Christmas

We had Christmas here 3 days in a row and had a great time!  It was a bit nutty by the end, but we had fun :) 
 
Christmas Eve we celebrated with Uncle Andy, Aunt Emily, Grandma Dorothy and Papa Mike (Mat, Marbree, and cousin P were not able to come in town, but we did get to Skype with them while we opened gifts). We had a delicious meal and yummy goodies, the boys got to play outside a bit, we played Wii for awhile, and of course opened gifts :)  The boys got puzzles and books and craft stuff...hard to know/remember what all they got, since it was such a flurry of paper! 

Skyping with cousin P :) 

The boys with new pjs and one of their furry "cousins", Hallie (Andy and Emily's dog). 

Christmas morning Mike and Dorothy were over, and we opened stocking gifts before we headed off to church (our church had no Christmas Eve service, only Christmas morning).  We got home and opened up the rest of the gifts and had 2 delicious breakfast casseroles.  Z's big gift from us was a scooter that makes sparks, and the little boys big gifts were My First Leappads...one was a hand-me-down from Z, but no one knew ;)  The boys also got puzzles (and more puzzles!), games, books, craft stuff, sleeping bags, nerf guns, flash cards (the littles love them)...we already have so much stuff it was hard to need more.  We played the rest of the afternoon (while I tried not to freak out about all of the stuff ALL OVER the house). 

I made the boys a memory game with pictures of themselves.  They love games, they love cards, they love pictures of themselves.  You can't go wrong ;)

ARRRRR!!!! Merry Christmas, mateys! (A dollar spot buy leftover from Halloween!)

We made the boys haul all the presents in from under the tree in the living room out to the family room where there was more room. 

 Z was pretty pumped about the scooter. 

 What a mess! 

Monday we went to celebrate with Papa Dan, Grandma Dena, Aunt Maggie, and Aunt Emily (Jenny, Greg, and cousin A weren't able to come in town).  More delicious food, more awesome gifts, more playing with new stuff.  Papa Dan got "the boys" 2 marshmallow shooter guns...but I think he enjoyed them more than they did!  We also got a few more amazing handmade puzzles from Aunt Maggie...she is so gifted! 

Tuesday morning Mike and Dorothy took all the boys for 36 hours (merry Christmas to us!).  We dug our house back out, organized the basement, got a few picture projects done, and got our calendars finished and ordered.  And ate out every meal ;)  Notice the theme with eating?  Will be starting a diet again in the next week! 

We had a wonderful holiday and are beyond blessed! 

Activity update

I posted here about all the fun we would be having in December, and December has not let us down :) 
We had to change a few, which was fine with me. I already posted about the first few, and another few will be in an upcoming post...

But here is an update on a few of the other ones:

We have made 2 sorts of ornaments (a foam snowman one and a felt tree one).

We used nativity stickers to make a Christmas picture.  We got the stickers at CBS (my Bible study).  I don't know if we get them every year or not, but we got them the year Z was the littles age, and I had him use the stickers to create his own scene.  I think his was a bit more "on target" but he probably had a bit more coaching than the littles did (when we did them I mostly just tried to help them get the stickers off the paper, not direct them to how they "should" go.)  And the last ones didn't flip, and I don't have it in me to work on it.  Turn your head ;) The first one is Z's from 3 years ago, when he was the same age as the littles. 

We saw 2 sets of lights, one at Our Lady of the Snows and the other at Santa's Magical Kingdom.   Our Lady of the Snows was smaller, and I didn't have the boys shoes on, so a lot of the inside stuff we didn't do.  Next year!  And Santa's Magical Kingdom was a trip...a lot of of school characters (the Jetsons!) but the boys loved it. 

We made ice sun catchers (which are still in the freezer because it has been to warm outside for them...this also meant we had to miss out on freezing bubbles).

We watched the Grinch (and Rudolph and Frosty the Snowman).

We made Rice Krispy "gingerbread houses".  Pretty random...picked it up on a whim shopping one day.  Unlike the M&M houses, where N ate all the candy before decorating, this time it was L.  Whatever, everyone was happy! 

Thanksgiving

Mike and Dorothy came in town for Thanksgiving, and Andy and Emily came over to share with us as well.  We ate some delicious pies and a yummy turkey :) Dorothy made some ornaments with the kiddos while we slept in one morning...wonderful treat!  We watched some of the parade, played outside, watched some football, took naps...a good turkey day! 

 Z was insistent upon eating a leg (he had seen people eating them at fairs or someplace, I think).  He kept trying to eat in like a hot dog instead of like corn on the cob...needless to say, he was not as enamored once he tried it.

I had a few pictures of Andy and Emily with the boys, but apparently I accidently deleted them.  What?  How did that happen?  Sigh...

Fourth of July

I had grand plans this year for the fourth of July festivities.  The boys are finally old enough to do stuff with, so I was going to make this year good! 

On the third we had plans to go to our friends house, where they were going set up the huge bounce water slide, we were going to grill, walk to DQ, then keep walking to fireworks.  It was all totally rained out.  Z and I went over for a bit to just hang out. 

For the fourth, we planned to go to the St. Charles parade with Andy, Emily, Mike and Dorothy, so headed over there early.  But it rained.  Actually, it didn't, it was  just kind of iffy.  There was rain, mist, sprinkles.  So we decided not to go.  I really really wanted to, but I was not up for 4 wet boys, especially since I wasn't sure how the littles would do in the rain.  Probably was the right choice, but I was still bummed. 

We made up for it by playing the Wii at Andy and Emily's.  Z chose a Lego Pirates of the Caribbean game (ok, they must make everything!), followed by bowling and the homerun derby.  Everyone was just kind of chilling out and happy to watch, so that was good.  Andy and Emily just got a puppy, too.  Z was ok with her after a bit, but the little boys weren't quite enamored with her. 

After the parade time was over, it looked ok out to go to the carnival...but then it didn't...so we decided to skip even the carnival.  So bummed.  So we went to Incredible Pizza instead.  Totally random, but the kids had so much fun!  It was awesome to have so many extra hands to help as well.  Andy is an awesome uncle...he is so good with the boys and plays with them and jokes around...he is basically a big kid and they love it.

It looked nice for fireworks that night, so I planned on taking all the boys.  We decided against it, though, since early the next morning the boys were going straight to Mike and Dorothy's for a few days, followed immediately by our Florida vacation.  Nate talked sense into me, and reminded me that we have many more years with the boys, and that there was no point in us tiring them out at the beginning of a very busy 2 weeks.
But Z, Dorothy and I went, and we ended up meeting Dad, Dena, and Emily.  Z and I each got a huge ice cream cone while we waited, and he was thrilled with the small fireworks set off by neighbors before the real show started!  When the real show got going, he loved that too.  He liked the "colorful ones".  That sure narrowed it down ;)  It is always nice to have some individual time with him.  

Father's Day

Happy Father's Day! 

Mother's Day

Here is my annual picture of me and the kids on Mother's Day.  Mother's Day is about the only time I INSIST on getting a picture with me and the boys.  I also decided this year to get a picture of me and each boy individually.  There are very, very few pictures of me with an individual child...I'm not even positive I can say there are ANY of me and each of the little boys individually.  L was being pretty ornery and was generally being a pill, so he was upset during the group picture and the individual picture of him that I have here is the best I could get!

We had a nice day.  We ate Penn Station and I was given a gift certificate for a massage that was a Groupon on Friday (good timing on their part...coincidence?  I doubt it!).  Can't wait to use it!

What a good day, and a good reminder of how blessed I am to be a Mama to these four boys!