HiHo Cherry-O!

We have a tradition of unwrapping a game and playing it as a family on Christmas Eve. This year we opened Hasbro's HiHo Cherry-O. It worked really well for our family. It has two sets of rules. One is for a cooperative game (everyone is on the same team) the other each person plays against each other. We used the cooperative game and had a wonderful time! It has the cutest little cherries, blueberries, oranges and apples to pick. If you spill your baskest or the dog gets into it, you have to put some back on the tree or bush - just like real harvesting! Okay, so it's not ture to life but the game is great for counting practice and doesn't require reading so it was a good fit for our family that includes a three year old and a four year old. HiHo Cherry-O has a 4.5 out of 5 star rating on Amazon.com (which is where I got both of these photos and the actual game). As I type this, the game costs $7.99 and has free Super Saver Shipping.

Building Birthday

We had a "Building Birthday" at our house. I made a state capital building cake - which would have been wrapped in a beautiful layer of fondant and had fondant windows put in if I hadn't just moved into our new house and been watching three extra children for four days. I'm still proud of it but it would have been incredible if I had finished it.

For some decorations I made some buildings out of Mega Bloks. I printed pictures of buildings my son would recognize on sticker paper, lined them up on the Bloks and cut out a portion of the picture for each block. I cut a small amount off between blocks so the stickers wouldn't be hanging off the edge. To help them last a little longer, I added a layer of Mod Podge on top. Each building was built in with a different color Blok. Along with the state capital, there was a temple, a smoke stack and our new house for him - and the rest of the guests - to build.