Christmas 2015

A few things I want to remember about this Christmas...
- I love this picture of the kids. They were really excited about opening their Christmas pajamas this year. Allie and I picked out the fabric in November. I ordered and decorated the shirts at work and sewed the bottoms at night after everyone had gone to bed.
- Allie orchestrated the Christmas Eve happenings. We had cinnamon rolls and bacon for breakfast that morning followed by Allie opening birthday packages. In the afternoon Bob took the three big kids to watch the new Star Wars movie. Sydney had a major (1 hour) meltdown because we wouldn't let her go with them.
- In the evening we had our traditional fondue dinner. We always laugh about buying a beer on one of the most holy holidays but it really does work the best in the cheese fondue. I burnt the sugar cookies while starting the fondue prep and we didn't have any cookies for Santa (but no one seemed to care). We also couldn't find our cheese grater after looking everywhere for it. We had to send Bob to the store and then found the grater before he got home with the new one. Ugh.
- After dinner we were going to do chimes and look at lights but we had to forego the chimes because of the time. The kids happily opened and donned their new pjs and brushed their teeth before heading out to look at Christmas lights. Uncle Rob was over that night so all 8 of us piled into the van and drove around the neighborhoods close to home looking at all the beautiful decorated homes.
- Bob and I put the little girls to bed and then the big kids decided they should all sleep in the same room. They laid out blankets on the floor and set the alarm for 7. I'm not sure they'll do that again next year as it was really hard to fall asleep with Sage around. We finally had to give her melatonin to get her to fall asleep close to 11PM.
- The kids were up a little before 7. It turns out they didn't need an alarm. They came downstairs woke us up and then tore through the wrapped doorway to get into the living room.
- The first thing Sydney did was take off her old socks and put on a pair of the new ones Santa gave her.
- The girls have been riding their new bikes all around the house since Christmas morning. They get mad if we don't push all the chairs in and block their way around the table. I am impressed with how well they turn and get around on those things.
- Parker was really excited about the new football and football gloves Santa brought. While we were still opening packages he saw his friend (our neighbor) Nolan outside. He immediately ran out to see him. They were stoked to both get new footballs and catching gloves! They played most of the day outside and were a little put off when they had to each go inside to open more packages. Parker wore his new football cleats all day long and tried on his shoulder pads and helmet too. We have since told him that he should only wear his cleats on grass so he is saving them but he wanted to wear them all the time (even to school). He's really excited about getting to play tackle football this spring for the first time!
- Caden got a circuit set and has been building little electric circuits that make lights and sounds all day.
- We got to talk to and see all of the grandparents via FaceTime on Christmas Day. Even though we were home alone it felt like we got to connect with everyone and share the holiday joy with them.
- Allie really want to open presents in an orderly fashion - youngest to oldest, one at a time. The first gift Sage opened was pajamas (not very exciting) and she had a hard time waiting for her next turn. She ended up opening all of her presents quite a bit faster than everyone else. She recognizes her name and was easily able to find the ones for her.
- The little girls played happily all day with their new princess figures, crowns and little animals. It was fun to see them so excited about everything.
- Allie and Caden rocked out a few songs on Allie's new karaoke machine. It's fun to see them let loose with that!
- Bob and I both fell asleep in the afternoon - I think I slept for 3 hours!. The plan was to make a yummy soup for Christmas dinner but it was late and I was hungry after my nap. We ended up cooking some ground turkey and had nachos instead.
- Sage's favorite Christmas song this year is Angels We Have Heard on High. She is beginning to learn more of the words and loves to sing the glorias at the end.

Merry Christmas!

The girls picked out festive outfits for their preschool Christmas program last week. We found most of these treasures in Allie's hand-me-downs. They both looked so pretty after having a bath and letting me braid and straighten their hair.

Both girls were cute on stage. You could tell Sage knew the words to the songs and was singing along but with no hand motions. Sydney sang and did the motions for her songs. She was shy at first when she saw us in the audience but then she warmed up and performed with her class.

I thought Sydney looked so grown up in these pictures. They were the first I have noticed of her losing her baby face and really looking older.

Sweet sisters and good friends!

Meeting Santa...

The orthodontists here threw a Christmas party for all of their patients and friends last week. It was held at a trampoline park in town and I decided to take the kids. Caden and Allie had appointments and homework so Parker, Sydney, Sage and I went. Even though it was very crowded the kids had a lot of fun (Caden even got to join us at the end). Parker hung out in the dodgeball area most of the time - stands in line, plays dodgeball, gets back in line, etc. Sydney ran around happily alone jumping and playing. Sage got minorly hurt early and then wanted to hang out with me. We had a lot of fun jumping and playing together.

The highlight for her was meeting and talking to Santa. The first time we saw him, she sat on his lap, let us take some pictures but wouldn't talk to him at all.

Then we jumped for awhile together. She thought it was awesome to hold hands with me and jump at the same time. Her giggles are the BEST! She was jumping alone and with Sydney and I was sitting at some tables. I see her coming up to me pulling Mrs. Claus by the hand. Mrs. Claus who is hard of hearing couldn't figure out what Sage's name was. We talked for a little while and then Mrs. Claus went back to Santa.

Shortly after that Sage told me she was going to see Santa again. I thought she would watch him from a distance but when I went to check on her this is what I found.

She had both arms around Santa and was fully engaged in a conversation with him. It was really cute! Santa commented to me that she had fallen in love with Santa. I think he was right!

When it was time to leave, I suggested that we thank the orthodontists for a great party. Sage was only interested in saying goodbye to Santa!

Photos from Christmas...

Here are a few photos from our Christmas in Pittsburg...

 Baby Emerson was a definitely a highlight! Oldest and youngest grandchildren.

 We all love Grammy!

 Waiting to open presents!

 The whole family was home for Christmas! We tried to get a quick photo after church. Brrr...

Trick-or-Treat

I want to remember a couple of things from tonight.

Sage sat in the wagon the whole time. She went up to a couple of houses and otherwise was very happy to sit, eat some treats and watch the others.

Sydney ran from house to house with the others. She carried her bag the whole time and didn't complain or get tired. We offered to carry it when it got heavy but she wanted to do it herself. She was really sweet to bring candy back to Sage several times. At one point I mentioned that she was the cutest little trick-or-treater I had ever seen to which she replied, "Everybody says that!" I think she was a hit as Thor.

Caden was motivated to get as much candy as possible tonight after realizing he could donate it to servicemen and women overseas and make money too. He wanted to hit houses more than once and go longer and longer.

I kept hearing, "Look! It's Captain America!" I think Bob was the most visible member of our Avengers group.

Christmas...

We had a pretty low-key Christmas break. We didn't travel anywhere this year which was nice. My brother Rob spent Christmas Eve with us and he and my parents were here for a few hours the Saturday after Christmas but otherwise it was just the 7 of us. I didn't take a lot of pictures this year. I did take a lot of video in hopes of making a Christmas movie this year with iMovie. I'll share that if/when I get it done. : )

Christmas Eve pajamas. I was going to skip this this year but Allie mentioned how much she loves this tradition and since Christmas Eve is her birthday I conceded.

 Sage loved the baby doll and bed that Santa brought for her.

Opening a box of Tervis cups. Now everyone has a unique cup of their own. Hopefully we go through fewer cups this way. I love having one with a lid to take in the car.

 

Parker wanted to dress up like a Christmas tree when we were getting out decorations.  

Sydney was all bundled up to go pick out a Christmas tree - it was still icy and cold when they went out. She, Parker and Bob went to Home Depot to get our tree. We had a real one this year again - still hoping to find a nice artificial one on sale one of these years.

Halloween 2013

Back in September we decided what we were going to do for Halloween this year. Allie still had her white princess dress from last year (we let out the hem) & Sydney had a purple princess dress that Allie wore when she was little. I didn't think it would be hard to make Sage a simple princess dress to go along with her older sisters. The boys decided to be dragon slayer knights to have a family kid theme. We ordered costumes for them. The first set of costumes came but were slightly too small. We sent those back and got online to find bigger replacements. We found something suitable on another website and ordered those. I had to call in because they had a price matching promotion that I wanted to tap into. I placed my order. A couple of weeks went by and the costumes never came. When I thought back on it, I never received an email confirmation either. The money had been withdrawn from account so I figured the costumes were still coming. By the time I had a chance to call about it, it was the Thursday before Halloween. The company wasn't able to find my order or figure out what happened (bank has to dispute the charge). They were willing to give me a discount on a new order and expedite shipping but we kept missing each other on the phone to make it happen. The boys weren't too heartbroken thankfully. Caden decided to be the zombie guy from last year and Parker decided to be a boxer. He was actually really excited about putting that costume together! We didn't have a theme but everyone was happy (including Bob who was happy not to spend much $ on costumes this year!)

Here are the pictures from Halloween night. The kids went trick or treating with some families from church. Bob followed behind with Sydney (she was slower than the rest). Sage was fussy that night and I was exhausted so the two of us just sat on our steps and gave away candy. Sage had a sucker when we started. She decided she was done with that before it was gone and started trying different flavors from the bowl. We had at least 6 half eaten suckers by the end of the night. Funny girl!

P.S. This was the first year we had the kids sign a contract about what to do with their candy. They could eat all they wanted that night, keep 10 pieces for the rest of the weekend, save 10 pieces for later, and put the rest in a bag (we wanted them to give it to Bob to share at work but it is in our treasure box for now).