Christmas Break

Is it over already? Part of me was glad to get back on a schedule, more of a daily routine. The downtime was nice, and I love being here with everyone, but our kids get a little crazy with an over booked schedule, or to much downtime. We had a little of both, but our time off was good. We were able to have Jason here for the first half of break which was so nice. He taught Bill and Ethan how to play rummy, so honestly for the first 3 days of break that is all they did. They had a tally sheet for their points and would be at the breakfast table playing cards as well as after dinner. We had all our family Christmas parties, We got to have my nephew over to do Christmas with him and he was able to stay the night. We got the kids a Bingo game so we are doing a weekly "Bingo night" for a game night and so far it is a big hit. We celebrated Bills birthday over the weekend and we didn't play and the kids were wondering why we didn't. Natalie is our official Roller. She picks the balls. It's a lot of fun. We had one day of really nice weather. It got up into the high 50's maybe 60's so we were outside all day. So nice to get some fresh air. Especially when a week before the wind chill was -20!! Elena was able to get out her scooter that she got for her birthday and they were having races down the driveway. It was funny to watch them, because although it was nice, it was VERY windy so little Natalie was getting blown away!!The kids had friends over a few of the days. I babysat miss Natalie's friend a few times. Here they are getting ready to take a nap. They are just so cute!

Christmas Eve 2008

This Christmas was a nice one, Christmas day a whole other story. I will post only about Christmas Eve now. The kids woke up so excited! We usually have my nephew over and exchange gifts with him, but his little sister was sick. So we spent the day getting things ready with friends stopping by dropping off gifts and just a lot of excitement.

We had a sit down Christmas dinner this year which is something we haven't done for at least 10 years. When the family started growing, we changed it to an appetizer buffet, which has always been great- chock full of yummy food. This year everything was great and it was nice to just sit down together and be thankful for one another.
The kids got everything they wanted, so they were all wound up and goofing around with their cousins. Aunt Sandy got the grasshoppers going and we all got silly! The silly gift exchange wasn't as crazy as in years past. Everyone kind of picked a gift suited for them. It was weird..
While we did our gift exchange Jen had put together gingerbread houses for the kids to decorate. They broke into two teams and had fun. Of course 10 minutes after they built them, they asked if they could destroy them. Only our kids......

Round 2 was desserts and coffee and don't forget the plum pudding!
After our fun filled evening, we came home with a bunch of sleepy heads and read the night before Christmas and Shreks version as well. Hee, hee. and off to dreamland we went!

Ethan's Christmas Program

This year Ethan's 2nd grade class had a Christmas program and it was as cute as ever! I had to snap a pic of him and his friends being silly before the program. I absolutely love watching these little kids sing their songs and dance. His music teacher was my music teacher when I was in elementary school :) She does such a good job with all the kids. She was one of my favorite teachers and I am glad that he gets to have her also.Their theme this year was a Holiday parade and they had some cute songs. He practiced them so much miss Elena walks around singing his songs. He had a speaking part again this year, He couldn't wait for that and he did a great job.

Christmas 2007

This year we had a nice Christmas. Pretty calm and the kids really enjoyed themselves. We had 3 straight days of opening gifts. Just a bit crazy, but at least we weren't party hopping and having things all jammed together. The night before Christmas Eve we got together with my side of the family. We met for dinner at my Grandparents house. It was a nice time, the kids were soo wound up with the excitement of opening gifts. Natalie was so sweet. She kept saying "wrap presents?" meaning unwrap. She got a little used to all the opening and asked for a couple days after to open more gifts. So here we all are at Grandma's house.The kids waiting anxiously to start opening gifts..Jason too.Elena's fave gift of the night was her Hannah Montana Guitar. She was a rockin! She kept it on all night.Christmas Eve morning, my nephew Jude and his sister Gabi came over to open gifts with us.Isn't she sweet??Christmas Eve was the usual excitement with the exception that we slowed the pace down a bit and you actually saw what everyone was opening instead of it being a whirlwind of paper everywhere. They had so much fun together. They love to spend time with their cousins. This year was a first. A family tradition is they make plum pudding and most of us don't care much for it and it's a joke to try to trick someone into eating it. This year Natalie tried without any tricks. Elena and Stephen did too! We'll see if they will be fans next year too.Natalie's fave part of the night was decorating Buddy the dog with her jewlery. She loves dogs!So there it is, total picture overload. I have a few more from Christmas Day, I will post those seperatly as this is quite a few. A nice Christmas to look back on.

Christmas Programs 2007

I still have so much to talk about with Christmas. We celebrated with 3 straight days of exchanging gifts and getting together with family. Absolutely wonderful and completely exhausting. I have spent the last few days just vegging out and resting!!

Two weeks ago was Ethan's school Christmas Program and Elena's was last week. So I wanted to share some pics and a short video clip from each of them. Ethan had a speaking part. This was big for him. First real school program. They did celebrations from around the world. It was GREAT! Doesn't he look handsome? I laughed the entire time. The kids were so entertaining. I love that I have been able to volunteer and get to know some of these kids. It made it so much more enjoyable. I love to watch school programs! So Cute!

Here is Natalie at Ethan's program with my Grandparents.

Elena was chosen to be an angel this year for her program. And what an angel she was! The teachers said they are just going to work with Elena and her best little friend for Spring Program since they pretty much carried the show! (They are the oldest ones in the class) She really gets into these things. Practices all day long. She knows all her hand motions and songs. She is always singing and dancing.

Our little entertainer :)

Getting ready to go on stage...

Ethans is on the top row in the back, red fiesta hat on. Just double click the play button to see.