More December moments

Here are some of our December activities I haven't posted about yet. 

One day we decided to make Salt Dough ornaments. 

They had a lot of fun cutting these out. 

 

Abi's ornaments ready to bake. 

Maddy wasn't ready to stop and she cut out ornaments for at least an hour while dancing to the Christmas music that was playing. 

As soon as they were all baked they began to paint them. 

Another activity we had really been looking forward to was making a gingerbread house. 

I hear about people using silicon molds all the time and loving them. I found one for a gingerbread house and was so excited to try it out. 

It was kind of an epic fail. 

It still tasted good though according to Maddy who kept sneaking pieces while it was cooling off.

The house wouldn't stand up or stick together so I came up with the idea to just have them each have one side of the house mold on a plate and they could decorate it that way. That ended up working really well and they had a great time decorating. 

We also made some cookies. 

The frosting ended up really runny and I was going to fix it but they wanted it left that way.

It was really messy.

They got along really well over Christmas break and played Legos a ton.

Their favorite was Abi's Grand Hotel she got on her birthday from us and my parents. 

There was also a lot of snow play. 

King Family Christmas Party

The Sunday before Christmas my family had our Christmas party. 

It was at my sister's new house but before going over there we had to drive by Doug's friend's house nearby to see the deer that are always hanging out there. We all love seeing them. 

 

We started the party with a hot chocolate bar (the party started at 9am).

My mom made a really yummy crock pot hot chocolate and had a lot of fun things we could mix in if we wanted to. She and my dad also gave us each the mugs that we used.

We then went into their movie theater room and watched part of the Nativity Story.

Then we wrote letters and drew pictures for my niece McKenna. She is serving a mission in Washington. 

I loved my dad's drawing of Mckenna and himself. 

My nephew Tyler's little baby Benjamin liked eating the markers. 

After this activity we went back downstairs to play a trivia game. 

Maddy won some Goldfish crackers.

Abi won a bag of M&M's. 

Next we went back upstairs and my brother Greg told us a story. He makes up a funny one each year and cracks up the kids with all of his voices. 

Then Abi wanted to play some Christmas songs for the family on the piano book.

Maddy did her dance for them (although she only did part and then asked to redo it later).

Next Doug played a Christmas song medley on his bagpipes. 

We played Family Feud Christmas style and our family won some chocolate gold coins. 

Maddy redoing her dances....

Then we had lunch. 

Then we relaxed and just hung out together for awhile. 

Maddy dancing again...

Then it was time for gifts. We gave my parents this pretty picture.

We pick names for siblings/ cousins and we had my great-nephew (is that what I would call my nephew's son?) Benjamin, my niece Courtney, my brother Greg, and my niece-in-law Sydnie. 

We gave Benjamin some nativity blocks that I made and a book. 

We open the gifts in order of age so Benjamin went first and then it was Maddy's turn. 

She would get so excited each time she opened a gift. It was really fun to watch. 

Then it was Abigail's turn. 

We gave Greg a gift card to a restaurant he likes. I tried to trick him by packing it in a bunch of paper in a bigger box. 

Courtney is really into Paris and she loves gray chevron (her room is partly painted in it) so when I saw a fabric at Hobby Lobby I knew I wanted to make her something for Christmas. 

So now I can show it. It was one of the things I was sewing a couple of months ago.

We gave Sydnie a necklace with a pearl and a charm that has a 'b' on it for her little baby Benjamin. 

Doug got a Pei Wei gift card from my sister.

I got two books I really wanted (one I loved this year and one I have been wanting to read) and a book embosser from my sister in law Karen.

My parents gave us all a big bag with a new Christmas dish set (matching the mugs we got earlier that day) plus a cute Christmas night light, and a movie theater gift card.

I took this picture later and so it includes some chips and salsa they gave Doug and I as well. 

After gifts we went back downstairs to have treats and hang out some more.

The girls opened up their toys and played around with them while we were all hanging out. 

I wished that I had taken pictures of their gifts before they unboxed them but here are the things they got at the party:
Maddy
Littlest Pet Shop set, Barbie baking set, Shopkins set, McDonald's gift card, and extra Shopkins in a basket from my parents.
Shopkins ice cream truck from my sister Steph's family

Abigail: 

Pinkie Pie with remote control scooter, My Little Pony mini pony set, and McDonald's gift card from my parents. 

Lalaloopsy mini set and Mario Kart game from my brother Brent's family. 

 

They had so much fun playing with their gifts the rest of the day.