Lego Manger

Since I have yet to get around to making the manger for the Nativity set, Jayden made a Lego one...

Pretty cute!

Ginger Bread House Making Party

Last year Liz hosted a ginger bread house making party and everyone brought along 2 different candies to share.  I thought it was a cute idea!  Since she moved we decided to host it this year.
The night before we assembled the houses.  We used graham crackers and the Royal icing with the Meringue powder.  That stuff hardens and that's what will hold the house together.
Here is the link to the recipe, it's really easy to make.

Here everyone is getting down to business...

 Poor sick JJ!  He sat at the bar so he wouldn't get anyone else sick and we brought him some different candies.  But he only lasted about 5 minutes and then he had to go lay down.  I saved his stuff but he never finished his house.  

 Mackenzie was so cute!!!  After we were done making her house and I got up to take some pictures she decided she wanted to add more... just so cute!

Jayden's 1st Grade Holiday Party

I was able to into Jayden's class for his Holiday party!  It was a lot of fun!

First they did their reindeer craft so it would have time to dry before they went home.  The kids loved it!

 Then we played some games.  We did a pass the snowman, like hot potato.  

 And we did a Hershey kiss game where the kids had to wear oven mitts and open as many Hershey kiss as they could in one minute.  Jayden did great at this game!  He was the only one who opened 2 kisses!  Way to g buddy!!!

And we did a freeze dance, when the music stopped the kids had to melt to the ground.  They were so cute dancing!  And I was really surprised to see Jayden dancing!  Way to go buddy!

I had of course taken a few other pictures that didn't involve Jayden and sent them to the parents of those kids and sent them to their teacher.  Jayden told me that Mrs. Coulehan put them up on the white board and showed the class all the pictures and they loved them.  She even sent me a thank you card for emailing the class the pictures.  So cute!

When we got home from school I let Jayden eat some of his candy that he got in his goody bag from the party.  He threw it all up!  ughh!  And that was the start of him being sick most of his Christmas break!  He had a fever the next day and most of break too. 

Tanner's Christmas Party

This year the preschool did their Christmas party a little different.  This year 1 adult was allowed to come and participate with their student.  They had a couple different stations set up and we could walk around to each one.  They made an ornament for the tree, decorated cookies for Santa, drank hot chocolate, had lunch, made reindeer food, watched a Christmas movie, wrote a letter to Santa, got a Christmas Tattoo and sticker, made a paper chain to count down the days left until Christmas and wrote a letter to Santa.

 Tanner loved it! 

 Santa only stopped by for a short time.  When we went to the letter writing station I asked Tanner if he wanted to write a letter to Santa he said "why?  he's right there!" and points to Santa1  LOL!  It was pretty funny!  And so true, why do you have to write him a letter when he's right there and you can just tell him what you want.

Left - Tanner with two of his buddies, Caleb and Peyton.
Right - my friend and her son, Jessica and Caleb

 Me and my little Tanner-man!!!

 Most of Tanners class and 2 younger siblings and 2 other helpers...

Santa Hat Treats

I saw this idea on Pinterest and Tanner and I decided to make them for his preschool class.  It was his day to bring the snack in and he was so excited to make these Santa Hats and share them with his class!

Christmas Eve

I love Christmas Eve!  I love the tradition that Dave's family has and getting together with them.  

This year we made the cheese ball snowman to take with us.  We made this a couple years ago.  It's from FamilyFun.com and it's so easy and cute to make!

(please note... click on any picture to make it bigger, then hit the back button to go back to the blog.  There are a lot of pics, so I'm going to keep them smaller.)

After a fabulous dinner we all get dressed up to act out, read and sing the story of Christs birth.

Can you see Dave's right eye?  Earlier in the day he and Jayden were wrestling and Jayden hit him in the eye!  It was a lot puffier before we left to go to his parents house.  Because of it being swollen, it was really bothering Dave... poor guy!

The Shepherds

The wise men...

Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus...

Corban wanted to hold Mackenzie...

After that it was present time.  Jayden got a zip line and he was so excited!

Mackenzie's first Christmas and this is the only picture I got of me and her, and it's not that great of either of us!  Her shirt said "Baby's First Christmas" I got it end of season last year for like 99 cents.  I love end of season!

We slacked off this year and ended up making our Christmas presents for Dave's parents on Christmas Eve and a little they day before.  While we were camping at the beach I noticed a lot of the campers had signs out with their name and where they were from.  I also noticed that Ralph liked knowing where people were from and stuff so I thought about getting one made for them at Knoebels (you know, where they do the wood stuff there.)  However, when we went back I had forgot all about getting the sign made.  It wasn't until the week before Christmas that I remembered.  So I made one up real quick in Photoshop, we had it printed at a one hour photo place and Dave made the sign Christmas eve.  The sign says "The Staus House, mobile edition, Reading, PA" and I put a picture I found on flickr of a campground.  If you get a sign made sometimes they carve pictures of trees on it, and so that's why I chose that picture.

I will post about Becky's gift later, because Dave also made one for me, so look for that post later.

Dave's parents bought this little car thing for the kids to ride in their basement, it's pretty cute...

You use your arms and wiggle the wheel to make it go.

Stephen, Cheryl and Baby Kalaela...

Then when we got home the boys had to go out and sprinkle their reindeer food to make sure Santa found our house.

They were so excited!!!!