Christmas Fun

I know that there are way too many pictures in this post, but I'm giddie that I can see the light at the end of the tunnel and I only have a handful of posts left until I'm caught up!  I don't want to take the sacred extra time to create a collage, so here you go....some fun leading up to Christmas!!

 

Since we were traveling over Thanksgiving weekend, we didn't get an opportunity to put up the tree, but I was able to start pulling Christmas boxes out early that next week.

Luke was SOOOOOO into it and LOVED putting the ornaments on!  He, of course, decorated like any other two year old would, and put as many as he could on one branch.  It was adorable, but it drove Kailee batty!!!!!  She would sneak as many as she could off and onto another branch, but she got caught a few times and paid the wrath!  :) 

I had to remind Kai that she did the exact same thing when she was two and I've got the blog post to prove it...and yes, it drove Hailey crazy then! :) 

Busy little elves...they decorated all of it by themselves!

The youngest gets to put the star on!

I had somewhat decent luck with getting a photo in front of the tree with them in their Christmas jammies, but I also liked the ones I took when I just needed a model to pose while I adjusted my camera settings. 

Hailey, wearing her dress up clothes she uses when they play "orphan", was CRACKING herself up! 

Goof balls!

Kai, fresh and clean ready for her picture!

Luke did great posing here, but he wanted nothing to do with sitting down with the girls.

We finally pulled down his Spiderman ornament (which he told us all season that it was 'upside down') and that at least got him to sit down. Here he is holding him 'right-side-up'

Sigh, so crazy! :)

That was the best I could get so we moved on to an attempt at a different set up. 

You have to crank the ISO up on your camera, have a wide open f-stop, turn off all of the lights in the house (except the tree!) AND they have to stand still...that's why Hailey is holding Luke!

Kailee's Christmas list that she wrote at school: computer (a fake one for her new desk!), doll, camera, Elsa, and a snake!

We opted for making gingerbread houses out of graham crackers instead of buying the kits and it was a huge success! 

He was very proud!

This was the pattern we followed!

Luke and I had a Christmas playdate at MOPS

New ornaments this year were from a Pinterest idea where you put your baby's hospital hat and wrist ID band in a clear ornament.  Luke's is definitely the coolest because his hat says the hospital name (Krankenhaus Weinheim), his wristband is in German, and the nurses put that little wooden bunny on his basinet because he was born the day before Easter.  We lost Hailey's wristband because we had movers at our house when she was 4 days old, so I added an ultrasound picture to hers.  Leevi keeps the tiny pink bow in his wallet that the nurses put on Hailey's head when she was born and he didn't want to give it up for the ornament! :)

We were finally able to attend one of Lowe's Grow with Me builder workshops and the kids got to make a train.  They have it once a month at 10am on Saturdays and that always conflicts with sports. 

The suggested age is 5 and up, but Luke did great!

Bri came with us!

Snowy gained some accessories this year from the Iverson sisters: a scarf and ice skates!!!

To kick of the kids' Christmas break, we headed to Branson, MO (2 hrs Southwest) with the Heberlings and spent the night at a waterpark hotel.  The theme was similar to a Great Wolf Lodge, but it definitely didn't compare!  The kids still had fun though!!!!!!  

 We also drove through the Festival of Lights!

We had planned on going to Branson to go to Silver Dollar City (an amusement park) because they have one of the BEST light shows/parades in all of America (apparently!) but the weather was rainy and in the 30's, so we are glad we shifted our plans mid-week!  We said that we need to go next year in November before it gets too cold!!!  We had a good time though and Leevi and I celebrated our 12th anniversary that weekend with a trip to Target and Coldstone Creamery (my choice, ha!!!!)

My favorite Christmas decoration...the cards from family and friends!

Santa shaving beards!!!  Luke still wasn't into it this year...maybe next!

We were supposed to have a Christmas craft playdate with some friends the Tuesday before Christmas, but Luke and I were soooo sick.  We didn't have to go to the dr, but it was probably a mild flu: head/bodyache, cough, running nose, and sore throat.  Luke had a fever with his too.  :(  Hailey got a fever the evening of Christmas but was fine by the next day.  The kids and I did not get the flu shot and Leevi ever so kindly brings that to my attention! (He HAS to get it for work.)  I'm not against regular childhood vaccinations, but I don't like having to get one EVERY year.  :(  And they say that this year's vaccine isn't covering most of the viruses going around, so I like to ever so kindly remind Leevi of that! :) ANYWAY, I had to postpone our playdate until after Christmas.  Thankfully, my head cleared on the eve of Christmas Eve so I wasn't miserable for the holidays.  We decided to have a New Year's Eve playdate instead and Kailee's friend from school/bus Riley came over, Hailey had Bri over, and our neighbors, Madison and Matthew joined us.  We made late Christmas presents for the birds...birdseed cookies with cookie cutters and popcorn/cranberry strings.