Christmas With My Family

For Christmas, my parents and I rotate years hosting, and this year was our year to host. Thankfully the weather sort of cooperated so they could make the hour and a half trip out! We celebrated on the 29th.

Before we started Christmas festivities, I had to give my dad his birthday gifts. His birthday is December 6th, and as I wasn't able to see him, we did gifts on Christmas. I made him two signs:

They say "The best Dads get promoted to Poppa" and "The only thing better than having you as my Dad is my children having you as their Poppa". He loves being Poppa!

We had some appetizers (Rye boat and a veggie tray), and then started opening gifts:

Paigey got a new bike from Yaya and Poppa!

New books for Yaya from us

My nephew, Z, helping me unwrap my gift

A new Toy Story puzzle from Yaya and Poppa for Ry!

Horse figurines she can paint? Jackpot!

Green Lantern LEGO figurine! Yay!

Diving into her new book as soon as she opens it!

I made my sister-in-law, Jen, hand warmers

Watching the Bandesco scene about to unfold!

I think Poppa likes his gift! We got him the Expendables movies

Z playing with the fire truck that goes with the car mat I made him

Jen opening the clip boards I made for her for her Arbonne business

Ahhh! It's the Hulk!!!!!!

Or is it Spider-Man? He loves his masks Aunt Jen made him!

New puddle boots from Aunt Jen and Uncle J! She loves them :)

Yay for Iron Man 2!!!

Nate got a desk from Yaya and Poppa!!!!

Everyone ended up with at least one home made gift from me; Jen got the clip boards and hand warmers, my mom got hand warmers, my dad got the lemon cookies he loves, and my brother (who was sick and couldn't come *snif snif*) got short bread cookies.

We had dinner (roasted chickens, roasted carrots, salad, stuffing, and cranberry sauce), and then the kids took naps/rests:

She hates taking off these boots for any reason!!!

Z didn't want to rest, so he stayed up and played. My parents gave me my birthday gifts while kids rested (River Song's journal and Season 5 of Doctor Who!!!).

After rest, we hung out or goofed off, depending on who you were:

Yeah, he's crazy...

Building the Green Lantern

My dad is the biggest kid of them all!!!!

It was a great low-key day. I don't get to see my family too often, so we really treasure the times we get with them. Hopefully we'll get to see them more, especially as I'm going to be an aunt again to what looks to be a niece in early June!


How did you spend Christmas with your family? Was it low key or do you have big gatherings?

A Boy, His Yaya, and Bandesco Laloulli

This is a tale of a boy named Ryan. For Christmas, Ryan asked for a stuffed Woody from Toy Story to go with his stuffed Buzz Lightyear that he loved.

His Yaya (my mom) looked and looked but couldn't find Woody in any of her local stores, so she sent Ryan's Mommy out to look for Woody.

When Ryan and his Mommy got to the store, they found Woody! Mommy put him in the cart with Ryan, and what did Ryan do?

Screamed and threw Woody back out. And he continued to do that every time Woody was placed in the cart.

Mommy didn't know what to do, so she called Yaya. Yaya said that we could choose a different stuffed animal if Ryan wanted.

So Mommy told Ryan that Yaya said he could pick another stuffed animal, and he took it to mean that he was buying Yaya a stuffed animal for Christmas. Would she want Spider-Man? Thomas the Tank Engine? Iron Man? Nothing looked perfect!

Then, hidden under some stuffed animals, was the PERFECT ONE! It was none other than Bandesco Laloulli! (Francesco Bernoulli, to those of you who don't speak two-year-old). Ryan loves Bandesco! We put it in the cart, and Ryan snuggled the car, happily telling Bandesco and anyone who would listen that he was going to be Yaya's present.

We bring Bandesco home, and when everyone gets home later, Ryan shows them Bandesco and he has to proudly tell them he picked it out for Yaya. Ryan's brother and sister look at Mommy, thinking Why did we get Yaya a stuffed animal?!?!? Mommy then explains (when Ryan's not around) that it's really for Ryan from Yaya and Poppa, they love it and start playing around.

For the next couple weeks, Ryan sneaks into his Mommy and Daddy's bedroom, stealing snuggles with Bandesco whenever he can:

Snuggling Bandesco for Yaya!

Finally it's time to wrap Bandesco Laloulli! (Please excuse the crazy quality; they were taken with our tablet):

But if I put him in the box, how can I snuggle him?!?

Red and Green bows, cause those are the colors of Bandesco!

High five for a job well done!

Then the day we all waited for is here: Christmas with Yaya and Poppa!

Taking the present to Yaya! He couldn't wait!!!

Reading the tag together

Wait, it's for me??? Are you sure?!?

Is this right, Mommy? Is it really for me!?!?

Ryan was so shocked! He couldn't believe Bandesco was his! He was so happy!!! It made nap time much more enjoyable:

Ahh, I can snuggle Bandesco anytime I want!!!

Ryan is still very attached to his Bandesco. They've even watched Bandesco's movie, Cars 2, together :)

Post-Christmas/Pre-Birthday Shopping Trip

My kids spoil me.

This year was a little different for gifts as Pete and I bought each other big gifts for both our birthdays and Christmas; the birthdays we got a tablet to share, and for Christmas we got a new mattress. Pete, being the awesome guy he is, thought that the kids should still do something for me for Christmas and birthday, so he planned a shopping trip for them to take me on! He sat down with each kid and asked them what they wanted to do for me.

After a much needed nap with Ryan on the couch today (gotta snuggle them while you can, right?), we set off for Rochester. The roads were finally clear, and traffic was super light, yay!

First stop was Nate's gift: A trip to the tea and coffee store! I got to choose whichever drink I wanted; it was a toss up between a caramel latte and strawberry lemonade. The lemonade ended up winning, and was awesome. Everyone ended up with a drink, too.

Next was Paige's gift: A trip to my favorite store at the mall, Charming Charlie! It's an accessory store, with jewelry, bags, scarves, and now they have some shoes and shirts as well. Each table is sorted by color, with anything from earrings down to purses and wallets at each table. There are "crystal" chandeliers hanging from the ceiling, and it's just a fun experience! They're working on their website now, but in the spring shopping online will be available. I bought a necklace and earring set, a pair of earrings, a pair of patterned stockings and a nail polish. Paige loves this store now too; they have a girl's section, and Pete and I bought a few things for her as a Christmas gift. It's a girl's dream store!

Pete took the boys to Dick's Sporting Goods (where they bought a new golf club for Nate and Paige), while Paige and I hit LOFT. My sister-in-law Gretchen and her family gave me a gift card there for my birthday, and since everything was 50% in the store, I couldn't resist popping in quickly! I got a pair of stockings and some boot socks, and still have half my gift card left :)

Last was Ryan's gift: as much as the boy loves to cook, he wanted to take me out to dinner! We went to Applebee's, a very rare treat for all of us. The kids had excellent manners, our waitress was awesome, and the food was delicious. Thankfully I was not sung to, but still got to enjoy my sizzlin' apple pie skillet with a happy birthday wish from the waitress.

It was a wonderful day; now tomorrow I get to go get pampered with a hair cut, and then relax with my family.


How do you spend your birthday? Do you relax and enjoy the day, or do something super fun?

The Day After Christmas

How was your Christmas? Ours was wonderful; we got to see Pete's best man from our wedding and my best friend called, we spent the day with Pete's family, and the best part? The kids slept in until after 7!

Ryan enjoying his new bed tent from Grandma and Grandpa

The day after Christmas is always the stressful day for me; the kids want to play with each other's toys, but never want to share what they got. It's always fight fight fight and no room for the new goodies. Thankfully, today wasn't so bad!

Playing with Ry's new play food; Ry is wearing the apron I made him

I was mean, though, and Paige and I spent a couple hours in her room this morning organizing and deep cleaning. She got rid of an overflowing laundry basket full of books and toys, plus a small grocery bag full of broken toys and garbage that were stuffed in random places. She's trying to prove to us that she's big enough for an American Girl doll for her birthday, and today was definitely as step in the right direction.

She loves her new comforter and organized room!

Watching Daddy play LEGO Lord of the Rings on the Wii

The kids had a lot of fun playing together today; Nate shared his LEGO table we made him, they played checkers with minimal fighting, "cooked" with all of Ryan's new play food, and even shared their new Where's Waldo books!

Checkers or LEGOs?

Get used to seeing lots of pictures again! We were blessed by a new camera yesterday. We're still learning how to use it, but the pictures are so much better quality than the ones taken on our tablet or our broken camera:

A chickadee flying away

We will be hosting my family's Christmas gathering on Saturday. I'm hoping to get the shopping done tomorrow and get things prepped tomorrow night, weather permitting. We have a winter storm that showed up this afternoon and will be sticking around until tomorrow morning sometime.

Have you gotten any snow? How did you spend your Christmas?

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, 

that whoever believes in him should 
not perish but have eternal life

John 3:16, ESV

Shawna, Peter, Paige, Nathan and Ryan

Christmas Traditions

I love Christmas traditions! It's nice to have a plan of what's going on when, and it helps me to get in the holiday spirit.

Yesterday I was working on a tradition we have with the kids and was thinking about all the traditions I had as a kid, which ones I transferred over for my kids, and which ones Pete and I have started with our family, and thought I'd share some with you guys:

The kids get new pajamas every Christmas Eve
This one is kind of carried over from when I was younger. Every Christmas Eve my mom and dad would give me and my brother a book on Christmas Eve. We did this for Paige's first and second Christmases.

We changed it for Nate's first Christmas when we realized that neither of the kids had picture worthy pajamas for Christmas morning; they were all holey, mismatched, or severely stained. We found good pajamas either at garage sales or thrift stores, and in 2007 this tradition was born.

Christmas 2010 - Gray fleece pj pants

The tradition changed yet again in 2010 when I stumbled upon a tutorial online for making pajama pants. I bought the fabric and coordinating shirts for the kids, and got to work. It was a pain to make the pants, but the kids LOVED them! I used a different tutorial in 2011, and the pants not only were easier to make, but they fit better on the kids as well.

Christmas 2011 - Green and white stripe pj pants

I wasn't planning on making pajama pants this year due to time constraints, but when I overheard Paige and Nate discussing what color they thought I would make this year, I knew that this tradition had stuck and could not be broken! I'm pleased to say I finished the pants yesterday, and I can't wait to see the kids in them! I'll post a picture after Christmas; silly me wrapped the pants without taking a blog picture first!


Cinnamon raisin swirl bread for Christmas breakfast

It always gets served on this platter, too!

Another tradition carried over from my childhood, but adapted for my family. Every Christmas morning, my parents would make Pillsbury cinnamon rolls for while we opened our stockings, then another batch for while we opened our bigger gifts. I loved this tradition, as we only got these special rolls on Christmas and then again on New Year's day, but when we first got married, our budget didn't allow for us to purchase them. After digging through my cookbooks for a suitable replacement, I found a recipe for cinnamon raisin swirl bread, and we loved it so much we have it every Christmas morning while we open our gifts.


Pete reads the Christmas story before we unwrap any gifts

Getting ready to hear about Jesus' birth

I know Pete's family would read the story (found in the Bible in the book of Luke) during Christmas time. I didn't grow up a Christian, so we never read the story. I think this one started in 2008; it was the first year we had the house, and we wanted to really establish some great Biblical foundations with our kids. We thought this was a great way to keep us all focused on the real reason for the season! Last year Paige found the Bible before we did and was all ready for Daddy to read it!


We give three gifts to the kids for Christmas

Still a nice sized pile of gifts under the tree

For Pete, Paige's first Christmas was stressful. I went overboard and bought her tons of gifts. Growing up, we always had piles of presents to unwrap, and I did the same thing. He was overwhelmed, and to be honest, she didn't need everything she received. At some point, Pete's mom mentioned she was only going to be giving three gifts to everyone, as the wise men brought Jesus three gifts. We loved that idea, and started establishing it as a rule for Christmas morning for our family as well.

The exceptions to the rule: Stockings and the gifts the kids give to each other don't count, and small things wrapped up in a box count as one gift. For example, we got Paige some headbands and a new hat. Because they're similar items, they're all in a box together and that counts as one gift. Ryan is getting an apron and a cape, and they're wrapped up together as one gift.


Some things show up every year in our stockings

This is from both Pete's and my childhood. I always got candy in my stocking; it was usually a chocolate orange (you know, the ones you get to whack really hard first? Yum!), but because not all of us like them (and I think I'm now allergic to artificial orange flavoring, boo), we do the Reese's peanut butter cup Christmas trees every year. Pete always got a tooth brush in his stocking, so the kids get fancy ones (we usually buy cheap ones for during the year), and now they get flossers and the fun kind of toothpaste they like.


There are still some traditions I had growing up that haven't quite established themselves as traditions for our family, and it makes me sad:

We always had Christmas eve dinner by candle light; with young kids you can probably figure out why that's not a tradition yet! But we're getting there, and I think it'll stick soon.

We always had the same dinner year after year as well. When I was younger it was always my mom's beef stew. As we grew up, my brother didn't like it any more (I swear he's adopted!), so we switched to manicotti.

There was always a Table Santa Present on our plates for Christmas breakfast. It was always wrapped in white tissue paper, and it came from Santa. I think the story behind this one was that when my brother and I were younger, my mom and dad didn't have much money to spend on each other, so they'd buy something small for each other and leave it on each other's breakfast plates (feel free to correct me if I'm wrong on this one, Mom!). This one continued even after Jeremy and I stopped believing in Santa, and was always just that little something extra that made the mornings more fun.


What are your Christmas traditions? Have you carried over any from your childhood?

Christmas Card Teaser

Today we took our yearly Christmas card photo shoot. The weather was perfect, the kids were clean and in pretty good moods, and Paigey was having a good hair day.

Here are a few previews from our shoot:

Isn't Paige's dress fantastic? We got it a year ago at a garage sale for $5! She wasn't happy she had to change back into her play clothes after the photo shoot. The picture of her walking through the field is very her: very girly, yet not minding about being outside in the elements!

This picture captures Nate's personality! He's such a goof ball. Most of the pictures have him holding up his fingers like a number 1; we called those his "politician" poses!

And then there's Ryan...Mr. I-don't-want-to-look-at-the-camera. He was happy and smiley, as long as he wasn't in the field getting his picture taken. We were able to get a couple decent ones of him, thankfully!

I was able to even order our cards today as well! I had a 55% off any order code (JINGLE, in case you want to use it, too!) for Snapfish that expires tomorrow (December 2nd), so we're hoping to have them in a week or so. I used to make the cards with the kids, but the past few years it's been too hard finding the time to do them with the kids. Even signing boxed cards from the store seems like too much work! I am stockpiling home made card ideas for when I have more time to start making them again, though :)


Do you do Christmas cards? Do you order photo cards, make your own, or buy ones from the store?