Gingerbread Houses

The kids love making gingerbread houses, but I don't want to buy a $10 kit for each of them and I'm not too good at the graham cracker houses. I came across this pan this year that is in the shape of a gingerbread house and I thought it would be perfect. Nobody else was quite as excited as I was about but I still had faith that it would turn out well.
I mixed together a gingerbread cookie mix (I'm going with simplicity right now) and Miles and Carter each got to press it in the pan. We cooked them one day and decorated the next day.

Carter going to town with the frosting.

Miles is more focused and has a definite idea in mind of how he wants his to turn out.

Carter is so proud of his creation. He even has frosting on his shoulder.

Miles masterpiece.

Despite some skepticism they turned out great. Miles and Carter both had a good time decorating and it was a whole heck of a lot easier than putting an entire house together. Here is to a new and easy tradition!

A visit to see Santa!

Christmas is fast approaching and I realized we hadn't had the chance to visit with Santa yet. We usually run into him somewhere along the way and since we hadn't we decided we needed to make a trip to see him. We headed to our nearest mall which happened to be Valley Fair mall. We got there at 4:00 right before Santa got back from lunch or something. There wasn't a very long line but there was a line and Carter does not like to wait. Poor kid.

Miles so excited. His front teeth are a little big for his smile right now.

Carter is excited too. His teeth are another story in and of themselves.

Getting close to Santa.

They were so glad they got to tell Santa what they wanted for Christmas. As we were driving there Miles was going down his list and Quinn and I were listening thinking, well it sounds like Santa will be prepared for you. Then Carter started on his list for Santa and Quinn and I started panicking. Nothing sounded familiar. It is a good thing we went and saw Santa when we did. As we were walking away from Santa he stopped them and said, now you need to stop any fighting. It was awesome. We keep reminding them that Santa knows when they are fighting.

There was a little train there and two little boys had their hearts set on riding it. I went to see how much it was and came back and said it is $3 per person. So, one of you can go. The Christmas spirit was gone as they were not ready to give up their ride for the love of their brother. I only let that last for a few seconds before I told them they could both ride it. Carter looks more excited about the train than he did for Santa. Oh little boys.

What a cool train!

They wanted to sit in the coal car. They took a little trip outside and then back inside. Someday these boys are going to grow up and it breaks my heart.

Brandon Flowers

I am a big fan of the musical group The Killers. Brandon Flowers is the lead singer and this year he put out a solo album and went on tour. I decided we needed to go so I bought some tickets. Quinn likes them, but isn't the fan that I am. We met up with the Oswald's and their friends the Waite's and went to dinner first.

The concert was at the Depot, which is a smaller venue. I was pretty excited about that because when Quinn and I usually go to a concert we are near the back row of whatever arena we are at. We had heard the concert was only about an hour and we also were under the impression that there wasn't an opening act. We were there by 8:00 (when it was suppose to start) and waited til 8:30 for it to begin.


Here we are waiting for it to start. Aren't we cute? I was so excited.


Katrina Waite, McKinley Oswald and Brian Waite. I think they were excited too, but not as excited as I was.

Poor Andrea had no where to sit. That is a long time to stand when you are 7 months pregnant.

At 8:30 the show finally started, but it did not start with Brandon Flowers. We hadn't heard anything about anyone opening so it was a nice surprise when the opening act was Fran Healy who happens to be the lead singer for a band named Travis. Turns out that Travis is one of Quinn's favorite bands. It is always fun to hear stories behind the songs you already know and listen to.

Around 9:30 or so Brandon Flowers came out and did not disappoint. The show was very good. I sang along to all the songs and had a blast. Despite wanting to rush the stage I did not. I stayed where I was and enjoyed the show.


The best pic I could get.


This is a BIT blurry.


Another blurry pic.

I am so glad I bought the tickets and we went. Live concerts are a lot of fun and when it is a band/artist that you really like they are the best!

Halloween

WHO YA GONNA CALL?!?


Miles has been going through the classic monsters for Halloween for the past 4 years and he wanted to finish it off this year by being a ghost. Carter wanted to be a ghost as well. That makes it easy. For the past couple years Quinn and I have dressed up as well to go to the trunk or treating. I couldn't think of what I should dress up as to go with them. A friend of mine suggested going as a Ghostbuster and a costume idea was born!

We are going to get those little monsters! Quinn made the proton packs and I do have to say they were pretty awesome. You can't see much detail in the pictures, but there was detail. We were pretty cool.

Quinn was taking his role pretty seriously.

Baseball

We let the boys have a go at baseball/t-ball. The T was rarely used on Miles' team and Carter's team only used it here and there. They were so cute.

Carter is all decked out ready to play. His team was the Cincinnati Reds. The teams had actual MLB teams this year.
Carter hitting one out of the park. Ok, not that far. But he made contact and that is awesome!

Carter would put the helmet on top of his cap. It didn't quite fit right but he was fine with that.

When they were in the outfield Carter kept getting bored. Here he is twirling in the dirt. His arms are in position for a good spin.

Check out that handsome boy. He is so proud of his certificate. Miles was on the Indiana Braves team.

Getting ready to bat.

Good hit!

GO!

Miles did really well this year. He hasn't played for a few years so I didn't know if others would be way ahead of him, but they were all pretty much the same. I really do enjoy having them in something, but with all of our other obligations in life we only put them in something once or twice a year. Tennis might be next.