Oh Christmas Tree...

  This year we decided to save a little money on our Christmas tree so we skipped going to the Christmas tree farm.  The atmosphere of that place is indeed fun.  The hunt for that perfect tree, the hot cocoa, wagon rides, we really did enjoy all that.  However we usually spend a small fortune on a tree.  

This year we headed into town and hit up Menards.  There we found lots of nice trees.  We couldn't agree on a tree so we did something completely out of the ordinary and we picked out a mystery tree.  We called it that because we picked a tree that was still all wrapped up in netting.  We had no idea what it was going to look like once we opened it up.

Here is the tree when Daddy first cut off the twine.

We waited till the next night to decorate the tree and by then it was absolutely perfect!  We couldn't of picked out a better tree!  

It's always fun watching the kids go through their boxes of ornaments.  I have fond memories of doing that as a child.  I still love to look through my box of ornaments and reminisce about particular ones.  The kids are getting their own collections and building their own memories about certain ornaments.  

Once all the decorations were up it was time for the star.  Emily got to place the star on the top of the tree this year.  Daddy had to help a little.

 Some how we managed to get a good family photo.  It only took us 3 takes.  Of course it took a little while to figure out how to do the automatic timer, but once we figured that out it was smooth sailing.  Everyone cooperated.  Yay for us!

Christmas Morning 2011

The kids did really well letting us sleep in Christmas morning. We told them they couldn't wake us up before 6 am. So when 6 am rolled around Will and I both woke up on our own. Thinking the boys would be in any moment, we stayed awake. It was almost 7 before Jake and Tony finally entered our room.

After they woke us up, they went and woke up Brodie and Drew. All the boys then went in and got Emily. Santa had come. There was gifts under the tree and the stockings were full.Besides all our presents, here was our other proof Santa was here.
We opened stockings first. Drew was excited to get a Christmas story plate in his stocking. That is his favorite movie not only at Christmastime but all the time. Tony is really into puzzles. This 3D puzzle will really prove his skills.
This picture was suppose to be focusing on Brodie and his new Detroit Lions football. However, as you can see it also captured Drew opening his Joker action figure. He was slightly excited!
Daddy helped Emily with her stocking. Inside she found a spoon and fork. She was completely happy with that and didn't need any other gifts after that. She walked around all day with that spoon. She had no interest in any of her gifts so mom and dad ended up opening them for her.

Here is Jake opening his magazine subscription to Men's Fitness. He is really into working out and taking care of his body right now so this should be good for him.
Everyone was very happy with all their gifts. We cut back on gift giving this year and tried to really focus on what the kids interests were. I think it worked out well and everyone was grateful.

I made homemade cinnamon rolls for breakfast and after the kids all played for couple hours we headed next door to my mothers house and celebrated with my siblings and their families. Unfortunatly Will was sick so he stayed home and I ended up joining him later because I had a terrible migraine. We spent the rest of the afternoon and evening either in the chair or sleeping. Thankfully the boys were all well and they spent time at my mother's house playing with their cousins. It didn't work out the way we had planned but we don't always have control. It was still Christmas and we were all able to be together.

Gingerbread Houses

Since I am a little behind on updating we are going to back track a little. Here are the pictures of our gingerbread house making on Christmas Eve. We have made this a tradition every year. The kids love making creations and then snacking on them later. It's always fun to see what everyone creates. Here is Drew's. Not sure how he managed to get all that licorice on the top without it caving in but he did.
Jake went for the camping look. Here is Dad's. He is always the last one at the table whenever it comes to family projects. I must admit, his does look really nice.
Here is Tony's. I thought the gummy bears sitting around the camp fire on the left side were really clever.
This was mine. I was most proud of the snowman and the Christmas tree.
And here is Brodie's.
Emily didn't make a gingerbread house but she had just as much fun sitting with us at the table munching on graham crackers.
Hard to believe they are all mine. I love them all so much and I love that we can spend time like this bonding as a family.

Things Don't Always go as Planned

As I write this I am sitting at my in-laws house. It's Thursday and our original plan was to be here on Sunday. Our holiday didn't go as planned. Christmas Eve Will came down with a gastro bug that the 3 younger children had passed around the previous weeks. He spent the majority of the day in bed resting. Christmas morning came and he was able to drag himself out of bed long enough to share in the excitement that Santa had visited over night.

Christmas Eve I completely over did it and therefore spent Christmas day in bed myself with a massive migraine. Thankfully my brother and sisters families were next door at my mothers so the 4 older kids spent most of the day over there. It's good to have family so close.

Will's stomach issues passed and now he is just sick with a sinus infection. My headache passed but I was left with a bad chest cold requiring steroids and antibiotics. I think I am finally starting to feel a little better today. So instead of coming up to Will's parents on Sunday night to celebrate Christmas, we came up last night. Better late then not at all.

So in short the holiday hasn't really gone as planned. Poor Will hasn't got to spend his vacation the way he had in mind and all the plans I had for decluttering and cleaning the house have got pushed to the back burner. Things are looking up though and we are finally feeling better and having some fun.

All of my pictures from Christmas morning are on my camera at home. Once we get home and get unpacked I will make it a priority to get those up on the blog.

Decorating the Tree

Decorating the Christmas tree is always a tradition I look forward to each year. Dad and Jake are in charge of hanging the lights. Next, comes the ornaments. I have started a box of ornaments for each of the kids. I can remember my mom doing the same for me. When it comes time to decorate everyone has their own box of treasures to hang on the tree.

I will be starting a box for Emily this year. Last year she was barely a month old and she slept through the tree decorating. This year she is a very busy toddler who doesn't want to miss out on anything. She was fascinated with everyone's ornaments. As they put them on the tree, she would take them off and inspect them.
After all the ornaments have been placed on the tree, it is time for the star. Jake was in charge this year of putting the star on top of the tree. We soon realized that the star was just too tiny for this tree.
I decided we would make a new one. So that was a project the younger boys and I did the following day. We cut a star out of cardboard, painted it, added glitter, and hot glued a tp roll to the back. We placed it on top of the tree. Perfect.

Christmas Tree Hunting

It's been an entire week since I last posted and I realized that I didn't even have pictures of our Christmas tree up yet. Spare time is hard to come by these days. My laptop is broken as well so blogging means I have to seclude myself in the bedroom away from everyone. That doesn't happen very often. I know, excuses, excuses. Anyway on with the tree.

We headed out the weekend after Thanksgiving to go look for our Christmas tree. We like to visit Kidman's Tree Farm. This year we found a tree out on the grounds and for the first time ever, cut it down ourselves! The kids had a ball with this. They each took turns using the saw. Here is Drew. Brodie.Tony. And Jake finished the job.Whoo Hoo!It was windy and cold but we were having a good time. Except for Emily. She wasn't very happy being cold and having to sit in her stroller.
Once we found our tree we took it back up to the house and the nice Kidman folks loaded it on the van for us while we got some more hot chocolate and headed back out for a wagon ride. Tony was brave enough to get up and lead the horses for a bit.Finally it was time to head home and the kids were super excited to put the tree up in the living room. And here she is.We chose a new spot to put it this year. The following night we decorated. Those pictures will come soon.