Some Pre-Christmas Fun

The days leading up to Christmas were filled with some pretty fun activities for these Parke kids:

 

We had a few "movie" nights.

Built some awesome forts!

Edie-Girl checking out the fort from the inside!

Played a pick-up game of Twister.

Asher built his 1st gingerbread house of the season at a friend's house.

Edie had a bunch of "cuteness" moments.

I built 19 gingerbread houses out of graham crackers (maybe one of these days I'll be ambitious enough to make them out of real gingerbread, but until that day comes, graham cracker houses it is!), and then invited Tennyson's cub scout troop and their siblings over for some gingerbread house decorating.

**On a side note, candy ended up EVERYWHERE!!!!!!  We found bits of candy canes on the living room carpet, the boys' bedroom carpet and every other imaginable place.  We vacuumed, swept the kitchen floor and steemed the kitchen floor twice AND were still walking on a very sticky floor two days later!  Even with the mess, it was completely worth it!  The boys had such a great time.

Tennyson and Asher participated in our church's re-enactment of the nativity at our annual church Christmas party.  We put the costumes together at the very last minute...literally.  I grabbed my old bathrobe and a hand-towell, and wha-la...Tenn was a shephard!  Asher was supposed to be an animal...hence the little lamb he is holding.  They were too cute.

The stars themselves.

And of course we can't forget this super-cute picture of the kids visiting with Santa! This picture cracks me up: Eden is terrified and trying to shimmy out of Tennyson's arm, Tennyson is straining to keep looking at the camera and smile, and Asher...well, he is too busy staring at Eden to even care that he is sitting on Santa's lap!  Priceless!