Preschool Christmas Party...

One of the first things on our long list of Christmasey things to do in December was Taylor's pre-school party. Pre-school happened to fall at our house on the week before break. I, of course, was very excited about that. I love any and every excuse to party and celebrate for Holiday's. I was also excited that my nephew, Carter, would be in town to join us. 

Pre-school party 101:

First, we made Stockings... Glitter, glue, paper, markers and cotton balls galore!

And just like that, they were gone! If I've learned one thing about having pre-school at our house, it's that I've got to be ready every 2.5 minutes with a new activity! :)

Then we hung our stockings:

I had each child bring a small inexpensive or homemade gift for all of the other kids. Taylor wanted to make these bracelets. We didn't have enough letters for all the names, so some got their whole name, and some only got their initials! :)

Then, one by one, while the other kids were playing, I had each of them put their presents in all of the other stockings for their friends. One thing I learned for next time, is to have the kids bring one for themselves. Each of them wanted to put their own gift in their own stocking. But none of them had enough for themselves. It was very disappointing to the kids who brought treats as their presents. oops! :)

We have all of these lovey pictures, because my mom happened to be in town on the day of our party, so she got to witness the madness!!!

Next up on the docket, making cookies:

Of course, Taylor in her own little world:

And Carter doesn't seem to be too excited about these cookies.

Funny story about the cookie making. I have to preface this story with another story. A few Sunday's ago Ben sent Taylor up to wake me up for church. Ben knows how I am in the mornings, so usually takes the kids on Sunday mornings and does the breakfast routine. He will then wake me up the latest possible so I can get ready for church. It was wonderful! :) One day Ben sent Taylor up to wake me up. She came back down and Ben asked her if she woke me up and what I said. She told him, she said, 'holy crap!' (it must have been a late morning!):) It was pretty funny, and I know she's heard him tell that story to a few people since then. Anyway, we were making cookies at the party, and one of the kids must have done or said something and I said, 'Holy Moly!' and Taylor said, ' No, mom, don't you mean Holy Crap!!??' It was pretty funny. So, sorry if my daughter taught your child to say Holy Crap! :)

Nex up was making these awesome stained glass Nativities. I saw these on pinterest, and thought they were so dang cool. I stayed up way too late the night before cutting the stupid things out, but they turned out so cool! It was perfect, too because the letter of the week was N that we were working on. So, N was for Nativity.

Of course, there was a lot of this going on: (shhhh...don't tell daddy!)

And there's always a lot of this: (these kids love baby Jackson)

Finally it was time to decorate and eat our cookies:

Cute Ollie:

Tater-tot:

Tarter sauce:

And Taylor being her weird self: (should I be worried???) :)

Finally it was time to open our stockings, and it was so much fun! We got gloves, and pencils, and hot cocoa and marshmallows (Snowman Soup & Snowman poop) Reindeer hershy's bars, bracelets...all sorts of cool things!

And finally, 'Twas the night before Christmas'...

These little guys are so much fun! It makes the holiday's so much more fun and exciting when you have little ones this age. (But I was glad to have that event checked of the to-do list!) :)

Lots more celebrations to be had!