So the other night we decided to decorate a gingerbread house for a family activity. What a wonderful time to bond, right? I pictured it so happily--siblings taking turns with each different variety of candy, sharing time together, talking about their favorite kinds of candy while they delicately place the gumballs or peppermint candies in their places....NOT...I have come to the conclusion that these boxes should not be called Gingerbread House Kits, but rather "Contention in a Box" kits, and come with a warning label that reads:
WARNING: THIS PRODUCT MAY BE HARMFUL TO THE WELL-BEING OF YOUR FAMILY. PARTICIPANTS MAY EXPERIENCE MANIC EPISODES OF FIGHTING OVER DIFFERENT COLORS/VARIETIES OF CANDY. POSSIBLE CONTENTION IN AN OTHERWISE PEACEFUL ENVIRONMENT. DO NOT USE IF YOU HAVE MORE THAN ONE CHILD UNLESS YOU PLAN TO PROVIDE AN ADDITIONAL HOUSE FOR EACH ADDITIONAL CHILD. POTENTIAL LARYNGITIS FOR PARTICIPANTS, WHO FIGHT OVER WHICH DECORATIONS TO USE, OR PARENTS OF PARTICIPANTS, WHO FIND THEMSELVES YELLING AT PARTICIPANTS TO CALM DOWN AND SHARE...NOW. USE AT YOUR OWN RISK.
Somehow we survived the incident with no festering wounds, but it was a close call. One child even chose to boycott the activity for a time in order to regroup when the younger children were not following a pattern for the fence. Don't 3 year olds know that you have to alternate two colors for a fence, that it cannot just be a random pattern of Sprees interspersed with gumballs? How can they not know that? Two brave children chose to brave the activity through to the end, despite the potential threat to their voice boxes.
Now it has been several days since the "activity," and we are left with an adorable gingerbread house that everyone who enters our house comments, "Oh, that must have been so much fun!" We just smile and nod our heads, unable to find the appropriate words to describe the experience.

Standing in the ocean waves on the Caribbean shoreline is one of our family favorites.

MORE CANCUN PICS...

On the Beach, at Ek Balam ruins where you can still climb the pyramids (the ultimate stairmaster), boys playing for hours on end, sisters, so much fun!

WHAT DO YOU WANT FOR CHRISTMAS?

Remember when you were little and you would ask your mom what she really wanted for Christmas and she would answer something along the lines of "Everyone to clean the house" or "Love at Home" or "Everyone to be nice to each other for a day" and you thought she was just making that up because she knew you didn't have any money anyway and that Dad would really be buying the gift and she knew he was already buying her something so it would be redundant? (I know that was a runon sentence, but it was a runon thought, so it figures).

Well, I now realize that she really was telling the truth. That REALLY WAS WHAT SHE WANTED FOR CHRISTMAS. And now it's what I want--a clean house (not cleaned by my hands), everyone to be NICE for the day, and peace and quiet, and oh, yes, sleeping in on Christmas morning would be great, too. Really, kids, that's all I want!

But if you insist on getting me something tangible, I'd love a new hoodie from Aeropostale. And tell Dad I need new ski boots. Okay?

HOLA! We all went to Cancun to celebrate the Thanksgiving Holiday! Julie's entire family went--22 in all, for a week of glorious swimming, snorkeling, sand castle building, ruin visiting, over-eating fun! We stayed at the Moon Palace just south of the city, and we persuade everyone to go at least once in your life. By the way, it's a TRUE MOM's vacation--no cooking, no cleaning, plenty of R & R.