Three Christmases

****I wrote the bulk of this post on Sunday evening, but wasn't able to get around to finishing it until tonight (Tues.)...have been so, so, SO sick! Blegh! Sorry for the delay!!****



I am determined to get this post in before 2009 arrives! :) So I sit here this afternoon on the couch, with just the tic-toc of the clock filling the air. My love is snoozing happily on the couch nearby and my little ones are snug in their beds for a much needed nap! I half wish I was napping too! With no voice and an achy, stuffy head, I'm not feeling my best today. BUT...neglecting this blog will only cause my memories of such a fun, happy few days to fade. So here I type.

Our Christmas this year lasted three days! I think I like it that way, in fact! It spread out the cheer and the time with family, which made it all the more enjoyable. The shotgun approach to seeing everyone in one day is just too hectic for my taste! Three days was awesome!

On Christmas Eve, the kids and I spent much of the day at home doing whatever it is we do on a daily basis. Laundry, wrapping up last minute gifts, playing...you know the drill. Ty arrived home in the later afternoon and we attempted to ready the kids in their cute, new Christmas outfits for a nice dinner at at Ty's cousin Michael's house. Luke unfortunately woke from his nap on the WRONG side of the bed, and threw fit after fit about not wanting to wear his new, oh-so-cute button down Christmas shirt. I have NO idea what his deal is with button down shirts, but this isn't the first time he threw a fit over one. Weird! Between the tantrums and my sluggishness from feeling rather ill, we ended up arriving at dinner nearly an hour late! SOOO unlike us! While we missed the family sitting down to eat together :( there was still plenty of food for us and we still got to enjoy the most important part...visiting with Ty's family!



All the kids ran around like crazy children (LOL!) while we chatted and visited, and when the little ones couldn't stand the waiting any longer, we all piled into the living room for them to open their gifts! We certainly were NOT expecting our kids to be part of the gift opening, but to our surprise and their delight, Luke and Ellie each had a couple of gifts to open! I think this little guy won the prize for the night's favorite toy! (Even though this pic is from the following day!)


We headed home sometime around 8pm, with a very tired little girl and a very wound up little boy who couldn't wait to get home to set out his cookies for Santa and put on his new Christmas jammies!



After Santa's snacks were all ready to go, Luke picked out his gift from Aunt Kim as his one present to open on Christmas Eve. He was delighted when he realized what it was! So delighted, in fact, that on Christmas morning, he asked if he could play 'pirate' BEFORE he opened his gifts from Santa! Seriously?!!









We heard the pitter-patter of little feet sometime around 6:30 the next morning, and we all headed downstairs to see what awaited us under the tree!





And let me just to you...the rest of our day was p-e-r-f-e-c-t! We had no plans for family or visitors until late in the afternoon, and with the rain falling steadily outside, we soaked up every opportunity to linger in the moments, enjoy our new gifts and marinate in the blessings of just being together! I made a delicious breakfast of homemade blueberry crepes and a yummy egg frittata thing-a-ma-jig!


A kiss from my little man....



When Ellie went down for her morning nap, Luke and I got to work making a birthday cake for Baby Jesus that we would enjoy after dinner!



He LOVED this part...especially when he could nibble of the chocolate chips or lick the beaters! (It was a chocolate chip cake that we made!) Once the cake was baking away in the oven, he kept me company baking pizzas on the counter with his new pizza play set that Santa brought while I prepared dinner for the crock pot! We planned to have gingersnap pot roast with sweet potatoes and carrots that evening and boy was it yummy!!!!!!

Sometime well after lunch, the kids napped and us grown ups finally decided it was time to get dressed for the day! (Oh how I LOVED lounging around in my jammies all day!!!!! It just seemed like that is EXACTLY how it SHOULD be! Perfection!) As the pot roast cooked away in the crock pot, we spent the remainder of the day (after the kids finished napping, of-course!) sitting on the family room floor, listening to music, playing with Lincoln Logs and Tinker Toys! Ellie took care of her new little baby doll and learned how to give it a bottle, kisses and lots of snuggles while Luke worked with Daddy to build whatever it was their imaginations would muster up!





I caught Luke pretending to be a weight lifter with his Tinker Toys! He built the dumbbell himself! :)





Does this look like a happy kid or what?!





Before we knew it, dinner time had rolled around and we sat down as a family to enjoy a lovely meal in celebration of Jesus's birth! We ended the day singing "Happy Birthday" to baby Jesus and blowing out birthday candles on the cake we had baked for him! I think the birthday cake really drove the concept home for Luke as to what Christmas is all about and why we celebrate!
After all, He is the reason for the season!

Lighting and blowing out the birthday candles...





On Friday, we enjoyed our third Christmas at my parent's house with my side of the family. My sister, her boyfriend, and the girls were all there, along with my aunt and uncle (my mom's sister) and my grandparents. We opened presents and ate yummy, YUMMY fillet that Ty had prepared while we visited and reminisced about all sorts of things! The kids, as usual, LOVED just being together and after dinner, they entertained us with several rounds of wrestling and rough housing! It was well after Luke's bedtime when we again made our way home, and with no nap to speak of that day, he was asleep before we even hit the highway! His cousin's definitely wore him out!

Three Christmases...three days....and too many blessings to count! How fortunate we feel to have been able to share such a special holiday with those we hold dearest to our hearts! And how immensely grateful I feel now as I type to have my three beside me....they are my deepest joys and I love them so!!!!



Just as a little side note.....
Here they are in their Christmas outfits! (Even if it's a tad blurry and a terrible photoshopping job!!) I haven't ever bought them matching outfits for special occasions before (I'm just frugal that way and hate the thought of them only getting to wear an outfit once!) But I splurged a little this year and bought these! And I have to say..they are so darn cute in them! I'm glad I did! :)


This last one just makes me smile! Oh how they LOVE one another! This was right before Ellie planted a big 'ol kiss on Luke's head! :)

Still catching up.....

I am still playing catch up on my posts! While I had hoped to be able to fill you in on our Christmas (which was wonderful, btw!) I only have time tonight for some pictures from our visit with Taryn, Megan and Kailyn earlier in the week! We sure did have a great time! It was the first time I'd had all three girls here, along with my own two...well....I think ever! And it was about time! :) We had a blast together and kept pretty busy! I only have a few photos though, as I was either too busy with them to remember to pick up my camera or I just plain forgot to bring it along! But here's what I have with a little timeline mixed in for my own memories sake!

We didn't pick them up at my mom's house until late Sunday evening (8pm I think) as we had a birthday party to attend for a friend of ours. My sister was kind enough to allow me to trade cars with her for a few days so I could cart all 5 kids around, since our Kia is MUCH too small for a crowd like that! As Ty and I drove them all home, we glanced at each other and giggled from our spots in the front seat, knowing full well that this crowded of a vehicle is somebody's daily reality! We are happy with just our two, thank you very much! But I DID love the roars of laughter and silly conversations that happened as we all drove together! It was great for the short time we had 'em! :) Anyway....I digress....

When we got the gang home, it was bedtime for the younger ones. But not before Luke read Kailyn "The Poky Little Puppy"...one of my personal favs!


I had set up our aerobed in Luke's room alongside his big boy bed (a full), so all the kids got to sleep together! As I tucked Luke and Kailyn in and kissed them both goodnight, Luke pleaded with me to sleep next to Kailyn! As I left the room, both were cuddled up, side by side with their stuffed animals and blankets! Such a sweet sight! Taryn, Megan, Ty and I sipped hot cocoa and watched "Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer" until we were all too tired to stand it any longer! No pics from that night though!

On Monday, ALL the kids decided it would be fun to wake up at 5:45! And while I was prepared for this, 5:45 still seemed too darn early! LOL! We all shuffled downstairs and the kids snuggled under blankets together while I made waffles with whipped cream smiley faces for breakfast (and I chugged my coffee! LOL) Once we were all showered (I'm not lying when I say that it took me an entire 3 1/2 hours to get them all and me showered, dressed, fed and hair done for the day!) we headed out in the rain to Jump Zone...a bounce house place nearby! It was SOOOO much fun! The kids wore themselves out jumping, running, sliding and playing for about 2 hours! I even got to play on the bouncers too and let me tell you, it was FUN!!!!! Though most of the bounces had age restrictions on them that did not allow Ellie to participate, there was one or two that she could go into, so I would sit her on my lap and bounce with her while the other kids hopped wildly around us. She loved it!!! They had a toddler play area too and she was happy to play there while the big kids burned off their waffles and whipped cream! :) Again, no pics of the morning, since I forgot the camera! Duh!

We had lunch when we got home and I was surprised when Luke, Ellie, Kailyn AND Megan all opted for naps in the afternoon! Guess 5:45 WAS a little early!! Tayrn and I used the 'quiet' time to bond over baking some chocolate cookies followed by preparing dinner to pop into the over later on. When everyone was rested, we played some games and waited for Ty to get home from work! I snapped these while we were engrossed in a game of Twister! Ellie wanted in on the fun too!




So did Tess....

Luke just decided that shooting rubber bands was more fun!

Ellie gave up on the game and just watch awhile...


Once Ty arrived home, we sat down to enjoy the dinner Taryn and I had prepared earlier and before we knew it our neighbors were arriving to share dessert with us before heading out to look at Christmas lights! I have to say that I think the seeing the Christmas lights was one of my favorite memories of their stay here. To have all the kids, pajama-clad and happy all in one car together on a cold, drizzling winter night was so much fun! They giggled and sang along to the Christmas songs playing on the radio and at each house we stopped at, I just soaked in all their little comments of awe and wonder! Even little Ellie loved it and would exclaim "wwwoooooowww!" at all the beautiful light displays! As we finally ventured home, we tucked all the kiddos into bed (minus Ellie who was in her own room already fast asleep!) and I read several Christmas stories aloud to them as they wound down from the night. It felt a little like The Waltons as we kissed each of them goodnight and turn out the lights! LOL! So fun!

Tuesday was a less eventful day, with just some errand running in the morning, lunch at home, naps and lots of scootering and playing in the backyard most of the afternoon! Luke absolutely ADORED having his cousins around to play with! He was in heaven the whole time they were here! He loves them so much! Here are a couple last shots I took Tuesday morning as they all were playing in my room....

I dropped them back off with Jenn around dinner time Tuesday night, figuring that Luke would be a little sad at returning to an empty house. To ward off any of those feelings, I had saved his gingerbread house to decorate that evening! It has now become one of our little Christmas traditions and we just loved working on it together as a family! I decided that I wanted to be in the mix decorating too, so I only have these couple of photos...one from the beginning and two of the finished product!


Luke really was happy here, though you wouldn't know it by the look on his face!

He wanted a silly shot too...


AND FINALLY......(yes...there IS an end to this post!!!) I really wanted to share these couple of pics I took of Ellie Christmas Eve morning! Mostly because I just love how they show her little dimpled chin....my most favorite of her features!




And this one just made me happy!

Just stopping in.....

A favorite from LAST year.....

I think I downplayed in my mind all the last minute things that needed to get done today when I imagined being able to sit down and blog about the last few days with the girls being here. LOL! Its just not going to happen today! :) BUT....I DID want to pop in to wish each of you...my dear friends and loved ones, a VERY, Merry CHRISTmas! It is my prayer that you are blessed abuntantly with your loved ones close tomorrow! Merry Christmas, friends!

Forgotten pics....

As I was uploading pictures tonight from the past few days with the girls (more on that tomorrow probably), I came across a few that I wanted to share from last week, but had forgotten about! I think these were from last Wednesday when the weather was dreadfully cold (I think the high was 36!) and it rained all day! We had hoped for snow that day, as it seemed everyone around us was getting a good dusting, but for whatever reason, our little neighborhood stayed just a degree or two above freezing that day and we only received rain! :( A bummer for us!

Since we were stuck inside all day, Luke and I were both experiencing a little bit of cabin fever and decided a little impromptu craft session was in order while Ellie napped! We dug through our pantry to see what we could use to make something.....anything and came up with the fixin's for this cute little snowman! And of-course we just had to sip hot cocoa doused with whipped cream while we worked! :) Here are the missed pics.....








Isn't he a cute little marshmallow snowman??? Luke named him, but now that its been a few days, I can't seem to recall what his name was! And since Luke's in bed now, guess I can't ask him till morning! :)


Okay...that's all! :) Just wanted to share those so that I keep track of things for myself! :) I hope to get back to blog again tomorrow to recap the last few days with the girls being here! We had a great time with LOTS that kept us busy! More on all that soon! Night!

Party of Seven????

That's what we'll be saying if we are brave enough to go out to eat in the next few days! :) We have my sweet nieces staying with us for the next couple of nights, so we have now morphed from 4 to 7! How sweet it is though to have 'my girls' under my roof for a spell! Won't have much time for bloggin' though (we've got some serious fun planned!), so I guess my little video of Luke's Christmas musical at school will have to wait a few more days! (He did great though, btw and those kiddos were SO darn cute!!!!!) Look for another post soon! Until then......