The Fun of Christmas Eve

The kids were allowed to open one gift each this morning. For Jadzia I let her open her hungry hungry hippo game that she'd been asking for for months. Landon got to open his Hi Ho Cheerio game and Xander his Robots movie. I chose those gifts specifically so we could have a fun filled Christmas Eve.Isaac assembled hungry hungry hippo and the battle began. The three big kids and daddy chomped their hippos collecting as many white marbles as they could. Isaac explained he had figured out the big hippo secret after just one game round. If you allow the others to push the marbles first they send them right to you and in one big chomp you can capture half the marbles. Jadzia didn't really grasp the concept of trying to collect the most she would giggle and jump up and down as soon as her hippo caught a single marble. Xander would say "I have seven" Landon would go "I have six!" Then Jadzia jumping up and down "I got one! I got one!"Next up was Hi Ho Cheerio and mommy joined the fun for this game. For the life of me I can not win Hi Ho Cheerio. All my oranges kept having to be put back in the basket and Jadzia was the champion for the first two rounds. Finally we topped of our morning of games with Candyland and Xander was declared the victorious winner. We concluded the morning by watching Xander's new movie "Robots".Dinner rolled around and we had our traditional treats, meats and cheeses. After supper we did another Christmas Eve tradition and headed to the movies. We saw Yogi Bear and the kids couldn't stop laughing. Now they are tucked up in bed and my fun begins. I get to bring all the presents down and fill the stockings. I'm sure I won't sleep much in anticipation of those little feet tromping down the stairs early tomorrow morning.

Toy Downsize

With the coming of Christmas cometh new toys. Today became out with the old to make room for the new. I miss our Missouri days when we had a playroom. The house here is smaller and there is no playroom. This means all the toys are confined to the living room and in order to be able to have new Christmas toys we must down size the toy inventory we already have. Trying to talk a 3, 4, and 5 year old out of their existing toys is a very complicated process.
They finally relented a trash bag full of toys as they focused on thoughts of new Christmas toys. I think we should be good to go. The toy box is only half full now. I also took this opportunity to organize their toys into groups and put them in separate totes inside the toy box so things will be easier for them to find.Tonight I dare to head out amongst the crowds once again and battle the long lines all in the name of Christmas Dinner. I plan to get a few Christmas treat projects to make with the kids tomorrow for Christmas Eve. I think I'm going to let them open their game board presents tomorrow so that we can have a game night tomorrow night. Maybe I'll pick up a kid's movie or two so we can snuggle up under blankets and enjoy the evening together.The snow storm we were supposed to get this morning has been postponed until midnight tonight so I'm making a list to ensure we are stocked up in case it is as bad as they are saying it's going to be.

For the Love of Wrapping Paper, footballs, and Race Cars

A few weeks back I wrote a blog called Paper Toilets in which I described my children's love for paper towel and toilet paper rolls. Once you grasp how much they really love those items you can picture the look on Xander's face today when he ran down stairs to find two used up rolls of wrapping paper. He found himself jumbo sized toilet paper rolls. He ran around the house playing with them the majority of the morning.After a couple of hours he spotted a couple of rolls with wrapping paper still attached and tried to convince me to free the rolls from the paper surrounding them. I told him they were to wrap presents so he went and gathered a few of his toys and said he was wrapping his old toys for himself. He was very disappointed when I told him he would be unable to gift himself items he already owned and that I need the rest of the wrapping paper for my own use. He settle for the promise of getting the rolls once I use up the paper.
Inara has a new love. She absolutely adores a yellow inflated football. The football has little bumps all over it and she loves to run her hand over the bumps. This toy kept her busy for most of the day. It's also a good crawling motivator since it rolls she lunges and scoots forward to get to it. She is also doing much better at sitting up. She sat up for about a five minute stent today and also reached forward for items without toppling over.
Landon got a new toy (new for him) and it's not even Christmas. He went shopping with my mom and he found a speed racer car. The car moves forward and backward and makes noise. They found it at a thrift store and there was no price tag on it. Landon asked the owner how much it was and since their was no price tag the guy gave it to him for a dollar. He has been happy all day and I have heard the varrrrooooom of the toy engine all day throughout the house.
I got my duplo legos!! I got the duplo table full of duplos and the tub. We should hopefully have enough so they will quit fighting about one person taking two many of the duplos. The table is going to be great storage and Xander is going to love it because it will provide a much bigger and more stable platform to build the giant duplo fortresses he strives to build. Now I am officially done shopping! I've gotten everything I need present wise. This only leaves food. I'm not going to be as ambitious as I was for Thanksgiving. I'm going to stick to what I know and make a roast with chopped up potatoes, cooked carrots and beef gravy.

Shopping Rush

Today consisted of me running around everywhere getting all the rest of the kids' presents and stocking stuffers. I thought I was pretty much done but I found two last things on Craigslist and I'm waiting to hear back if they are still available. The first is a duplos lego table.

My kids love duplos legos and the top of the table is a large building board then the top of the table can be lifted up for storage of all their duplos. The table also comes with quite a few duplos. I also found a large tub of duplos that I'm waiting to hear back on. If we are able to get both sets then my kids should be set in the duplos department. As unlikely as it may be I'm hoping this will finally end the duplos war.

Isaac and I did squeeze a quick date night tonight. We went out to dinner and to Toys R US. I tried to recruit Isaac to help with gift wrapping but he declined my offer. Thus I will be gift wrapping tonight in solitude and hopefully be finished as Landon has already snuck where he was told not to go and discovered his biggest present. My kids are too good at finding hiding places so this means I have a desperate urgency to get them wrapped. Jadzia found the stash I already had wrapped. She started dancing around hysterically yelling "Presents! Lots of presents!" Thankfully daddy was there and the unwrapping of gifts did not proceed the discovery.

I'm glad I'm set in the Christmas department and I have no appointments for anyone until after Christmas. Everyone is predicting a giant storm for Thursday and Friday so all of us can stay snuggled warm in our house. Yes, this was nearly my first pictureless blog in all my rush today I didn't take any pictures so I just now snapped a picture of my little night owl.

Gingerbread Village

Ronan had physical therapy this morning. He has been cruising for a couple of months now but for some reason he has refused to show his therapist. Today he finally cruised for her and did so pretty quickly. She said he gave her one of the best Christmas presents she could get.Ms. Inara Nerys has had her first tooth finally break through her gums. The second is following close behind. She has been working on those two teeth since she was at least four months. As soon as it's popped up enough pictures will be posted. She is in the what's in my mouth stage and has been running her tongue over her new tooth for most of the day.Today was stocking stuffer day. I stopped by Build a bear to get a few of them and while I was there I picked up an outfit for the bear Isaac and I had made for Inara a couple of weeks back. The bear was pretty plain so I thought I'd give her more of a girl look. I found a cute purple star outfit. Some of the stars are glittery and Inara loves the sparkle. She is very fascinated with the bear. I place the bear in front of Inara while she is in her jumparoo and Inara loves to touch her face and give her kisses.After I picked up all of the kids' stocking stuffers I picked up some extra groceries and as I was shopping I came across a little gingerbread village. I thought this would be good for the kids to make since they could each have their own building to make and decorate. In reflection of our last tipsy gingerbread house I decided to make extra frosting and make it extra thick.
This did the trick and their little houses held together and even withstood their decorating skills. The kids were thrilled to not have to share their houses so they could put their own styles into their houses. They turned out pretty cute.I was impressed with our accomplishment and pretty proud they were holding together. Xander didn't really care about the impresive glue quality of our frosting he was just concerned with being able to eat his house the second his last sprinkle was placed.

The Sheep, The Camel and The Wiseman

Today my three oldest children helped to reenact the manger story of Christ's birth. Landon was a wiseman, Xander a camel and Jadzia a sheep. The director of the play really brought their costumes together by adding last minute details and face painting. They were overwhelmingly cute.
Grandma Fullmer joined the festivities and the kids were very excited to have Grandma watching their performance. We watched the last practice and the kids did great. The kids sat with us while the first part of the church service took place. The play was taking place at my parent's Spanish speaking church and the kids were being extras. Neither my mother in-law nor myself speak Spanish so we just tried to gather when we were supposed to send the kids out. I understood the word drama and then saw the rest of the children scurry out and on that cue I sent mine out.
Jadzia was up first and as shepherds were being told the good news Jadzia let out random baas at her discretion. We had a little discrepancy occur when Jadzia decided she didn't want to crawl in sheep like fashion to the manger. We had a sheep fully able to walk on two legs baaing as she went. After the manger scene had ended the scene changed to a house and baby Jesus was changed to a boy waiting for kings to visit him.As Jadzia exited the auditorium the boys entered. Landon whispered to me as he went by that his crown itched and scrunched up his nose. He kept walking though with crown in place. Xander followed behind as Landon's ever faithful camel. The kings brought the young toddler Jesus presents. Landon was the wiseman who brought Myrrh. The cast began singing a song and Xander would occasional pop his head up behind everyone to ensure he was being noticed. With the end of the song the play ended and a very proud mommy and grandma went to join the kids in the hallway.
Grandma had to get back to pick Grandpa from work so we headed to lunch curtsy of Grandma and then home. Grandma brought with her lots of Christmas treats that we plan on enjoying until Christmas. Here is Landon's favorite that he's been carrying around as his little buddy.

Gorilla for Christmas

Tonight as I type this the Grinch cartoon is playing in the background and my children are watching it intently. They've never seen it before and their smiles and laughter are indicating their enjoyment.
We aren't huge Santa fans here. We don't actively try to get our kids to believe in Santa and he isn't really brought up around Christmas time or anytime really. In fact before today my kids have never gone to see Santa. Our focus is on Jesus coming to be born in a manger so he could eventually go to the cross and die for our sins. Today was the Gigi's Christmas party and the excitement in the building was surrounding Santa coming and giving treat bags.We arrived and they began with story time. Jadzia and Xander preferred to hang back while Landon jumped right in and joined everyone else on the Polar Express. After the story was over Jadzia and Xander ran back to the toy room to play. Landon stayed with everyone else and joined in the circle song time. He's my social one and thrives on human interaction.
Craft time was next with the three big kids making icecream ornaments and Ronan put stickers and stamps all over a Christmas tree picture. As Jadzia was putting her final bead on her ornament they called for us to form a lunch line. I had brought the four oldest by myself so the next task was to get three big kids through the line without any food spilling while I navigated Ronan and his stroller through a narrow line.Somehow we made it through the end with all food and children intact. "I want to see Santa!" Xander said. "How do you know Santa is here?" I asked while I fed Ronan. "I saw the man that is pretending to be Santa put his beard on." I gave him a smile thinking about how that scene might have unraveled another child. "Why do you want to see Santa?" "Because he's giving treat bags." Xander's eyes were wide with excitement. Landon whispered "Mom, I know Santa is make believe but can we pretend to get treat bags?" "Ok finish your lunch and we'll see what we can do." The kids all finished their plates in a hurry and we headed to the Santa line.
Landon simply posed for a picture and then moved quickly to get his treats. Xander had to pause and said "Santa, I want a gorilla for Christmas. Not a toy one I already have two of those but a real live one to live in our back yard. Even though it's cold he'll have lots of fur so he'll be fine." I don't think Santa really knew what to say to that one. Xander got a quick picture then requested one with Ronan. Ronan simply starred at Santa and then back at me then back to Santa. It was as though he was wondering why I would put him on the strange white bearded man's lap. After the picture I ran and got him and he leaped for me. Jadzia tried to explain she wanted a Lalaloopsy doll for Christmas but Santa missed the memo out of lack of understanding as to what a Lalaloppsy doll was.
The kids were happy to have their treat bags and I started the task of trying to find their coats in the massive mountain of piled coats. Finally we headed home and four very tired kids took a nap. Tomorrow is the Christmas play. I'm very excited to see my camel, sheep and wiseman do an awesome job. Jadzia has been practicing all day by Baaing throughout the house.