Annual Christmas Cookie Decorating Contest

on sunday we had our annual christmas cookie decorating contest.

it is one of my favorite traditions that we do each year.

we can get kind of competitive - (this comes from the sudan side)

we also had our christmas gift exchange with everyone afterwards.

it was such a fun day!

here are the girls in our aprons

cute pregnant amy ready to go!

it was fun because this year jayden really got into it!

mary beth and alex

me and jason

(i feel like we look alike in this picture - do you think so?)

emery kate really enjoyed the festivities too!

one batch of dough wasn't combined correctly - can you tell which one?

i won't tell you who made it :)

jason and alex

the marables

jordan even decorated some

he usually keeps himself occupied by eating the cookies

the winners!

(i got second place!)

my winning cookie:

(the gingerbread house)

the losers

(apparently the "in-laws" didn't do so well this year)

we had fun opening gifts as well!

jayden and emery kate love each other so much!

jason & duncan

campbell's new boots

jason's desired gift

(a pair of coveralls)

thanks everyone for such a fun weekend!

we love it every year!

Christmas Play Group

This past Friday we had a fun Christmas playgroup!

All the kiddos wore their pj's and we had a yummy brunch.

It was so fun and cute to see all the kids in their precious christmas pj's.

Here are the little babies:

and the entire group of kiddos

me and my kiddos:

the yummy food

marci & campbell

big boy luke

little oscar

precious wilson

dana & magen

sweet danny

adorable ek

mr. duncan

spunky felice

erin & felix

riley & campbell

oscar

the kids made this adorable craft

sara getting ready for the craft

the finished product:

it was such a fun party!

thanks dana for always opening your home to us!

Candy with Grandpa

Every Christmas we head over to my grandparents house and have a candy-making day.

It is such a sweet little tradition.

My grandpa has made candy for years and it is delicious.

On Wednesday we headed to their house to continue with our tradition.

jayden was excited :)

so was duncan . . .

emery kate enjoyed it as well

jason

obviously the boys got distracted after awhile and thought wrestling with uncle j would be better!

the finished product:

in case you were wondering i actually didn't help at all - i just took pictures and tried to keep my kids out of trouble in a house that has a lot of glass objects!

amy and mb did most of the cooking!

thanks everyone for another fun memory!