing car wash.
He seriously is obsessed with cleaning.

 Miss Abby getting ready for her holiday program at her grade school, Bridgeview Elementary 

We decided to get a gingerbread kit and instead of a house, we opted for a train.
Papa was over for morning coffee and decided to stay and help us assemble it.

What it is supposed to look like-

What it realistically turned out to look like - 

The kiddos didn't mind, they just wanted to eat it anyway.
We left it sitting on the kitchen counter, came back about thirty minutes later and the entire thing had collapsed.  Maybe better luck next year? 

Next up?  Jackson's birthday!