KaLightOScope at The Galt House = Lots of Fun!!

This past weekend we went to the KaLightOScope event at Christmas at The Galt House and it was SO much fun!  We had won tickets for KaLightOScope when we won Best Family/Group Costume at the Trunk or Treat that the Louisville Mommies Network (a great group of ladies I belong to here in Louisville) put on this past October.  It was such  great event!  We only had the two boys with us, and they both enjoyed it.  It started off with us spying Santa walking among the crowds and greeting everyone with elves flocking him on both sides----which got Cooper super excited.  He almost couldn't wait to get our tickets at the ticket booth.  We did decide to do the Search for Santa's Key which was extra, but fun to watch the kids look for all the clues and then go to Santa's Workshop to pick out a small toy.   Here are pictures from our day at Christmas at The Galt House.

We had barely walked through the Conservatory where they were just finishing up Breakfast with Santa....and I had to stop for our first (of many) pictures.  This nut wanted his picture taken with EVERYTHING.

I thought this was super cute especially being in Kentucky---Santa riding a thoroughbred with his presents!

Two of our little elves....which I had to clarify were not trolls.  Guess they are sort of similar with the ears and all.

Santa out mingling with the common folk...  

Telling Santa that he will be on the Nice List and all about the Batman toys he would like for Christmas....and adding at the last minute to fly safely and Merry Christmas.  Santa commented on how polite Cooper was and how he was impressed with his manners.   He waited his turn really well, didn't interrupt the other kids Santa was speaking with, and said please and thank you.  I believe his exact words were "Thanks mom and dad for all the hard work, and teaching your good little boy about manners".   Seems common sense to me....but I guess if Santa finds it necessary to comment on it he must see some pretty rotten parenting going on out there, huh?  

One of the biggest gingerbread houses we have ever seen.  Those are thousands of jelly beans for grass!  I had to wonder how many little fingers snuck a jelly bean or two.  Eww.   There was a wall full of smaller ones that were amazing and hopefully our gingerbread house will turn out just as good as some of the ones we saw at The Galt House last weekend.  

The Snow Fairy/Princess.  You could go into her castle to make wishes and see all of her sparkly clothes, etc.  Cooper wanted to act all shy, but warmed up to the idea of making a special wish with her.  

We wrote a letter to Santa where Cooper drew pictures of....guess who..???  Batman, Robin, and the Joker.  I didn't act fast enough to get a picture of his letter unfortunately....before he dropped it into Santa's mailbag.  

Here is Cooper inside the Workshop looking for the perfect toy.....see that little door over there....yep, that full grown woman had to crawl in and out of that little door.  Now that's dedication considering how many times she had to do it!

The walkway into KaLightoScope....where artisans had formed all kinds of wire figures/items and then stretched fabric over the wire with lights inside----the pictures don't do it justice.  It really is pretty amazing.  

Snowboarding Santa!

Another "Mommy, take a picture of me with this _______" moment.  

Daddy helping Cooper write his name on the Naughty/Nice list----which one did Cooper say he belonged on...??

Thankfully, the Nice List! 

"Mommy, take my picture with baby Jesus"....he loves finding baby Jesus wherever we go.  I love it.

The Jolly Old Guy!

Taking a break afterwards for some eggnog for Kyler and some peppermint ice cream for Cooper, Matt, and I to share.  

Playing with his brother....

pretending to share the ice cream and then switching at the last minute to eat it yourself.  Had Cooper cracking up.  I am so thankful that these two guys have so much fun together.  It really is a blessing.

Flower Pot Christmas Crafts

Amy over at One Artsy Momma inspired me to pull out the craft stuff (once I found the box it was still packed in) and get some flower pots to make some crafts with the kids.  Cooper especially loves painting so this was a perfect craft for him.  Some parts of these crafts are not kid friendly and have to be done by adults because it involves a glue gun or pretty detailed painting but overall he was able to stay right there with me to do it.   Of course, we spread the work out over a few days.    Disclaimer---  Do not look at my messy counters with stacks of picture frames, etc. still waiting to find a home in our new house.

The button above "Shine on Fridays" is a linky party that Amy and her friend, Kara, are co-hosting.  Go check it out....but be warned....you will want to run out to your local craft store to make at least  dozen of the cute projects you'll find!!

Our "angels"---  I just hot glued two pots together.

"Santa"...or if Cooper had his was "Optimus Prime".

The Christmas Tree

"Rudolph" 

Our Three Soliders

Our first night of painting....we did the base coats on all of the pots.   I let Cooper do the first coat on all of them and then filled in any open areas with him.  He was good at finding the spots that needed a little love and would tell me "Oops momma, I need more here please!"

One of the rare moments that Cooper was painting without the help of his tongue.    Cute little guy gives that tongue a work out when he is concentrating.  Maybe that's because he was singing "Away In a Manger" while he was painting and telling me how much he loves Christmastime.

With the exception of the black on the soldiers and Santa Cooper helped with all of these!  We used regular ole acrylic paints.

I had found some brown foam Gingerbread men in the dollar bins at Target and picked them out to do a quick craft with Cooper.....luckily it worked out that I used one to cut out the antlers and ears for Rudolph and we stuck a red (of course) fuzzy ball on his nose.  

Cooper and Kyler used their fingers dipped in paint to decorate the Christmas tree, to make the eyes on all the other pieces, and for the buttons on the soldiers.  

More gems from the dollar bin....cute spools of ribbon made for a nice little tree topper.

Again.....the pipe cleaners came from the dollar bin at Target.  I was having trouble thinking of what to do to make Santa's hat....and I thought this was a cute twist.  I'm thinking Santa needs arms....What do you think?

I did the stripes down the pant legs and their little soldier faces and of course used the glue gun to attach the red balls to their hats.

Some gold ribbon I found in the clearance aisle worked out great for some wings which I just twisted into bows and then hot glued on their backs.  Thank goodness for wired ribbon.   I did their faces, hair, and halos but Cooper was able to do their cheeks.     These are presents for Cooper's preschool teachers.  I asked him which ones he wanted to give his teachers and he picked out the angels.  

A shot of the back of the angel.