Christmas Morning 2009

The kids were told not to wake us before 6am. I woke up at 4:45am and heard Jake and Tony already up. The came into our room for the first time at 5:20 and were turned away. They came back at 5:58am and I knew there was no way to make them wait any longer. I was informed they had already "shook every present under the tree".After waking up Brodie and Drew the excitement immediately began. Brodie spotted his giant bear under the tree and Drew found his big doggie. Drew was also very excited to see that Santa had eaten the milk and cookies and the reindeer had munched on the carrot left out for them.Tony was very happy to receive his own set of Halo megablocks!Jake got lots of new clothes and here is showing off his stylish new hat.This was one of Drew's favorite toys. The "talking doggie" as he calls it. This dog barks and wags his tail.Brodie wasn't much in the mood for pictures so I just had to snap a couple while he was opening his presents. His favorite gifts were definitely his giant bear and his Legos. After presents were opened Dad started in on putting things together while I made breakfast. We had bacon, eggs and toast. We all played with our new things for a couple hours and then got ready to head to Grandma's house.

Jolly Holiday Lights

This year was the first year we attended Jolly Holiday Lights. I have always been curious to go there. Last year Will volunteered but he has never been through the entire display either. He was able to get a discounted ticket through work so we decided to take the kids out for the evening and see what it was all about.

I must say it was pretty neat. The kids thought it was pretty cool as well. I am not sure I would ever pay full price for a ticket ($9 seems a bit steep) but it was fun. There are over 3 miles of lighted displays.After the tour we headed to DQ for some dessert!

Ginger Bread Houses

The weekend before Christmas we spent an afternoon at my sister's house making ginger bread houses. The houses barely made it home for Dad to see and a picture before they were devoured.

Homemade Wrapping Paper

We took down our Thanksgiving tree that was hanging up on the back of the door. I used a large piece of white paper to make it. I couldn't see throwing that out so we recycled it into homemade wrapping paper for Christmas.We used the back of the paper and I gave the kids markers and crayons to color it. I helped a little too. Then the boys helped me wrap some presents with it.

Snowflake Ornaments

Here are some of the snowflake ornaments we made. We painted popsicle sticks and then glued them. After they dried I turned them over and hot-glued a ribbon onto the back.

A Visit From the Elves

Each year we get a visit a week or so before Christmas. The kids leave their Christmas lists taped to the fridge. Then without knowing, Santa's elves come in the middle of the night and take the lists and leave a Christmas book in it's place.

Getting Cought Up

Things have been a little busy for us here lately. As those of you close to me know my mother became severely ill right before Christmas. She recovered, or so we thought, but is now back in the hospital as of this morning.

Along with my mother being sick, my husband lost a dear cousin of his to a painful illness just days before Christmas. She was a wonderful lady so full of energy, joy and love. Please keep both of our families in your thoughts and prayers as we are all going through a bit of a rough time right now.

On a lighter note the next few posts are to update you on the happier things that have gone on at home the last week or so...

Sorry I havn't been updating everyone with what's been going on. My mother has been ill and we have had alot going on. I have LOTS of pictures to share and lots of crafts and other events to tell you about. I will update everyone in a few days. I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas. Stay warm.

Snowman Craft

This could possible be one of the cutest crafts we have ever done! Or it could be that I am just very partial to snowman too! I love decorating with snowmen!

Here is what you will need.Cardboard, felt, constuction paper, scissors, glue, hole punch, paint with brush and pipe cleaners.

First off I just cut 3 circles and the hat from the cardboard and had the kids paint them. Once they dried I punched holes in them and attactched them with the pipe cleaners that I cut in smaller pieces. Kind of like a twist tie like this.The kids then glued on the eyes, nose and buttons all cut or punched from construction paper. The arms were made from pipecleaners. Then we just wrapped the piece of felt around for the scarf. Aren't the cute?For more craft ideas visit Ramblings of a Crazy Womans Showcase Friday.

Update on the Snow

They just couldn't resist. Jake and Tony had to play outside. They weren't out very long but in Tony's words "it was AWESOME!"It was really hard for the little boys. I made them stay inside. It is freezing out and they have both been battling a cold. So how did we occupy them? A little Wii bowling. I love that game. And for the record..My score 205, Wills score 138. :O)

They were right...

The weather people were actual accurate on this one. They predicted 12-16 inches of snow and I think we probably have about 16 inches of snow outside. I don't remember ever seeing this much snow.The pictures really don't do it justice and unfortunately today is not a good day to get out and take any. We are still under a blizzard warning until tonight, with wind gusts nearing 50 mph. All I was able to do was open the door a little and take a couple pictures out the back door and a few of the 3 foot drift on our front deck.As you can imagine, it is really hard for the boys to be inside seeing all this fun snow outside! It is just too cold today. I imagine later this week there will be no keeping them in though! The older boys got their wish, an early out yesterday and no school today.

Snow

We are settling in for the big winter storm that is suppose to hit tomorrow. 8-12 inches is what they are predicting. Will and I did a little Christmas shopping tonight so I went ahead and got a hand full of groceries while we were out since I am assuming I will be home bound for a few days. My usual grocery shopping night is Tuesday but I don't drive when there is snow on the roads.

Speaking of snow, here is one of the crafts we did today. We are using this week to talk about snow, snowmen and the weather. I wrote the word snow on a piece of paper and the boys glued snowflakes onto it. Then we cut some homemade snowflakes. We added them to the penguin scenery in our living room.The boys got to play outside this afternoon with Dad in the snow that fell last night. Only about 2 inches fell but they still were able to have a snowball fight. Should be interesting to see what happens tomorrow. The older boys are really hoping for a delay or early out from school.

P is for Penguins

Last week we talked about the letter "P" and focused alot of our attention on penguins. What interesting birds. We decided to change the scenery on the wall in the living room.We made momma and baby penguins out of construction paper. I just cut out the shapes and the boys glued them together. Brodie is getting really good at figuring out how things go together without me even telling him.

The Christmas trees were an added feature later on. We decorated these foam tress as a family event one evening during "family night". I bought a package of 50 foam trees and set out glue, glitter, pom poms, sequence and other materials. The kids and adults had a good time!

For some new games I made this game with the idea stemming from here. You take a cereal box and cut the top off. Print off the penguin and glue him to the box cutting a hole in the mouth. Print off the fish. (I printed 30, 2 pages, 15 for each child) Take turns rolling the dice. Whatever number is on the dice is the number of fish you put into the penguins mouth. Whoever runs out of fish first, wins. Drew really liked this game. I also did a color match game that I printed off from Making Learning.Brodie did a really good job matching the upper case and lower case letter of the alphabet using these fish cards.

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Sunday morning we headed out to get our Christmas tree. We always get a real tree and this year we decided to visit an actual tree farm. We went Kidman Tree Farm in Polk City.Despite the cold temps we had a great time. We went on a wagon ride pulled by two Clydesdale horses. That was definitly everyone's favorite part. Drew was even brave enough to hold the reins and drive for a bit!We visited Santa. Only Drew and Tony sat on his lap though. Brodie was a little too nervous and just told Santa what he wanted for Christmas while his head was hiding between Will's legs. We got to see a reindeer named Mistletoe. And of course we picked out the most perfect Christmas tree. We decorated it Sunday night. I love watching the kids go through their box of ornaments. I remember how fun it was when I was their age and how much fun I still have looking through my box and remembering where I got certain ones. We always got an ornament each year. Now, I always get my kids an ornament each year. I mark them so they now whos is whos and they each have their own box to put them in. When they get older and leave the house they can take that box with them to put on their Christmas tree and hopefully start the tradition with their family. This truly is the most wonderful time of the year.