Christmas Day Sledding: Video

Who needs snow or even really cold temps to sled? Papa showed the kids how to sled down their hill with boxes.

Baby A Christmas Gift: Video

Baby A wasn't so sure what exactly she got but she was so excited about it anyways. 

Rascal's Christmas Present: Video

Here is a video of Rascal opening his most wanted Christmas gift.

Again, we made him think he wasn't getting this for Christmas so he was so excited about it. 

Christmas Present: Video

OK so I finally have a computer that will load videos for me. So get ready for a big catch up :) 

This one is of Scooter on Christmas morning. He had been begging for the Minecraft xbox game and we kept throwing him off and making him think he wasn't getting it. Here is his reaction when he opened his gift...

Christmas Pictures

** Warning Picture OVERLOAD!!!!** 

Instead of writing 3 posts with filled with Christmas pictures, I am cramming them all into one post. So be prepared. Also these are the worst quality pictures but with 3 kids ripping into gifts and only my phone to capture the moments, together they just don't equal good pictures. 

 

We got each one of the kids a book. Not something they really asked for but they all loved the ones we got for them. Scooter got a science experiment book, Rascal got a chapter book and Baby A got the little red hen book. 

The one thing that Scooter said he would be disappointed if he didn't get was Minecraft xbox edition game. So we made sure he got the game and we had him fooled into thinking he wasn't getting it. His reaction was hilarious and I got it on video (video will come another time). 

Baby A was REALLY into opening gifts this year. Even if it was in a box, she would open it and say "OH a Box!" Hahaha! It made watching them open gifts so much fun. 

She was so happy about ALL her gifts. Look at that sweet smile. 

She wasn't sure what to think of this big gift being for her. 

Inside was this: 

Her very own bean bag chair. 

Scooter and Rascal's gifts were about 80% video games or video game related things. This is Scooter opening a skylander swap force character. 

The one thing Rascal said he would be disappointed if he didn't get was Skylanders Swap Force game for the xbox. We made sure he wasn't disappointed. He LOVED it!!! 

Scooter also got a xbox Gold membership so he can play games with his friends and they don't have to be together. He didn't ask for it but man was he excited about it. 

Rascal got an amazon gift card so he could pick out his very own swap force characters. 

Baby A got her a new bike. She rode it around the house all morning and annoyed her brothers by pushing the buttons and playing barbie songs. HA! 

After gifts at our house Christmas morning we headed on over to my parents house for more gifts. Rascal had been free of symptoms for over 24 hours but we still stayed away from our nephews (and stayed our distance from great grandparents and grandparents) just in case. 

We got to see Levi and Jett that Saturday when we went back to visit with more family. 

Just look at this sweet boy: 

We got to my parents house and the kids didn't waste anytime sorting out gifts and getting ready to tear into them. 

One of the main things Baby A asked for was a pair of sunglasses. She wore them for a better part of the day that day. Sometimes they were upside down and sometimes they were on right. 

Rascal got a new ds game. 

Baby A got two new princess dvd's from Uncle Matt and Aunt Ashlee. 

I love how happy she got over each gift. 

I didn't get pictures of the boys new rain boots but Baby A is opening hers in this picture. Let me tell you each one of the kids has already gotten their rain boots muddy. They LOVE to put them on when they go out to play. 

new pj's 

A new scooter

SASSY girl!! 

We waited until the Friday after Christmas to open gifts with Tim's family. We had a yummy beef tenderloin dinner and then we all sat down to open gifts. 

Scooter got some fishing stuff for an upcoming trout fishing trip, some new ds games, some jeans (always a need with boys), an awesome empire state building lego set (he had that built in no time and is begging for the space needle and other sets now), and lots more. 

Rascal got a new pair of Under Armour Shoes, and some shirts, a new ds game, some jeans, movies, a lego set that he has finished. (I have a love hate relationship with legos. I hate to step on them or find them everywhere but I LOVE that my boys can sit and create for hours). Rascal got tons more but I just can't remember it all. :-/

Baby A got a new teddy bear, some movies, an easel, a vtech innotab (like a kids ipad), some cd's to listen to in the van, finger paint, shoes, and much more. 

My kids were blessed immensely this Christmas (and all Christmases) and we are so thankful for our family. 

Tim and I typically don't get gifts for one another . We would rather spend our money on our kids. This year our family and friends spoiled us with so many unexpected gifts (6 gift cards, gloves, shirts, candles, blue ray player, keurig and lots more). 

Thank you to everyone for all the wonderful gifts. We may have had the flu try and mess up our Christmas but we had the best one yet. Family time, so much love and just a great time to be together. 

It was enough to wear us all out but we wouldn't have had it any other way! 

Advent Days 19-25

First I wanted to let you all know that I was going back to a public blog. While I like having it private, I know a few of you have a hard time getting to my blog and signing on. This will just make it easier for all of you.

Day 19- Christmas Craft... I picked up some wooden Christmas trees at hobby lobby and let the kids paint them. Of course they loved pulling out the paint to work on these.

I didn't get a picture of the finished trees but they looked really really good. 

Day 20 was Christmas light express. On the advent paper I wrote surprise and the kids were asking all day what the surprise was. Storms were supposed to come through later that night so we just told them we would have to stay at home and keep an eye on the weather. Around 6:00 we told the kids to go get their pj's on and when they went into their rooms they found a note from us saying this: SURPRISE!! Put on your pj's and meet us downstairs. Once they met us downstairs I had popcorn popped and drinks made and we loaded up the van to go look at Christmas lights together. We always look at Christmas lights each year but the popcorn and drinks were a HUGE hit with the kids. They loved it all. 

Day 21 was decorate cookies. We made sugar cookies and iced them. Let me tell you they were a mess to make, tasted horrible, looked bad but we had a lot of fun making them.

I threw them away after the kids went to bed that night. They were that bad! 

Day 22 was supposed to be the Church Christmas musical. When Rascal woke up that morning he was in tears with a horrible headache and was running 102 temp. I stayed home with him and prayed he would be well by Christmas. I honestly thought it was just a virus but his temp was hard to get to come down. He never has a hard time shaking a fever. Late that night his temp got to 104 and his temp never gets that high. He woke up Monday morning feeling really good and his temp never got above 100 that day. I took him in just to be safe and sure enough he had the flu. BOO! We have NEVER had the flu in our house before so I was so shocked. To make a long story short, Sunday was the only day he was truly sick and he bounced back faster than any kid with the flu, I have ever seen. 

Days 23- 25 were all messed up due to the flu hitting Rascal so we just rolled with the punched and took each day as they came. Praise God he was back to 100% by Tuesday and no one else has gotten it. We rescheduled Christmas for later dates and we were so very thankful it wasn't as bad as it could have been. 

So Advent this year was not what I planned at all but there is always next year. Maybe things will work out better for me then. 

Advent Recap

I will post more on our wellness tips next week. This week I will be playing catch up on the blog. :)

Advent has been a big flop this year. Very few things that we planned to do actually got done due to weather, illness, other plans etc... So this may seem like a huge recap but it won't be. And I might add that things got all mixed up so nothing was actually going as I originally planned.

Advent Days 7-18
Day 7 was supposed to be our trip to the Christmas tree farm but due to ice we had to cancel that and forgo a real tree this year.... I was SUPER bummed about this! We just hung out at the house this day instead and had fun sledding on the ice and thawing out with hot chocolate.

Day 8 was supposed to be hot chocolate on the way home from church. Well church that night was cancelled due to the ice so we didn't do this either.

Day 9 was supposed to be decorate the real tree. Obviously that had to be cancelled too.

Day 10 was a dinner at church and the kids got to hang with their Uncle Michael and Aunt Peggy. We actually did get to do this and we all had a great night. The only picture I have is the one I posted Wednesday of Tim and I.

Day 11 was listen to music on the way home from church. We did this also and it wasn't really any different than any other trip we take to town in the van.

Day 12 was Tim's work Christmas party at Christmas City. We thought about skipping it because it was SO SO cold but we decided to go anyways. I am so glad we did because we had the best time!! His new job is like the total opposite of his last job. The kids were invited to come, they opened the party with the Christmas Story read from the bible, Tim lead the opening prayer before a nice casual dinner, there were games, door prizes and then we ended things with a train ride to see all the Christmas lights. It was just a fantastic time together as a family enjoying the Christmas season. Here are a few pictures:

Scooter was introduced to meringue and he LOVED it! 

He inhaled a giant slice of chocolate pie with meringue on top. 

Handsome guys!

LOVE them!

Scooter was being silly with the candy on the table. Speaking of candy on the table. Rascal was THRILLED to sit down and see that they had rolos and hershey kisses on the table for a game and for us to eat. Those are two of the candies he can have. It's very rare we go somewhere and find something he can eat for the dessert (that was his dessert, he couldn't have the pies, bless his heart. he was ok with that though).

Baby A won one of the games and was SO thrilled that she got a gift. It was a $15 subway card but she didn't care what it was, she was just glad she won. 

Rascal won the bingo game and got a $25 gift card to Applebee's. 

We were on a roll with winning that night.

After games and dinner we headed out for a ride on the train to see the lights. It was SO cold but we pulled our blankets out of the van and bundled up. It was so fun!  

Day 13 was supposed to be zoo lights but I had plans to go to our church's Christmas tea. It was rainy so we wouldn't have been able to go to zoo lights anyways. 

Day 14 was play  what's in the stocking game. I had several things from around the house that I would put in a stocking and the kids and Tim would have to feel the stocking and guess what was in the stocking. This was a hit. They kept wanting me to find more and more things to hide in the stocking. 

Day 15 was the Children's musical at church. We had so many obstacles that came our way but the kids did a great job. I don't have any pictures but I do have a video so I will try to post it another day. 

Day 16 was Christmas coloring. I picked up a few new Christmas coloring books and the kids all sat down and colored for a good hour. 

Day 17 was find and fill nativity and to be very honest we could have played this but I was SO far behind on housework and such that we just skipped it all together. 

Day 18 was listen to music on the way home from church and as usual it was just a filler activity and was nothing special. 

Ok so I have a few more things to post about but I will save it for another day.This post has gotten too long as it is. :)