Harry Potter Library Event

We are getting our mileage out of the boys' Harry Potter costumes. Not only do they play with them at home with regularity, they used them to dress up for a Harry Potter event at our library last Thursday. My friend, Christina, had told me about the event, but what really sold it were the posters on the end caps at the library itself. Ethan spotted one on our last trip and asked if we could go. Our friends went as well.

Logan chose to wear his new Quiddich robes that the boys got for Christmas. And crocs for both of my boys. Sigh. Shoes are simply not something I will choose to argue with them about...unless a special pair is required for a certain activity. 

The library had several activities set up for the kids to do. One was a scavenger hunt - they had to go find things like a broomstick, etc. And mark it off their list. 

Give this child a checklist and he is a happy camper. He is my son for sure. 

They also had Professor Trelawney handing out fortunes to the kids. 

Inside another room there were several tables with activities. There was also a Butterbeer station. The younger boys decided to give it a try. Looks like Brennan was not a fan! 

And Logan wasn't either! Haha! At least they gave it a try - the big boys didn't even want to do that. 

The younger boys also designed and colored their own crests. Logan did a section for each of the Hogwarts houses. 

They all made their way back to the tables and played with some blocks at one point. I think some of the activities were too crowded and they just wanted to play with each other anyway. 

Christina took a photo of the boys and me for us. The boys barely stopped playing and running around long enough to do this. 

While you're in the library, you might as well have a look at some books...

They cannot resist playing with an iPad. Christina and I (thankfully) had the presence of mind to check what they had done on the iPad and we deleted three videos they had made. 

In all honestly, this was a wild night. The event started at 6:30 on a weeknight. That's right about when we winding down for the night on a school night. Logan is usually in bed around 7:15 and Ethan has lights out at 8. And this time of night is not known as their best time of the day, especially after a full day of school. Friends and fun activities keep them from melting down completely, but they only amp up the craziness factor. So, while Christina and I were struggling to keep these four from feeding on each other's energy and going totally rogue in the middle of the library, we did all have fun. 

There were quite a few people at the event, which added to the chaos. At least our children were not the only crazy ones. And ours were not the loudest and rowdiest either!

Christmas Cookies 2016

Today we made our Christmas cookies...like we do every year. Two will be for Santa and the rest will be for us! This endeavor started out a little rocky for the boys (and me, by extension). They were cranky (for some unknown reason) and therefore, fought with each other quite a bit during the dough-making part. It was so much fun (insert eye roll).

They cut up their own sticks of butter this year. Any recipe that starts out with two sticks of butter is a winner in my book. 

They took turns with the mixer. They're getting good at not flinging food all over the place when they use it. 

They each got to crack an egg and we had no shells that we had to fish out. So, good job, boys. 

They had to share the rolling pin too. Every year I think, "we should get another rolling pin so they can do this at the same time." And then a whole year goes by before we use the rolling pin again so I forget about it. And really, we don't need another one. 

They've got this part down now...rolling out the dough and cutting the cookies. 

We added a few new cookie cutters to our stash this year: a mitten, Christmas light, stocking, and present.

Ethan wanted to transfer his cookies to the baking sheet all by himself. I only ended up having to help him a little bit.

So, after we took a break for the cookies to bake and cool, the boys mellowed out and didn't fight any more - hallelujah. They're checking out their cookies here to see how they baked. 

A couple of hours later when the cookies were completely cooled and we were ready to get back in the kitchen, they decorated their cookies. The icing was a little runny at first, but it actually firmed up as we went along. So the first couple of cookies look peculiar (but tasted great!). Ethan wanted to make an "E" cookie, so I used a knife to cut that out. 

I did an "L" for Logan too. They didn't need too much help with the icing...it came out of the bottles pretty well. 

I spy Duke trying to get anything he possibly can that's dropped...which did happen, of course. 

Logan kept sneaking tastes of icing. He did the same with the cookie dough. He probably had the equivalent of three cookies with icing before we were all done!

So serious...

The boys let me decorate a few cookies too. It's fun! This was my tray. I really liked how that snowflake turned out and I also enjoyed doing the Christmas lights. See how our icing was a little runny? We do not worry about such things. It's fine. They tasted wonderful!

These are Ethan's cookies...

And these are Logan's. I know it's only three days until Christmas, but it might not be easy to save two of these for Santa!

Do You Wanna Build a Snowman?

This was a new activity for us this year and the boys totally loved it. They were with me when we bought the modeling clay at Michael's a while ago, but I told them it would be a surprise when we used it. They were so excited to see it on the coffee table today for our snowman craft.

I just happened to find little "snowman kits" at Hobby Lobby on sale (50% off) that had the stick arms and nose. (Before I found the kits, I was planning to use real sticks and candy corn.) We already had the buttons, the ribbon for the scarves, and the googly eyes.

The magic model clay is really easy for kids to work with, so I didn't have to help them at all. And it dries a little after you leave it to set up. Perfect for sculpting.

Duke wanted to know what was going on and if there was food involved.

Ethan wanted me to cut his stick arms a little shorter so they didn't poke through the other side. Then he used the scraps to make an "E" on the bottom of his snowman. 

Logan started out having a little trouble rolling balls, but then he got the hang of it.

We put their two cute little snowmen over by the gingerbread houses. (Logan's snowman is holding a snowball!)

Our Polar Express

We have an awesome heritage center near the downtown area of our town. Several historic buildings...and trains. We've been coming here for years, especially for photos, and the boys have always loved the trains. So today, just a few days before Christmas, I asked them if they wanted to help create some magical photos like the Polar Express. 

It has been cloudy ALL day today, which was perfect because I knew I wanted to add snow in post-processing. It looks a little weird to have snow falling with a bright shining sun. And wouldn't you know, just before sunset, the clouds broke and there was a gorgeous sky with pinks, blues, and purples. Normally absolutely perfect for a sunset shoot...but not if you were counting on the clouds to make your fake snow look authentic. Oh, well. We were already out there and shooting, so it is what it is!

The boys wore their "classic" Christmas PJs and their moose slippers. They were thrilled at being allowed to wear their slippers outside! They don't have dressing robes otherwise we would have brought those...very authentic to the Polar Express illustrations. 

We did bring along our "Harry Potter" lantern that I got for Ethan's wizarding birthday party two years ago. The boys still play with it when they play Harry Potter. It was perfect for this. (I did add the light burst in post - the actual light looks really dim in real life unless it's super dark!)

This shoot was really easy and quite fun. They didn't have to look at the camera and smile very much.

One more thing I brought was the actual Polar Express book. We love, love, love it and I'm so glad we got to capture a photo like this together. 

Even though I am glad I got in the photo, I really love this next one because of their expressions!

After I was done shooting, I was ready to pack up and go, but the boys wanted to play "Polar Express" before we left. It was really mild outside so I agreed...and kept my camera on. They did the whole thing...here they are helping the little boy onto the train before he misses it. This was more movie than book, but it was really cute to watch them.