Christmas Bowl

The boys always enjoy bowling at the Skidmore Family Christmas party!  

I took this about one minute before he smashed his finger.  He was not happy anymore.

Karston getting a good view.

Our shoe collection.

Santa came to visit!

Cam loves Santa!

When Santa asked if they had been good, Sam said, "Sort of."

A Bit Wet

Another tradition we have is to visit the national tree.  It is a lovely setting between the White House and the Washington Memorial.  There is the huge tree with trains running all around it and then there are trees for every state.  We love standing by the enormous yule log and listening to the Christmas music.  A new addition this year was Santa's workshop.  We even got to go inside and the boys got to sit on Santa's lap and have their picture taken, for free even.  (Oops, I'm not sure what happened to that picture.)  Our visit was brief this year because it was raining a little too much.  I didn't bring umbrellas and I found out that my coat is NOT water resistant and down filling doesn't smell very good when it gets all wet.  

Lights

We made it up to the DC temple to see the lights and it was BEAUTIFUL.  It a few years we might be able to stay for one of the concerts, but sitting through one right now with Cam would not be that enjoyable.  The boys had fun running around and looking up close at the "chili pepper lights."  There were big led lights that the boys would stare right into and they thought it was the coolest thing.  

I love the live nativity.  (Mary and Joseph are real and they move around as the story is told.)  You have to keep your kids from walking right up in there.      

It was fun to be together and feel the Christmas Spirit.  We only managed to unplug one set of lights, so I think that was a success.

Nate in Concert

Nate is playing viola in his school orchestra program this year.  He really wanted to do it.  Their concert was great.  I was expecting to be covering my ears a little, but I was very pleasantly surprised.  It was fun to watch him be part of something like that.

He got to sit by his friend Jordan.  I'm not sure what they are laughing about.  He didn't know I was taking his picture.

Hooray for the VIOLA section!

Gingerbread Boys

We try to make gingerbread cookies every year. It is messy and the boys get to eat candy, so what is not to love. Cam and I had some friends over to help us and then when the older boys came home from school they got to decorate some too.

They all love the rolling pin.

Flour doesn't taste as good as it looks!

Poor Baby

I was picking up the basement one day and noticed this scene. Can you tell we live in a house full of boys?


The excitement is building around here. They love opening the boxes, most especially when they each get a piece of chocolate.

Movie Bust

On Saturday loaded into the car and headed out to go to dinner and see the movie Bolt. (and stop in at REI=Matt Happy). I ran into the theater to buy the movie tickets and came out empty handed because the tickets were $14.50!!!!!!! Can you believe that? I couldn't spend $90 to see a movie. So, on the way home we got a red box instead. ( That wording is for you Zac.)

Yesterday, Matt and I got a babysitter during the day for Cam and we went to see Quantum of Solace. It was fun. On the drive home he was bragging that he had some Bond driving moves. Then he said he was kinda like James Bond and I was like M! Again, can you believe that? That was great to find out that he doesn't think of me as one the beautiful Bond girls but M, the bossy old lady that's always telling him what to do.
We had a good laugh about that. I'm sure he didn't mean it rude but I still can't exactly think of how that is a good thing. I guess he loves me though, he carried this up to the top of a mountain last year.

Uncle Zac, Trains, and Cacti

The Botanical Garden in DC has the most fun train exhibit at this time of year.  We were lucky enough to have Zac visiting too!

They have models of the White House, Capital Building and the large monuments all made out of natural materials like nuts, bark, seeds, leaves...

Isn't that COOL!

Scary nutcracker faces.

Testing how sharp.

Santa's Workshop

Tree Time

We found a perfect little tree at trusty old Home Depot. We would probably get a bigger one if we stayed home for Christmas, so this one was just right. The boys had more fun playing hide and seek in the tree bins and making their mom crazy. 

While Matt and I got the tree in the stand, the boys got into their new Christmas PJ's and danced and around being silly.