Christmas Day 2011

Tristan was working over Christmas. It was lame. Very, very lame. But, I was grateful that I had family nearby. We visited with Tristan's mom, sisters and brother (and his wife) on Christmas Eve. It was nice for Ethan to see his Uncle Kelsey who was here visiting from Idaho (they go to BYU Idaho). Then we came back here and settled in for Santa's arrival. I was horrible this year...we didn't even bake anything for Santa. I was just a little overwhelmed since Carter was still really colicky at that point. But, fortunately, several people had baked for us, so we shared with Santa! He got some of our yummy rice krispie treats a friend brought us--and milk, of course! I did have carrots, so we left those for his reindeer.

Here's the table for Ethan to find in the morning. Milk gone, rice krispie treat mostly eaten and carrots gone! They must have been hungry! ;)

Ethan is just starting to really get into trains. So Santa had to bring Ethan a choo choo! Here it is, all set up (and that's the really cool car garage that Grandma Bernard got him in the background).
We had church that morning so I had to wake him up early for that...poor kid was so tired!
All of a sudden he realizes...."Wait--is that a choo choo?"
He was still so tired that he just went and laid by it for a few minutes. Ethan had also been going on and on about how Santa was going to bring him some candy canes. So I had to scrounge some up for him!
Starting to get a little more energy, but still too tired to hold his head up without his hand supporting it!
Now we're rolling! Ethan loved this train set and the neat thing was that his Aunt Tiffany got him a duplicate, so he has twice as many pieces to have a huge track!
We joined Tristan's mom and sisters at church and then headed to my parent's house for breakfast and gifts with them. I never got them in their church clothes, but Ethan is still half dressed!
Ethan was being so silly! He kept wanting to lay on Carter's lap (with a leopard print snuggy)!!
Enjoying his big-boy bike
The big hit this year was a soccer ball that Tristan found for him. He loved (and still loves) it. He kept throwing it all around and jumping and running after it. You gotta love how the simple things are so entertaining!
My brother and his wife came for dinner and we were spoiled with prime rib and baked potatoes. After dinner we did baths and made the trek home. It was a wonderful day to remember the gift that our Savior is to us and to celebrate with our loved ones. It's hard to believe that next year I'll have two little kids running around!

The Countdown to Christmas!

This year I decided to do an activities-based advent with Ethan. We made a simple paper chain and inside each link was an activity. Each day we undid one link and read what our activity was. I meant to get a picture of the chain but I never did. It was a lot of fun, but a bit ambitious! I will admit, there were a lot of Christmas movie nights and a few days it just didn't work out (especially when Tristan was gone). I didn't get a picture of every activity, but here is a sampling of our countdown fun!

The first night they opened their Christmas p.j.'s and we went to have dinner with my parents. Here they are, sporting their Christmas jammies!

Love the reindeer on the tooshie!

One day we went to see Allisha, Dylan, Skyler, Caitlynn and her dad, Brian, to bake sugar cookies. Here the kids were learning how to cut out cookies.

Time for some frosting and sprinkles!
The finished product
All worn out from a day of baking!
The boys had so much fun pushing each other around in this laundry basket after their little quiet time. Talk about a second wind!
Another day Tristan, Ethan and I baked and decorated these snowman cupcakes.
One night we built a gingerbread house. I love how Ethan's lip is sticking out like he knows how yummy this is going to be!
And, yes, he was using his "digger" to help us build the house! That kids loves construction vehicles! And there are no finished product pictures because we never got it finished...oh well, maybe next year!

One morning we headed out the The Barn nursery to see Santa. If you bring your own camera you can take a free picture with Santa. I spent some time talking to Ethan about getting his picture taken with Santa and he seemed so excited. But then we got there and he was SUPER shy and wouldn't go near Santa without me! Carter didn't mind being held at all!

I finally got him to look at the camera. He liked Santa a whole lot more at the end when he got his candy cane and toothbrush!

One night our activity was a Christmas Family Home Evening with the Marlatt's. They planned a fun lesson that involved the nativity and had yummy home made Almond Roca and hot chocolate. Allisha and I ended up with the fun job of snuggling the little ones on the couch!

Tristan and Ethan with the completed nativity

One of our bigger activities was going to Zoo Lights at Point Defiance Zoo with our good friends, the Marlatt's. We went together 2 years ago when our older boys were just little so it's funny to see some of the same pictures now that both of our families have doubled in size! We were so grateful that even though it was cold, it wasn't as cold as we thought it would be!

Getting ready to head in to see the lights!

Ethan thought all the lights were great, but he loved playing at the "habitat" exhibit. Here he and Skyler are hanging out in the nest together.
One of my favorite displays with the bridges and Mt. Ranier
This is the best picture I could get of these two buddies!
Carter did great and slept for a large portion of the evening. This was right at the end of the night and you can tell he wasn't all that happy about life!
It was fun to go and spend time with friends as we counted down the days to Christmas. It was a lot of work, but I think I would like to do the chain again next year. I love the traditions we use to celebrate the holiday season's arrival!