Before 2015 Comes to an End . . .

Well, Christmas has come and gone.  I know I’m a little late on a re-cap.  I’ve been tired and had an unexpected house issue come up.  But, I thought before 2015 was over that I would post something.

We had our early Christmas with my mom’s side of the family on the Sunday before Christmas.  I wish I would have taken some pictures, but for some reason, it never crossed my mind.  The boys were blessed with many gifts.  Nicholas’ new Legos kept him busy while the preschoolers and toddlers ran around together.  

On Christmas Eve, we went to church as a family.  We opted for Daniel to stay in the service with us this year and he did great.  I think his favorite part was helping me hold the candle at the end as we sang “Silent Night”.  Afterwards, we headed back to our house to have dinner and open presents with my parents and my sister. 

The boys changed into their Christmas jammies and we got right into opening gifts while dinner was in the oven.  The boys received a lot of nice gifts, including CD players, CDs, and DVDs.

One of their biggest gifts were new Lego tables.  My sister made them for the boys.  The nice thing is that they can either play on their separate tables or bring them together to make one big table.  So far, they’ve been keeping them together.  My sister went above and beyond by also filling all of the drawers with additional presents.

After opening all of the gifts we had a nice, simple dinner of sandwiches and macaroni and cheese.  For dessert, we had a "Happy Birthday Jesus" cake.  Daniel must have felt like blowing out the candles for Jesus because he blew out a couple of them as soon as they were lit.

On Christmas morning the boys woke up around 7:00.  We read from our advent book before we headed to the living room to open up presents.  They started with their stockings first.

We never have enough erasers for school.  This one ought to last awhile!

This child loves his chapstick.

A selfie stick!

Stocking up on my contact solution

One thing we noticed this Christmas is the difference in our children's responses.  Nicholas is the child that will give you a very excited response.  He'll make you feel like each gift you got him was the best in the world.  Daniel will say "thank you" and then move onto the next one.  He's not overly excitable.  Keep that in mind with these pictures.

Daniel had asked for this Lego garbage truck for months.  I put it together for him while Nicholas worked hard on his own Lego set.

He pretended to pick up everyone's garbage.

A nice view of the Lego tables.

Nicholas is in the background still working hard on his Lego set.

Around lunchtime we headed to Evan's parents' house to celebrate with his family.  We ate first and then everyone opened up their presents.  The kids started with their stockings.  They are lined up almost from oldest to youngest.  Logan (the oldest) stood next to the youngest.

A garbage truck/dinosaur - just what he wanted!

After presents, Evan taught the family a game we played at our small group Christmas party.  It just involves one grocery-size paper bag.   Each person has to try to pick it up with their mouth while standing on one leg.  If your other leg or hand touches the ground, you're out.  Each round another inch of the paper bag is cut off until only one person remains.

Most people opted to watch, but Evan and his sister Amanda played with the kids.  Ultimately, Amanda was the winner.  But, keep that hush hush because I think Daniel thinks he won.  ;)  He plays by his own set of rules.

All in all, it was a pretty nice Christmas.  We did several Christmas activities while still trying to keep the real meaning of Christmas at the forefront.  We're looking forward to 2016 and what this year brings.

Pre-Christmas Fun

We have had a very full month so far.  We definitely have had enough Christmas activities to make it feel like Christmas is coming.  Especially, since our weather has been unseasonably warm lately.  There’s nothing like dressing your boys in short-sleeved shirts on a Sunday in mid-December.

Our December started with my mom and Nicholas doing their annual ringing of the bell for the Salvation Army.  Their shift was only an hour this year (compared to 2 hours in the past), which was the perfect amount of time.  Nicholas had fun doing it.  Apparently, his cute smile brought in lots of donations.  

After they were done, they came back and took Daniel and me with them to lunch.  Daniel definitely notices when he is not included these days.  I’m sure there will be bell ringing in his future as well.

Then, Friday came and Nicholas got another special day.  This time he went out with my sister and grandma.  He was such a gentleman helping my grandma any chance he could get.  I’m thankful that they have such a close relationship.

On Saturday, the boys went to a Christmas concert with my parents.  They both enjoyed it a lot.  They also got to go to dinner.  With them gone and Evan at work, I shockingly found myself with lots of time to myself.  It was wonderful!  As a homeschooling mom, I don’t get too many moments alone, so it was much needed.

The first Sunday of this month was very busy.  Daniel performed a song at church with the preschoolers.  The first service he did pretty well.  He did the motions and sang.  But, the second service, he got really into it.  Nicholas and I stood at the back of the room (Evan was helping up front) and could clearly pick out his voice.

Before church

Practicing in class

Cutest little barnyard animal!

After he was done performing, we quickly headed north to attend a brunch with Santa.  Not only could the boys see Santa, but they also saw a live reindeer.  Since the weather was so nice, it was no big deal to go outside and have their pictures taken.  They also got to take their picture with Olaf as well. 

Their cousin joined them for a couple of pictures.

 

Daddy, Daniel, and Olaf!

But, the fun didn’t stop there.  On our way home, we stopped at Evan’s parents’ house to celebrate his sister Kendra’s birthday.  Granted, none of us were very hungry (except Daniel who only eats small portions), but we had a nice time celebrating.

The next morning Nicholas had an "exciting" time getting two teeth pulled.  He now has 6 out of 20 lost.  I think part of the reason he loses his teeth so slowly is that the adult teeth often come up behind the baby teeth instead of under them.  Some people call this “shark teeth”.  So, they are not getting loosened as fast.  He was a little nervous about the tooth extraction, but he handled it like a champ and was back home very quickly.  The adult teeth are supposed to move forward, but I don’t see much room for them.  The dentist already said he would need braces eventually and I really don’t doubt it.

That evening we made gingerbread houses.  The boys enjoyed it and actually didn’t eat too much of the candy.  Slowly they have been picking at them, but so far, they are still standing.

Daniel may have had a little help with his.

But, Nicholas' is all his own work!

On Wednesday Nicholas had a Christmas party with the kids from his CC class.  They built gingerbread (graham cracker) houses.  They played a couple of games.  They had lunch and celebrated one of the boy’s birthdays.   My mom decided that would be a great day to take Daniel out by himself.  Like I said, he notices when Nicholas gets to go out, so he wanted his turn.  Just like his big brother, he is super easy to take out and about, so he and my mom had a great time.

Daniel, then, got another special day on Friday.  This time it was his turn to spend time with my sister and grandma.  Nicholas was a little jealous, but thankfully one of his good friends from church got out of school earlier than normal because of a field trip.  They picked Nicholas up and he was gone for several hours.

The next day, Evan only worked in the morning because in the afternoon Daniel had his preschool’s Christmas pageant.  It was well done and very cute.  He was so cute singing all those songs and doing the motions.  During one song, he even made up his own little spin that no one else was doing.  We definitely smiled and laughed a lot in the audience.  Near the end of the pageant, he was really getting into it and even screamed out some of the words.   It was priceless.

Before the show!

The best I could get from my seat!

Yesterday, after church and a couple of errands, we headed to meet Daniel’s birth family for lunch.  We really enjoy our time with them.  This year we have only seen them around Daniel’s birthday and now Christmas.  But, Daniel recognizes them and while he doesn’t understand everything yet, he does know that they love him.  They are wonderful people and I really love how they include Nicholas as well.  They always get him a gift for Christmas too.  He never leaves there feeling left out.  He kept saying, “I think they love me too.”  It warms my heart that even though he has the loss of his birth family, Daniel’s birth family has embraced him.

One of the gifts that he received from his birth family.

After typing all of that, I am tired.  And, we’re not even done yet.  We have more Christmas activities to come.   We are finishing up school at home this week.  Daniel also has preschool this week.  But, there will probably be some cookie baking in our future.  There is also our early family Christmas next weekend.  At least, no one can say they’re bored!