Coloring Christmas Santas

For the 3rd year in a row I picked up these little wooden Santas for the kids each to color.  They are at Michael's for about $1.00 each and usually come in Santas, Snowmen, and Nutcrackers.  This year I just got 3 Santas.

So simple and cheap but I love them all!

2010-Kanin (7yo), Gracie (3yo), Caleb (1yo), 2009-Kanin (6yo), Gracie (2yo), 2011-Kanin (8yo), Gracie (4yo), Caleb (2yo)

2011 Christmas PJ's, Cookies & Craft Night

This past Friday night I hosted the 2nd annual Christmas craft and pj night.  This year we had a total of 12 kids and their Mommies.  We also had a couple of Grandmas and an aunt.  It was a packed house for sure!

I decided to set up the tables before everyone got here.

There were several crafts to choose from:  decorating cookies, coloring Christmas ornaments and a couple of foam crafts.

Nothig was too organized.  We just let the kids do however many crafts that they wanted and in whatever order they wanted to do them.  Since we had kids ranging from 18 months to 11, I tried to make sure that at least one of the crafts was age appropriate.

With so many kids and just general chaos, I forgot to take one big picture of the entire group but I did take at least one picture of each kid.



The kids had such a fun time playing and crafting.  These two girls lasted until midnight and then they passed out.

I know the kids had fun crafting and playing but I think the Mommies had just as much fun.  It was great to just hang out, in pj's no less, and have girl time.

And, if you are wondering how in the world we could handle the noise and rowdiness of that many kids . . .

Gingerbread House 2011-Oh, the Drama

I was really happy to find a pre-made gingerbread house at Costco this year.  I didn't realize how hard it was to make those walls stand up until last year.  The best part about this year's gingerbread house is that it only cost $9 compared to others that I have seen that are close to $20.

The very first thing I did, before I even took the plastic wrap off of the house, was to take all of the candy and divide it up into 3 individual bowls.  (This isn't my first time dealing with 3 kids, can you tell?)

Have I mentioned how messy decorating a gingerbread house can be?  The frosting (i.e. glue) kept coming out of the top of the bag and getting all over my hands.  I decided to just pipe where the kids wanted me to rather than handing that bag of stickiness over to them.

What is a kid-friendly craft project without some drama? 

-Kanin kept looking at the box and telling me that our house didn't look like the ones on the box.  I tried to tell him that professional bakers decorated that gingerbread house but he really didn't want to hear that. 

-Gracie wanted all of the large circle gum drops and was mad that she had to share with her brothers.  She was also mad because none of her candies were sticking to the house.  I tried to help her by telling her that she had to press it down and hold it for a but she really did not want to hear that.

-Caleb just wanted to eat the candies.  He could have cared less about decorating.  He also kept grabbing candies out of the Kanin and Gracie's bowls which did NOT go over very well.  I kept telling him to put the candy on the house and do not take any of his brother or sister's candies but he really did not want to hear that.

Finally, we were finished decorating and decided to take some pics of the finished product.  Gracie isn't very happy, can you tell?

Like the good little model that this mommarazzi has trained, though, she sucked it up and gave me a bit of a smile.

So, here it is:

Here is our house in its place of honor.

Free Kid Craft E-Books

I received an update today about 2 Christmas and Kid Craft e-books.  Just click on the links and download:

http://www.favecrafts.com/Quick-and-Easy-Gifts/Homemade-Christmas-Gift-Guide-eBook

http://www.favecrafts.com/Kids-Holiday-Crafts/Santas-Guide-to-Easy-Christmas-Crafts-for-Kids-eBook#

Have fun!

Toy Soldiers

Last year I picked up these little wooden toy soldier and a Santa Clause at Michael's that the kids could color and put them in their stockings.  What I thought was something really small, the kids really loved so I went out and bought 3 toy soldiers this year.  They come with a set of 4 markers and they cost about $2 each.

For our final craft last night, the kids colored their soldiers and we put them up on the mantel.  I realize that if I do this every year for the next 18 years that I am going to have a bunch of wooden figures but that's ok, I'll figure out a place to display them all.

Here is Kanin working on his.  Since he has art at school now he informed me that there really should be no "white part" showing.

In true Gracie fashion, she thought this was "too hard" and wanted Bubba to do hers for her.

Caleb was quite the mess with the markers.  I finally put him in his high chair and gave him one marker at a time.  Thank God that they are washable.

I wrote each of their names, ages and the date on the backs.

Then, up on the mantle they went with last year's creations.

Gingerbread House

Last night was craft night at the Westerhold house.  We made dough ornaments first and then moved on to a Gingerbread House.  I found this Michael's brands for $8.49 and thought that was a pretty good deal. 

I have never done a Gingerbread House before so I was a little intimidated.  I was afraid that the icing was going to harden before we were finished.  

After looking at the outside of the box and how the house was supposed to look, I knew there was no way we would get that accomplished so I just let the kids decorate it anyway they wanted to.  I think it turned out perfect!