Decking the Halls at the Webb Zoo...

Family Fun!

We have a family tradition of making gingerbread houses.

This year we modified it to include our little monkeys.

I ordered fresh gingerbread cookies.

(Yes, don't judge me, I ordered fresh gingerbread men cookies from The Fresh Market Bakery. We made home made gingerbread dough one year and it was a pain in the you know what. So a short cut was in order.)

We got all our goodies and icing out.

Of Course Cousin Lori was in on our Christmas fun.

She is adjusting to the Carolina's just fine.

You will be seeing a lot of Lori at our house!

We pushed J & B up to the table and got started.

Just when we got started, we ran in to a small problem.....

Bella was afraid of the can of icing. 

Yup, not quite sure why but every time you squirt the icing she cries.

I gave them a small plate with the goodies on it and at first they didn't know what to do.

Actually that's not true.

They knew enough to eat EVERYTHING!

Mommy got really silly and stuck a marshmellow on their noses.

Jaxson didn't move but Bella wasn't having it. She took it off immediately.

Notice she only has tub icing on hers that she spread with a spoon.

NO can icing for her!

This was a great idea and a big success.

Bella put everything on her cookie and ate it all off before we were done.

Jaxson eat all his leftovers and left the marshmallow on his nose the whole time.

He ate all his "MnMnMnMnM's".

This was so much better than our failed falling apart gingerbread houses.

After we put the monkeys to bed, we got started on sugar cookies.

Lori had a new recipe for Royal Icing.

It took us a while but by the last few cookies we had it down.

Our few great creations.

We will know for Easter Cookies.

Yup we are already talking about what we are going to do for Easter!

So excited that Lori and Chris are here!

Bella has learned that Pinning her brother works for a lot of things.

As promised, we got out our last few ornaments for J, B, Kylie & Sissy to decorate together.

Kylie helped Bella and Des helped Jaxson.

Bella and Kylie were really into decorating the tree.

Bella put ornaments on and then moved the ones that Jaxson put on.

Jaxson put on about three ornaments and then he was done.

Kylie made a face for every ornament she put on.

Bella was very serious about putting her ornaments on.

After Jaxson put every ornament on he clapped with a "Yay" after it.

Another successful Family Fun activity.

We have a ton of ornaments for our tree.

Every year each child gets a new ornament and I write on the box their name and the year and who it is from.

They each have a box of ornaments that they will take with them when they are older.

Some ornaments are home made, some are Hallmark.

We've gathered a great collection over the years.

This year, although I have a few favorites, there are two that just stood out for me this year.

This one because it is our Complete Family.

There was a point in our lives that we didn't know if we would be more than three.

We are so blessed and happy to be six.

I proudly say The Webb Zoo.

 I wouldn't have it any other way.

This one represents our lost little angels.

"Emma, Tylor and Dylan"

I am sure you are all asking yourselves who are they?

I have never said there names out loud to anyone but Jimmy and Destine'.

Yes, our angel babies have names.

(read Heaven is for Real by Todd Burpo and you'll see why we gave them the names we had originally planned)

The twins we lost before Kylie, "Emma & Tylor".

And Bella & Jaxson 's Triplet "Dylan".

Sometimes we take life for granted.

Sometimes we take our children for granted.

I think about these three angels everyday.

Everyday I look at my beautiful Zoo, I think about how lucky I am to have been a Mom to all of them.

You may all know me as a Mom of four but God knows me as a Mom of Seven.

Some may think it's silly or may think I am crazy.

But I know how lucky I am to wake up everyday with my crazy Zoo.

Some days are challenging but each and every one is an adventure.

Merry Christmas!

From our Home and Hearts to yours.