Christmas 2014

• We spent Christmas Eve with Ryan's dad, sister and her family.
  
• The kids are all getting so big! Lia got a Canon SureShot camera and was ecstatic.  Shae and Brenna got Lego Friends- the mall and cruise ship and were all googly eyed over them.   The boys got the Skylanders Swap Force for the Xbox and Amelia got lots of toys.   

• The kids (except Amelia) are at an age where we can actually play games without them needing us every second.  The adults were able to play Ticket to Ride after dinner while the kids played in the basement.
  
• We went to the 8pm Christmas Eve service at Westwinds.  As always, they outdid themselves with the decor and theme.  The theme was Christmas in the 40's and they had a vintage looking Santa.  There were work benches set up in the lobby... 1 for kids to write a letter to Santa, and 3 for families to make pinecone ornaments to remember this Christmas Eve at Westwinds.  They were painted green, and there was glue and Epsom Salt to sprinkle on them, put them in a paper gift bag and take home.  The service was amazing... all 40's themed Christmas songs and as always, worship was spot on.  We are so blessed to have found such an awesome church to call home.
  
• The kids were beyond tired by the time we got home.  We forgot to put out reindeer food. Oops!  They were out like a light (well, Amelia was a bit fussy but after Ryan sang to her she zonked out.)
  
• Porter woke us up at 7:30am and drug us downstairs.  He and Hudson were giddy as can be. I had to wake Amelia up, so she was so confused at opening her stocking and seeing gifts.  Santa brought android tablets for each of the kids (in their favorite colors: red, green and purple), sleds for the boys, a stroller for Amelia and lots of little goodies... their annual Nutcrackers as usual (a hunter for P, mouse for H and ballerina for A), kinetic sand and more.  They were so surprised over the "iPads".  I'm pretty sure that was their favorite gift.
  
• Hudson was the most excited this year... he's really into random, quirky things so he's super easy to please and surprise.  He got this Animal Babies Monkey that giggles, burps and farts and he LOVES it.  He also got a stuffed macaw parrot, Waddles the penguin, dry erase markers, Spirograph, Mixels, Shrinky Dinks, Pokemon cards and Legos.   

Amelia got a Bitty Baby, Frozen dress up clothes, some tutus, a doll high chair, a vintage Fisher Price camera, and a Llama Llama book.

   

Porter got Minecraft Legos, books (Harry Potter, Wonder, and Magic Treehouse), Skylanders characters, Pokemon cards. (He was the hardest to buy for... his wish list literally ALWAYS consists of: iPhone, iPod touch, dirt bike, bb gun and quad.  Sorry buddy... not happening).

They got combined gifts of Osmo iPad games (I.LOVE.THESE) and Disney Infinity 2.0.  Whoop Whoop!  Each of the kids got a Little Live Pets bird... yeah.  Ryan hates them HAHA!

We thought we'd use Christmas morning to surprise them with our DisneyLand trip... big mistake. Turns out they're like "okay, cool"  Uhm. HELLOOOO we're flying to CALIFORINA to see RADIATOR SPRINGS!  Yeah.   Next time we'll just wait and tell them when we're on the plane HAHA!  #surprisefail

My sister and her girls came over for dinner and a movie, and my dad stopped by for a bit.  We all just hung out in jammies and relaxed all day.  

9 free favorite printable holiday tags

I love searching Pinterest for great printables.... especially when it comes time for Christmas and making gift tags!  I decided to post links to my favorites that I found on Pinterest.  I decided to print #3 from Shanty2Chic on cardstock.  Now if I can just get my printer to work.... I swear it was just working yesterday.  Today... no dice.  Doesn't want to load the paper.  GRRR.   Electronics.   

Free Printable Christmas Movie Quote Tags @ The Happy Tulip

Colorful Gift Tags @ ColorMeMeg

Black and White Tags @ Shanty2Chic

Adorable Stockings @ Fresh Picked Whimsy

12 Different Calligraphy Tags by Lindsay Bee  Download HERE

Hand Drawn Printable Gift Tags @HeyLook

Hand Illustrated Holiday Tags by Emily McDowell

Watercolor Printable Tags @Oana Befort

Vintage Printable Tags @Oana Befort

what's gotten into me this year?

Usually we don't get our Christmas tree until the weekend after Thanksgiving.  We've actually been known not to put up a tree until freakin' the middle of December.  But this year.... I'm soooo ready to get decorated for the holidays, and it seems like so many of my Facebook friends are ready too!  PEER PRESSURE!

I know everyone complains that Thanksgiving gets looked over but.... why can't you celebrate Thanksgiving with Christmas decorations up?  I think I'm going to this year!!!

Amelia and I went grocery shopping today and we browsed all the Christmas aisles.  I picked up some stocking stuffers for the kids (I love being able to shop for presents with a toddler who won't remember HAHAH!) and I've already started ordering Christmas gifts.   During AJ's dance class I made a list on my phone of random people in our day to day lives that we should make/give gifts to (like their teachers, dance teacher, art teacher, Nancy at the barn who takes care of the horses, the UPS guy... etc).  I'm just... SO in the Christmas spirit this year!   YAY!  

This weekend I think we're heading up to the Novi Equestrian Expo and the boys have riding lessons on Sunday but I think somewhere in between there we're going to try to get down at least some of the Christmas decorations.  Besides.... Ry bought some shelves to organize the attic so this would be a PERFECT time to get that done too!

babyproofing christmas

I never understood why people put gates around their Christmas trees. And then we had Amelia.

Revisiting Christmas traditions

I've written quite a few posts about Christmas Traditions that I'd like to instill in our family, as well as pondering different ways that other families do things around Christmastime.  Over the past few years, some traditions have stuck like glue, and others have been swept to the side.  We've replaced some traditions that didn't work so well with new traditions.

Here are some of the posts I've written, for reference:

2007 Holiday Traditions: Making it Magical
2007 Pondering Presents
2007 What does YOUR Santa bring? 
2008 Christmas Traditions
2011 New Christmas Traditions

Here are the Traditions that have stuck for 2012:

• Elf on the Shelf.   This little guy was introduced into our family in 2008 and about 2 years ago Bob joined our family as well.   The boys LOVE hunting for the elves in the morning and I think this will be a tradition we will continue.
  
• Mini Tree in the bedroom:  The kids each have their own mini tree with lights in their bedrooms (Amelia's does not have ornaments yet... but will next year!)
  
• Book Basket:  We have TONS of Christmas books (i'd say about 30?  40?)  And one year I did wrap 25 of them to unwrap as an "advent" type of activity
  
• Christmas Eve Candlelight service at Westwinds
  
• Getting a new ornament every year (we usually get numerous... a new ornament from any vacation we go on, one for each kid and usually one as a "family or couple")
  
• New PJ's on Christmas Eve
  
• Cutting down our Christmas Tree:  This tradition I wanted to begin when Porter was little, but somehow we just kept pushing it aside and the fake tree was so easy to use.  This year, however, we began the tradition and will continue!
  
• I hope we'll continue the decorating Christmas cookies with cousins on Christmas Eve

We are still pretty closely implementing 3 of the 4 Traditions that the Anderson's use:

•  Each little person gets their own wrapping paper.  None of the gifts are marked.  Christmas morning they find a piece of wrapping paper at the bottom of their stocking that matches the wrapping paper on their presents. 

• Each kiddo is getting 3 gifts from us Want/Need/Surprise... although technically this year they're getting 4 gifts, and not necessarily along the lines of want/need/surprise.  They also get a gift from each of their siblings.  Porter and Hudson each get to shop for their own siblings, so it makes the gift giving more personal.  

• Christmas Eve PJ's (though we don't open a "read" present because we have so many other gosh darn Christmas books!

I also spent a LOT of time pondering presents and how much was enough, how much was too much... how much should be from us, from Santa etc..... So far this has been working for us the past few years:

Santa bring one "big" gift for each kiddo (this year they are getting scooters), and fills the stockings.  He also brings 2-3 smaller ($10ish) gifts that are wrapped in special "santa" paper (red paper with white HO HO HO on it).   That is all Santa brings.  Us parents want credit too!!  

We get the kids 3-4 gifts as well as a gift from each sibling for a total of 6 presents to open Christmas morning.  I do wrap our presents ahead of time and put them out under the tree throughout the month, but the past 2 years have not put names on the presents but instead "coded" each child with their own wrapping paper.  They don't know which paper belongs to whom, and won't find out until Christmas morning when they find the little piece of wrapping paper in the bottom of their stocking.

So, what are YOUR Christmas traditions?  I'd love to know what special things you and your family do year after year, as well as how you determine the gift giving.   Leave me some comments... I'm feeling lonely here on the blog!

Visting Santa

It has been a few years since we've seen the "Mall Santa"- the last few years we have gone to Miss Marleen's and Santa comes there with presents!!   My sister wanted all the kids to go together so we headed to the mall with my mom.  (Sidenote... I'm not sure I've stepped foot in our local mall since Gap closed uh... 3 years ago???)

As expected, Hudson was SO unsure of Santa.  Heather had to carry him up there (his face buried in her shoulder, refusing to look at Santa).  He didn't cry or scream or anything, just totally ignored Santa- wouldn't look at him or speak to him!  HAHAHA!  It was quite humorous.   To be fair, he really didn't feel good either- he was hit hard with a cold and had been up all night and super early that morning so he was tired and under the weather.  

Amelia didn't mind him at all... she was kind of confused about what was going on.  

Porter walked right up to him, fiddled with his teeth and tie a bit but told him what he wanted for Christmas (this day in particular he wanted a new nerf gun.  Previously, his request was a pistol or a cross bow to which I explained to him that Santa won't bring presents that he knows Mommy's and Daddy's don't want their kids to have.  He took that into consideration and changed his request HAHA!)

And the whole clan.  What a mess.  

Take it all in

We pulled out the Christmas decorations tonight.  Put Pandora on Christmas music and began digging through boxes.

What a lucky life I have, I thought.   My husband and I working together to string the lights on the tree. The music dancing through the air.  The 4 of us randomly singing loudly and off key.

Take it all in.

The boys discovering their ornaments, again, as if with new eyes.  "I remember this!"  I can hear a twinge in Porter's voice as he sounds so sentimental, almost choked up.  Hudson, his eyes squinty, his hands clasped beneath his chin, grinning when I fill up the snow globe ornament with water.  Pure joy in such simple things.

Take it all in.

Amelia, crawling around in her diaper amidst the Christmas explosion, fitting in with our family like the perfect puzzle piece.  The boys chasing each other in and out of the boxes with airplane ornaments, making whizzing, zooming and shooting noises.  Me, scolding Ryan and reminding him to take a deep breath, let the kids be kids.  Let them be little.

Take it all in.

The irony of "The Most Wonderful Time of the Year" playing as I hold a half naked baby on one hip, steady a fallen Christmas tree with the other hand, while Ryan attempts to secure it yet again while lying amidst broken ornaments and spilled water.  The boys upset over the loss of our recent Mackinaw ornament.  Ryan huffing and puffing, while I can do nothing but laugh as the baby giggles and flings herself around... the tree falling on two of our kids is so our luck.

Take it all in.

Despite the chaos.  The loudness.  The laughter. The drama.  The irritation   The bad luck.  The love.  The bickering.  This is our life.  Our family.  These are the moments its all about.

Take it all in.

The. Best. Christmas. Tree. Ever. (if you have a sense of humor)

Fun family traditions?  Uh.  Seems like anytime we try to plan something fun as a family it ends up being a ridiculous stressful event full of whining and irritated huffing and puffing.

Today for example.  We planned to get our Christmas tree   A real one this year.  I also planned to meet a lady at meijer at noon to buy a movie.   I told Ryan this at like 10 am.   Amelia laid down for a nap and at 1130 I decides to wake her up and asked Ry to get the boys coats, shoes and hats on and pack some cheese and crackers while I got Amelia dressed.

Well he had to get himself dressed.  And then mentioned he needed to dump garbage out of the truck (he takes our garbage to his work to dump).  Then the truck was in the back yard (which is gated), so we had to move the van to get the truck out.  The carseats weren't even in the truck.  The chainsaw wasn't in the truck.  Porter was whining and getting pissed because his shoes didn't "feel right".  Hudson was getting pissed because he couldn't get his mitten on right.  Amelia was pissed because she wanted a bottle.  I was pissed because we only had 10 minutes to get across town to meet this lady.  Ughhh.   I was ready to call it quits and just dig out the fake tree yet again.  

But... we made it work.  I called the lady, we got the carseats in the truck, the kids loaded up and we made it only 15 minutes late.  Sure, we were all silent and brooding on the trip out there but once we got to the tree farm (which is a friends' parents tree farm, and was closed so we had the run of the place) our spirits lifted.  The boys were really excited about our new adventure.   

The pickins' were kind of slim for a smaller tree.  These trees were HUGE!  We walked all the way down the path and back and contemplated and discussed and compared and pondered.   Ryan's theory was "We just need to find one that has a good 'body' and we can trim it into a good shape once we're home" Ok.  Remember this, right?   

So we find a few trees that are far too tall.  One would work if we hacked the top off (it was kind of narrower in the middle toward the top) and others seemed like they'd work if we hacked about 4 feet off the bottom and trimmed the sides up a ton.  We finally settled on one that seemed pretty close to what we needed.  It was a little fuller than we'd liked but we figured we can trim it up, right? 

We took a few pictures... my hubby is the best- he carried this huge wooden uh, thing, over so I could set my camera up and use the self timer.   We packed the tree up, and headed home.  

Here's where the fun begins... are you ready for some laughs??  When we finally got around to bringing the tree in it was dark.  Ryan went outside and when he brought the tree in the first thing I thought was "WOAH... way too big."  We obviously either overestimated the size of our house or underestimated the size of that tree.  The second thought? "What the hell happened to the top of the tree and why is there so much trunk showing?!"  (Ryan says "I only trimmed a little off the top!)  I am pretty sure this is why he said to me "I"m going to run up to Menards for garbage bags... and look at their trees." I shot the idea down.  NO!  We went and picked out our tree and we're going to make it work!  Little did I know he'd hacked a hunk of the top off of it! HAAH!

So out to the front yard we went with a hedge trimmer and chainsaw.   Ry cut off some of teh trunk (and I'm pretty sure more of the branches at the bottom because we needed to cut MORE trunk off later), and I went to town with the hedge trimmers trying to shape the tree into a recognizable triangle shape.   The neighbor came by to get his dog (who ran into our yard) and said "That's unique... cutting the top of the tree off instead of the bottom!  Shows you don't follow the crowd, huh?"  HAHAHA!

After oh, an hour?? Who knows... and many many laughs, we finally got our tree looking decent.  Oh my word.   Ryan kept saying we should just go buy another tree and I refused.  No.  This was OUR ugly tree and it is going to be a great memory.  Ugly or not, it's staying.  

A Very Merry Christmas 2011

Again the holidays snuck up way too fast and in a flash they are over.  I hope I did my best in soaking up every bit of excitement and family time and joy and tradition and memories that I could.  I love Christmastime, and I am always amazed at how quickly it goes by.  Especially this year...  I think it snuck up even quicker as we have not had any snow on the ground to make it "feel" like Christmastime.  Boo.  Our dreams of a White Christmas never came through, but that's so minimal in the big picture of things.

I managed to get my 2nd sinus infection this month, starting the week of Christmas break (on and off sinus pressure, sore throat and ear pressure).  Christmas Eve it hit me full force and I was down for the count most of Christmas Day.  I tried my best to take everything in and enjoy the boys' excitement.  I hope that I can document it well here for the future.

Christmas Eve was spent here this year, with Dave, Lori, Don and the girls coming over for dinner, presents and Christmas Eve service at Westwinds.  Present opening was over in a flash, and was a blur of wrapping paper, ooohs and ahhs, "I need another present to open!" and "Cool!" "Awesome!"  I had baked some sugar cookies ahead of time and let the kids go to town decorating them.  I think this will become a new Christmas Eve Tradition as they all had so much fun.  We quickly ate dinner (lasagna and garlic bread... with a last minute trip to Meijer to get Lori a replacement meal b/c Ryan mistakenly bought lasagna with meat! Oops!) and then loaded up to go to Westwinds.  We met my sister, Addi, my Dad and his stepdaughters there.  We have usually gone to the late night candlelight service, so this year it was a little different (more family oriented).  J-Vo called the kids up to the stage and let them write an impromptu Christmas song that we all sang.  It was cute and the kids had a blast.   David did a nice little recap on the Christmas Story with some modern day cast, which was also hilarious (think baby Carlos as Baby Jesus, Rapunzel as Mary and Tim Allen as Joseph).  Pretty good stuff, and definitely "dumbed down" to our modern time thinking.  Afterward we headed home to tuck the kids in bed and play Santa Clause.  My favorite, usually, but instead I felt like death and was so unmotivated.   Ryan decided to make some Santa Footprints and those turned out to be a HUGE hit.

That night I slept like doo doo... waking up at 3am and sleeping restlessly until we were woken up at 6am by a flashlight shining in our eyes, and Porter yelling "Everybody!  Everybody WAKE UP!  Santa Came!  Get Up Get Up Get UP!!!!  You won't believe it!  He left FOOTPRINTS all over our LIVING ROOM!!!"    His excitement was classic and I hope I never forget his amazement that morning.  He raced downstairs after waking Hudson up and we all attempted to follow suit quickly.  He made sure to show us every piece of evidence that Santa had been here.... "Look at these footprints!"  "Look! He left this huge race track!!"  "WHO ate this apple and left the core!" "Look at our stockings and the presents!!!"  Hudson was kind of in a daze at this point and just like last year missed his own stocking and pile of presents and headed towards Porters :)    Once he was guided in the right direction, they began opening their loot.   They both were so excited over every little thing and it was so fun to watch.

24 Christmas Questions

I saw this survey on Kimberly's blog and thought it would be fun to do.   I love looking back on these meme type posts and seeing my views of things at that point in time. 

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping Paper!  I always have a ton of gift bags (I have a whole bag full) but rarely ever use them.

2. Real tree or Artificial? Well..... here's the story.  I grew up with a real tree.  LOVE a real tree.  But when I was pregnant with Porter we decided to get a fake tree in lieu of no tree at all (I was 7 months pregnant, student teaching full time and exhausted). Well, that fake tree was pretty darn easy to put up and take down so every year we've used that excuse for not continuing (or even starting!) the tradition of going to a tree farm with the kids to cut down a tree.  Next year.  Next year.  

3. When do you put up the tree? The weekend after Thanksgiving!  I am always so anxious to get the Christmas season going, but must wait until Thankgiving gets is due attention.

4. When do you take the tree down? Usually after New Years.  I am always so sad when Christmas is over... its such a FUN month and I love it!  But typically just past New Years I'm ready to get things back to normal. 

5. Do you like eggnog? I've never had it but I'm pretty sure I wouldn't like it.

6. Favorite gift received as a child? Baby Shivers.  I so so so wanted that doll so badly, and I even had a little drawer all ready for her with some doll clothes, play diapers and bottles and blankets.  Yes, I loved playing dolls.  

7. Do you have a nativity scene?
Yep!  We have the Willow Tree one and the Little People Nativity

8. Hardest person to buy for? Hmm... Ryan.  Seriously.  

9. Easiest person to buy for? Our kids and our nieces.  I love buying for kids!

10. Mail or email Christmas cards?Mail!!

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? Uhm... I can't really think of any.  

12. Favorite Christmas Movie?I love Elf.  Not sure its my "favorite" but off the top of my head I'd say Elf.  

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas?  I shop a little throughout the year, and usually start in November. 

14. Ever recycled a Christmas present? Only at a Dirty Santa party.

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Christmas Cookies!  I looove sugar cookies with lots of frosting!

16. Clear lights or colored on the tree? Clear lights although I always love the large bulb lights, so I plan to buy some of those on sale after Christmas.  

17. Favorite Christmas song?
3 Fav's:  O Holy Night, Still Still Still and Carol of the Bells.  

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? We stay at home!  It is usually a really relaxing day.  We take our time opening gifts and just spending time together.  

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer?
Of course!

20. Angel on the tree top or a star? 
Star

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning?Kids open pj's from us Christmas Eve.  We do open gifts from Ry's dad and Lori's family on Christmas Eve.  Other than that... Christmas morning. 

22. Most annoying thing about this time of year? Probably just the clutter.  I have a corner full of wrapping paper and boxes and bows (which I could easily put in the basement and wrap down there but I don't...).   

23. Favorite ornament, theme, or color?
My favorite ornaments are our 12 Days of Christmas ornaments from Crate and Barrel.  Ryan's Uncle Dave bought them for us after Cathy passed away.  She always led the group singing of 12 Days of Christmas at our Christmas gathering (we'd all have to pick out a day out of a hat and sing that part).  I love remembering that about her.

24. What do you want for Christmas this year?
Just to slow down and enjoy the magic of this time of year.  Enjoy my kids and really take in their excitement.  Gift-wise... nothing really imperative.  We're saving for a family vacay next year so most of our money/cash gifts we are given is going toward that.  

November Recap

I feel like I've lost my voice or something... that blogging just doesn't seem to be my outlet lately.  I've kind of become more introverted the past month or so and even though there are lots of times I have things I want to blog I just don't seem to feel the desire to actually type it out.  It is frustrating to feel this way because I know time is slipping by and I'm not documenting these memories or small moments that I'll forget all too quickly.   So... before things get too far into Christmas, I need to do a little recap on November.

• I utterly failed NaBloPoMo.  What the hell.  I'm not sure you could even say I started!
• I utterly failed at my daily Thankful posts.  Again, lots of times I intentionally made a mental note of things I was thankful for (actually I bet on a daily basis!) but I never made the time to write it out.  

Let's see... what were the "big things" in November...

Christmas Parade in Jackson

This is the third (or 4th?) year that we've gone to the Christmas Parade downtown and I swear to goodness we get amnesia every year about how darn cold it actually is.  This year was really windy, and I didn't have a hat or even a really warm coat that actually zipped/buttoned up without making me look like a stuffed sausage.  (the coat I wore fit, but wasn't that warm).  The boys were bundled, but still cold.  And stupid me... wore shoes instead of my warm Uggs.  My feet FROZE and it wasn't until we were walking back to the car I thought WTF... I have BOOTS that are so WARM!  Next year we vow to put the boys in snowpants and bring blankets and hot cocoa.   Yeah.  I'm pretty sure we say that every year!

Regardless of the cold, the boys had so much fun.  This year the floats were really great as well!  I think this was the best year yet.  It cracked me up that the things the boys enjoyed the most  (and ooohed and aaahed over the most) were the tractors that were in the parade and the race cars.  I guess it shouldn't surprise me though!   We intended to meet the Dawson's downtown but they were unable to get across the road to our meeting spot, but we did end up next to a boy that Porter knew from school.  He had a lot of fun watching the parade with him.   

Next year.... warmer clothes and blankets!

Thanksgiving

This probably should have its own little post but I'm lumping it in with "November".   Again, we had dinner at our house.  One of my favorite holidays because both sides of our family gather together under one roof.  I was literally barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen all day and by dinner time I was ready to just stuff my face and then go lay down.  In which I did do both those things quite well.   Everything really went off well... I was able to fit our new kids patio table in the dining room with the kids table from the playroom so everyone was able to eat in one room.  I even got crafty the night before and decorated the kids table up!  

Another favorite about Thanksgiving... the boys and all their cousins are together!  I am so thankful that they have so many cousins that are around their age, and that they love them!  I almost feel bad for Baby Girl because she'll be at least 4 years younger than everyone else.  However, I'm also so excited to see how adored she is because I know all these girl cousins are going to eat her up!

Annual Shopping with Lori

Ohhhh this year was a bust out!  Just like the past.... oh 5 years or so, Lori and I headed to Ann Arbor on Black Friday to hit up the resale shops.  We actually only went to one because I spent SOOO much money on darling little girl clothes (and everything was 25% off... BONUS!).  I walked in the door and said to Lori.... "This is the day I've been waiting for for sooo long!"  I was finally able to dig into those bazillions of girl clothes for myself!  

We spent a good 2 hours in the resale shop (some of which were spent consoling a crying pregnant woman who burst into tears talking to us about how disappointed she was to be having another girl...) and then we went to Red Robin for lunch.  YUM!  We also hit up Pier 1, Babies R Us (got more clothes... some pink Avent bottles and a bath thingy) and also JoAnn to get 2 bolts (12 yards) of fabric for the nursery curtains.  

Our evening wasn't done there.... we had mostaccioli for dinner and then Lori and I went back out shopping to the Toy House.  We then ran home, packed up the families and headed to the Christmas Lights at the fairgrounds.  This has become an annual tradition for us as well and I am always amazed at how well done the lights are!  Just when you think you've seen so many, there are more!

I truly am thankful for these special shopping days with Lori.  It isn't the same without Cathy, and I will always hold those memories dear, but I do love that Lori and I are continuing the tradition.  

Decorating the Tree

This year we had talked about getting back into the "real tree" mode for Christmas and take the boys to a tree farm to cut down a tree.  However... I really wanted to get decorated for Christmas over the long weekend and we were kind of feeling like we wanted to just get the tree up so we went with the fake tree... again.   Maybe next year?   

Just like last year, I realized that decorating the tree is not something I should do with the kids awake.  Let me rephrase that.  I should get the nitty gritty done (tree up, lights on) while the boys are in bed or away... and then let them dig through the boxes of ornaments.  They are always so excited to see all the ornaments they're digging through boxes and making messes and carrying ornaments all around the house.  It drives me nuts.  Also- thank goodness for the unbreakable ornaments that are ALSO beautiful.  Not only did the boys drop a ton, but I did as well.  One special ornament managed to get broken (a windmill from Holland) but lo and behold I had actually purchased 2 on that vacay so it didn't break my heart too much.  After all, it was an accident.

So there we have it... Hello Thanksgiving, love ya, muah, see ya later and Hellooooo Christmas!

First Snow of the Year  

The last day of November was a SNOW DAY!  Yeah!  While snow days used to be so dreaded to me (not because I don't want to get to stay home... but because I don't get paid if I'm not working)... but I've come to embrace them.  I love the unexpected day off of work to hang out at home with my boys in our pj's. 

The boys were SO excited to see snow on the ground.  I think we got around 5 inches or so?  Maybe?  They were up at 7 and were begging me to go outside.  The sun wasn't even up!  However, by 7:30am they had me out of bed and they were running around the house in their underwear screaming with excitement.  We all bundled up and were out in the snow by 7:45am.  WHEW!  Both of the boys loved shoveling the sidewalk and Porter ended up shoveling almost half of our driveway.  They spent a good 2 hours outside playing!  The rest of our day was spent inside by the fire, watching movies and doing a little laundry.  Perfect, perfect day.

halfway to the weekend

• The boys and I had dentist appointments yesterday.  It was Hudson's first time and he did great.  He was a bit squirrley in the chair but wasn't scared at all.  Porter went first and Hudson was SO curious about what was going on and he was watching so intently.
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• The hygienist found a loose tooth in Porter's mouth!  Yippee!  He's sooo excited.  So tell me, parents with toothless children... what is the going rate for a tooth?  I think I remember getting a few quarters.  The hygienist told Porter to request the $5 tooth fairy.  What?!
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• Ryan and I have plans to get away for our anniversary... 3 days and 2 nights up near Frankenmuth. I am SO excited for a few days away from the kids.  It will be nice to have some adult only time, go out to dinner without tantrums and shop without losing children.
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• I've already begun Christmas shopping.  I'm SOO excited to get this holiday going.  Poor Thanksgiving!  LOL!  We are still hosting our annual Thanksgiving dinner here (which we have not planned at.all. ooops!)
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• This past weekend was Girls Weekend at Duck Lake.  Because my mom was visiting (and staying with us that weekend), I missed out on Thursday and Friday night.  I was able to make it for the last evening and ended up staying until about 5pm on Sunday with Lori.  It was nice to get some scrapbook pages done- I haven't scrapped since... uhm... sometime this summer???  I miss it!  I need to SET ASIDE and PLAN a day each month to spend a few hours scrapping.  This is something so important to me and I hate that I've let it slide off my plate.
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• I am 15 weeks pregnant today.  This pregnancy is going by so fast but oh so slow!  I'm huge.  Totally huge belly (and butt and thighs and boobs...).  Yikes.   I'm going to see LeeAnn this weekend to have her scan me and see if she can determine the gender.  I'm still not 100% I want to find out, but then again I'm so excited to find out.  Isn't that so weird?  If she is able to tell, I'm having her put it in an envelope for Ryan and I to open alone at a later date. And, if we decide not to find out, we just leave the envelope sealed.
  
  Don't forget to vote in the ExpectNet poll in my sidebar.... the game name is BabyBarczak3.  I think I'm going to do a prize for the winner... maybe some kind of gift card? 

New Christmas Traditions

I found this on The Andersons Blog and had to write them down.  I loved her Christmas traditions!

traditions #1 

each little person gets their own wrapping paper---none of the gifts are marked, and in order to know which gifts are theirs, they have to find a tiny piece of their wrapping paper in the bottom of their stocking.

it's a little last minute excitement, as they see the gifts, but don't know which belongs to who :) t

tradition #2:

each kiddo gets 3 gifts (from us):  a WANT, a NEED and a SURPRISE.

tradition #3:

christmas eve---we all open christmas jammies that have already been washed and are ready to put on.  after jammies, the kids get another present which involves books.  so, not only do they get the 3 gifts on christmas morning, but on christmas eve they also get something to WEAR and something to READ.

tradition #4: 

this year, after church service that evening we added a new tradition of eating ice cream sundaes and drinking hot chocolate...all in our new jammers...when we were finished we watched a short christmas movie, then read our books, then off to bed!

Dotson Family Christmas

The past few years it has been tradition to get together in January for our extended family Christmas.  The kids do a name draw and we have a big dinner (usually lasagna and salad and lots of munchies!).

This year we added a Dirty Santa name draw for the adults (although after this first round we see lots of kinks to iron out... not everyone participated, some people went and bought gifts even though it was supposed to be things from around your house, Ryan and I made kind of "jokey" gift bags full of random silly things and we weren't sure how many "trades" we really should have... because I think at one point the trading could have easily went on for hours).  It was fun, though, and we all got quite a few good laughs.

The kids, as usual, got along great.  We got to meet the newest babe, Jayden Finn, and the younger cousins... (boys) Porter, Hudson and Nathan and (girls) Chasity, Addisen and Aubri got along so so well.  Hudson was at his normal... walking around with chocolate on his face.

We ended the night with Dance Party and had a lot of great laughs while us adults attempted to dance.  I love this family, and love our get togethers.  I look forward to them each year!

Blissful, Relaxing Christmas

This Christmas Day was probably the best we've ever had.  The boys are at PERFECT ages this year and I just adored their excitement. 

I don't think the boys woke us up until about 9am.  When we came downstairs, I had put beanbag chairs by the tree (from Ryan and I).  Their stockings were still by the fireplace with their Santa Gifts.  Porter walked into the living room, saw the tree and was like "Oh no, Santa didn't come!" (because last year Santa left all his gifts by the tree.  Once he realized Santa DID come, he grabbed his stocking so fast and dumped it out on the couch.  He was so excited!  Hudson didn't realize he had his own stocking so he tried to raid Porter's at first (which led to a little squabbling... love that its caught on video HAA!).  

We sat back and relaxed and let the boys play with their stocking and Santa gifts.  Ryan put some cinnamon rolls in the oven and got us some orange juice.  

After a little bit, we got the presents from us out and the boys slowly delved into them.  They opened one present at a time and literally played with that present for awhile, not caring that they had others.  We opened a couple presents, had breakfast, let the kids play, the kids opened a few more presents and we just sat back and relaxed.  I don't think they were done opening their gifts until after noon.  And they each only had I think 5 or 6 presents?  It was very relaxing and enjoyable.  I felt like we just soaked up the morning, the togetherness and the gift giving.  

Hudson, oh sweet boy after my own heart.  He cracked me up all throughout the Christmas festivities (Christmas Eve and Christmas Day).  He was rarely found without chocolate on his face.  Seriously.  I think from Friday morning to Saturday night he had chocolate somewhere on his face at any given time of the day.  His favorite things out of his stocking?  CANDY!  He tried to raid Porter's stocking candy as well, but only made out with a couple pieces.  He has a sweet tooth just like his mama!

See... chewing candy.  :)

And there's Hudson behind us.... opening more candy.

This is funny... but Porter REALLY wanted a GREEN Zhu Zhu hamster.  Luckily, there was one single green hamster left at Target when they were on sale for $6 so I picked one up for each of the boys.  These silly little hamsters were the most played with toy of the morning, I think!

Here is the hat and mittens I made for Hudson out of Porter's old sweater.  So cute!  Its a little big for Hudson, though.  I'm sure it'll fit him next winter though.

Dave and my Dad came over for awhile.  My dad and I played golf on the Wii.  He kicked my butt.... I lost interest after the 2nd hole.  

The boys are really into building blocks.  Hudson got some Fisher Price Trio blocks (and Porter got a couple sets of Legos).  They have been building stuff non stop!

In the afternoon, Heather, Aubri and Addi came over and we got the annual "picture" with the 4 kids.

I made these washcloth bath puppets for the boys out of some cheap washcloths from Meijer.  They turned out so cute!