Merry Christmas To All (take 2)

Merry Christmas -- Again!!!

So yesterday we had a great day celebrating Christmas with Mommy, Daddy, Noni, Grandpa, Oma and Uncle Jon. They all came down to our house on Christmas Eve and are spending a few days just hanging out and playing.

On Christmas Eve, Mommy, Erin, Noni, and Oma spent lots of the afternoon in the kitchen making yummy desserts. We made apple pie bars and gingerbread. It's not often that 4 generations get the chance to hang out a cook together. Later in the evening we went to Christmas Eve service (which Jeffrey managed to sleep through while being held by mommy - she even got up and sang in the choir with him asleep) and drove home the scenic way to see the lights. When we all got home Erin and Jeffrey scattered the reindeer food for Santa and Rudolph. Erin made sure to leave several cookies and some milk for Santa. She even wrote him a note:

Der Sata. I wat a pethsop (petshop). I luv you. Erin.



On Christmas morning, mommy was the first one up (to put the breakfast casserole into the oven). Jeffrey came down and joined her not long after. They read a few stories together and looked and the tree. Then Erin came on down and the festivities began. It was much fun running around and waking everyone up - especially Uncle Jon.


Before breakfast everyone opened up their stockings from Santa. Then after a great big breakfast (cheesy potato casserole, scrambled eggs, bacon and grapefruit) we dug into the presents. It was so much fun to watch the kids faces not only when they got to open a gift but when they got to see someone open one that they had chosen out all themselves. Santa brought Erin a great big new Pet House - "Just Like I Asked For in my Letter!!!" Santa brought Jeffrey a cool Little People Race Car set, but it didn't work well so mommy and grandpa exchanged it this morning for a different Little People set which has much less potential to "Not Working Mommy!!!" Jeffrey's favorite toy right now seems to be a Diego Tree House from Grandma and Grandpa. Very Cool. They also got little music boxes from their Oma that they completely adore.


Daddy got a bread book and some brew stuff (and managed somehow to give brew stuff to 2 other people too). Mommy got her new Nano that she had asked Santa.


So we spent the afternoon opening boxes, removing elastics from Little Pets, un-tying Diego toys, playing games, reading bread books, downloading music etc...


For dinner we had a ham with lots of different potatoes and squash. Our desserts from the day before went along just perfectly. What a great fun day!!!!

The Tree and Stockings

Santa's Cookies and Letter


Wake Up Uncle Jon!!!!

Helping Open Gifts

Jeffrey Helping Grandpa

Playing Pets with Uncle Jon

The Gang at Dinner

~~Merry Christmas~~

An Early Christmas Blogged about 2 weeks late (whoops)

Merry Christmas to All!!!!

We had a wonderful day yesterday celebrating a pretty cool Christmas. But first mommy must get off her lazy toosh and remark that we had a super fun morning celebrating Christmas with Grandma and Grandpa W. 2 weeks ago when they were visiting. Since then life had turned into the familiar Christmas whirlwind and mommy completely forgot to Blog about it. Our special morning included a nice pancake breakfast made by daddy.

Then we gathered around the tree and opened some gifts. The biggest hits were Jeffrey's "Red" Fire Truck and his Tractor Book, and Erin's marble run. The marble run continues to be the star of the show. For 2 weeks I've been tripping over marbles, repairing broken runs, helping to figure out a cool new one. Both Erin and Jeff totally LOVE it. I'm glad they are having so much fun with it.

After celebrating Christmas with Grandma and Grandpa they came into town to see Erin and Mommy in the Christmas Pageant play (the real reason for their trip to C'ville). We're so glad they could come down and celebrate with us.

Strike!!!

Or at least a few spares. We took the kids bowling today and all had a really great time. Back in October we won a family gift certificate for 2 hours of bowling at the local lanes. We've been waiting for a good time to do. Since Tom is taking this week off and Erin has 2 weeks of Winter break we decided this would be a good day to go. I'm really glad we had the prize because otherwise one of us would have had to go out and donate a kidney or something in order to afford a few hours of fun with the kids. Seriously. It would have been close to $60 for 2 hours for a family of 4....OMG.

Anyway the kids are familiar with bowling because of the Wii. Erin's pretty good at it. Jeffrey doesn't quite really get it yet. But he tries. We got there right as they opened (as Tom was advised to do when he called in the morning and a good thing too because it got pretty busy). Handed over our golden ticket, got 4 pairs of lovely shoes and headed off to lane 17.

Everything is much more automated than I remember it being. So we put our names in a little computer and even tried to set it up so that Erin and Jeff had bumpers and Tom and I didn't. That didn't quite work as the bumpers were more manual than that. But probably a good thing because Tom and I needed them just as much as the kids.

Erin has this really weird connection with bowling. It took 2 games on the Wii for her to get the idea. Took about 2 frames with a real ball (and bumpers) to catch on. She had her very own way of rolling the ball with some amazing spin, hitting each bumper at least twice, and then smacking the set of pins right in the kisser. She got her fair square of spares and even a strike I believe. Mommy only beat her by 7 pins in the first game.

Jeffrey had several methods. I'm sure there are several more dents in the lane than when we got there. He would just kinda toss the ball rather than roll it. It would then dribble down the lane and bump into a few pins. Then he tried a fascinating method of putting the ball on the floor and then pushing it from behind. Got a little more momentum that way, but was apparently not as fun. Finally he developed the true winner method. He'd grab the ball (6 lbs...forget about using the finger holes) run towards the lane, slide onto his knees/bum and let go of the ball down the lane, without crossing the foul line himself. Seriously one of the funniest things I've ever witnessed.

Of course where was the camera? Right here at home. Sitting right next to the computer. Oh well. Next time right? Maybe. We'll see if one of us wins the lottery first. Still it was a great time with lots of laughs and fun. I think we'll find a way to go back sometime.

Best Christmas Pageant

Well Erin and Mommy just wrapped another show. She's loving every minute of them now. This time she was a baby Angel in "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever." If you don't know the story it's a great one to look up. The crux is this bunch of hoodlums who take over the local Christmas pageant because they find out that snacks are served at rehearsals. They end up with all the big parts (Mary, Joseph, the Angel of the Lord, the Kings) and everyone is convinced it's going to be the worst pageant ever. In the end they add their own touch but bring people back in touch with some of the "real" meaning of Christmas and maybe how Mary and Joseph might have felt that amazing night.

Anyway I'm babbling. Erin and I had a ton of fun. She got to sing in 2 songs as well as all the pageant songs. She also had 2 lines. First was "When do we get our costumes" and second was "Can I be Little Bo Peep Miss Bradley." You can always count on Erin delivering her lines nice and loud and this year was no exception. She especially LOVED the Little Bo Peep line.

As always the last few weeks have been exhausting getting ready for the shows but we were lucky that Noni, Oma and Grandpa came down the first weekend and Grandma and Grandpa W. made it down the second weekend. It was the first time they'd got to see Erin in a show so that was pretty special.

Next up is Peter Pan in late April and early May. I think the 3 of us will be involved in that one -- and give Jeffrey another year or so before he makes his debut.

So here are some pictures and an little montage of Erin's parts from the show.

School Christmas Play

Jeffrey had his school Christmas play last Thursday. If you can't tell from the pictures - our little stinker was a skunk. Not sure why there was a skunk in the Christmas play, but there was. He did really well. Sang part of the first song and did some hand motions. He was also one of the only kids that had a line. It went something like "This is my song for Jesus....Pee Eww" (or however that would be spelled). He held his nose while saying it too. Of course we didn't know he was going to say anything so it didn't get recorded. Oh well. So here's a few pictures and a little video of the stinker. Sorry they are such poor quality. We seem to arrive too late to get a seat where we can actually get a decent picture.

Advent

It's that time for getting ready. Preparing the house and our hearts for Christmas. The fall play has certainly gotten Erin and I in the mood. If you don't know "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever" you should check it out. The book and play are really great stories and will certainly warm your heart. Erin plays a baby angel and I'm one of the Church ladies. It's a lot of fun and I'll post some pictures and videos after next weekend.

We've also started getting the house ready. We got the tree over the weekend -- a good ole Boy Scout tree. It's gorgeous. On Saturday we brought the tree inside and then daddy and the kids put up the outside lights while I got the inside things out.

Sunday evening we trimmed the tree. The kids really got into it this year. They wanted Tom to pick them up so they could put their ornaments "up high". Erin just giggled. Jeffrey made it a game. Erin took a lot of time picking out the right branch for each ornament. Jeffrey preferred the method of weighing down one branch with as many ornaments as it could hold. After we had finished trimming the tree we took a few pictures sitting in front of it. Jeff didn't want to sit by himself or with his sister, but he was willing to take a few with mommy and daddy.

So we start our month of anticipation. Of questioning how many more days. And when is Santa coming? Of Advent calendars, trees, Christmas lights and music. I think this is my favorite month of the year - no matter how busy it gets (and boy oh boy does it get busy).

Best Kisses

Jeffrey and I have this cute little thing going about his giving "best kisses". He really does. They're the sweetest, cutest little kisses. It used to be that he'd give best kisses on the cheeks. Both of em. He'd take your face in his little hands and turn it so he can kiss one cheek, and then gently turn your head so he can reach the other cheek. Recently he has added a kiss right on the lips to the routine. Still a sweet little kiss. So the routine goes kiss one cheek, kiss next cheek, kiss lips. He now knows that he gives best kisses -- and he knows when to use them. When he's in trouble...."Wait mommy...best kisses...make it all better." At bedtime..."Best kisses night mommy" Just whenever..."Best kisses mommy." At the gym....."Best kisses...." Wait, at the gym? Yep that's right.

Jeffrey's best friend is a little boy at the gym. His mom and I must have the same daily routine because he's almost always there when we are. The two of them get really excited when they see each other. First thing Jeffrey does is look to see if his friend is there.

So last week both his mom and I were picking the kids up at the same time. They'd been playing together for about an hour. I told Jeff to say goodbye to his friend. He ran up to him to give him a hug - what I expected as that's how he's said bye for a while. Then I heard him say..."Wait (S) Best Kisses" I looked over and there he was. Hands on his face. Kiss one cheek. Kiss next cheek. Kiss squarely on the lips. His friend had no idea what to do. He kinda stood there. Then wiped his lips with the back of his sleeve. I looked at his mom, and politely apologized for Jeffrey's kisses. She just laughed. All the ladies who work at the gym thought it was adorable too. Still I think I might need to work on when "best kisses" are appropriate. Lesson one...best kisses are NOT for friends at the gym buddy.

I Want Pie

Isn't that what Thanksgiving is all about? At least in the 3-year old mind of one Jeffrey it is. But really it was a great week of spending time with family. We did miss those who couldn't join us (Love you Uncle Jon, Oma, and Uncle Jeff, Aunt Robyn and Rylie and Avery).

Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Katie, Uncle Bill and baby Will arrived late on Tuesday night so on Wednesday morning Erin and Jeffrey woke up to a special surprise. We hung around the house on Wednesday (mommy, grandma and Erin did run out for a few errands) and had a yummy slow-cooker dinner that night. The kids loved sitting on the floor and playing with baby Will. Jeffrey kept wanting to share his special blankie or his pandas. It was quite sweet. He even donated his room to the cause and spent the next few nights camped out on Erin's floor. Erin thought it looked like so much fun, she abandoned her bed and slept on the floor next to him.

Thursday Noni and Grandpa showed up. Grandpa brought his plate of cheese, pickles, olives and cheese to nibble on throughout the day. Noni brought the bestest sweet potatoes as always. Daddy smoked the turkey. After an initial mishap with the turkey (the smoker overheated and "crisped" the skin of the turkey) he got it all fixed and ended up with a perfect bird. Mommy took care of the ham, mashed potatoes, green beans and carrots. We all relaxed during the day and enjoyed a wonderful dinner together.

Of course all Jeffrey could think of was the pie. We bought one at Sams Club on Monday and he talked about it all week. Then on Thursday we finished dinner and the men cleaned up in the kitchen. Jeffrey immediately wanted his pie. We convinced him to wait a while by playing on the Wii, reading some stories etc... After every activity he'd say "I want pie" Eventually he got himself a nice big piece of apple pie.

Noni and Grandpa spent the night and on Friday we all lounged around the house (no Aunt Katie and Uncle Bill braved Black Friday). Erin spent part of the afternoon "babysitting" her cousin Will. She let him set on her lap and watch Monsters Inc. She played with toys with him and banged drums together. Later in the afternoon Grandma and Aunt Katie made lasagna for dinner. Mmmmm.

Noni and Grandpa headed back home Friday night and Aunt Katie and Uncle Bill packed up Baby Will and left for home Saturday morning. On Saturday we headed to a movie and out to dinner with Grandma and Grandpa.

It was a wonderful weekend with lots of family around. Thanks to all those who were able to come share it with us and to those who we missed, we'll see you all soon we hope. Hugs and Kisses to all.