Christmas--Round Two at my in-laws

Getting together with my in-laws for Christmas was tougher than originally thought. It seemed like every time we planned to get together there was a blizzard or a really bad storm. But as luck would have it, we found a day to visit and even spent the night!

Lately, you will find Grandma (Dave's mom) knitting, crocheting, and quilting different items for others to treasure. She knitted a couple of stocking hats for the twins and I happened to ask a question "where's the fuzzball?" and so did Harper. So anyhow, Grandma and Harper are working on the "fuzzball" for her hat. Whoops, should have kept that to myself. Sorry Grandma!

A game that Ethan has come to enjoy over the Christmas break is called "Pegs and Jokers". Here is the group playing the game with loyal fans!

Dave's aunt and uncle who live in Wisconsin were visiting over the holidays. We tried to take a group shot of all the grandkids and great grandkids. Tried is the word. Notice that my son is nowhere to be seen and my daughter wants nothing to do with the photo shoot!

Grandma and Grandpa have balloons in their toy box and these kids would play with the balloons all day if we let them. They have Grandpa, daddy, anyone who is willing to blow the balloons up but not tie them. They then take the balloons and let them go and run around and chase them. The adults tire out so fast compared to the kids! Here Grandpa is being convinced that he needs to blow up their balloons. Notice Harper listening quietly to music in the background while the rowdy ruckus is going on around her.

Doesn't Ada look like she is up to something while she is playing tea party with daddy?

The kids received a tea set, pots and pans, play food, hooded sweatshirt, dinosaur t-shirt, a Wiggles guitar, and playdoh with accessory tools for Christmas. It took the kids a split second to dive into their play food, tea set, and pots and pans and start playing with them!

We had some tasty soup to eat and all the cookies a kid wish for. My mother-in-law goes cookie crazy, I swear! She is always baking cookies and giving them away (lucky for us but not good for our waistline). We had a good time seeing everyone and hope to see them all again before to long.

Gift opening

Ada loved opening presents. For being only one years old, she was just as into it as Benjamin (3 years old) was. For a while she was outpacing Benjamin with the gift opening! But her attention was quickly lost if she saw a present that she just had to have and/or play with. Dave and I enjoyed watching the excitement that the kids displayed!

Happy Birthday Jesus!

Making a birthday cake for baby Jesus is one of our (Dave & mine) Christmas traditions. Here is the Birthday Cake that Benjamin and I made for baby Jesus.

Christmas 2008, Round One...

We spent most of Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and the day after Christmas at my folks' house in Minnesota. The drive seemed to take forever and the kids sure let us know it! But their attitude quickly picked up as they got to play with Grandma & Grandpa, all their aunts and uncles, and Bear, Louie, Callie (the puppies/dogs).

We had a ton of good food to eat and there was never a dull moment in the house as all my siblings were home with their spouses and/or significant others. We draw names on my side of the family for our gift exchange and we open gifts Christmas afternoon after mass and dinner. We all received very nice gifts. The kids got spoiled, that's for sure. Some of their presents included: an art easel, new sleds, barn, dinosaurs, dollies, jeans, pj's, clothes, cookie playset, play doh, finger paint, truck, shoes, and a Diego memory game.

Once the twin dollies were opened both kids lost interest in opening any other gifts. They were totally immersed in playing with those two dolls! They played together so nicely with them. It was so sweet watching Ada and Benjamin share and play together! Hopefully it will continue!

If you notice, my sister Carrie is the proud recipient of a light house. Dave started the light house white elephant gift years ago. There was no light house last year because the last recipient decided to keep the light house. So Dave naturally had to search high and low for a light house. He could not find one any where and was about to give up when I suggested he go to Hobby Lobby. He said no way that he would not go to that store but that I could. Yeah for me!! There is always something that I can find there that I think I just can't live without. Dave didn't seem to care as I found the coveted "light house". With everyone being home for Christmas my parents had a full house. The nice thing about coming back home to our house is how quiet everything is. I can't believe how loud it is at my parents. But the bad thing is that Benjamin and Ada sure miss talking and playing withe everyone!

Santa Claus came to Grandma & Grandpa's House!

Santa Claus came to visit at Grandma & Grandpa's house! One would think that the kids would be excited about this, but my kiddos were far from excited. Scared and unsure are the words that sum up their Santa experience. Sorry Santa, maybe next year! The only brave souls to sit on Santa's lap were my brother-in-law Matt and grandpa (my dad).

Benjamin's Little Christmas Tree

Benjamin enjoys helping us decorate our "big" Christmas tree so Dave and I decided to let him decorate our "little" Christmas tree. He loved it! He was so proud of himself and had so much fun doing it. His little tree had a string of lights, some garland, a tree topper, and decorations (cowboy boots, dinosaurs, & trucks). He would hang his decorations on the tree and say, "watch me decorate my tree, help me decorate my tree, take a picture of me decorating my tree, etc.".

Playing with Garland

Benjamin and Ada enjoyed helping decorate our tree. Actually they preferred to decorate themselves with the garland, of course! We thought that they looked adorable but could never get them to cooperate for a picture wearing their "decorations".