Christmas 2011

Even with Grandma and Grandpa here we had a very calm and quiet Christmas.

We had left the bottom of the tree empty until Christmas Eve, and the kids helped us unpack all of the presents. As soon as we had emptied all of our boxes C asked for more. (That's what she is saying in sign-language.)

The kids were VERY excited about all of the presents they were jumping around and hollering about Christmas.

95% of the presents under the tree were for the kids. I would say that they were spoiled rotten. :-)

They each got to open two presents. One was their PJ's from us and the other was an ornament from G&G P.

Christmas morning the kids got to open their stockings during breakfast. They were just filled with goodies like sunglasses, socks, coloring books and a few treats.

Then it was time to tackle the presents! I thought for sure that it would take awhile to open all of the presents, assuming that they would play with each one before opening the next. But they got caught up in the handing-out and opening the gifts that we went through them pretty quick before playing with all of them.

C wore her glasses most of the morning.

After opening all of her gifts, C piled most of them, and herself, into the new doll bed she got. She hung out there for quite awhile.

For Christmas dinner we had a Honeybaked ham, mashed potatoes and asparagus. C surprised us all and chowed on the asparagus.

Thank you to everybody who spoiled all of us, and thank you Mom & Dad for spending Christmas with us.

Advent Days 23-25

M and J got to sneak away to NJ to see some friends and the kids were having too much fun with Grandma and Grandpa to remember to do the advent activity on the 23rd.

On the 24th, after dinner, the kids got to open 1 present each. PJ's from Mom & Dad. (I have no idea why K insisted on wearing his Yoda hat, or why C is upset. Silly kids)

Day 25 was just a reminder that they have a loving family and a loving Heavenly Father, and to enjoy the day. (More Christmas pictures soon)

White Christmas in NJ

No there wasn't snow in NJ ... while my folks were here we snuck away to meet my BFF and her husband near Newark to see a friend from high school in a production of White Christmas.

We got to have dinner with Anthony first.

 Matt, Jodi, Anthony and I all did theater together in high school. He and I went to my Junior prom together. And I haven't seen him since I visited NYC in 2002! It was so great to catch up on each others lives!

 The show was AWESOME! I have honestly never seen the play or movie before and I LOVED it. A lot of the cast and all of the sets were from the Broadway production that moved off Broadway within the last few years. Lorna Luft (Judy Garland's daughter) was in the production, and so Liza Minnelli came to see her that night and we got to see her across the auditorium. It was very cool.

 

We spent the night in NJ and had breakfast with Jodi and Adam before heading back home! It was a great little stay-cation.

Advent Day 22

Advent Day 21

Advent Days 18-20

December 18th & 19th, C and J were suffering from the stomach bug, so we missed our advent activities, but on the 20th Grandma and Grandpa got here and were able to participate with us!

Goofy Boy

Last night I went to check on K at about 9:45pm, after putting him to bed around 8:00pm.

I found his toy shelf almost empty...

...he had systematically filled his pj's with all his toys, and when I got there he was emptying them all into his bed.

I couldn't stop laughing when I saw him, so I had to grab the camera and document it. Maybe I should have checked on him sooner. :-)

Advent Day 17

Advent Day 14 & 16 (the 15th we were sick)

The kids helped me make and decorate some sugar cookies.

During the decorating part, I think more ended up in their mouths than on the cookies.

A few days later (after C and I had gotten over the stomach bug) we delivered cookies to a few of our neighbors.

Advent Day 13