Happy Christmas eve

Here are some photos for you Grandma & Grandpa... we had a lot of bad ones in front of the tree before we got some good ones :-) M was very thrilled to be wearing her fancy dress for Church tonight. We went to the Christmas Eve service at our church tonight. I did a reading about Mary and Gabriel, and off course L had to make some loud comments throughout. She loved the music, and danced like a ballerina in the aisle for most of the songs. G sang nice and loud, and M stood on the pew and pretended to sing.

We started a new tradition for Christmas Eve supper this year that G just loved. We had a supper that was all hors d'oeuvres. I think G ate about a pound of shrimp cocktail. I think we'll be doing that again!

When we got home tonight, we prepared a snack for Santa that we put in front of the tree. All of the kids are very excited that Santa will be coming tonight. L went to sleep in no time, and G lay in bed willing himself to sleep, squeezing his eyes shut. I clearly remember just how hard it was to fall asleep on Christmas Eve when I was a kid! I think we might be up pretty early tomorrow morning! I can't wait.

Merry Christmas everyone! I wish you lots of love, peace, and joy during the holidays.

my little princesses

L is completely obsessed with wearing dresses and skirts these days. Thank goodness for hand-me-downs, because she has quite a few very fancy dresses to rotate through. Some days I feel like sticking one of those pins on her back that says "I dressed myself." Honestly, though, if it means she is cooperative and happy when we get ready in the morning, I really don't care what she wears. M has been getting in the spirit too, and has asked to wear a dress to daycare a few times.

A little more Christmas goodness

December 14th was our Sunday School Christmas program at Church. L got to be an angel, and she loved the costume! She even sang a little. I was so proud of G, standing up at the front, and saying his line from memory so loud and clear!

That afternoon, we assembled our gingerbread house. Of course there was a little bickering (among the kids that is) about how much candy each person was eating and where it was getting place, but we settled it by giving G and L each their own side of the roof to decorate. L has been eating candy and icing off of that thing non-stop (even first thing in the morning, ick). M put a few candies on, and then just tried to eat as much of it as she could.

Trimming the tree

Our Christmas tree was up a little later than usual this year, since both L and G have had strepthroat this month and have been sick. G was actually home from school this day with a fever (strepthroat), but he thought he could "manage" putting the tree up. L was very thrilled to put the angel on the top of the tree with her dad. Every year, the kids have more fun putting decorations on. These traditions are so important to them, and important to me in creating memories together. M has been taking decorations off of the tree non-stop since it went up. L likes to take them off, wrap them in a baby blanket wrapped in string so she can give them to us as presents.

Preschool Christmas Program

Wow, I've been a bad blogger lately... life has been very busy. Here are a few pics from the kids' preschool Christmas program, way back on December 9th. That thing in L's hand is a Kid K'nex "microphone" that she sang into the entire time. She loved being on stage, and having all those parents and grandparents watching her! M camped out on Jan's lap the whole time, with that stinky giraffe tale next to her nose for most of the program. We picked G up from school so he could participate, and he did a great job... singing nice and loud, even though he only got to practice a few times. It was pretty rough transition to get him back to school though, which confirmed my thinking that picking him up for lunch would not be the best choice for him.

let the holidays begin

The holiday season has officially begun... but we still don't have our tree set up. We're almost done our shopping, and packages should start arriving for far away Grandparents and Auntie.

On Saturday, we had Ralph's annual family Christmas party with Santa. The kids had lots of fun with the entertainment, and their gifts were a real hit! M was NOT thrilled about Santa though, and now every time we ask her if she saw Santa, she says "Santa scare you" with a very sad look on her face. Usually a mention of presents puts a smile back on her face. We took the kids shopping for each other after the party, and they had lots of fun picking out gifts for each other. Of course, G was quite concerned about how many things he could get within his price limit.

It looks like the time of year that L will be sick a lot again. She has strepthroat again (and hopefully not a UTI on top of that). She barely finished her last round of antibiotics. Hopefully this winter won't be as bad as the last.

Things are going better for G at home and at school. They've made some big adjustments to how his day is going at school, and he's coming home much happier and much less anxious and agitated. I'm grateful that there are so many caring people willing to work as a team in his life!