Sunday, December 27, 2009
Christmas 2009
Christmas may be over but the spirit of Christmas still lingers in the air.....The last few days have been so special, spending time at home with the kids, watching their excitement over all the Christmas traditions....
Christmas eve we attended church at 5pm, when we arrived the church was packed and we ended up sitting in back of the choir up in the balcony right by the huge pipe organ. Believe it or not both kids ended up falling asleep during the service and woke to the singing of Silent Night as each person lit their candles and raised them in the air. The kids knew that we were going to open all the presents from family and friends when we arrived home so their excitement grew. The kids opened their presents one by one as we snacked on shrimp cocktail and cheese ball and crackers and fudge and all the other goodies given to us. They each got a Leapster, a green one for Luke and a pink one for Lily. They had not asked for these so they were not sure what they did until we were able to get them charged up, now they don't go anywhere without them. Luke got a Starwars helmet with voice changer and new light sabers, Lily got a marble maze; over 120 pieces for Daddy to put together complete with two motors to carry the marbles back up to the top. We discovered this year that the toys requiring assembly do not come with written directions. They only have sketches of the finished product, Daddy spent several hours putting this together and ended up with a few extra pieces.
At 8pm Lily turned to Luke and announced that it was time to go to bed or Santa would not be stopping at their house! They both ran to their beds (first time in history) to go to sleep.
Christmas morning I was awakened by an excited Lily announcing that the reindeer had left a small piece of carrot but the cookies and milk were gone. She did not know that Tobi the dog managed to wolf down one cookie before the plate was moved. The kids had first run into the study and took down their stockings from the fireplace. After digging through the oranges, gum, puppets, play dough and flashlights they walked out to the kitchen only to discover that Santa had left presents under the tree! Luke got the power ranger toys he wanted and Lily got a horse and doll to go with it named "Lily Anna." As it became light out (we woke up at 5am) we noticed that there was about an 1" of clean, white snow on the ground, just the perfect touch for Christmas morning.
John made the traditional ham biscuits and our sodium intake was complete for the week! Later in the morning Aunt Kim and Aunt Michelle stopped by to visit. The kids opened their present to find two laser tag guns. Yes, I am very antigun.....but Luke creates guns from whatever he finds anyway. At least with laser tag there is nothing flying through the air but a light beam. Fun for adults too I might add. Towards the end of their visit Steven, Whitney and baby Audrey arrived for Christmas lunch.
We all enjoyed ham, cheesy potatoes, ramen noodle salad, cream cheese corn, broccoli with cheese, rolls and date nut bars for dessert. Baby Audrey got to eat without clothes to prevent spills on her beautiful Christmas dress. Later in the day Logan joined us to open his presents. In all a very fun and busy day for all.
The next day we decided to brave the cold and head for Silver Dollar City. We saw the show "A Christmas Carol" at the opera house and although I have seen it several years in a row now, it never gets old. The kids enjoyed the flying ghosts and soap bubble snow that rained down over the audience at the end. We ended the night with great BBQ from Danna's restaurant in Branson, our favorite place to eat.
A Chilly Day at Silver Dollar City
Silver Dollar City Snowbunnies
Luke creates cookies master pieces
Cookies made with Love
Silver Dollar City Snowmen (and girl)
Christmas eve we attended church at 5pm, when we arrived the church was packed and we ended up sitting in back of the choir up in the balcony right by the huge pipe organ. Believe it or not both kids ended up falling asleep during the service and woke to the singing of Silent Night as each person lit their candles and raised them in the air. The kids knew that we were going to open all the presents from family and friends when we arrived home so their excitement grew. The kids opened their presents one by one as we snacked on shrimp cocktail and cheese ball and crackers and fudge and all the other goodies given to us. They each got a Leapster, a green one for Luke and a pink one for Lily. They had not asked for these so they were not sure what they did until we were able to get them charged up, now they don't go anywhere without them. Luke got a Starwars helmet with voice changer and new light sabers, Lily got a marble maze; over 120 pieces for Daddy to put together complete with two motors to carry the marbles back up to the top. We discovered this year that the toys requiring assembly do not come with written directions. They only have sketches of the finished product, Daddy spent several hours putting this together and ended up with a few extra pieces.
At 8pm Lily turned to Luke and announced that it was time to go to bed or Santa would not be stopping at their house! They both ran to their beds (first time in history) to go to sleep.
Christmas morning I was awakened by an excited Lily announcing that the reindeer had left a small piece of carrot but the cookies and milk were gone. She did not know that Tobi the dog managed to wolf down one cookie before the plate was moved. The kids had first run into the study and took down their stockings from the fireplace. After digging through the oranges, gum, puppets, play dough and flashlights they walked out to the kitchen only to discover that Santa had left presents under the tree! Luke got the power ranger toys he wanted and Lily got a horse and doll to go with it named "Lily Anna." As it became light out (we woke up at 5am) we noticed that there was about an 1" of clean, white snow on the ground, just the perfect touch for Christmas morning.
John made the traditional ham biscuits and our sodium intake was complete for the week! Later in the morning Aunt Kim and Aunt Michelle stopped by to visit. The kids opened their present to find two laser tag guns. Yes, I am very antigun.....but Luke creates guns from whatever he finds anyway. At least with laser tag there is nothing flying through the air but a light beam. Fun for adults too I might add. Towards the end of their visit Steven, Whitney and baby Audrey arrived for Christmas lunch.
We all enjoyed ham, cheesy potatoes, ramen noodle salad, cream cheese corn, broccoli with cheese, rolls and date nut bars for dessert. Baby Audrey got to eat without clothes to prevent spills on her beautiful Christmas dress. Later in the day Logan joined us to open his presents. In all a very fun and busy day for all.
The next day we decided to brave the cold and head for Silver Dollar City. We saw the show "A Christmas Carol" at the opera house and although I have seen it several years in a row now, it never gets old. The kids enjoyed the flying ghosts and soap bubble snow that rained down over the audience at the end. We ended the night with great BBQ from Danna's restaurant in Branson, our favorite place to eat.
A Chilly Day at Silver Dollar City
Silver Dollar City Snowbunnies
Luke creates cookies master pieces
Cookies made with Love
Silver Dollar City Snowmen (and girl)
Sunday, December 20, 2009
The first tooth is out
This past week also was a milestone in Lily's life, her first tooth came out. It had been loose for over a month and finally was hanging by a thread. When I threatened to pull it she did it herself. The new tooth is growing in right behind it. Even though I had already told her there was no tooth fairy she decided to put the tooth under her pillow and seemed surprised to see money the next morning. She is so sensitive to creatures in the night that I did not want to add to the anxiety. Either she forgot that I told her it was not true or just wanted the money and played along. There are photos two posts earlier that show the hole in her smile.
Busy Christmas time
This last week was the busy one of the season. There was a school performance on Monday night. The kids had to dress all in the white and were given snowflakes to wear while they performed. They both did very well. Wednesday night was a church performance and once again, they had to be dressed all in white to be angels. The white bridesmaid dress Lily wore back in the Spring of 08 still fits really well and has now been put to good use. She was a fancy angel while Luke was decked out in his martial arts outfit with gold belt and gold headband to be a karate angel. We managed to get both shows on video complete with Luke reaching out to touch an unattended microphone three times during the church performance.
Daddy attended school with Lily on Friday to help her decorate gingerbread houses. This weekend we delivered toys we purchased for kids whose parents are incarcerated and I did the big grocery store run for Christmas dinner.
This week should be slow. The kids only have two days of school and are so wound up for Christmas that I would not want to be their teacher. There are class parties on Tuesday at 2:30 and on Wednesday the kids go to the YMCA for the day. I will be off Thursday and Friday. John is still recuperating from a very busy semester but finally has the grading done and in.
Daddy attended school with Lily on Friday to help her decorate gingerbread houses. This weekend we delivered toys we purchased for kids whose parents are incarcerated and I did the big grocery store run for Christmas dinner.
This week should be slow. The kids only have two days of school and are so wound up for Christmas that I would not want to be their teacher. There are class parties on Tuesday at 2:30 and on Wednesday the kids go to the YMCA for the day. I will be off Thursday and Friday. John is still recuperating from a very busy semester but finally has the grading done and in.
Christmas performances
Lily and Luke with Aunt Kim and Aunt Michelle
Angels Lily and Luke
Lily, Morgan and music teacher Miss Watson
Lily and friend Rhea
Lily, Luke and Morgan at school show
Friday, December 4, 2009
Photos
Being silly in the tub
Baby Audrey visits for Thanksgiving Day
Luke and Lily get a nice day at the park to play
Luke meets Santa on the Polar Express
Lily meets Santa on the Polar Express
Luke, Lily and Jada in Branson
Baby Audrey visits for Thanksgiving Day
Luke and Lily get a nice day at the park to play
Luke meets Santa on the Polar Express
Lily meets Santa on the Polar Express
Luke, Lily and Jada in Branson
Time Lapse
Time passes quickly between postings.....last one was celebrating Halloween and now Thanksgiving has come and gone and Christmas is full speed ahead!
We stayed home for Thanksgiving and Steven, Whitney and Audrey joined us for dinner. Audrey is Whitney's baby and so therefore has become my Granddaughter. She is 19 months old and quite a character. I spent most of the day in the kitchen, as it should be on Thanksgiving and just enjoyed a change in the daily routine. I chose to work on Black Friday as I cannot imagine anything I want bad enough to fight the crowds at 5am for. There were not many in our building and we spent part of the day decorating for Christmas. John brought Luke and Lily over to help decorate the tree. It was one of those work days that felt more like a holiday. On Saturday of that weekend we took Audrey for the day and on into Sunday. I forgot what it was like to have a baby in the house. She tried her very best to keep up with her 5 year old Aunt and Uncle. She refused to take a real nap, instead choosing to cat nap on the way home from the zoo. After dinner Audrey and Lily took a bath together and then I got Audrey all warm in her polar fleece onsie and then I rocked her and sang "Silent Night" and she was out like a light! This trick always worked on Lily at that age as well. I put her down in Lily's futon bed and she slept from 7pm-5:30am. At that point we snuggled for awhile while she woke up. There were three in the bed that night, a double bed: Lily, Audrey and me. I did not get much sleep just because I was so worried that Audrey would get squished! She came to church with me and the kids and stayed in the nursery and did just fine. We took her out to Steven's afterwards and she did not want to leave the comfort of Grandma's arms! So sweet. Now of course I'm building up a supply of baby clothes and necessities for the next visit.
Last weekend we made a trip down to Branson to ride the "Polar Express". It is a full sized train used in the summer as the "scenic railway" but for his adventure it was decorated for a trip to the North Pole. The kids wore their pjs, just like in the movie. We were served cookies and hot chocolate while we made the trip. Once we reached the North Pole we could look out and see elves doing cartwheels and hand springs and then we spied Santa! He climbed abroad the train and traveled back with us, visiting each child, signing their books, listening to their hearts desire, and presenting them with an official bell off his sleigh. The kids loved it. The weather was cold and nasty and really felt like Winter.
In the weeks ahead we have a school musical performance and then a children's Christmas performance at church. Luke and Lily are going to be angels in the play, "The Littlest Angel". No speaking part, they just have to look angelic and act angelic. The first part is easy, the second.....well....Luke is going to be dressed all in white in his martial arts outfit complete with a gold belt and halo while Lily will be all white in her former flower girl dress with sparkles on her face. It is a fun time of the year.
John picked up an "Elf on the Shelf" from the bookstore the other day and we have been having a good time with it. The concept is this little elf who you must name in order for his magic to work. He then sits all day and listens to what goes on. At night he flies to the North Pole to give Santa a behavior report. The next morning he is in a different location and the kids have to find him. The debate of course has been on whether he is real or not. Surprisingly it is Luke who insists that the elf is plastic and not real, while Lily seems to be a true believer and is kind of creeped out over the idea of a live elf sitting there just staring at her. Yesterday when the elf was found in a new location on the top of a picture frame Luke immediately asked who had moved him there. I told him that spot was chosen by the elf, "Elmo-Romeo" (the name the kids compromised on) and he scrunched up his face and said "really Mama? are you just kidding?" I told him that I did not move him so it must be true. I have not noticed an improvement in behavior though, Luke mooned the elf the first day he was in the house. Hummmm....maybe Santa should not deliver this year, or at least attach a warning letter for next year. I'll have to see how that all plays out.
We stayed home for Thanksgiving and Steven, Whitney and Audrey joined us for dinner. Audrey is Whitney's baby and so therefore has become my Granddaughter. She is 19 months old and quite a character. I spent most of the day in the kitchen, as it should be on Thanksgiving and just enjoyed a change in the daily routine. I chose to work on Black Friday as I cannot imagine anything I want bad enough to fight the crowds at 5am for. There were not many in our building and we spent part of the day decorating for Christmas. John brought Luke and Lily over to help decorate the tree. It was one of those work days that felt more like a holiday. On Saturday of that weekend we took Audrey for the day and on into Sunday. I forgot what it was like to have a baby in the house. She tried her very best to keep up with her 5 year old Aunt and Uncle. She refused to take a real nap, instead choosing to cat nap on the way home from the zoo. After dinner Audrey and Lily took a bath together and then I got Audrey all warm in her polar fleece onsie and then I rocked her and sang "Silent Night" and she was out like a light! This trick always worked on Lily at that age as well. I put her down in Lily's futon bed and she slept from 7pm-5:30am. At that point we snuggled for awhile while she woke up. There were three in the bed that night, a double bed: Lily, Audrey and me. I did not get much sleep just because I was so worried that Audrey would get squished! She came to church with me and the kids and stayed in the nursery and did just fine. We took her out to Steven's afterwards and she did not want to leave the comfort of Grandma's arms! So sweet. Now of course I'm building up a supply of baby clothes and necessities for the next visit.
Last weekend we made a trip down to Branson to ride the "Polar Express". It is a full sized train used in the summer as the "scenic railway" but for his adventure it was decorated for a trip to the North Pole. The kids wore their pjs, just like in the movie. We were served cookies and hot chocolate while we made the trip. Once we reached the North Pole we could look out and see elves doing cartwheels and hand springs and then we spied Santa! He climbed abroad the train and traveled back with us, visiting each child, signing their books, listening to their hearts desire, and presenting them with an official bell off his sleigh. The kids loved it. The weather was cold and nasty and really felt like Winter.
In the weeks ahead we have a school musical performance and then a children's Christmas performance at church. Luke and Lily are going to be angels in the play, "The Littlest Angel". No speaking part, they just have to look angelic and act angelic. The first part is easy, the second.....well....Luke is going to be dressed all in white in his martial arts outfit complete with a gold belt and halo while Lily will be all white in her former flower girl dress with sparkles on her face. It is a fun time of the year.
John picked up an "Elf on the Shelf" from the bookstore the other day and we have been having a good time with it. The concept is this little elf who you must name in order for his magic to work. He then sits all day and listens to what goes on. At night he flies to the North Pole to give Santa a behavior report. The next morning he is in a different location and the kids have to find him. The debate of course has been on whether he is real or not. Surprisingly it is Luke who insists that the elf is plastic and not real, while Lily seems to be a true believer and is kind of creeped out over the idea of a live elf sitting there just staring at her. Yesterday when the elf was found in a new location on the top of a picture frame Luke immediately asked who had moved him there. I told him that spot was chosen by the elf, "Elmo-Romeo" (the name the kids compromised on) and he scrunched up his face and said "really Mama? are you just kidding?" I told him that I did not move him so it must be true. I have not noticed an improvement in behavior though, Luke mooned the elf the first day he was in the house. Hummmm....maybe Santa should not deliver this year, or at least attach a warning letter for next year. I'll have to see how that all plays out.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)