Santa's Sending You to Disneyland?!?!?

The crazies are obsessed with lots of Disney things right now.  Obsessed.  Minnie might as well be my third child.  Mickey makes his way into my bed every night.  We all know the Doc McStuffins theme song & sing it when we get an oowie.  I limit how much television the crazies watch daily but even on a 1 hour limit they choose Mickey Mouse clubhouse every time.  And Friday Night Family Movie Night has been taken over by Disney.  So, when we decided to stay on the West Coast & have Christmas here, Soldier Man & I knew what we wanted to do for the crazies -- have Santa send them to Disneyland.  We aren't huge on just having more toys & sometimes Christmas can turn into that.  We LOVE to travel & wanted to "get in" Disneyland while we live so close -- 2 hours.  We also knew age-wise that they are at a stage where they will LOVE to meet the characters.  

We got the plan underway & I cannot wait to see their expressions or reactions tomorrow morning!!

We did hire the help of a friend to plan the trip for us -- not only does that take alot of time, but the crazies are great at coming to the computer right when the biggest images are up.  So having someone do the planning assured me that I could not ruin it for them.  From hotel to character dinners to when to be in what line, he has done the work & we just follow an itinerary.  He also knew ALOT that I would not have known otherwise.

I got busy & ordered them some Mickey attire -- the shirts & bows & Disney themed pajamas.  Just some clothing items that they can use there to spice up our trip.  I also made them their own bags to put their snacks & Disney water bottles in as well as a frame matte & pen to collect signatures from the characters that they see!

And to present it all we sent off for some personalized post-cards from Mickey & Minnie & all of their friends.  Each crazy has a card that reads "I cannot wait to meet you today!"  

It should be pretty fun & certainly special for both of them.  Again, I am eager to scoot to bed to hurry up the morning so we can see their faces.  It doesn't hurt that Soldier Man & I are Disney virgins ourselves so we are curious to know what all of the hype is about.  

I am sure I will post what happens after Christmas morning once we return as we are bags packed out the door as soon as the trip is revealed.  I will let you know how the happiest kids enjoyed the happiest place on Earth!

Our Santa letter telling the crazies that he has arranged for them to go & meet Minnie & Mickey

Their shirts & goody bags

The personalized post cards they got from Mickey & Minnie

Their stockings are ready -- K will LOVE these Minnie bow clips & D got some gear for Crocs

  The Mickey & Minnie Cookies Santa left for the crazies in return on the cookie plate

Santa brought Mom & Dad an ornament since they buy one for each place they visit or vacation

Our Cali Christmas Eve

We are having our first Christmas as our own family.  Ever.  The Soldier Man & I have been married 9 years & this is our first time doing this holiday alone.  It wasn't some goal we set out to meet or anything, but living on the West Coast & having family on the East Coast just started to get very pricey on top of usual holiday costs of Santa, gift-buying, & everything else.  We thought about it alot.  ALOT.  Prayed about it too.  Then when we found out that this would be our one & only California Christmas (that we know of) we knew that we should stay here, save money, & have our Christmas in California. It is hard.  I am missing my family like crazy.  I hate that we cannot be at all of our usual holiday gatherings seeing all of the people we love, but I am enjoying not being in the hustle & bustle & just celebrating as a family of 4.  I got the last of the packages in the mail last week so I truly am taking in the season loving on my crazies, cooking, crafting, & really dwelling on the reason for this season.  

By doing a California Christmas, we have chosen to give the gift of travel from Santa to our crazies.  We are taking them to Disneyland!!!  They have no idea & will not until Christmas morning, but we are celebrating a little bit early & making up our own "Christmas Day".  Being military, there are special rates that we get, but they also come with blackout dates that happen to fall on Christmas.  So, to get around that we are grateful for kids that can't read a calendar yet so we can make Christmas whenever we want!

So, tonight we had Christmas Eve.  Soldier Man read the Christmas story from Luke & we sang Christmas Carols -- some kid ones like Rudolph & some adult ones like Silent Night.  The crazies got out the cookies & milk for Santa as well as carrots for his reindeer.  They put the special Santa key out front so he would have a way in since we lack a chimney in the desert -- imagine that.  Lastly, we read the Soldier's Night Before Christmas to remember the service men & women not at home with their family this season.  The crazies have dozed off & Santa better get busy, but these little blessings of mine are making the holidays not "at home" bearable & amazing!!

Reading the Christmas Story

D setting out the cookies

Getting the carrots out for the reindeer  -- "can they reach them here, Dad?"

My blessings

All ready to feed the big fellow dressed in red

The crazies setting out the special Santa key

Some More Holiday Fun

We had people over late last night just for fun -- the kids played nicely after we were all fed so the adults started & ended a card game.  That NEVER happens with 6 under 6 so we were thrilled.  The crazies hit the sack at 11:00 & us at about midnight after cleaning up a bit so today was a lazy day where the crazies & I did a few more holiday crafts!

The crazies created their own Santa faces

They were thrilled & wanted to "confuse" Santa by hanging them up!

K wandered into the kitchen with her chair & wanted to help make icing 

They decorated some cookies

K kept licking her decorations off -- don't worry, she ate her own cookie!

D wanted his man to have Army boots -- obsessed!!

K has got the right idea!! Just suck the yumminess right out of the bag!!

D's Got Mad B-Ball Skills

Deacon started basketball mid-November & LOVES it.  For his age, there is not a competitive team here at Fort Irwin, but they spend practice each week learning various skills & drills associated to the sport.  I value that they get to take 2 years to learn about the game rather than just competing against other teams weekly so that they can actually learn skills related to basketball rather than just run around with 9 other kids trying to touch a ball.  I think to date this has been his favorite sport so far & he is doing really well with it!

Pre-Warm-Up Toss with the boys

                   Dribbling Practice                          The Girls Sharing Their Ball    

GOAL!!

 So proud of his shots!

Running Suicides

Gingerbread Men

We can't welcome Christmastime around here without making a batch of gingerbread men!  With soooo much to fit in this holiday season, we have scaled back on our learning time & teaching around here to make way for more baking, crafting, & doing lots of holiday things!  I've deemed Mondays our baking day since 1. it is our one day of the week where we have nothing so it won't matter if we are covered in flour until 3:00 and 2. to have a fresh batch of munchies for the week!  

This past Monday I made fudge & sugar cookies & invited the crazies into the kitchen to help make gingerbread men.  We had a blast.  Both got a turn to press out the dough & cut a full stone of gingerbread men.  They did quite well!  I did the icing as even I get pretty messy with that & couldn't imagine letting a 4 & 2 year old go to town with it -- they helped with the sugar cookies later anyway since the tube icing is easier for them to handle.

We had fun... lots of tasting, cutting, & laughter!  And just like that we can officially say it is Christmastime here!

½ cup shortening

½ cup packed light brown sugar

3 ¼ cups all purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

½ teaspoon ground ginger

¾ cup molasses

¼ cup water

I mix it, refrigerate it for about an hour, cut, then 

bake at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes.  Let cool before icing.  

 D is quite the chef in the kitchen!

Most of K's cutting was her eating the dough that she pulled from around the men we cut out.

A cooling rack of yumminess!

The crazies were ready to dig in after they were up from naps!

J is for Jesus!!!

With Christmas nearly here, I thought there would be no better way to introduce the letter "J" than with a J is for Jesus theme.  The crazies have jumped right into the Christmas story all while learning "J", Jesus, & other fun things with candy canes.  We used the candy canes to show the letter J & have made plenty of crafts tied back to them.  Deacon has been working on some Christmas math while Kennedy has been perfecting tracing & coloring her shapes.  We spent our day in the kitchen making candy came cookies & we practiced patterns by making candy canes with our thumbprints.  It has been a fun way to kick off Christmas with the crazies all while teaching the real reason for this season!!

J is for Jesus!!

One of our many books that tell the real reason for the season

 D's holiday themed math

K got some new Minnie stickers that she was excited to use for shape & sticker time!

 We colored candy canes, turned them into a J, & glues baby Jesus in it on some straw.

Candy canes were our go-to treat for cooperation during learning!

The candy cane cookies pre-baking... they did so good twisting the dough

Yumminess with drizzle & peppermint on top

K staying busy... she is sooo good at her busy bags

 D doing some addition

All the supplies you need for a little candy cane pattern action

D & K got busy laying down red, white, red, white, red, white... you get the idea!

Look MOM!!