Merry Christmas!!!

I know that not all adults agree with me, but I LOVE IT when the kids come bounding into my bedroom at 5am rearing to go and full of excitement!!  I LOVE that they squeal and drag me out of bed to join in their fun.  Brings a smile to my face every time.

Like many families we start with stockings then move one by one watching everyone open and enjoy their gifts.  This is especially fun because of how we give gifts (Santa brings each of the kids 1 gift, a joint kid or family gift, and stocking stuffers) then each family member makes or buys (with their own money) a gift for each family member).  This way we all want to see the great reactions from the gifts we give.

The kids were GREAT!  They were so excited and grateful for everything they received and as a Mom, that's all I really want for Christmas each year, especially this year since it was a little on the lean side.  I'm going to share the gifts because it's fun to look back and say, "Oh yeah!  I remember when we got that!"

*Feel free to skip this part of your reading
In the stockings:
Everyone gets their own "fancy" chocolate bar or baby food if you're almost 6 months old, a new toothbrush (this year: design your own spin brushes) and toothpaste (or deodorant for the parents...Santa must think we stink, at least it's not coal, right?).  The kids get a little extra present, too.  Hot Wheels! (yes, we have girls)
Under the Tree from Santa:
Maggie:  A pink Barbie
Emma: A Holiday Barbie
Lilly:  First Baby Doll
All the girls:  Barbie Doll clothes
Under the Tree from Parents:
Girls:  Walkie Talkies!!  BEST GIFT EVER!! 16 miles range
Lilly:  Adorable little outfit
Under the Tree from Dad:
Dianne:  Zumba 2 Fitness for the Wii (Super FUN!)
Maggie & Emma:  Pink swim goggles for swimming lessons that start in January
Under the Tree from Mom:
Israel:  a lap swim punch card (20x) for the Aquatic Center so he can train for his next Triathlon
Maggie:  A Tree Pillow sewing kit! *she's been begging for a sewing kit for over a month now
Emma:  New paints! even glitter paints * she spent most of the morning painting up a storm
Under the Tree from Maggie:
Mom:  comfy robe (combined $ with Emma & Israel)
Mom & Dad:  homemade tree ornaments
Dad:  bullets (combined $ with Emma)
Emma:  Paper dolls and Hello Kitty playing cards
Lilly:  cute ducky plate
Under the Tree from Emma:
Dad:  German Chocolate Cake mix with frosting
Maggie:  GIANT writing pen
Lilly:  2 bowls with lids
Under the Tree from Lilly:
Maggie & Emma:  Bead craft

Shortly after we had family prayer and yummy orange rolls.  And then the vomiting began.  Poor Maggie!  She's been sick all day but it hasn't stopped her from having a good time, well okay sometimes it did.

  Sadly, it did stop us from attending church this morning.  Darn it.

I wouldn't say we got a lot of material/gadget kinds of gifts this year but I will say just how impressed I am with my girls and how they just didn't mind or miss it at all!  They really are good kids.

 

 My mom gave us her China this year.  It was really, really fun to use them for our Holiday Dinner!  We had delicious turkey (brined!mmm), stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy and homemade rolls.  Ahh... it all turned out soo yummy!

 I'm so grateful for such a wonderful day!  We are so very, very blessed.

Merry Christmas Eve

So I LOVE having Prime Rib on Christmas Eve (even though last year was my 1st year to do so) and was ecstatic when a friend of mine invited us over for the eve before Christmas Eve for just that!  I'd been salivating all week long!  Then the night before, Emma woke up covered in vomit.  Quite literally, in fact, I've never seen anything like it.  Horrible mental image coming up!  Old Faithful.  Needless to say (but I will) we had to back out since she has a preemie and we didn't want to be responsible for getting him sick.

Soo....we instead we frosted sugar cookies for Santa, made Q-tip snowflakes, cleaned our rooms, ate chicken enchiladas, opened the customary 1 present, laid out cookies & milk, carrots & water for Santa and the crew, read the Night Before Christmas, Luke 2 and watched the Nativity (Breath of Heaven version) then promptly sent the kiddos to bed.  Where they struggled to sleep because of the anticipation and excitement.  Who can blame them, really?  Who doesn't get excited about someone bringing them the best gifts they could hope for??  No one.  That's who!

Oh and we can't forget the game, "See what tiny little places you can fit into."  (I did NOT play this game.)

 And playing with wrapping paper is a given.

 I'm just gonna say it, "Our girls are beautiful!"

 
 

The girls like to tell jokes they've made up ALL on their own every year to Santa.
Here's this year's addition:
Knock, knock
Who's there?
Apple.
Apple Who?
Purple Apple.
Purple Apple, who?
EAT A PURPLE APPLE!
NOOOOOOOO!

Yep.  Santa likes it a lot and smiles every year! ;)

Christmas Activities

We've been trying to do most of our "traditional" Christmas activities to help us get into the spirit of the season. First we played with a baby.  Because playing with babies makes everyone happy, right?

 Especially, when they're awfully cute.  Much like this one right here. :)

 Then we assembled and decorated a Gingerbread House, well because it's just good fun.

 This is Maggie's brilliant addition.  Santa stuck in the snow!

 Then she turns to me and says, "You should post this on FB and say, 'My daughter was astonished that Santa was stuck in the snow!'"  Oh, ever the narrator...

 Lastly, the girls come running out of their room yelling, "We're frightened!  Come help us!!"  My kids are crazy, but they sure can make me laugh sometimes.

And These Are the Days of Our Lives

What we've been up to as of late:

1.  Maggie and Emma performed in Terri's Tavaci Singers Christmas Concert.

As usual, Maggie was on the back row (side effect of being tall) and as usual, she was hanging all over the bar.  She told us that she fell off the risers during dress rehearsal.  Hmm...funny how that didn't seem to deter her from messing around between numbers during the concert.  Nut.  She was right on once the music began though and sang and danced her little heart out.

 AND...Emma received (or gave, we're still a little unsure) her 1st kiss!  On stage!  Unscripted.  This is the story she tells us.  The boy next to her was being noisy in between numbers and so she leaned over and whispered in his ear to be quiet and that he turned and kissed her!  Hahaha!  If I hadn't been in the nosebleed section, I might have seen (or better, recorded!) this event.

2.  I performed with the community women's choir, The Choralaires, in the Christmas Concert and it was great to be singing Christmas songs since September.

3.  Going to breakfast with Daddy and being totally respectable.

4.  Lilly discovered rolling and exploring the house.

 5.  Emma had a Christmas Sing-A-Long at her preschool.

 6.  We decorated for Christmas

7.  The girls have been LOVING the Thomas the Train set Aunt Pipee sent them home with.  They've played non-stop since it was brought out!  Thank you!!!!

  
Yep.  Emma's hiding in the box.  Why?  So she can hoard and distribute the trains as she wishes.

NOTE!

I feel like we're settled back into life enough to sit down and blog about our big trip we took this November.  It's kinda a long story of how we got to going to Iowa and of course, I'm about to share it.  Have a seat, it could take a minute.

Instead of having to read our travel log backwards, I'm posting it backwards.  If that makes any forward sense to you.  FYI- the update goes past the main page of posts, so to get the ENTIRE tale you'll want to click on "older posts" at the bottom right.  Enjoy!

The Beginnings of Our Big Adventure

Background:  My parents are elderly (I'm the youngest of 8, it happens) and are no longer able to care for themselves.  Dad suffers from Alzheimer's and Mom has several health issues.  This past year they have been living with my oldest sister, Marianne, bless her heart.  Well, recently they have been working really hard to get our childhood home ready for sale.  Mom decided to do a "table pick" among the kids to distribute many of the things they had acquired over the years. (More on this later)  Thus, I was asked to try to find a way to come home and participate in this.  Israel & I realized that this was really important to my parents and decided to make it happen.

Originally, we had planned for Iz to come with us and stay the week Thanksgiving, but due to some issues at work, that was cancelled.  So, it was decided that we would leave Thurs, Nov 11th at 10pm and Iz would drive with us straight through to Iowa.  Then he would jump seat home on an airline out of Moline, Ill. Saturday morning.  It worked beautifully!  We arrived without any major incidents.  Israel did have to point out that it took us 23 hours to get there and it only took him 5 hours to get back.

Here are some of our favorite parts on the way to Iowa:

1.  Clothes Pin Reward system:  Each child (Maggie & Emma) have a clothes pin attached to a visor.  When they are being good, the clothes pin stays on the visor.  If they are acting naughty (whining, asking too many questions, ;) arguing, etc) the clothes pin is removed.  If their clothes pin is on the visor during a gas stop they get to pick out something for under $1.  Which actually ended up being annoyingly difficult, but I'll do it different next time by assembling a grab bag style with cheap toys/candy they can pick from instead.  It was a learning experience though, because they really had to pay attention to prices and decide what they really wanted.  Sometimes they would pool their money and share so they could get something a little better.

2.  Playing at Rest Stops!

I like how it looks like Lilly is holding a miniature light saber in her hand!  Go zippers!

We were so blessed to have the trip out go so smoothly with great weather, dry roads and happy kids. :)

The Table Pick

We arrived at my sister, Marianne's home, late Friday night and the following morning was the "table pick".  Here's the idea of the table pick.  Items are placed out on tables and each kid has a turn picking an item (thus table. pick.) and you continue in this fashion until all the items are gone, then move onto the next table until everything is chosen.  I have to note that I feel this was VERY generous of my parents, well, actually my mom, since Dad doesn't really understand what's going on these days.  I'm grateful for her generosity when I know how difficult it is for her at this time.

We ended up with 7 of the 8 kids there and it was a BLAST!  We had so much fun strolling down memory lane as we went through the items.  I have to say that I was so proud of us and how nicely we played together.  Mom should be proud, too.  She has raised some fine children.

My favorite picture of the day?
This here pic with Rex sporting a fancy wig.

My favorite part of the day?
Finding an odd Jesus picture that strangely resembled the goof ball shown above, especially with the wig!  Yes, LeVon, it was Rex and me who slipped that picture into the back of your vehicle.  Then we laughed and we laughed, because that there is funny.

Can you believe that this is the ONLY picture I took that day?  Seriously.  My sister, Susanne, posted more pictures here, but you'll notice that we failed to get a picture with all of us together!  Seriously.  sigh...

I also have to say "Thank You to Mom for entertaining Lilly for much of the day while we were busy"!

Family Time/School Time

I think this was the longest time we've spent in one place on a trip back to Iowa.  Because of this, Maggie ended missing 6 days of school and Emma missed a whole week of Preschool, Maggie also missed 2 violin lessons.  Prior to leaving I asked their teachers to compile their work/projects so that I could "home school" them the week before Thanksgiving.  I was surprised how well it went the first few days.  I even proctored a couple of Maggie's tests and she did fabulous!  First, Maggie would practice her violin and give a little performance to Grandma & Grandpa, then she, Emma and Nora (my niece, Brittney's little girl, they live there, too) would do their school work.

 Of course, when school was done, they'd sit at the table and do puzzles with Grandpa and Grandma.

 Lilly got to spend LOTS of time being rocked, snuggled and loved by Grandma.  And Grandpa fell in love with her, too.  Because of his condition he didn't always understand that she wasn't "his".  He would walk by and say, "You like your Daddy?"  Then he'd sing to her or whistle or pull out his trusty Harmonica.  Which was so sweet...except when she's juuuust about to fall asleep. ;)

Side note:  Dad doesn't remember who I am, but sure tries to fake that he knows a connection.  Though he did make mention of pilots and airplanes when he was trying to place me.  Israel must have made a lasting impression on him. lol!

 Aunt Marianne was also great about giving Lilly extra love, too.  She is FABULOUS at getting her to sleep when she doesn't feel good.  Lilly got her first cold just a few days after we got there.  She ended up with an upper respiratory infection and an ear infection.  That made for some really long, long nights, very short napping and very little two-handed activities.  I appreciate everyone who helped me out so much while we battled the exhaustion and migraine that followed.

 Paper Airplanes!!!  We were learning about air in school.

Who doesn't love a dip in the hot tub?!?  I was kicking myself for not getting in that day, it was the only day they did and I missed my chance.  Bummer!  We'll have to come back.

 Lilly had her very first sink bath while we were there and she quite enjoyed it, too.  She also liked licking/eating my wrist.

 THE cutest baby at church!  Just sayin'.