Rain Gutter Regatta & Random Christmas Happiness

Payton had his Cub Scout Rain Gutter Regatta last night. It's not quite as serious as the Pinewood Derby, but it still has a lot of rules and regulations. And even though he didn't win a trophy this time, he did have fun designing his boat and cheering on his friends at the race.

He decided to decorate his boat like the "Green Ninja" from the LEGO show, Ninjago.

He and his friends had fun checking out each others creations.

Then they place their boats in a rain gutter that is filled with water, and blow them down the gutter with a straw.

 

I think Brian may have been most proud of him by the way he handled not winning, and continued rooting for his friends instead of pouting. He's growing up and learning what's important.

On another note, we made our first batch of Christmas cookies today. They turned out really yummy! I decided to make our own icing, even though I have not had a lot of success with that in the past.

Fortunately, this time, it turned out perfect and the boys loved it. Here's the recipe if you're interested. (The only thing I omitted was the food coloring. No need for that Red Dye if you can avoid it.)

They especially liked licking the beaters after the icing was done.

Parker paid close attention while Payton decorated the cookies with sprinkles and red hots.

And then of course, they had to taste them out to make sure we did a good job. :)

"Cheers!"

 Happy boys!

 

 Aside from homemade vanilla icing, here are some other things that are making me happy this Christmas season...

Pandora Christmas Channel on my phone. Listen to it all day long. Seriously. All. Day. Long.

I

 ...Being able to open up the house and let the breeze float through. It's been so gorgeous lately!

This is how our back french doors look most of the time...

And since we don't have a screen on our front door, I improvise with a baby gate. Hey...use whatcha got, right?

 ...Excited for this little elf to get into some funny & naughty activity next week...

...Displaying this beautiful plate that my sis-in-law, Kara, got me years ago. It's such a great reminder of what's important:

...Being able to turn on our "fireplace" every night. Something about cooler weather makes it a little less cheesy to have a fake fireplace...right??

 ...Going on long morning walks around the neighborhood with my little guy in his Christmas PJ's watching him meticulously pick out just the right acorns to put into his tiny bucket.

...And how he insisted on wearing these reindeer slippers all day yesterday. Even when we left the house. It was pretty cute, I must admit.

What are you enjoying these first few days of the Christmas season?

Whatever it is, relish it because before you know it, it will be January and we'll have 365 more days until we get to enjoy all of this holiday cheer again. :)