Tuesday: Christmas (part 2)

Around lunch time we went over to Larry and Cheryl's for brunch and presents.  While we were waiting for everyone to arrive Joshua gave everyone ice cream.  Eventually he started giving everyone SnowMan ice cream, which had poisonous leaves in it.  He got a kick out of trying to (pretend) kill everyone...

We had a lovely time opening presents.

...and chasing Grey Bear.

Joshua was excited about his Bad Guys puzzle and got right to work on it.  I didn't realize that it was a hologram, which I actually found to be rather annoying.

And all the grandkids...

Tuesday: Christmas (part 1)

Merry Christmas!

The animals found Jesus after days of searching.

By the time I woke up, the people had found Jesus too.

The sermon on Sunday was about how bad things were for the Jews around the years that Jesus was born.  It parallels to the world today; there is so much evil and hurting and wrongness.  Jesus kept his promise then and showed up to save the people.  We can wait with the hope that Jesus will again return and make everything right.

Monday: Christmas Eve

First things first: everyone had to do some cleaning.  I did the kitchen and kitchen table.  The boys did their rooms.  (We tried the mountain method, which is putting everything that needs to be taken care of in the middle of the room.  The boys could then see what still needed to be dealt with.  It worked well.)  Ben cleaned up some of his stuff too.

Finally, everyone was done and it was time for some presents.

I got a Lego carousal.  I always try to get it for Ben, but then something else gets chosen.  So I finally put it on my list.

Joshua made Ben a penguin pillow.  While I helped with the execution, Joshua was the one with the idea and helped with the sewing.

Isaac got some gloves/mittens that he was super excited about.

Joshua got a bunch of candy, including some candy bones.  Puppy was rather excited.

The boys also both got new pajamas.  Joshua was especially excited about them.

During the afternoon, Joshua started his puzzle again.  I separated out the edge from non-edge pieces, but besides that he did it all himself.  I'm not sure I've seen such concentration from him before.  He's had a few shorter spurts of an hourish on things, but this was by far the longest.

In the evening Dad and Pat came over for dinner.  Joshua started his puzzle again and got some help from them.  They met the kitties.  They gave Isaac a gift certificate for IHop and he was properly excited. :D

Sunday: Christmas party #2

Tonight was our second Christmas party.  I actually took some pictures this time.

Joshua got a puzzle and showed it to everyone.

They did the grab a cool new way.  There were 10 questions, and if you answered 'yes' to the question you got to pick (or steal) a present.  Then everyone unwrapped it.  Then there were 10 more questions and you could steal a present.  (However, I once again had one of the last wrapped presents picked.  If I wrap them normally no one picks them.  If I wrap them funny no one picks them.  I don't understand how people can not chose the presents we bring until the very end!)  Ben ended up with a hat that Isaac loved.

Cheryl with her cheese smile.

Laughing about the cheese smile.

Trying to figure out Isaac's brain teaser gift, which ended up being a bit harder than expected.

On the way home the boys tried to get us to say "choo choo train."  For a year or so now I have refused to say it.  (I think it started on one of those days were the kids just kept wanting me to say something and I finally said no and then never started again.)  They thought we were hilarious, saying "choo choo plane" or "shoe shoe train" or "choo choo plop" or whatever.  There was laughter the whole way home.

Saturday: Christmas party number 1

This evening was Christmas party number 1, with Ben's Mom's side.  It was nice to see everyone again.

The kids played well together, especially enjoying getting to go exploring on their own. 

Besides this, it was really only an ok day.  I woke up in a grumpy mood.  I finally got rid of it only around lunch time only to have Joshua come down with a really bad stomach ache.  I was about fifteen minutes away from deciding to go to urgent care when it started to get a little better.  I had forgotten to get shredded chicken at the store.  I had gotten chicken breasts though, so I put that in the crock pot to make my own rather than brave the crazy grocery store right before Christmas.

Friday: responsible

Yesterday I was thinking of all the animals that I'm actively responsible for...

1.5 adult humans
2 small humans
2 cats
1 adult fish
9 small fish
1 bird feeder
2 totes of worms

Now, many of the animals don't really take much effort.  However, I saw a woodpecker at our bird feeder yesterday and immediately thought, "we should get a suet feeder!"  So yeah, I did.  Hopefully the woodpecker comes back.  What's one more bird feeder to take care of?

As for the day in pictures...

We got Christmas ice cream for Joshua as a Christmas present from Aunt C.  He loved it and told me every time he got a piece of candy cane.  (Side note: I don't like peppermint ice cream and so this somewhat mystified me.)

We went to a sing-a-long at Isaac's school.  We didn't get to sit with Isaac, as expected, but we did get to wave to him quite a bit and take him home a few minutes early.  His class all had elf hats, so it was easy to spot them in the crowded gym.

Joshua and Horizon cuddled on Ben's lap.

Thursday: gifts and parties

I finished wrapping presents today, although they still need nice name tags and there are a few extra small ones to do but the "hard" part is done.  I had some helpers.

This afternoon I helped out in Isaac's classroom for his Christmas party.  It was rather chaotic and you could tell the teacher was a bit overwhelmed because there were a few things that weren't quite working and the kids were extra ...excited.  However, everybody did all the fun things and the kids had fun, so I'd call it a win.