Aiden was excited about Halloween this year and Gavin just thought it was fun to do what his big brother was doing! We picked out pumpkins and carved them. Both boys HATED the insides of the pumpkin. Aiden almost started crying and Gavin kept making gross sounds to get across the idea that he thought it was gross :) Here they are excited about their pumpkins - before they discovered what was inside of them.
Aiden's excited to get the cover off... 
Until he found out how slimy the guts of the pumpkin were...
Gavin only actually put his hand all the way in once. After he found out what was inside, he just put his hand in part way... just enough to make it appear like he was cleaning out the pumpkin! Bryan ended up having to scoop out all of the insides! 
By the time Bryan carved the pumpkin, Gavin was too wiggly to want anything more to do with it so Aiden happily posed by himself...
Bryan's sister Aimee and her daughter Alyvia came to our house for the weekend just before my Christmas break started! We had lots of fun hanging out with them and enjoyed doing lots of fun things with them. We went to see a model train exhibit...
We also went to a place called the Critter Barn that had a Nativity scene for Christmas with live animals. The kids had fun seeing and petting all kinds of animals!
The boys have had fun playing outside in the snow! This is the first year that Gavin has been able to do it and he actually likes it! He doesn't last very long since it is so cold but he has fun in the short amount of time that he is outside. Let me tell you, though, getting two boys ready to go and play out in the snow is a LOT of work. 15 minutes to get themselves and me ready, 30 minutes outside, and then another 20 minutes to get everything back off and lay it all out to dry and then put it all away! That's 35 minutes of work for 30 minutes of play - more work than play but worth it when to see the smiles on their faces and all of the fun that they have! :)
The boys have had fun playing outside in the snow! This is the first year that Gavin has been able to do it and he actually likes it! He doesn't last very long since it is so cold but he has fun in the short amount of time that he is outside. Let me tell you, though, getting two boys ready to go and play out in the snow is a LOT of work. 15 minutes to get themselves and me ready, 30 minutes outside, and then another 20 minutes to get everything back off and lay it all out to dry and then put it all away! That's 35 minutes of work for 30 minutes of play - more work than play but worth it when to see the smiles on their faces and all of the fun that they have! :) Aiden was super excited to set up the Christmas tree and decorate it this year! Gavin had fun too but was only interested in it for about 10 minutes and then got bored with it. Gavin actually did better than I thought he would with leaving the tree alone. He would occasionally take an ornament off the tree, bring it to Bryan, Aiden, or I and say "ball!" - so cute!
I attempted to get some cute pics of the boys in front of the tree with their Santa hats on but Gavin was a little stinker. He kept pulling the hat off and saying "NO!" Luckily I got a couple before his little attitude interfered! 
My cousin got me "Elf on the Shelf" for Christmas last year. Elf was a great tool last year to persuade Aiden to stay off of the "naughty list" last year but some of that "magic" wore off this year. That is until I came up with the idea of having Elf deliver a letter to Aiden from Santa every morning when he returned to our house. It seemed to have more of an impact on him and he tried a little harder to stay off the naughty list :) Here's Aiden with Elf sitting on one of his "hiding spots" - since you are not allowed to touch Elf (or he will lose his magic) Bryan had to lift Aiden up to get his picture taken with him.
Last year our attempt at making Christmas cookies wasn't the greatest. They looked cute going into the oven but then spread while in there and came out not so cute. This year, thanks to my friend Terri's recipe (thanks Terri!!) our cookies turned out great! My sister came over to help us (thanks Auntie Ta-Ta!!) which was wonderful! I found out making cookies from scratch, cutting out the dough, baking them, and then decorating them is a LOT of work - but the memories we created were worth it!
I'll wrap up this post with a new favorite picture of mine! :)
Last year our attempt at making Christmas cookies wasn't the greatest. They looked cute going into the oven but then spread while in there and came out not so cute. This year, thanks to my friend Terri's recipe (thanks Terri!!) our cookies turned out great! My sister came over to help us (thanks Auntie Ta-Ta!!) which was wonderful! I found out making cookies from scratch, cutting out the dough, baking them, and then decorating them is a LOT of work - but the memories we created were worth it!
We continued our tradition of leaving "naughty milkies" (a.k.a. chocolate milk) and cookies out for Santa and carrots for the reindeer. Aiden was EXCITED the next morning to find the stockings stuffed with presents and more presents under the tree!! Sooooooo much fun to see his excitement!!! :)
We were blessed with an unusually warm day the last day of the year so we got out of the house and took advantage of it with bikes and sidewalk chalk! :)
I'll wrap up this post with a new favorite picture of mine! :) 