"Baking" in a Winter wonderland

In an effort to start my Christmas baking last week I decided that it would be fun to have the boys help me.   I grabbed all the ingredients and then the door bell rang.  I went to the door, chatted for 2 minutes and came back to the kitchen to find this.... yes they are putting handfuls of powdered sugar into the baking powder container.

At this point I had 2 options 

#1: yell and get mad

#2: Smile and grab the camera.... I choose this option

Yup he is in heaven

Working hard

Ben loved liking the powder sugar

Poor Berkeley got involved too.... she was licking it off the floor

She looks like a white dog!

Frosty the snowman... was a jolly happy soul

The night of the big snowfall we headed out to do some deep snow sledding

Ben wasn't to sure about sledding after his first run down the hill where he ended up face first with a face and jacket full of SNOW.... he got over it pretty quickly!

Nathan is just like his daddy and his Grumpy.... totally LOVES snow and shoveling

Afterwards we settled in for some yummy hot chocolate out of their travel mugs from Gramma.

We built two frosty the snowmen

Nathan also needed to "cut the snow!"

Benjamin's Frosty!

Nathan's Frosty!

Its the most wonderful time of the year!

Thanks Grumpy for these really big candy canes!

Eyeing up the Big Fire engines at the store!

Helping mommy do a little Christmas shopping!

Look what we found in the Fleet Farm parking lot!

After a long day of shopping with mommy.... many many stops and shops.. it was time for a little fun and a Merry-Go-Round ride.

The crazy Elf Nicholas continues his crazy antics at the Utech Household... a little zip line!

The boys now insist on sleeping in their beds with "tents"

Decorating Christmas cookies with our Buddy Nicholas... it really is a bummer that Ben doesn't like sprinkles!

Ben and Nicholas rolling out the dough....

Decorating their cookies.... Nathan looks guilty:)

What a mess... but some beautiful cookies for the grandmas!

They were so messy we told the boys to put their hands UP!!!!.... Ben got sprinkles all in his hair!

So off we went to Tubby time!

We took the boys on a Christmas light tour around Woodbury... they loved all the bright lights and shout for us to drive slow as we approach each house. I love seeing their excited expressions... this truly is the JOY of the season!

Here comes Santa Clause...right down Santa Clause lane

Night Lights at Bandana Square's Train Museum!  The boys love trains and the night time trains were so cool!

Driving his own train

It was a Macy's 8th Floor: Day in the life of the Elf kind of a day.  After a very snowy drive we had a blast walking through the exhibit and then visiting Santa.

Nathan loved saying cheese with Santa.... Ben loved talking to Santa but it took him a few minutes to warm up.  Ben again told Santa that he wanted a Rocket Ship for Christmas.... I hope that Santa's Elves are working on that:)

Dropping off our letters to Santa!

A really long straw that Grumpy made for him!

The best part of Macy's downtown were all the escalators!!!

Snuggling Berkeley!

Ben had a little upper respiratory thing going on... he thought he was quite the BIG man doing it all by himself!

Jingle all the way...

The making of the gingerbread house!  I had mentioned that I wanted to let the boys decorate a ginger bread house.  Brent came home from Home Depot with a "Home Depot Gingerbread House"... not exactly what I had in mind... but the boys loved it!

Nathan's Favorite Part: Eating the candy

Benjamin's Favorite Part: Lining all the candy along the frosting

The finished product... the boys love it!

N & B love the tree and at times touch all the ornaments way more then I would like.  However they love it, they say that it is beautiful and they talk about how they cut it down.  At night they take their blankets, lay them out on the floor under the tree and lay under the tree looking up at the lights... it is pretty much the cutest thing and epitome of how I picture the season to be. 

I came down the stair to find this scene.... "Mommy I make you eggers?!?"

Ben should be the poster child for shutterfly... he loves getting the boxes off the front step!

A lunch date at Burger Moe's with Joe and Ellie and Adelia

St. Nicholas came to the Utech's.  He left behind a few gifts for daddy and the boys and of course the Elf!  The boys have named the elf Nicholas!  They think Nicholas is great and race down the stairs to find Nicholas' silly hiding spot for the day!

ECFE Christmas Party

Reindeer... hand and foot prints

Attempting the group shot!

Christmas cookie decorating

A Christmas Book exchange!

The kids are getting so big, they have conversations with each other, they hug when they leave each other.  So cute... they have spent so much time together over the last 2.5 years.  What lucky little toddlers!