Who Needs Lights?

I went into this Holiday season determined to make it GREAT!  Attitude is everything, right?

To help achieve that goal we dug out our (pre-lit) Christmas tree a little on the early side.  I figured this would give us a little extra time to set it up, fix any lights that would certainly need fixing, fluff it up, etc...  THEN we could decorate it over Thanksgiving weekend as planned.  That seems to have become a tradition for us.  However, one tradition that I needed to get rid of was the crankiness that came with it. 

Our plan was going to work perfectly and we'd have the picture perfect experience!  LOL  Okay, so I didn't really think we'd achieve "picture perfect" but if we could achieve "happy" and maybe even "memorable" that would be great.

Yeah, that was great and all until our tree decided to not work with us.  I'm sure the tree can decide to be stubborn, right?  There were soooo many sections of lights that weren't working.  Normally there's some but not that many and normally our little amazing light fixer tool solves all our troubles.  So we start working on the lights, with our little problem solvers, and while we were being fairly patient (yet disappointed) the tree just was not cooperating... at all.  Ultimately we get enough of the lights working, place the non-working sections strategically near the back.  Oh, and Carie found a small strand of lights that she strategically added to the tree to help fill in a section.  Whatever works, right?  We decided we had to forge ahead.  What will be, will be.

So it's all (or enough) lit up and all decorated.  We proceed with decorating our mantle with lighted garland, our stockings, etc...  Our outside lights have been up for a couple of weeks (due to weather) and now turned on.

Then suddenly lights started going out... in nearly every decoration. 

First a section of lights went out on the roof.  We waited for a day of decent enough weather to check them out to see if there was anyway we could easily fix them.  Carie hauled the ladder out and got it all setup.  She turned on the lights and to her surprise they all worked!  She called me to see if I had fixed the lights.  Nope!  They just started working on their own.  Which of course means that they'll also stop working on their own.  Sure enough not long after that section went out again.  Again we waited for a decent weather day, hauled out the ladder, turned them on and they worked!  Lesson here, turn them on before hauling out the ladder!?!?  But this time we decided to see if we could make them go out, and we did.  We found the culprit, marked the section and hopefully fixed it.  So far, so good.  Time will tell.

Then the entire very top section of our tree went out.  While it's a really small section, it looks silly to have the top completely out.  Hmmm... maybe I'll stop and pick up some more small strands of lights and we'll just add our own!  Boy oh boy this is starting to feel like a red neck decorating job.

Then a few days later (exactly) half of the lights in the garland on our mantle went out.  The entire right section closest to the tree is dark.  I wonder if they are communicating?  Maybe I'll just pray that those come back on?

There are exactly 2 areas that haven't gone out... yet.  I'm not going to tempt fate any further and I'll leave it at that.

It felt like every step we tried to take forward would land us a few steps back.  How in the world are parts of so many things not working?  Someone is testing me!

Thank goodness we went a little light on our decorating efforts this year.  We probably put up about as much as we have in years past but not compared to last year.  Last year we got just a little more than crazy.  I guess that's what happens when you put things up and they work... you tempt fate.  Maybe this year it's all about karma?

As we take down our decorations this year I think we'll have to decide what to keep and what to replace.  It would be a shame to have to replace our tree since we really like it... when it's working. 

Another factor... the puppy.  He's a sly one.  Maybe I should go ahead and let Mason have at it!  Then we would most certainly need to replace it.  Hmmmm...

We did manage to get our gingerbread house project done, another Thanksgiving tradition of ours.  A little change in the tradition this year... I decided to make our own houses rather than buying the kits.  It only took me ruining one solid batch to figure out the basics of what I was doing.  They turned out well enough.  Well enough that this will be a new step to our tradition.  I would like to fiddle with it a little next year and see what I can come up with.  (I'll have to add pictures later.  I don't seem to have them on this computer.)

Ultimately I think it would be fun to have a ginger bread house decorating party!  In lieu of that, this year we are hosting a slumber party for the girls.  We'll decorate cookies, gingerbread people, do a couple craft projects, watch movies, etc...  Perhaps I've just lost my mind?  We'll know soon enough!

Tis The Season

Christmas is coming... Christmas is coming!

Daily we hear, is it Christmas? No it isn't, but it will be soon!

A couple of weeks ago we made our annual visit with the big red guy. We discovered this cool Santa location a few years ago and I'm glad we did! No more standing in line forever and no more cheesy 1970's decorations that's seen a few too many years of use. The Holiday decorations at this mall are always spectacular. The photographer now remembers us from year to year. Funny!

Though... I wish we could put a word into Santa about what to say to the kids! Our girls don't know about American Girl... thank you very much. Please do not put ideas in their heads. LOL

Pretty much all the posing was done on their own... I just snapped pictures until my battery died.

Still Christmas

It may be New Year's Eve but we are still in full Christmas mode at our house.

We've had a great Christmas thus far!

It all started on December 23rd with a small exchange amongst our kids and some of the daycare kids. We received a very generous gift that we look forward to enjoying.

Then Christmas Eve day we headed to Lincoln to celebrate with my immediate family. The kids got some awesome gifts that they, of course, had to dig into immediately. That night we headed back home in time for the 11:00 Christmas Eve service at our Church then home and straight to bed.

Santa came during the night and the kids woke up Christmas morning (after sleeping in - yay!) to way too many presents, as usual. We thought we had toned it down this year but as we got into it we discovered that wasn't the case. Christmas day we got to stay home and keep it low key. We did our traditional Christmas breakfast (cinnamon pull-apart rolls), lunch (appetizers), and dinner (out to our favorite Chinese buffet). Leading up to Christmas I was thinking we'd stray from our tradition and I'd cook up something more exciting. But in the end I'm glad we didn't. We really enjoy these traditions and it meant we spent virtually no time in the kitchen and we were able to devote that time elsewhere. We got to enjoy our gifts. Well, actually I've not yet gotten much time with my gifts. But the kids have so many new cool things that we went from one project to the next all day long. The house is still feeling somewhat destroyed as there's many things that still need to find a place to call home.

Friday evening (Dec 26th) we had a pizza party with the other daycare family. Carie received yet another generous Christmas gift that we'll enjoy. As part of Alexis' birthday gift (Abby & Ellie's school friend) we invited her and her sister over for pizza and an evening with us to see Frosty the Snowman. After the theater we picked up some special snacks and headed back to our house for some more playtime. While they played we started to get things together for the next day.

Saturday (Dec 27th) was another Christmas celebration. This time we celebrated with my extended family on my Dad's side. There were 52 in all that day... with a few missing. We arrived at my Aunt's house in time for lunch and about 12 hours later we packed up and headed home.

Sunday (Dec 28th) we opted to stay home from Church. We had a full afternoon with my cousin’s birthday party starting at 1:15. She is one of the 6 girls born within 6 months of each other.... 7 years ago. Abby & Ellie were numbers 3 & 4 out of that group. So I took the girls back over to my Aunt’s house for the party while Carie stayed home with Spencer in an effort to get him a much needed nap. As a bonus Carie was able to peel off some layers of the disaster that has become our house. I stuck around for the party since we were asked to help transport kids. With 3 minivans and a car we managed to get everyone transported to the theater.

Monday and Tuesday we were back to our normal schedules. Well, normal is a stretch. We won't have a glimpse of normal for about another week… if we are lucky and everyone settles back into their routines with ease.

Tonight we'll celebrate New Year’s Eve at home with our traditional appetizer and fondue party. Often we do some fun family activity in the afternoon. But this year I think we are keeping it low key. Spencer is recovering (I think) from an ear infection and Ellie just got back from the Peds office where we've discovered that she has a really bad ear infection (near rupturing) and a sore throat from all her drainage. Some friends may be coming over to celebrate with us but that was up in the air due to illnesses going around their house... and now our house.

Tomorrow (New Years Day) we'll host Carie's family for their Christmas celebration. We'll do a little Christmas celebrating, New Years celebrating, football partying, and birthday celebrating throughout the course of the day. Given that Yia Yia (the birthday person) won't be with us, the birthday celebration will be a smaller portion of the day than maybe otherwise.

Friday, Saturday & Sunday will hopefully be recovery days for us. I'm sure we'll venture out and do some fun family activities. But we also need to prepare everyone for the reality of Monday as we head back to school and work routines.

Christmas decorations will remain for the time being. We aren't ever in a huge rush to get them down "right after" Christmas... especially given that we are still celebrating. The only rule we have is that they can't go up until after Thanksgiving. New Years seems part of the "Holiday Season" to us so it seems natural to have the festive decorations still present. We generally wait until the kids head back to school before we dedicate any time to those efforts. It seems much better for us to not do it during their time off when we could be doing other fun family things. As an added (huge) bonus, there are less little hands helping put things away! The outside decorations and lights will naturally remain out and up until weather permits us to be safely and comfortably out to take them down.

Wishing everyone a happy and safe New Year's Eve!

Merry Christmas

Heartwarming

So every day I get this e-mail from a big toy retail chain with "Deals of the day coupons". I often look to see what the deals are, just out of curiosity. After all, we are done shopping. Right?

So today, many hours after receiving the e-mail, I finally get around to opening it and I notice something of interest being offered at 50% off... today only... in store only. It isn't a high ticket item, especially at the discounted price. I call Carie and we decide that we'd go ahead and see if we could get it. She kindly calls the store down the street from where I work to see if it is even worth my trip. She finds out that they have 3 left. It's close enough to the lunch hour so I head out in an attempt to avoid the heavy lunch hour traffic and hope to get one of the remaining three.

The trip was a success in more ways than one!

As I'm checking out I noticed another woman with a couple young to middle aged kids. She's looking over the selection so I approach her and offer her a coupon. I happened to accidentally have 2 coupons and I could only use one. I don't know that she really even knew what the coupon was for or what the value was. I did point in the direction of the product and mentioned that there was just one left. But she was genuinely ecstatic. She thanked me over and over, wished me a Merry Christmas, and gave me a huge hug.

It was as if I made her Christmas more doable. I was so glad I was in the right place at the right time to help.

Visit With The Big Red Guy

The line was longer than we had hoped, but it moved along pretty well. And it certainly wasn't the longest line we've stood in!

The kids visited with him, took the obligatory picture, and told him what they wanted. Both Abby & Ellie want to be surprised. Spencer would like a rocket.

We think Santa looked a bit... not with us...

First Snow & Decorating

Recreating that lost post from a few weeks ago...

Our first snow came the weekend following Thanksgiving. That Sunday morning we woke to a thick blanket of snow. It was just enough to get excited about! After a long holiday weekend and the promise of finally decorating the Christmas tree, we opted to stay home that Sunday morning. The kids got all bundled up in their snow pants, boots, and winter gear and headed out to play in the snow. I'm glad they did because by the lunch hour it was all but a memory.

Later that morning we got around to finally decorating the Christmas tree. I say finally because the kids had been begging all weekend long. We had planned to decorate it earlier in the weekend but when we went to set it up it didn't go as smoothly as it should have. No big surprise really, I don't think it ever goes as smoothly as it seems it should. Our pre-lit tree had large sections of lights that didn't light up! This is the 4th time we've setup this tree and the first time the lights didn't work. So Carie set out to fix it. She did awesome and got it all working from top to bottom. It just took a little time and patience from the little people.

The actual tree decorating went a little more smoothly than it has in the past. As part of the preparation for this experience, Carie and I separated all of their special ornaments so they each had their own tray to focus on. That was much nicer than having 6 grabby hands digging in the big tub of decorations. Then after all of their very special and fragile ornaments were hung they dug into the delicate (but easily replaceable) family ornaments. They all stuck with it until every last ornament was on the tree.















Most of the outdoor lights were up prior to Thanksgiving. Everything on the roof gets put up close to Thanksgiving before the weather turns really cold for us. Thanksgiving night we turned them on for the first time, an exciting time for the kids and the kids at heart. Since putting them up a section of lights decided that working was optional. Thankfully it is the strand at the end by the chimney and not in the middle. Then more recently part of another strand at the other end went out. With temps at a -20, they'll just have to stay that way!

We did get lucky with a couple more nice days of weather and we put the finishing touches on the outdoor decorations. We ended up decorating more than we ever have on any given year. If it would have been colder, we would have likely just put out the last few items and called it good.













The weather has been wild, as usual with nice comfortable days mixed in with really cold days. A couple of weekends ago we had a nice Saturday with temps in the 40's followed by Sunday with a -44 degree temperature swing accompanied by strong winds and a bitter cold wind chill. I suspect that Saturday was our last nice day that we'll experience for a good long stretch. We literally begged the kids to go outside and play. Now they are begging to go outside and they can't.

Since that first snow fall we've had a couple more light flurries. It's been disappointing, really. The kids are so excited to see the snow falling but there hadn't been any accumulation. Mid last week we woke to snow and accumulation! Unfortunately it is too cold and too dangerous to play outside. I did finally stop and get our snow blower and shovels from storage. It was the first time we needed to clear the driveway and sidewalks.

The driveway and sidewalks were all clear until Thursday night when the sleet fell upon us leaving a huge layer of ice over everything. I managed to get the snow off, but the ice wasn't going anywhere. Then again on Saturday morning we woke to more snow. Unfortunately I didn't get to the driveway before it had been driven on several times. I figure now we'll have to wait until the temps get above the freezing mark before I'll attempt to clear it. Too bad we don't have ice skates. Or maybe ice skates are optional? It was warm enough for the kids to go out on Friday and they took full advantage of it. Abby ended up with a nice bruise to the cheek bone thanks to Ellie’s boot. Something about ice on the slide and accidents happen. All is good.

Everything Else... Check

I didn't think it could happen, at least not this soon, but our Holiday cards are in the mail. We weren't expecting to get them until Monday and were quite surprised to see them arrive yesterday. Even with our upgraded shipping we weren't supposed to get them until Monday. Processing time and all that. So last night after our crazy day we got them assembled and ready to go. I dropped off the huge stack at the post office this morning. For me, this is a huge check on our mental to do list, especially since we just started this effort this past Monday. Yay!

Yesterday morning Carie went to the grocery store to stock up on all our necessities. And as it turns out, it was perfect timing! With school being out for today and the next two weeks, her opportunities have just decreased drastically. I can go to the store and I do go to the store. But we are much better off if Carie does this task. We need to make a better list of all the things we need for our Christmas celebrations, but we think we've covered all our bases. Hopefully any grocery stop in the near future will be quick and light on the good ol pocket book.

Wednesday afternoon (an early out day) the kids had fun making cards and such to include in some of the packages we were preparing to mail. That evening Carie took all of our packages to the post office with the hopes that they would arrive to their destinations in time for Christmas. It was nice to be able to wrap up these efforts and know that they are on their way to our friends and family.

Earlier in the week the kids took their gifts to their teachers and classmates. I'm so glad we didn't wait! I'm sure some folks were counting on kids taking stuff today. In prior years, that could have easily been us!

We still have some little craft projects to complete with the kids. They weren't done in time to include in the packages so we'll just have to send a smaller package when we are able to finish them up.

All that is left to wrap is a few Santa gifts that go to all three kids. That will be a piece of cake! We've just held out on this because we want to play with the stuff.

And better yet, we have our sitter scheduled for tomorrow afternoon. It's been at least two months and likely three since we've last had a sitter. We are all very much looking forward to it! I've even got our time all planned out and I'm so excited. The kids have been talking about Saturday and how excited they are. Abby "can't wait until Saturday"! Spencer wants to eat lunch and have popcorn with Andrea. Okay, we can do that! We won't let the door hit us on our way out!

The only thing left on our “to do” list is to make an official visit to Santa. All the kids have seen Santa, but not together. We plan to do that this weekend as part of our relaxing, taking it slow, fun family weekend.

More Gingerbread Houses

As a tradition, Spencer's preschool makes gingerbread houses as one of their activities. Maybe they (the school) are inspired by gingerbread houses? The name of the school would lead me to believe so.

We knew this was on the horizon. We were asked to donate some candy towards the cause. Excellent!

As the time drew near we had discovered more tidbits about this gingerbread house making experience. We are newbie's to this preschool so their traditions are new to us. But Carie volunteer's there regularly, so we are easily in the loopy for information.

We discovered that they would be making the gingerbread houses as part of their kitchen rotation. Each week the class spends time in the kitchen baking snacks. It's a pretty slick system, actually.

We discovered that each class would make one gingerbread house, not each student individually... as we had envisioned. Someone baked them and the teachers were assembling them prior to the class decorating time. Hmmm, we weren't sure about this. We lean towards letting them lead and take ownership.

We discovered that some classes were asked to donate candy, some classes were asked to donate items to make the frosting, etc...

We discovered that the one gingerbread house (per class) would be available for purchase for $15. Oh, and that it's a scramble to get to see who can make that request first. We were thinking... not interested. We have three new beautiful gingerbread houses for the season, we don't really need another. And while Spencer contributed, it was going to be a class project. It wasn't his personal project. Ultimately, it was the teacher's project that the kids helped with. I wasn't concerned about not getting it!

Carie was volunteering on Tuesday and helped out in the kitchen when those classes went through their kitchen rotation. Spencer's kitchen rotation is on Thursday! So Carie and another parent volunteer got to make frosting, help out, and watch the gingerbread houses come to life. She said that those houses turned out incredible.

While she wasn't signed up to volunteer on Thursday, she asked Spencer's teacher if it would be okay to hang back and watch them make their gingerbread house. As it turns out, their kitchen rotation is first thing. Great timing! So Carie stayed, took pictures, hung out with the kids, etc... She and Mrs. W chatted about supplies and whatnot. Mrs. W was decked out with good supplies, many of which Carie has for her cake decorating. I guess the supplies the school had available were too basic for her. LOL

I'm so glad we have picture of this thing. It is amazing! Carie said that Mrs. W's gingerbread house was by far the best she had seen. But of course she had only seen a small sampling. The details were amazing. As it turns out, it sounds like Mrs. W and her daughter make them every year.

Carie is now inspired to make her own gingerbread house next year. Of course the kids will get to continue to make their own as long as they choose to. So far this has been a great family tradition for us. But maybe next year we'll do a little prepping before digging in to decorate the houses. Broadening our decorating supplies would be fun!

Candy Making

Each year we indulge in making holiday treats. We often share the abundance of treats and of course we manage to enjoy a few too many ourselves.

This year we haven't yet really formulated a plan. We haven't decided what all we are going to make and more importantly where it will all go.

But sure enough the ball is rolling. Carie has already made a batch of puppy chow. That is some yummy and addicting stuff! Hence the nearly empty bag.

Then recently Abby saw some dipped pretzels in the store and asked to get some. Instead of buying the pricey pre-made package we picked up some almond bark and a bag of circle pretzels. According to Abby, they had to be circle pretzels.

Something happened with the first package of almond bark. It didn't melt quite right and it just wasn't going to work. Disappointed children went off to bed with a promise that Mommy would put almond bark on her shopping list!

We recently made attempt #2 and it was a success. Well, except I got a little grumpy about all the not listening. But in the end, it was all a success.

And now, soon, we must create some sort of plan so we don't make one thing at a time... drag it out over 2 more weeks... and eat it all ourselves... one delicious treat at a time.

Christmas Shopping... Check

As if it were a race, we've crossed that virtual finish line. This past Friday night we wrapped up the last few loose ends with our Christmas shopping!

We are done! We are done no thanks to my brother and SIL who finally sent my nieces wish list. It only took a week to get it! It would be one thing if the list didn't already exist. I totally understand that not everyone is on the pace we are on! Totally understand! And if you aren't, that is fine! I'm really in no hurry and I can wait. I can't stand it when people ask for a list and then hound you for it like their life depended on it. But the list already existed. My SIL sent my other brother the list via e-mail a day prior to us even requesting it. Evidently hitting forward on an existing e-mail was too much. Most of all... unfortunately, I wasn't surprised.

Not only are we done with shopping, but everything is wrapped! We even managed to complete shopping for ourselves from my Grandmother. A task that was lowest on my shopping priority list.

And now a bonus of having the presents all around the tree is getting to hear every.single.day "can we open presents yet?" The boy is obsessed with presents! He's figured out who each present goes to. We even have some other random presents added to the pile, just because he loves to play the "present game". Would anyone enjoy a Frisbee this Christmas?? I know where you can find one. Wrapped even.

And we were naughty. We told them that Santa could take away presents just as easily as he could leave additional presents. With big eyes... "Really?"

So how does it feel? Weird!

I'm not sure it will really sink in until we aren't racing about to get gifts ready. I'm sure our focus will shift to other areas of preparation!

This past weekend we spent more time putting up decorations. As a result, the outside of our house is decorated more than it ever has been on any given year. The kids are enjoying it!

And while the kids have been counting down on their advent calendars, I'm just now realizing that Christmas Eve is just 2 weeks away.

We can't sit around eating bon bon's for too long. Soon enough we ought to start thinking about menus, what we'll take to our celebrations away from home, what we'll have for the celebrations we'll host, etc...

Jesus Activity Center

Friday evening we had my folks and grandmother up for dinner.

As part of the evening visit, my grandmother doled out her traditional early Christmas packages to our kids. This is a tradition I remember throughout my childhood. Only now she is continuing the tradition with her great grandchildren. This early package contains a special ornament that is often part of a series. They then have the new ornaments to add to their collection and are able to display it on our tree during the current season. We selected a new Noel Nutcracker series for Abby this year, Ellie is on her 6th Jack-in-the-Box, and Spencer received his 3rd Gingerbread house. They each opened their ornaments with excitement and couldn't wait to hang them on our tree!

As a bonus, grandma also had another package for the kids to open. Spencer received a couple of books. Both Abby & Ellie received little nativity sets for them to put in their room. At least that was my grandma's intentions. While they have found a home for them in their room, they've also been carried around the house! They make a nice little mess everywhere they go.

When the girls opened their nativity sets my grandma explained to them what it was and how it would tell the story of Jesus. A story of which the girls are familiar with.

Maybe this is where I note that they have been exposed to nativity sets throughout their childhood. Not only do we have some of our own, three of which are child friendly versions allowing them to be hands on without worry. Then there are three more little sets that are more fragile but have become hands on and we just don't worry much about it. This totally explains why there are missing pieces! Just the other night Ellie appeared with a baby Jesus that had been in their room (unknowingly to us) since last Christmas. But also, Yia Yia is known for collecting nativity sets, of which she had many more than an average person would tend to have. Until they moved a year ago she would organize this incredible nativity fair type thing where literally hundreds of various nativity scenes would be setup for folks to view. Each year we would be a part of this experience in some capacity. It was truly a beautiful sight!

For some reason on this night Abby kept referring to her new nativity set as the "Jesus Activity Center". We would say nativity and she would say activity. Maybe it's this darn cold/sinus infection we've got going on? I've noticed that our ability to listen has decreased dramatically! Maybe it's the crazy amount of activity centers they have going on at school? At any rate, it really doesn't matter. Activity center was on her mind. Reality is she knows what a nativity set is, what it is about, and who all the figures are by name. Even if it is a Jesus Activity Center in her mind, right now.

Later that night, after saying their goodbye's and all, they head up to their room to get ready for bed. Their new nativity sets in hand.

A few minutes later Abby appeared with her nativity set.

"Mommy, great grandma said that this would tell Jesus story. But I keep pushing on baby Jesus and nothing happens."

Well, great grandma did say it would "tell" the story of Jesus!

Carie explained what she really meant.

Stocking Up!

Those apples were so good we got some more.... sixty three pounds more. In case you were thinking about adding it all up, that would be 150 pounds total. The sale ends today!

We probably only have about 50lbs (of the 87lbs) left from the first apple run. We also started with quite a few (20ish pounds) already in our fridge and those are gone as well! Believe it or not, we'll fairly easily go through every single pound! Go ahead; feed 6-7 starving kids (who love apples) after school and see how fast you go through them. :)

When discussing menu items for Thanksgiving we suggested that folks didn't need to bring apples or items with apples. We've pretty much got that covered!

Canned veggies were also on a huge sale... 39¢ a can for Green Giant! Thank you Thanksgiving! We eat a lot of fresh and frozen veggies. But if we can't get them fresh, we prefer green beans and corn from a can. I think we ended up with 8 flats (96 cans) of green beans and like 4 flats (48 cans) of corn. We should be set for the winter and quite possibly longer. But don’t worry; we'll use every single can! They've also been handy to have for donating to programs at school and church!

And... we've been stocking up on Christmas gifts. Those packages are now wrapped and labeled. Wrapping packages this early is a first for us! But why move the packages, take inventory, re-stack them, etc... without wrapping them? We are probably 90% done with our shopping and everything we have in our possession is wrapped. WOOHOO!

Teacher shopping is done. Friend shopping is done. All the shopping we do for the grandparents/great grandparents (for our kids) is done. All of the shopping for our immediate family is done except one last thing for Abby & Ellie... and we have an option on hand. Though, I can’t vouch for the shopping Carie has to do solo. ;) All of our Santa shopping is done... all of it... including stockings! Oh, though Santa shopping isn't wrapped yet. Mommy & Momma want to have fun before we wrap it all up!

The tricky thing is going to be that we'll soon get hit up for Christmas lists for our kids and we'll have to step back and figure that out. We've thought about their Christmas wishes, made our decisions for us and the great grandparents, and have moved on. We should step back a few steps and think of other ideas to share. Spencer is easy. Take him down an aisle, any aisle, and he thinks he wants one of everything! If only we could get more ideas out of Abby & Ellie!

All we have left is my Grandparents (we pretty much know what we are getting them), one niece (we'll get her wish list), one set of parents (still debating options), one thing each for Abby & Ellie (waiting for that to shake out), and the kids name exchange for the big family celebration (the names haven't been drawn yet).

Oh, and the kids have done almost all of their shopping as well. We just need to take Abby & Ellie out separate to choose something for each other. They are thinking about what they'd like to get each other.

Christmas

Yes... Christmas. I know it is only July, but Christmas seems to be on our minds.

What should we be doing? Getting ready to depart on vacation! You know, pack everything including the kitchen sink.

What are we doing? Christmas shopping!

It was an accident. It always is! I went to the store to try to wrap up school supply shopping and found the mother load of clearance items... awesome clearance items of interest.

Oh, and I also found a mother load of a particular electronic game... way clearanced... that I know (with 99% certainty) that I can re-sell somewhere. Let's just say that the store no longer has them in stock.

Let the Christmas shopping begin! But as I start to make my list of what we have I remember that perhaps we have a few things already stored away. I must check it out and get it on my list!

As far as vacation preparation, no worries. Only 14 hours until we need to be ready to walk out that door and things are looking good. As long as I say it, it is true. Right?

Christmas Tree oh Christmas Tree...

...oh how I've grown so fond of thee.

Thanks to Carie, the Christmas tree has been down for a week or so. It wasn't "put away" yet; it was sitting in a big pile in the middle of the great room. Carie had a great plan to use this new bag thingy that she found. Unfortunately that didn't work out so well and retrieving the tree box from storage was necessary, which the girls and I did Saturday afternoon.

Carie and I get around to moving the tree pieces into the box last night and Spencer had a cow over the thought of putting the Christmas tree away. He wanted it back up and wouldn't let Carie even think about shutting the flap to the box. Clearly he had become attached to having a tree in our house and no amount of reasoning was working. It seemed to be okay that it was in a big pile, but boxing it up was the last straw!

Thankfully the distraction technique worked, but then he started talking about pumpkins. I avoided the pumpkin conversation in fear of where that was going. He's been talking about trick-or-treating alot lately. We've got a long time before Halloween!

We were able to get the tree put away, box all taped up and out to the garage. All Christmas decorations are now removed from inside the house. Yay! If the snow ever thaws and the temps get above the freezing mark (preferably well above freezing) we might be able to take the lights off the house.

Hopefully Spencer is able to let go of the tree because we won't be putting it back up until next Christmas!

Christmas, New Years & Such

The 2nd round of celebrations began the Friday after Christmas with a big birthday party for my now 6yo cousin who is 6 just months older than Abby & Ellie. The party was held at PE 101 and it turned out awesome. The kids had a blast! The instructor was incredible! Carie and I were amazed at the changes we saw in Spencer. He totally participated in the party, beginning to end. He stuck with the big kids, followed directions, and had a great time. He's growing up!

Here's Abby (green) & Ellie (pink) with cousins (my cousins, their 2nd cousins?). These are 4 of the 6 girls born within 6 months of each other. Oldest (and birthday girl) on the left. Youngest (6 weeks younger than A&E) on the right.

Saturday morning we headed over to my Aunt's house for the big Siebe Christmas. As we walked in I could smell this toasty smell. I immediately thought of campfires and roasted marshmallows. But wait! It was freezing cold outside, it couldn't be. Turns out they had just discovered the marshmallows that had caught on fire in the oven. Then someone was brilliant and (accidentally I’m sure) turned on the burner. The burner to my Aunt's flat top - counter top stove - that was being used as part of the buffet line - specifically where the plastic bag of buns were sitting. Oh yeah, charred black buns! Knobs were removed from the stove. Moving on! It must have been a year for kitchen mishaps. I know we experienced one, albeit minor. I've read of other mishaps. Carie's sister somehow caught a hot pad on fire. Then the experience at my Aunt's house.

The rest of the day was (mostly) lovely, with a few individuals and experiences we can live without. But all in all it was a wonderful day. After a full afternoon of gift opening - the kid round, the adult round, the other weird game Grandma insists on playing, etc... It was time for dinner. We ended up hanging out well into the night playing games and having a good time. Spencer easily fell asleep around his normal bedtime and the girls played with the cousins. We finally made it home around midnight, tired and ready to crash. But wait! What do we need to do for tomorrow?

Sunday we were hosting Christmas for Carie's family. It was going to be a relatively small gathering, but preparations still needed to be made. Around the noon hour her siblings and families arrived and I returned home from picking up Alex from my Aunt's house. We put the finishing touches on our meal and enjoyed a delicious turkey dinner. Shortly after the little one's were ushered off to their naps and the rest of us hung out, talked, played some cards, etc... After a successful nap by Spencer and a questionable nap by Arwen, we proceeded with a gift exchange and flying paper everywhere. We also waited to open the gifts sent by Carie's parents until this day. We were quite surprised to find out that what they gifted each of our families with was the same gift Carie and I had sent to them, only their version was nicer. We then pulled together and enjoyed a delicious traditional leftover turkey sandwich dinner. After we got Spencer off to bed the younger kids hung out, played, watched movies while the adults continued the forever long card game started earlier in the day. I'm happy to report that I won. ;)

Monday, New Years Eve Day, I took the day off and we had a family day. We ended up going to Thunder Alley for our first family bowling adventure followed by go kart rides and some arcade games.

That evening we made a special dinner of appetizers followed by chocolate fondue for a special treat.

The girls really dug the idea of dipping things into the pot of chocolate.

Spencer wasn't so sure at all and decided that he preferred to eat his strawberries, bananas, and marshmallows un-dipped, thank you very much.

Everyone else was covered in chocolate.

Once they were all fast asleep Carie and I enjoyed the quietness of the house!

Tuesday, New Years Day, was another family day. We started off the day slow and ended it with a bang with a trip to The Pizza Machine. The kids have been asking about going and they know that it is a special trip for us. We decided that going over the Christmas break would be a perfect time to go. I took the girls (Abby, Ellie & Alex) in the afternoon while Spencer was napping and then Carie and Spencer joined us after his nap. The girls' played miniature golf for the first time and had a great time. They rode the frog hopper, wild ride, bumper cars, and go karts several times (thank goodness for the hour ride pass left from our previous visit). We played spaghetti bowling at Spencer's request and then took a break for dinner. After dinner all the kids got their own game cards and they thought they were pretty hot stuff playing games with their own cards. Once they were out of points, they knew they were done. Alex blew through her points pretty quickly. Abby & Ellie were monitoring theirs pretty closely and offered to share their points with Alex so she could ride the frog hopper one last time before we left. Spencer took up residence in front of the basketball machine and the air hockey table and was happy as ever

Wednesday was back to work for me! The business continued at home with the girls' have a play and lunch date. They had an awesome time at Katie's house and as a bonus surprise their friend Evan was there.

Thursday is another crazy day! They went to the Children's Museum this morning and the girls have another play date this afternoon.

Friday is another potential play date day. Friday afternoon Alex will head home and we'll return to a family of 5. I'm thinking (hoping) that the weekend is unscheduled. Though I know we should begin the process of taking down the Christmas decorations. For now I'll think relaxing thoughts for the weekend in hopes that it becomes a reality.

1/2 Way Mark

We've reached the 1/2 way mark in our Christmas celebration extravaganza. We've celebrated with my family on Christmas Eve and we had our own family celebration on Christmas Day. Next up is my big family celebration and Carie's family celebration this coming weekend.

It would be an understatement to say that the kids are amped up over Christmas.

They have patiently, joyfully, and excitedly waited for this time to come. We've had gifts under and around our tree for weeks, several of which they were instrumental in selecting, wrapping, and placing in the perfect spot. As time went on the gifts received added decorations and bows.

We were also blessed in that they totally left the packages alone. We didn't have any need to re-wrap anything, fix holes, etc... in any of the packages. They simply placed the packages under and around the tree and admired them. They knew the day was coming that we would all be able to reveal all of the surprises. I was probably (or absolutely) the worst at leaving the packages alone! Carie and the kids snuck some gifts, for me, into the mix of wrapped gifts. There was one in particular that had me perplexed. I love to examine the wrapped package and get my mind going on what it could possibly be. She had me stumped! Finally on Christmas Eve after Santa had arrived we sat in the room with the tree to just be still in the quietness for a few minutes. I picked up that package and examined it some more and quizzed her for any clues that she would be willing to reveal. She is so good at keeping secrets!

Christmas Eve day… I clearly remember my childhood days of waiting and waiting and waiting for what seemed like forever before we could begin tearing into packages. This year was no exception and the kids thought the time would never come. Several times we were asked "is it time yet?" We contemplated opening gifts prior to dinner; after all we didn't eat lunch (a huge turkey dinner at that) until 1:00. But Grandpa really wanted to eat supper (at 5:00) and then do gifts, so we did.

Throughout Christmas Eve day there were plenty of activities to help the time pass. After lunch they were able to open their Christmas ornaments and Christmas books from Great Grandma. The ornaments are a tradition generally carried out at Thanksgiving, but time got away from her this year. It was a nice precursor to the many packages that were yet to come. The kids then went off and read their books (all the same) from Great Grandma while Carie setup cookie decorating. That was a huge hit! Carie made some delicious sugar cookies and several batches of frosting. Spencer enjoyed his nap while the four older kids decorated several dozens of cookies with amazing amounts of frosting. More is better, right? Thankfully there were some cookies that escaped the frosting spree!!! Unfortunately Grandma's new carpet (in the kitchen!) didn't escape the frosting! They also enjoyed the party blowers and confetti that quickly decorated Grandpa & Grandma's living room. I'm certain Grandpa and Grandma were not thrilled with me! :)

We finally arrived to present time and it quickly turned into chaos. As near as I could tell, all 5 kids scored some really cool gifts. What everyone got, I couldn't say as it went entirely too fast. Spencer was enthralled with his "big presents", and big they were. The boy ended up with 3 very large, Spencer sized, packages to open and he was in love with all of them. The girls were also thrilled and thankful for all of their gifts.

That evening Carie and I managed to sneak off to Christmas Eve service. Carie happened to discover a nearby Church, of which she personally knows the Pastor, which offered a 10pm service. We contemplated throughout the day on what to do. It was most certainly too late for all of us to go. There was no way I was taking the kids to a 10pm service, especially after the day we had. The next question was really how much would we pay (in the days to come) for keeping them up so late. In the end we decided that we would very much enjoy going to service and my parents were willing to keep the kids at home with them. They enjoyed checking out some of their new toys! It was a beautiful service and featured the Berkey's from Mannheim Steamroller. Though, as the service went on we became worried about the time. We had "signed up" for an hour-ish service and as we were approaching 11pm we hadn't yet made it to the sermon. Straight up 11pm the sermon started and it was the shortest sermon I've ever experienced. We then were able to make it to one of my favorite parts of the service, the lighting of the candles and singing as the lights were dimmed. It was about 11:20 and we were headed out of Church and back to my parent’s house. All in all it was a great service but we realized how much we really appreciate our own Church home. We made awesome time back to my parent’s house and loading up as were on the road to home at 11:53. The kids were tired and fell asleep on the way home. Once home and everyone was settled Carie and I set out Santa's cookies and Rudolph's carrots. I felt bad that we hadn't made those arrangements earlier. We knew what they wanted to set out; I just wish we would have been able to execute it with them. Thankfully the kids didn’t seem concerned about it the next morning!

Christmas morning arrived and the kids slept in! Spencer appeared around 9am and the girls made their way downstairs at about 10am. Carie had prepared an incredible batch of sticky rolls that she assembled the night before and we were able to pop in the oven in the morning. The kids were too excited to check out all the gifts, but Carie and I thoroughly enjoyed the rolls! That recipe is most definitely a keeper!

Just before we get settled into gift opening I decide it would be brilliant to pop the ham into the oven. In a matter of minutes that task was complete and we were ready to focus on the kids, the gifts, and the excitement. A couple hours had passed and it dawned on me that maybe we ought to check the ham for fear of over cooking it. My first clue should have been the smell! As it turns out, the oven was turned off and the ham was very safe from over cooking. I thought the oven was on as it was warm when I put the ham in. But, Carie had (properly) turned it off after taking the rolls out! Hmm… what to do? Well, let’s turn on the oven and we’ll figure it all out. We continued to play with the new loot, the ham cooked, we tossed together a few other items for lunch, and we were finally ready to eat at about 2:00. Thank goodness we weren’t expecting company! After lunch, Spencer had an excellent nap and we continued to play with some of the new toys. I got to make bugs with the girls!

Later that evening we continued our tradition of going out for Chinese for dinner. It was delicious and really nice to be able to sit and enjoy a meal after playing all afternoon.

Soon after it was bedtime and time to get ready for a new day.

I extended our Christmas break by taking Wednesday off as well. We were able to enjoy our tickets to The Gingerbread Man, a highly anticipated event. We took all 5 kids (including B&B) and they were all on the edge of their seats through the whole show. Well, except the part where Beth thought it was a good idea to sit on the back of her seat. At one point Ellie was chosen to go up on stage and be a tree. She was thrilled and Abby and Ben were bummed that they weren’t chosen. But they all got to get autograph’s at the end of the performance followed by a treat of ice cream sundaes all around.

Back to reality Thursday and Friday and then we enter a full weekend of Christmas celebrations.

Merry Christmas

From our family to your's...

Visit With The Big Red Guy

As we continued our Christmas preparations this weekend, a top priority happened to be making a visit to the big red guy. We decided that we'd go after Spencer's nap on Saturday and wouldn't ya know... he took a marathon nap. We still had time to go, but we were cutting it closer than we had hoped. You never know what kind of lines there may be or when Santa will be on break caring for his reindeer.

As we pulled into the parking lot all three kids were questioning whether or not Santa was still there... as if we can tell from the parking lot. Well, they were looking for his sleigh and reindeer and they didn't see them on the roof. We assured them that Santa could have his sleigh and reindeer on the other side of the mall, so we excitedly forged ahead.

Sure enough, Santa was there and the kids had a great visit!

Really? It Has Been That Long?

Wow! I knew it had been a while since I last blogged, but until now I didn't realize it had been 3 whole weeks. There are times where I just have nothing to say. Then there are times where I have things to say but no time to say them. Both seem to sum up the past 3 weeks.

I've been suddenly swamped with things... work things, normal "that time of year" holiday things, etc...

On the work front, one huge event ended yesterday and we are in the midst of the second huge event. Both of which I'm a key player in the planning and execution. Next week should, I hope, be all downhill in the work stress area. I'd like to go back to being home at a decent time for dinner and no more of this just getting home in time for bedtime routines. This will be my final post from this desk. My scenery will be a bit different come next week.

On the home front we are, of course, preparing for our holiday celebrations. Thank goodness we've been on the ball and we are feeling on top of things in this area. I don't know how it all happened, but we've been mostly done shopping for some time now and most of the wrapping is even done. We are just awaiting the straggling gifts to arrive to do the final wrapping session. Hopefully this means we won't be up till all hours of the night on the days leading up to Christmas.

The girls have gotten into Christmas more this year. They are, of course, very excited about all the gifts under/around our Christmas tree and can hardly wait for the day to finally arrive. They were highly interested in selecting and giving gifts to each other. They each took a turn wrapping their gifts of choice and they are so proud of their choices. They did a really great job of thinking what their sister and brother would like! They can't wait to gift their items on Christmas. I'm wondering how the Santa and Mommy & Momma gifts will rate compared to their gifts.

We also participated in an Angels Among Us tree through my work. I brought the kids up to work one evening so they could choose the person/gift that really inspired them. We then went shopping to make their choices and then I brought the girls' up to work one afternoon (after a dentist appointment) so they could donate their items. I know one of the individuals involved in coordinating the collections and I knew she would be awesome. She didn't let me down! The girls were really excited to donate their items and Holly's excitement to receive the items really impacted them.