Gingerbread houses...

Wednesday, Cody's class built and decorated gingerbread houses.  The decorating of the house had to be done in a pattern (hence the ability for his teacher to work it into the math lesson).

 

Milk carton for stability and form, graham crackers, frosting and lots of different types of candies.

Shriner's Toy Run...

Sunday we headed down to Niello for a breakfast at toy run to the Shriner's Hospital. 

 Keith has a mini RC car that lives in his toolbox that the boys were very happy to play with...

 Yummy breakfast cooked on the grill...

 We cruised over to the hospital and then went through the front and to the winner's circle to drop of toys.  

Rob's...

 The dealership bug that Keith drove (Ty riding with him)

 Olmstead's...

 Getting his picture, unfortunately I had all the toys in my car...

 Palomar's....

We had to leave early, but the rest of the group were able to go on a tour of the facility.  Glad to be apart of it! 

(Thanks for all the great pictures Rob!)

Last weekend's Christmas fun...

Friday night was the Orangevale Tree Lighting.  Tyler's school usually decorates ornaments to hang on the tree (but most fell of last year so his teacher decided to skip it) and they always sing a few songs they have been working on in class.   The rain stayed away this year so we were able to go out and have fun, enjoying all the things they had to do.  When we arrived we took advantage of the short line and let the boys jump in the bounce house for a bit.  Then we headed inside to make sure we were there for the performance.  

Before the singing , all the kids stamped a card...

 Then it was time to sing, you can see Ty with his Ho Ho Ho Santa hat.  He had an eagle eye on his teacher the whole time! 

 After they performed we headed back outside to ride the little train...

 After some kettle corn and some caroling, they lit the tree. 

 On Saturday we had a Santa's Breakfast at Cody's school.  Being a PTA event I was involved in set up, taking money and checking off names at the door, then cleaning at the end.  The boys came with Keith for breakfast and a sit down with the big man. 

We wrapped up our Saturday with a Birthday party and family dinner.  Phew!  Haven't even reached Sunday yet....

Dovewood Ct Christmas Lights...

Monday evening we strolled through Dovewood Ct to see all the fantastic lights.  The boys really look forward to this and it's fun to see what changes they do to the displays. 

There were two houses this year that had music syncrinazed to the lights, the first one was right at the start of the court. 

The boys love the simple Charlie Brown house...

Classic Christmas with Santa in his sleigh...

Candy Christmas...

Spongebob House...

These are my favorite items, the jelly fish in the trees...

Then we came upon the second dancing house....

Tyler brought his dancin' shoes...

 This house also has a garage display...

 North Pole Airport...

 They also had a gingerbread village...

 Dancing Santa....

 This is new, Christmas around the World...

 Disney house....

 This house has a tiny front yard, but it was still fun...

 Next house had a Christmas Village on display....

Loving all the lights and the Rudolph boarder...

 They had a winter village type theme with sled dogs and Santa in a gondolla...

 Not sure why it's sidways, but still very pretty...

Santa by the fireplace...

 Awesome...

 This is the reindeer house...

 Nativity house...

 The Grinch....

 Keith's favorite house: Margaritaville...

 complete with working blender...

 I love this winter house...

If you are local, or stopping through, you should check it out.  Dovewood Ct in Orangevale,