Christmas At Home

We got back home on the 27th and that night the kids left out some snacks for Santa. The lucky guy got buttertarts, almond bark and 3 sippies of milk.

The next morning the kids opened their gifts from Santa and from us. Daniel and I were surprised at how little attention the kids paid to the presents under the trees until we told them it was time to open them. Mitchell had a great time sitting up on his little perch before they opened their gifts.




Some of the highlights were 3 sets of power tools....I think we need new batteries already after only a few days. They love them! And they were so cute, they insisted on wearing their safety goggles.






And POTTIES....




While we were in the bathroom getting everything set up, Casey and Daniel started comparing leg hair. Casey has what I think is a lot of blond leg hair for a little boy.

It took Mitchell a while before he wanted to sit on the pottie, he preferred to store his tractors in there and fix it with his tools.


We had a great time this Christmas both celebrating with family and just enjoying being at home with the kids. I think we are going to change our holiday routine a bit and not try to squeeze in visiting both sides of our families, travelling, doing all of the packing, unpacking, packing, unpacking, etc within a few days. It is exhausting! We'll still want see everyone but we may just try and space it out a little more or host at our place.

Christmas on the Road

We started our holiday circuit in Muenster celebrating with Daniel's family. We had a great time, although Mitchell was coming down with a cold so he wasn't feeling well. Daniel, Grandpa and I took the kids out for some fresh air. All 4 of the boys did some tobogganing, while Maggie and I went home early to get out of the cold.

Before we went outside the kids played a few numbers on Grandma's organ. Casey was so funny! He was so proud of himself being THE best organ player in the world, as he swung his head in time to the pre-recorded songs. But as most things go, everything came to an end when someone was in someone else's spot and they wouldn't move. Que the flying fists and meltdowns.




Later on Christmas Eve it was time to open gifts and get playing. That was fun!




Maggie got a Cabbage Patch kid and an Ariel doll. I don't think her arms are big enough to carry all of her buddies around anymore.

Our attempt at a group shot of all of the kids (I'm in there too or else Mitchell wouldn't have been).

The boys had fun picking all of the good stuff of the gingerbread house.


Everyone was tuckered out that night.

Christmas day we packed up and drove to my parents place at the lake and on the way the kids enjoyed a gourmet Christmas meal of McDonald's french fries.

"Cheese!"

The kids got cleaning sets from Uncle Brady and Auntie Indra which were a huge hit. The cleaning crew had some work to do to help Grandma make room for all of the gifts.

Gift opening time was once again a big hit!

What's better than 3 small tractors?

3 "super huge" (as Mitchell would call them) tractors!



The kids sort of cooperated to get some of the pictures I wanted and we were even able to get a few big group pictures too.




Casey woke up the night before we left with croup. That croupy cough and wheezing sounds so terrible, I felt so bad for him. Maggie got it too the next night and Mitchell still had his cold. They had the exact same thing last Christmas, hopefully we'll have better luck next year.

Santa Pictures

We went to see Santa again last night and it went better than the first time, the kids even all gave him a high five. I'm sure that it went better because instead of trying to get them to sit on a big stranger's lap, they sat with us and we just crowded around Santa.

Here are the pictures from the first visit with Santa. They must send all of the young Santa's to the banks to fill in- this one looked pretty young.



A look back at our visit with Santa last year.

We're going to Muenster today to start our usual Christmas road trip. We'll be there for a few days and then we'll go my parents at Jackfish Lake. The kids really don't understand much of the whole Christmas idea yet, but when it comes time to open presents I'm sure they will be VERY excited. I can't wait!