Tuesday 17 December 2013

Christmas Party 2013...

This past weekend we went to a friend's house for our "annual" Christmas party. Wouldn't luck have it that that day a foot of snow was on it's way & had to make a few stops along the way to the party. We just took our time & eventually made it to our destination.

Two of the boys walked in & started playing with the other kids (they were the youngest ones there) but J decided he was going to be a suck & cry every time daddy went out to the car to grab more stuff. We brought PJ's (& their monkeys) just in case we got snowed in so we had a duffle bag along with the gifts & food bags. After about 10 minutes, he warmed up (slightly) to the kids & started wandering around the house & getting acclimated.

After dinner, we played a round of "The Game of Things" with the adults. The older kids were bribed (by their parents) with a dollar to keep our boys entertained while we played. They did a great job & I figured that would be the cheapest baby sitting job we'd ever have.

The kids were anxious to get the present unwrapping underway so we stopped our game & gathered everyone for the gifts. The boys were really excited to be included & had no trouble tearing into their gifts.






We stayed until about 4 in the morning then drove home. The snow had stopped by that time & most of the roads were clear. We arrived home at about 5:30 to find that the plows had been through our area too & had dumped a two foot pile of snow in front of our driveway. In the 12 hours we were gone, the driveway had about another foot or so. Mike got out & started shoveling quickly to get the boys in (who had slept most of the way home but started stirring as soon as we turned onto our street). He was lucky that it wasn't packing snow & was pretty light. He worked fast & we got the boys in & into bed. Unfortunately, they decided they were going to start the wake up process at 8:40 (which is partly why we didn't stay the night. I figured they'd be up first & I didn't want to wake the whole house). I got out of bed & thought I'd be able to get them to sleep longer if I slept in their room. That turned out to be true, but they still woke up every 40-60 minutes until I coaxed them back to sleep. At noon, a phone call came & that woke up Mike & I but the kids were still sleeping. I figured if we were going to get them back in bed that night at their normal bed time, we had to wake them. We got up & started our lazy Sunday. It was nice to be lazy. The boys went out later & helped daddy shovel the snow.

J giving inflatable Santa a high-five


G's got a lot of snow on his shovel!

E making sure Santa gets cleaned



G proud of his red shovel


Monday 16 December 2013

Elf updates...

Mr Twinkle has definitely been flying all over our house. E & J now get excited to look for him in the morning. They start asking, "Where's Twinkle?" When they can't find him, I help a little. The days that he was upstairs, I left him alone for the most part so they could find him, or I went with them to make sure they looked everywhere.
Day 8 -- better hope that cork stays in the bottle, otherwise he's off on a different ride!

Day 9

Day 10

Day 11

Day 12

Day 13


Day 14

Day 15
Day 16

Saturday 7 December 2013

Stoney Creek Santa Parade...

Took the boys to their first parade. Technically, it was Mike & I's first parade too. I've been in SEVERAL parades thanks to being in marching band but this was the first time I got to be a spectator.

It was a little cold but we got through it. Met some friends & it was a great first parade for all!



The highlight of the parade for most children would be Santa but for my kids it was the big dump truck.

Elf to date...

So far the Elf hasn't really done much mischief (why would I want to create more work for myself? - I mean.. have to clean up after someone else) but he has been up high watching every move.

Day 2
Day 3



Day 4
Day 5
Day 6

Day 7
E has been the one to find him most days. J found him a couple of times. When I started this I was thinking this might be a good way to get the boys to "behave"...threaten no gifts if they fight or aren't listening, etc. But then I wondered if that was the right message. I thought about it & also read other blogs. Christmas isn't about the gifts. For the last couple of days I have stopped with this "threat"  & just say that Twinkle is watching & he wants everyone to be nice to each other.

We have set up our Christmas tree, with the boys help, of course. They behaved pretty well & shared & took turns. We were able to even get their special ornaments (baby's first Christmas ball from Uncle Andrew, first ornament picture & their wish bear ornaments) on the tree with pictures. I was worried to put out our "good" nativity scene due to the fact it's highly breakable. A day or so after putting out the tree I realized I could try putting the small nativity set out & see how they do with that. I am happy to report that they have barely touched it! E has moved 2 of the wisemen into the manger a few times but other than that they haven't taken them around the house. We have also added a train around the bottom but we might be switching it out for another train that isn't so "plasticky".





Sunday 1 December 2013

Twinkle...

Twinkle the Elf showed up on our mantel this morning. I think I was more excited about this than the boys. We read the story the night before but true to form they weren't "too" into it & kept moving and talking (listening sometimes when I make them).

Elias was the first one to find him this morning. "Mom it is him!" while pointing to the mantel. I was trying to get them excited & telling them we have to give him a name but they didn't really give out many. E wanted to call him Elf. J wanted to call him Santa. Heck, I had a hard time thinking of names. I even Googled common elf names (even creating my own elf name: Nessa Elanesse from an elvish name generator). FINALLY settled on Twinkle.


I am hoping they'll get more into him as the years go by. I am really excited to start this tradition with them.