Santa emailed the kids! 🙂
Category Archives: Christmas
Interesting sticker placement.
Gramma Jean got Katie a Disney sticker book and she had zero interest in it when she opened it. However, today she got it out on her own and I saw her doing this: taking out a sticker, slapping it on her chest, taking another sticker, slapping it on her chest… There was a huge stack there!
Still in the ballerina…plus a backpack.
She slept in the ballerina outfit and didn’t want to take it off, so I added tights and a long-sleeved shirt…and she added the backpack (another gift from Gramma Jean) first thing!
A real ballerina!
Katie wasn’t too excited when she opened the real ballerina outfit from Gramma Jean because there was too much other stuff going on…but when things calmed down a bit, she had to wear it!
Opening presents via Skype, part 3!
Tonight was presents with Gramma Jean and Grandpa David!
The kids loved everything, but Katie really loved her Olaf hat and tea set (they’re having a tea party in the picture) and Owen picked the Magformers as his favorite! We ALL loved Owen’s MSU PJs and he was thrilled with his Lego Movie PJs, too!
Gingerbread House Close-Up!
From 12/19 but I forgot I had the pictures on my real camera!
Making cookies for Santa!
He did about three scoops and he was done. 🙂
He said we had to put out five cookies because that’s what we did last year. I asked if he was sure. He went over and pointed to the picture (on the calendar) of Christmas Eve (which is the picture of him with Santa’s cookies last year) and yep, five cookies. 🙂 I should know not to doubt his memory.
Opening presents via Skype, part 2!
Today we opened presents from Grauntie Marge!
They got to see Katie dance around with her dolly in their new matching outfits (I didn’t get a picture of it because they were watching live and I can’t take pictures at the same time!).
And Katie loved her new Frozen sheets!
And Owen LOVED his Robot Turtles game. We watched some videos online about how to play, then we played, and after we put it away he kept running around the house playing a full-sized version. 🙂
Opening presents via Skype!
It’s at times like this that I love technology!
Owen’s first shopping spree
Owen’s school offered a Penguin Shop for the kids to shop for inexpensive gifts for their families. I volunteered one afternoon and it was…a little crazy. 🙂 Owen had $10 to spend on gifts for me, dad, and Katie. He came home with something for each of us (plus about $3 left over) and he was SO excited for us to open them…so we finally did tonight.
I got a cupcake pencil sharpener, Tom got a purple high-heeled shoe pencil sharpener, and Katie got a barrette with a feather on it! Our very first gifts from Owen with no parental input whatsoever! I told Tom I would switch him sharpeners, but he said no way—he was keeping the very first gift his boy bought him! 🙂
Katie LOVED her feather…
Christmas with Grandma Marsha and Uncle Rob!
We celebrated Christmas this morning because Owen was home from school…due to ongoing constipation issues (he had been heavily medicated but NOTHING was happening and I hadn’t wanted to send him to school just in case).
She LOVED her princess tutu, crown, and wand! After about 10 minutes, we were all tired of the wand because it lit up AND made noise! (The crown lights up, too, but thankfully doesn’t make noise!)
Uncle Rob helped Owen with the Legos after Owen got stuck and I tried and gave up. 🙂
Stockings from Grandma!
The kids were itching to open all the presents they saw Grandma and Uncle Rob bring in, but it was a little late in the evening…so we just let them open the stocking stuff.
Katie LOVES Yoda!
My ornament hanger!
Katie LOVES hanging ornaments on the tree! As it happens, we’ve actually received a few ornaments since we initially decorated the tree, so she’s gotten to hang a few. This one today came from Grannie Lin and Papa and she had to run right to the tree to hang it! She does a pretty good job, too!
And a closeup of the Michigan ornament. I think the UP has grown since we’ve last been there. 🙂
Santa Visit (Fail) 2014
I didn’t want to wait in any long lines so after requesting advice from a local facebook group, we decided to visit the Santa at the new Gander Mountain. Both kids hadn’t been able to stop talking about seeing Santa and they were SUPER excited leading up to the day…until we actually saw him, at which point neither kid wanted ANYTHING to do with him. Owen hid in a clothes rack and Katie begrudgingly got carried up by daddy. (And this is precisely why I didn’t want to spend any amount of time waiting in a line.)
This was their best shot. Not too bad. It was actually neat—they took the picture with an iPad and then emailed it to you right then and there.
After Katie was done, Owen decided he wanted to try again…so we tried to get them both on Santa’s lap. Ha. Ha ha. This time, Owen was pretty good, but Katie was still being a poop. This is the best one they got.
This was the best one I managed to get. Good times!
Then they had a green screen photo shoot and this is the background Owen picked:
Then the girls headed out to Target while the boys went on their super special trip to Chuck E. Cheese!!
We got our family photo!
Before heading out to see Santa, we had Uncle Rob take a few shots. Amazingly, the very first one was the winner! We hadn’t even tried to get Maggie in it, but she jumped right up!
I don’t love myself in it, but since everyone—including the dog!!—is actually looking at the camera with eyes open and mostly smiling faces…I consider it a win!
Owen reads his letter from Santa
Santa wrote Owen a long letter that came in the mail today. He pretty much read the whole thing by himself. He was thrown by a few words (like receiving and according) and by a hyphenated word but overall I was very impressed…and so was daddy who rarely gets to see him read.
Here’s the last part of the letter:
Acorn Christmas Wreaths
Look familiar, Gramma Jean?!
Each kid got their own wreath. For Katie, I glued the strips and then let her put them on. She was only interested for about eight strips, so we put it away then tried again another time—at which point we got another handful of strips on. I ended up finishing hers for her because I wanted it finished before March. She was, however, more interested in the acorns—she’d tell me where to put the glue then she’d put the acorn on.
Honestly, Owen’s attention span wasn’t much better—it took him two times to get the strips done and then another time for the acorns.
And Owen fixing my wreath by adding an acorn that’s been missing for as long as I can remember:
But, I think it’s time to finally retire the wreath I made in pre-school (age 3)…
Kid Christmas Tree Pic Attempt #1
Not horrendous, but we’ll try again. 🙂
(This was actually back on November 30! I take fewer pictures with my real camera now and I forget to take them off the card!)
Clingy Kids
Grannie Lin sent Christmas window clings in her care package…the kids LOVE them! We don’t have that many windows on the first floor so they’re all covered!
Jingle Bells all the way
Katie’s version of Christmas favorites.
Helping put up the Christmas tree.
I guess that should be “helping.” 🙂
Happy Thanksgiving! Here’s our first best attempt at a holiday photo!
And a great one of Tom and the kids:
And a decent one of the kids:
And, of course, classic Owen! 🙂
They had ONE job.
Owen noticed it! He said “I’m a problem solver!”
Owen decided to write Santa this morning.
That’s a board game, a skateboard, and Legos. 🙂
I clarified which board game, I’m pretty sure he doesn’t mean a real skateboard (he has a cheap 3″ toy one from a birthday party that he loves so I’m guessing that’s what he’s thinking), and any Legos will apparently do. 🙂
I’ll get him to write a REAL list soon. And hopefully nudge him in the direction of some things I already have (though the Legos won’t be a problem)!
Len Christmas in July
The family decided to have Christmas in July this year and the Besons hosted. It was a GORGEOUS Michigan summer day on the river spent with our AMAZING family! Timmy supplied about 32 different types of brats (okay, maybe only about 12) and we stuffed ourselves silly on them plus all the other good food everyone brought. A good time was had by all and I think we may officially be moving our holiday celebration to the summer from now on!
Owen was a bit shy at first, so he and Katie were both in Nick’s room playing by themselves.
Katie loved the boat. LOVED. LOVED!! She would have sat out there all day if we let her and kept wanting to go back.
Finally Owen wanted to play!
Owen is six months younger than Aubrey. I know, right?
Cousins Katie 2, Owen 5, Aubrey 6, Gracie 8, Nick 10, Alex 12, and Jess 15. We never actually got Owen back-to-back with Nick, but I think they were within a fraction of an inch of each other (with a five-year age difference). And Katie seems to be pretty close to Aubrey, who is four years older. I guess we really DO grow them big. 🙂
Last year:
Lisa B. made these AWESOME ladybug cupcakes for Katie’s birthday.
And these for Greg’s birthday. (I missed a pic of the ones for Aubrey’s birthday, but they were Frozen-themed.)
We did pretty good keeping track of Katie all day (when there’s so many people around, there’s always someone half watching) and then we failed right at the end. People were running around cleaning up and putting things away…and before I know it, Tom is carrying Katie back from the front yard. Apparently Katie was wandering down the driveway and Greg caught her and brought her back. Phew.
And before we knew it, it was time to head out. Katie didn’t make it to the end of the road before she fell asleep, and Owen lasted about 15 minutes.
A Pinterest project non-fail thanks to a friend!
I had wanted to do an ornament wreath like I’d seen on Pinterest and had actually bought all the ornaments on clearance after Christmas! But I was afraid to attempt it on my own—I’m somewhat crafty, but Owen’s Lego cake fail seriously made me rethink my abilities to do anything crafy. So I enlisted the help of one of my friends and took all my stuff to her house. She was just going to help walk me through it while I did the work and we visited. Ha. HA HA. After I burned a hole in the ribbon during the first three seconds I was using the glue gun, she kindly took over. I felt bad, but she said as long as I didn’t mind her doing it, she had no problem because this type of stuff IS HER THING. Okay, you go, girl! I helped a tiny bit with the placement of ornaments, but she honestly did 99.5% of the work. And it turned out AMAZING!
She got to keep all of the leftover ornaments and ribbon, and I left with a tiny wreath to see if I can attempt it on my own. If I don’t do it before I leave, I told her I will give her all those supplies, too! 🙂
A Belated Christmas
Daddy sent home a present for him and Owen that they opened first:
Katie jumped right in to help daddy open a gift from Grauntie Marge:
And we saved some of Grandma Marsha’s presents for the kids so Tom could watch them have fun opening:
He looks at this book every morning and every night.
This Lego Minifigure history book (LEGO Minifigure Year by Year: A Visual History) was a Christmas gift from Uncle Doug, Aunt Marie, and cousins Gabrielle and Robert—and he LOVES it! I’ll turn on his monitor in the morning and he’s flipping through pages. At night, that’s the book he wants me to “read” (I say “read” because he really just wants to flip through the pages and look at figures and ask me what their names are). Almost all of the figures he says “I want this for next Christmas.” 🙂
EDITED TO ADD THE FOLLOWING NIGHTS AS PROOF:
Peek!
She loves hiding behind the tree and peeking out!
December pictures are online!
December pics are finally up at Shutterfly!
