Post-Christmas Cheer

I always feel like Christmas takes forever to get here then is over way too quickly. The kids make the fun last a little longer, but only because they get so much that some toys have to wait until the day after to be unleashed from their plastic packaging.
In order to make the fun last a little longer, these are my favorite things about this Christmas...



1. Lucy: I put her in her fluffy Christmas dress explaining to Todd that this is why we had to have a little girl. The fact that she ruined it taking a poop on my cousin's fiance's lap only adds some comedy to our tales of her first year. (Sorry again Jarrin.)



2. Family: Watching the kiddos run around with their cousins and hanging out with my own, the kids goofing with grandparents, gabbing about nothing with my BIL's & SIL's. I love spending time with our families during the holidays.



3. Great Gifts: We put a lot of thought into the gifts we gave and apparently so did the people giving to us. In our booty we received some very well thought out things...special lederhosen for Todd, tequila & margaritas for me, plasma ball for Nate, pop gun for Rex, Lucy's first Honey Bear uniform, and a Wii for the family. Gotta love knowing your family well enough to pull that off.



4. Waking up Christmas Morning: You know how they talk about the pitter-patter of little feet? Well, they sound the best on Christmas morning. Todd and I love to listen to the kids run down the steps, giggling and counting all of the things under the tree. It's a sound we look forward to every year and will never get tired of.



5. Playing with the New Stuff: Christmas at our house is a free-for-all for the kids. It's the one day they are free to play with whatever they want, refuse a nap, and eat any goodies they found in their stockings. It gives me & Turbo time to sit back and relax after the chaos of getting through another successful holiday!

Santa Baby

Just a quick post to say

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Unfortunately my camera is on the fritz...
but I did catch a few pics of the kids before it's untimely death.
Enjoy!

Year in Review #5

GINGERBREAD WARS - Episode 6

Finally...

The homes & their constructors

Thanks for playing with us!

GINGERBREAD WARS - Episode 5

And the winner is...

Nate & Rex

We thought both houses were great and apparently so did you. The boys are happily splitting a huge bag of Rollos (1st prize) while Todd reaps the benefits of the tie and is enjoying a tube of them (2nd prize).
Thanks for voting! I'll publish the photos of the kids with their houses tomorrow. Just to make you sweat it out one more day...

SNOW DAY!

If any of you have yet to look outside (or for you out-of-towners, watched the news) this is the view out our back door...SNOW. LOTS of SNOW. Close to a foot, from what most weather men are saying. That, however, is just what the kids needed to hear to jump start their Christmas Break. (Nate loved the fact that the Gurnee schools wasted no time canceling classes, they called last night around 8pm, long before any snow ever fell.)
The only way we know to celebrate a snow day is to bundle up and go outside. The kids immediately started digging, Harry grabbed his shovel, and Otis ran, flopping around in the wet snow with his soccer ball. Hot chocolate tastes so much better when you've earned the cup.

If you look in the background of this pic of Otis you can see that
neighbor dog I talked about a few posts ago ...you know,
the one that waits at the edge of his fence for Otis to play with him.
Stupid dog...

GINGERBREAD WARS - Episode 4

DEMOLITION!

So, we're finished with the houses and decided the best thing to do with a home made out of cookies and candy is to EAT them. All we have left to say is...Yum.

Oh, and happy voting! Only today and tomorrow left!