We headed to Lowes to pick out our tree again this year. The boys had fun checking out the holiday displays, especially all of the lit-up houses and towns that move around. There was a little carousel that was so cool! As for trees, there was not a huge selection for some reason, but Alex is always able to find a good one. The boys ran around the tree aisles until it was time to check out. Henry's hands were cold, so I loaned him my gloves, which he thought was funny. We strapped the tree to the roof and headed home!
Later that afternoon, after a nap, we started decorating. The boys thought it was pretty cool, but as you can guess, the fragile ones still went to the top! They couldn't really get stuff on the branches very well, but the loved the little fake candy canes since those were easy to hang on branches. We also found the little plastic horn that my brother and I used to annoy my parents with, and now my kids can fight over it and annoy me with it! :) Ah, traditions. Overall the boys did pretty well with the tree and ornaments. (Ok, not great, we had to tell them to leave it alone pretty much every day, but they didn't break any ornaments! So I'm calling that a success.) They loved to look at it and point different ones out. So it was a fun year! We watched our first Rudolph and Frosty movies, so I'm excited for next year when they will actually remember some of this stuff. It's fun to look forward to!
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| The chosen tree |
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| The horn! So loud, so fun |
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| Hanging candy canes |
I decided to be really crazy this year and try some craft-y stuff. I let them dye Easter eggs, and it went better than I thought! I was actually sad I had only boiled a dozen, since they would have done a lot more. (But I didn't want to be wasteful, since I didn't know what we'd even do with all the boiled eggs we had.) I was impressed at how they did. The colors could have been brighter, but it was hard to wait long enough. But both boys were very good with the spoons getting them out of the cups, and nobody spilled or made a big mess. 
I also made some sugar cookies and planned to let the boys decorate them (since we'd done some decorating around Christmas.) This didn't go as well, since the boys just wanted to eat the cookies or icing. I was aiming to make little chicks, and I think Henry made one successfully. Holden just put all the eyes on one cookie (which was creepy-looking) and then proceeded to eat his cookie. I finished up the rest and called it a success. :) I also made my egg nests with the chow mein noodles again, but was smart enough to put them in cupcake liners this year, which made them a little easier to transport and eat. Some fun creative projects, and can't wait to try them again next year!
