Christmas 2010

Whew....we have had a very busy 10 days!  So busy that I haven't even been able to write a blog. So, now it is catch up time!

Jeremy had the week between Christmas and New Year's off work!  It's been so great having him around.  I love for him to be with us every day. Maybe one day we can think of a way to keep him around us more often...but still able to make money and work.  Monday is going to be so hard for me when he goes back to work.  I'll share more on a different post what we have been doing during his time off.

However, the past two days, he has been working on a very special project.  After several years of almost daily play, the kid's aluminum swing set fell apart (the swing broke with Nicole on it in mid air...then, a week later, the second swing broke the same way.  She was not hurt).  Good thing we already had a plan!  With the money that we received from some of the grandparents and great-grandparents this year for Christmas, we bought the plans and wood to build them a brand new (very stable) swing set!  After hours of sanding, staining, cutting and drilling...it was finally finished.  The girls were so excited to have their swings back.

And, Nathan was excited too.

The slide is also bigger and even Nate is trying to climb it (remember that he is a climber!  more on that at a later time).

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day were very busy for us.  Here is a quick recap!

Christmas Eve Service.....we were late.  This is never good on Christmas Eve at a large church.  There weren't any seats left for our family to sit in the sanctuary.  We did make it in time for the girls to go down to the front with Pastor Wicker and all of the other children for a retelling of the Christmas story.  Then, we had to walk out and sit in the commons and watch the service on TV.  At first I was upset and a bit annoyed.  Everyone else who was out there just sat in their chairs with grumpy faces and didn't sing the songs.  Then...I realized that it was probably better for our family because Nathan could crawl around and make some noise, and we could still listen to Pastor's message.  It was a bit odd having the candle-lighting with the day light streaming in and only 20 or so people around us.  Fred, a young man from the college group, found us and sat with us.  After a few minutes of feeling grumpy, I was happy that we were there, together..as a family, remembering the reason we were celebrating Christmas and worshiping Jesus.  btw...we did end up singing most of the songs because I just didn't care if no one else was. 

After our unusual Christmas Eve service, we headed over to Jeremy's parent's house.  His Granny and Aunt Lisa and Uncle Gary were there visiting.  We had a nice time visiting with them and later opening gifts.

Aunt Lisa playing something with the girls.

The girls were sharing the Nativity story with Aunt Lisa.

Aunt Lisa was flinging  Hannah around :)

Nathan, catching his first real glimpse of Christmas presents.

I added this picture because I loved Hannah's eyes.  She's so cute carrying this bag!

When she pulled out this feather boa (I think from Aunt Tiffy), Nicole exclaimed, "Ohhhhh...this is just what I've always wanted!" (I never knew this about her)  As a side note, this boa has been nearly insperable with Nicole. She even wore it out to the pizza place last night.  She was so stinkin cute!

Cars!  Perfect for the little Nate Dawg.

Piggy Banks for the girls. 

M&Ms for me! (my parents got me M&Ms too....I guess the secret is out...and Chris, this will help me reach the 1,000,000 mark, don't you think?)

She just looks so happy, doesn't she?

And, he looks pretty happy to!

I think Nathan had more fun crawling over and through all the gift wrap and boxes than anything else.

Jeremy got Nate!

To me...Christmas Eve is not complete without a drive through Victoria Park. The whole neighborhood comes together and displays beautiful Christmas lights, with the streets and driveways lit with lights.

Grammy and Nicole enjoying the cold ride in the back of the pick up truck.

Sweet picture...Hannah and Daddy also enjoying the ride (just after this, Hannah climbed into the front of the truck with gramps and the heat.

Nicole yelled out "Merry Christmas" and sang "Jingle Bells" to nearly every car she could. (notice the feather boa)

The whole crew

The next morning, I picked several handfuls of spinach from my garden and made a quiche for breakfast, then we read Luke 2 and the girls opened their gifts. 

Yes, Hannah got a black baby doll...I didn't realize how dark skinned it was until I saw it against my girl's light skin.  Jeremy and I have named her Shaniqua.

We played Twister for a little while.

After that, we spent a little time at my parent's house, opening gifts.

Papa, acting as gift distributor (notice that Nate has his head in there this time.  I think he's figured out what is going on)

The girls opening a shared gift.

Goldie was also getting some Christmas present action.

Check out that doggie treat!

Tinker Toys for the girls

Yaya got a little dress chest with some dress up clothes for her house.  Hannah immediately put on the Cinderella dress and asked her daddy to dance with her.  He was the prince, and she was the princess.  Can anyone hear that Steven Curtis Chapman song, Cinderella?  It's all I can think about when I look at this picture.

Then, we took off for my grandpa's house where Dolores hosted a wonderful Christmas lunch.  She even let the girl's have a little Tea Party.  We sang a new (old) Christmas song and enjoyed each other's company.

Finally, we drove up to Pt. Charlotte to visit with Jeremy's family who was celebrating Christmas at Granny's house.  I don't think I have any pictures of that.  The girls ran around the yard (playing more with Aunt Lisa...she's good to have around! haha), and Nathan played with Granny's dog, Patches.  Actually...I think I should say that Patches was playing with Nate.  He kept trying to pull his pants down as Nathan crawled away:-)

We had a nice Christmas weekend with lots of family.  Thank you for all the nice memories.

Marshmallow-candycane treats

Wondering what to do with all of those leftover Candy Canes?  Some moms from our MOPS group brought these treats into our group last week, and I decided to try and recreate them at home. 

These are a wonderful treat to make with young children (and I'm sure the big kids will like it too).

Nicole pushed two large marshmallows onto a medium sized lollipop stick (buy them at a craft store).

Jeremy had the great idea of using a styrofoam box lid to help stand the sticks up with.

Then you melt down half a bag of chocolate chips.  I microwaved for 30 seconds..stirred, then did it in 15 seconds intervals, stirring between.  I used the mini chips because they melted faster.  Also, crush up several large or lots of small candy canes.  I used a meat tenderizing mallet...you could use a rolling pin or a frying pan even.  I would keep the candy in their wrappers, or put them in a large plastic bag.  Pour the crushed candy canes onto a small plate.

Now comes the fun part.  With a small knife, "frost" the marshamallows with the chocolate  (we tried rolling the marshmallows in the chocolate, but I found using a small knife and putting it on like butter worked better. It was less messy and prettier.)

And then roll the chocolate marshmallows into the crushed candy canes. 

Place them in the holes in the box lid and let them dry.  I'm impatient, so I put them in the fridge.

When they are all nice and dry, wrap them in a small plastic baggie (get at a craft store) and tie with a cute ribbon. 

You can also roll these in crushed Graham crackers or sprinkle with sprinkles.  They are a cute addition to a child's gift or a sweet (pun intended) gift for a neighborhood friend.  These don't have to just be for Christmas time either....use different colored sprinkles or M&Ms or other candies throughout the year.  It took us about 15 minutes to make these. 

Of course, Nathan was there too...but he couldn't really participate this year.  He was to busy eating his Graham cracker.

Summit to base.....

This morning, as I was in the kitchen washing dishes, Nicole comes running and says, " Mommy, Nathan is up on the window seat."

What?   The window seat is behind the couch...there is NO WAY he can get up there. hahaha...I underestimate my little man.

He looks pretty innocent here, doesn't he?

Here he is standing on the window seat...banging on my blinds.

Of course, I asked Nicole if she helped him get up there (yeah right!).  Of course she didn't help him...he did it all by himself!  How???  You'll have to see it to believe it!

Cookie Decorating with friends

Monday, my friend Teri and I invited our two MOPS tables to Teri's house for a cookie decorating/Christmas craft and play party.  We had about 18 children come out and 7 or 8 mommas.  The day started when we arrived to Teri's house (who happens to live on a school property....this is so great because she has full access to the playground and fields after school hours).

Hunter and Nicole were our big helpers and pushed our supplied out to the field with the wagon.

Hannah and Nathanael decided to help too.

Hunter was so excited about the day....he wanted to look his very best.  He had on a nice collard shirt and a tie.  He was a great host!

Cookie decorating time!

 This little girl had an amazing mountain of sprinkles on her cookie. 

 Nate hung out with the other babies...eating grass and bugs I'm sure.

Oh, and of course Nate got into the big box of cookies...and sat quietly eating them until I realized what was going on.  Later the dog came over and started eating the cookies out of Nathan's hand.  Nate started screaming at the dog...but it was to late.  The cookie was gone :(

That's all the pictures I took.  We also made beaded candy cane crafts and told the legend of the candy cane story.  Then the kids got to just run around and play.  It was fun to spend a little time with our MOPS moms away from the MOPS groups and to meet all of the children.