Keeping Christ in "Christ"mas

We dedicated part of our Christmas Day to going to church. It is important that we keep in mind what it is that we really celebrate on Christmas. On the Sunday before Christmas and on Christmas day, the children participated in a Christmas pageant.

Natalie was the Blessed Mother Mary and Kendall was an angel. Nolan was invited to be a lamb (carry a stuffed lamb and look cute) but he wanted to stay with Mom.

There were more kids in the Sunday before Christmas production than there were on Christmas day, but Mom forgot her camera that day and was busy helping in the back. All of the children in the Christmas Day pageant were related to us (Kevin has 14 nieces and nephews).

The Christmas pageant was a very fun way for us to be reminded of what Christmas is really celebrating. After a short mass and the pageant all of us visited for a bit and parted ways. It was really nice.

Mother Mary and her favorite angel

Merry "Christ"mas!!!

Wii Wish You a Merry Christmas

After all of the excitement on Christmas Eve, the children gave Mom and Dad a very appreciated gift on Christmas morning...they slept until 7:45!!! When everyone finally woke up, we all went into the living room to see if anyone had visited while we were sleeping...










It looked like Santa had certainly spent some time at our house on Christmas Eve...Natalie and Mom also heard some really strange noises the night before. The kids all had stockings full of goodies and Santa even left a note!!!










Natalie, Kendall, and Nolan all got wonderful gifts from Santa...he knew exactly what each of them wanted and even sent some surprises. Natalie got a digital camera, some DVDs, Nintendo DS games, and many other fun gifts. Some of Kendall's favorites were a Tinkerbell doll, Horton Hears a Who DVD, a Playstation game, Dora and the Snow Princess DVD, and a Dance Mat. Santa found the perfect gifts for Nolan: Doodlebops slippers (which her wore all day, even to church), mini Doodlebops beenie figures, and a whole Doodlebops instruments set (including a guitar, a keytar, a microphone, and a drum set). He also got puzzles, a Mickey Mouse Memory Game, a doodleboard, a Winnie the Pooh potty and a book about the potty. Santa must have put Kendall, Natalie, and Nolan all on his "nice" list this year!

Mom and Dad also tried to give the children each special gifts this year since we also think they're pretty "nice". They got the standard clothes and movies and games that we get for them each year. Nolan also got a toy kitchen and tons of food for it (101 pieces to be exact). He loves the toy kitchen at his Gammy's house so we wanted to get him one to play with at home. (Daddy very patiently assembled the kitchen on Xmas Eve...it was definitely in more than 101 pieces when we opened it! Thanks Dad.)

Natalie and Kendall (and Mom and Dad) got a Nintendo Wii!!! We had played with Aunt Dani's Wii over the summer and everyone really enjoyed it. Mom and Dad bought a bundle pack online in August and had been hiding it (impatiently) until Christmas. It included 4 controllers, 4 numchucks, 4 charging docks with chargeable batter packs (like a cell phone battery),the Wii console and holder, and 7 games!!! Everyone was really excited.

"WII WISH YOU A MERRY CHRISTMAS"

After all of the presents had been opened, it was time to jam out on the new Doodlebops equipment. The girls were really good sports and played along with Nolan for hours (he basically held them hostage). He kept rewinding the Doodlebops movie over and over again and playing the opening song.

Here is Nolan in his Doodlebops slippers jamming on the keytar (a guitar and keyboard combo...yes it's pink and purple).










After we played with our toys, we picked up Andrew, headed over to church, and then to Grandma's house!!! Our cousin Ayden, Aunt Jenn, and Uncle Jake were also there. Everyone played and mingled while dinner was being cooked. Nolan and Ayden played with Ayden's new Batman inflatable boxing buddy (it's really cool, you just fill the bottom with water and it bounces back up).













Andrew opened his gifts from us (the Wii was also for him) and Grandma. He got some Wii games, a special Wii controller with a game and a Webkinz Silverback Gorilla. His mother and step-dad got him a 14 foot trampoline. We were so glad to see Andrew on Christmas he's a good big brother!










We all got to open more gifts at Grandma's house. The girls got Webkinz ( a Dolphin and a Clown Fish) from grandma. Kristen bought Kendall a sleeping bag set (with matching bag), and Natalie got a High School Musical pillow and diary set. Mom got a necklace and a candle set, and Dad got some gold toe socks, long underwear, and a very special ornament. We ate ham, turkey, potatoes, corn, and rolls (no pictures, I was too busy stuffing my face). Dinner was awesome. After a nice afternoon with Grandma, we dropped Andrew off (he had plans) and headed home to play a little Wii (finally!!!).










The Wii was a blast. We still haven't opened any of the games except the on that comes with the console because we LOVE the bowling! The girls are tough competition.

Everyone had a chance to play, even Mom and Dad (who now, after hours of hard work, have both achieved a pro status on bowling).

Natalie beat Dad the first game, and on the right is an actual strike in action!!! We love our new Wii, but we're all a little sore (and Mom and Dad are a little sleep deprived from staying up all night playing).

My favorite gifts this Christmas came from my girls. They each made a special snowman ornament in school and decided to give them to me. Kendall's has a purple scarf and Natalie's has a pink scarf. They must have spent a lot of time on them, because they look awesome on our tree!
Natalie and Kendall didn't know it, but Mom saved one gift for the end of the night. Before we tucked them in, the girls received ticket to go see Disney on Ice at the First Arena on January 2nd. We're all looking forward to it!!!

'Twas the Night Before Christmas

This year, as usual, we crammed our Christmas Eve with fun activities. We baked up a storm, as we do every Christmas Eve...we like to give Santa fresh cookies. We also celebrated Christmas at Gammy's house in the evening, opened 1 gift, wrote our letter to Santa, made a snack, and headed of excitedly (an exhausted) to bed.

We made chocolate chip cookies, sugar cookies, and cupcakes (beautifully decorated by the master chefs themselves) for gammy's house and for Santa.

Later, when we got to Gammy's house, we were surrounded in gifts. Our Gammy spoils all of us rotten, even the adults. She got way too many gifts this year, but no one seemed to mind.











Gammy and Gampy got Kendall the Mrs. Goodsbee dollhouse (the ONLY thing she wanted really, really badly). Natalie got karaoke machine and she is in love with it. Nolan played with his Brobee silly head doll that Gammy and Gampy got him all night.












Christmas at Gammy and Gampy's is the best. We got to see Aunt Teresa, Uncle Dennis, Gammy, Gampy, and our Aunt Dani. We opened all of our gifts, ate some snacks and desserts, and spent a nice evening together. We headed home at bedtime to prepare for Santa's arrival, Santa was on his way!!!





















When we arrived home, Mommy and Daddy has set 1 gift aside for each child to open on Christmas Eve. This year, like every year, they each got a new set of pajamas. We like to look our best when Santa's coming to our house. The kids wore their new pj's and we put Nolan to bed. The girls wrote a note to Santa (Natalie wrote it this year, and at the end put a disclaimer about any "mispeld" words), we got a plate ready for Santa, and decided to leave him warm cocoa this year.


We all went to bed so that Santa could work his magic...

The Spirit of Giving

This morning, all of the 3rd graders in Natalie's school gathered in the cafeteria along with many parent volunteers and teachers to make a special holiday gift. With the spirit of giving in mind, the 3rd graders worked hard to make special dog treats to be donated to our local SPCA. The children wanted to make sure that the dogs there would have special treats this holiday season.












The children were split up into teams of 5. Natalie had all of her good friends on her team. They took turns measuring and adding the ingredients. They mixed whole wheat flour, bacon bits, beef bullion, garlic powder, powdered milk, and wheat germ together. The cafeteria donated their bacon grease from the morning, and the teachers added that to the mix (it was pretty stinky). Then, Natalie added the egg without getting any of the shell in it. The children mixed the ingredients, and added a little water. Ultimately, most of the children decided it was easier to mix with their hands.










They rolled out their dog treat dough and cut out Christmas shapes with cookie cutters. There ended up being about 5 large trays of dog treats.










Each of the children on Natalie's team took the end of their dough and made their own special treat without a cookie cutter. Natalie made a dog bone. The children really enjoyed making the dog treats and worked very well together. It was a very fun and heart-warming project for everyone involved.