week two activities

here is a recap of this past week's list - some minor changes, but still got some of our list done:

1. christmas pancakes
2. decorate gingerbread house
3. eat ravioli
4. drink eggnog - had to postone this as well since we drink eggnog when decorating the tree. we did drink hot chocolate this week though!

5. pick out and decorate christmas tree! BECAME ring bell for salvation army

and maybe if all is going well...
6. make a christmas ornament (i found a really cute kit to make felt ornaments!) BECAME hang stockings

christmas pancakes: we made some christmas tree pancakes this past weekend. ethan's favorite part was helping put the "snow" (powdered sugar) on. both of the boys LOVED eating the decorations too - chocolate chips and dried cranberries.

decorate gingerbread house: we started this last sunday and finished up this weekend (busy week for me especially!) it worked out well. we waited until miles was down for a nap otherwise, i don't think it would have been a bit crazy! i quickly got over my fear of things not be in the right place when i saw how much fun ethan was having. he was pretty good at not eating things at the beginning, but as time wore on, he was eating more of the treats than he was putting on the house, so we ended there. he did have fun and our house turned out pretty cute, i think (other than the drippy icing, we'll have to use something else next year). and yes, it true decorso/windel fashion we are decorating a gingerbread house in halloween jammies!

eat ravioli: growing up we always had ravioli and meatballs for christmas dinner. ravioli is still one of my favorite pastas! i thought we might try to make it a tradition to at least have it every december in our house (and of course when my parents visit!) i didn't make meatballs, but did make my own sauce and it was really good. miles was a fan, but ethan was not. ethan did eat some of the caesar salad with "special butter" (salad dressing) and liked it.

ring bell for salvation army: this was a last minute activity that came up. a local professional group i am in was looking was volunteers to help with the bell ringing. the daytime shifts had filled up so i had an evening one (brrr!!) but it was nice because the boys could join in. lance brought them by to visit for a bit since it was so cold - too cold for them to be outside the whole time. ethan liked ringing "toby's bell" and miles was pretty good at it too! i definitely think this is something we'll keep up in the future, though hopefully it will be warmer next year :)

hang stockings: i love decorating the house for christmas and i love our mantel. it has always been one of my favorite things to decorate. i got inspiration for this look from a pottery barn catalog several years ago and i like it so much, i've never changed it. this year though, we did add personalized stocking for the boys. the train was PERFECT for ethan and i thought miles would enjoy the reindeer.