Christmas 2015

I can't believe Christmas has already come & gone. Everything seemed so fast this year. Plus, the weather was unseasonably warm-- we haven't seen any snow yet this season, so it hasn't really felt like Christmas!

Christmas Eve was our church's annual Candlelight Service. There must have been more than 150 people there! The choir always sings their cantata and this year the kids joined them for a couple songs. They stole the show! They certainly have been practicing hard this year and they all sang loud & clear.

When we got home we put out cookies for Santa. We read The Night Before Christmas. We opened the last box of What God Wants for Christmas, a 7-day Advent activity we always do (hint: it's us!). And we read the Christmas story from Luke by candlelight. Andrew had a sleepover with the girls so that when they woke up in the morning, they would all be together and not be tempted to go out of the room and see all the surprises. (I think Abi was more excited about Andrew sleeping over than Santa coming!)

This little boy was so excited he slept very little all day long and ate every time he woke up and stayed up till 10pm.

We rarely put any presents under the tree until Christmas morning so it's always a huge surprise when they get up.

We got them up at 7:30, although they'd been awake maybe half an hour or so. I missed videoing their reactions, but they were priceless. They are always amazed Santa actually came.

The opening of gifts probably only took about an hour or so, and that's only because we stopped them a few times to throw away trash and get organized for more.

Abi's gift from Santa was a toy phone. A very inexpensive toy phone. But that's all she asked for. She loves them. It also came with toy keys. We also got her a saucer chair. Leah and Andrew both have one but hers' broke and she likes to have a place to sit in the playroom to watch movies. She got a toy broom (trust me, she loves to sweep and always takes my broom out), an Anna doll (from Frozen-- Leah has the Elsa one, so we wanted Abi to have her own) and some coloring books. It was so fun to see her "get" Santa this year and understand which presents were hers' and the whole concept of giving. When we asked her what she wanted from Santa, she put some thought in it and gave us 3 or 4 things. Of course, they kept changing as time went on, but still, she knew what she wanted.

Andrew's major wish was a remote control plane. We knew a) those are quite expensive, and b) they are much too hard for him to fly. But still, we wanted him to find that out for himself. So we found an inexpensive styrofoam one that is made for indoor use. It's still geared toward much older kids, but that was his only request for Santa. It turned out to work fairly well, as long as he has a little help. It seemed to work better outside, as long as there was no wind. Of course, as soon as he tried doing it on his own, he flew it into the tall grass behind our house and I had to go fish it out, but after that he hasn't tried it again without help.

He also got a huge T-Rex, some Iron Man gloves (that apparently make him actually become Iron Man), a new Bible, Matching Game, and some Blaze & the Monster Machine cars.

Leah's major request from Santa was a Magic Microphone Singing Elsa Doll. (It was actually MUCH less expensive than the huge Barbie Dream House she requested last year!) You can sing along with her a song from her favorite movie. She loves this doll and the song has become a constant background to our day! She also got a Barbie set, a Cinderella Play-Doh set, a kit to make jewelry, and pj's for her doll she got last year.

We figured this was the only year we could get away without getting much for little Jacob. So he got a bottle and couple toys and that was about all. He really could have cared less. He was still his usual happy self most of the day, and actually slept a little more than usual. 

We got a couple gifts that were for everyone together. A set of blocks, and a sled (although with no snow, who knows when they'll use that!). 

They each got a big box of things from Nana & Papa, which they opened all at once. Lots of little fun things to keep them entertained the rest of the day! 

Brett and I were blessed to be able to give each other some great gifts this year too. I got him a new watch, a DVD, and a pair of jeans. 

 The rest of the day was spent playing with all our fun things. We snacked most of the day and then had a big pork roast for dinner.

This is a Pop-Up Dollhouse from Nana & Papa. It doesn't have any furniture, but they improvised with Barbie furniture & played well together!

In the afternoon, this little boy lay on his blanket downstairs surrounded by all the toys & excitement. He contentedly kicked his little legs for over an hour, so entertained by all that was going on.

Aunt Karen got Andrew a Hot Wheels racer that crashes cars.

 

We had the perfect day, together as a family. All the kids could be heard at some point saying, "This is the best Christmas ever!" Even Abi, who rarely has words to express her feelings, said, "This is so much fun." Now we get several more days off to rest and enjoy each other & our new fun stuff!

Gingerbread & Christmas Cookies

More Christmas traditions getting us ready for the holiday!!

We decorated a gingerbread house from a kit, like we did last year. This year we put a lot more frosting on it, though! I think the kids always do a lot more eating of the candy than actually decorating. I'm pretty sure Abigail didn't do any decorating.

They each did one gingerbread cookie, also, so they had a chance to eat something right away. We didn't eat the rest for a week or so.

Church also had our annual Cookie Decorating Day. We brought some sugar cookie dough and frosting. The actual idea behind the day is to make cookies to take along with us when we go caroling later in the day, or to save some for other Christmas events at the church. However, my children do so much licking & touching of the dough, ours' ended up being just for us! They cut them out, and then once they cut ours' out, they helped our friend cut out some more.

Then after they were baked, we decorated them with all different colors. The kids had a lot of fun and made some interesting creations! This was really the first time I've officially done sugar cookies that you can really decorate, so I learned a lot too!

Jacob @ 3 months

This little boy is growing like a weed! Up to probably 17 pounds already! I can't even remember him ever being small. And yet he is still just my little baby. He is so happy and easygoing all the time. In fact, there are times I even forget he's around, because he's so content he doesn't make a peep. And doesn't he take good photos?

Though he's still a little wobbly, he's pretty good at holding his head up now and we tried him out in his Bumbo seat. He's not a huge fan, but we're working on building up his muscles. He's almost ready for his high chair at the dinner table.

He's still nursing on demand, but usually he can go at least 3 hours now. He tends to gag a lot, even though nothing comes out. It may have to do with his breathing condition, for which he's going to see a specialist very soon. He tends to want to eat fast, and when he does, he chokes. But, as you can see, he loves his milk. 

He's learning to do all sorts of things with his hands. He likes to be Super-Jacob. 

And he can even hold his toys when you put them in his hands.

And of course he loves to taste them, too.

His absolute favorite thing to do is lay on his play mat and kick his legs and stare at the star on top. He can do it for long amounts of time without fussing. He does NOT, however, like tummy time. He only tolerates it a few minutes. He just loves to be able to move his legs and kick (much like he did in the womb)! Usually he's not alone on his mat. In fact, he's rarely alone. The second he cries, someone is in the crib with him, offering him his paci or talking to him comfortingly. His brother and sisters are always in his face, kissing him and trying to hold him or talk to him.

Last week he slept through the night (from about 9pm until 6 or 7 am) three nights in a row. Then the next night he was only up once. Then the night after that he was up twice. So he can sleep all night, but still doesn't do it consistently. He's also had a little bit of a cold the past few nights so that could have been keeping him up. Still, even when he gets up, he eats and goes back to sleep fairly quickly. He sleeps in his own crib in his & Andrew's room during the day, but downstairs in our office in a portable crib at night. (He's far too noisy to be in our room anymore.)

 

He smiles and laughs a LOT, and not just for Mommy anymore. He always greets people with a smile when they speak to him. Naturally, everyone adores him. And I don't want him to grow anymore!

Visit with Santa & Christmas Traditions

Each year we try to make the most of the Christmas season by flipping over an activity a day on our Advent Activity Calendar. I try to come up with fun and interesting things to do, but still keep the focus on the true meaning of Christmas and not be too BUSY.


Even though we still have no real snow (and it has been unseasonably warm for Vermont this year!), one day we made paper snowflakes and marshmallow snowmen, and then watched Frosty the Snowman.

Another day we made some ornaments to give away as gifts. We put small bits of crayon inside a clear ornament. When you blow them with a hot hair dryer, they melt and you can swirl the colors around inside the ornament to make pretty colors.

Christmas is our favorite time to watch movies together. The kids loved Polar Express. We even had hot chocolate.

The kids' favorite so far, though, was visiting Santa! He rode into town on a fire truck (I guess his reindeer are resting in the North Pole?) and then went to the nearby Community House for kids to sit on his lap. Thankfully, they had a ticket system so we were given a number and didn't have to wait in line the entire time (which was at least an hour & a half). While we were waiting, we got to ride a horse-drawn wagon, do a craft, have some cookies, and walk around downtown. 

And when we finally got to see the Big Guy, no one cried. Andrew said he wants a remote-control plane and Leah wants a singing Elsa doll. Abi wouldn't sit with him but we at least convinced her to stand next to him for a photo. Jacob was chill and didn't even know he was supposed to cry!