Christmas 2013

Tap tap.

This thing on?

The calendar says it's December 29th, but I don't see how that's possible, as it was Thanksgiving only last week.

December 29th.  Ben is 18 months old today (more on that in another post).  Christmas has come and gone, along with a couple Christmas parties and activities that I need to catch up on documenting here on this dusty blog.  I've been away from work and subsequently away from the computer.

But first.  Christmas.

It was lovely.  Aside from Ben being sick.  That, and all that came along with it, was not lovely.

On Christmas Eve we went to Gigi & Pepaw's.  Ben kind of fussed and cried off and on all day.  He just wasn't a happy camper.  Avery was getting over an ear/throat infection and cough (that is still lingering), but otherwise felt fine.

We had a lovely afternoon and evening with family and Avery & Ben enjoyed opening gifts.

Tracking Santa

We came home and set out some cookies and milk for Santa (apple & carrot for the reindeer, obvs), along with some reindeer chow sprinkled on the driveway.

Then Dad Claus started assembling the kitchen for Avery.  A toy kitchen was her only request from Santa (and that was after much prodding).  The Santa gifts were a kitchen and monkey (Santa got a much better deal) for Avery, a vacuum (he is obsessed with the vacuum) and bag of wooden blocks for Ben, and a Radio Flyer saucer for both of them.  They each had a few wrapped gifts and of course a stocking.  But we didn't go overboard (really!).

The kids did not wake up early on Christmas morning.  I think we got up around 8:30 (and Ben had to be woken up).  I actually woke up first and went to the office to do something, and I heard Avery come running down the hall saying "eeeeeeeee, he came!"

Ben was definitely not feeling well on Christmas.  He just wanted to be held and would hardly get off my lap to open any gifts or play.

We headed over to my mom's for brunch.  After stuffing ourselves we exchanged gifts (while Ben napped).

Quilts made by Mimi

We returned home to the chaos of wrapping paper and toys (and toys and more toys).

I would say we all had a very lovely Christmas. These kids have no idea how lucky they are.   And I think Rob and I are pretty lucky as well.

He's Baaaaack

Hank the elf came back for the holiday season.

He's been up to quite a bit of mischief over the past week or two.

We had a scare the other night.  Avery was trying to prop her monkey next to Hank, and she ended up knocking Hank over.  You're not supposed to touch the elves or they lose their magic, so she was absolutely devastated.  She was in tears over potentially ruining Hank's magic.  I tried to assure her that no harm had be done, but she wasn't sure.  She fretted all evening.  Every so often, she'd say "I'm just so worried about Hank."  She had trouble going to sleep.  It was an ordeal.  But the next morning she awoke to this:

and realized Hank hadn't lost his magic at all.

Snow Days & Santa

We had a few inches of snow last Thursday into Friday morning.  Rob and I are lucky enough to be able to work from home when inclement weather, so it's nice to have a bonus day at home and not have to get the kids out in freezing weather.

We had a nice 3-day weekend where we didn't do much but yet did a lot at the same time.

Avery was excited to get out in the snow on Friday, but she didn't last long.  Too cold.  Ben, who likes to carry the step stool around to access things he shouldn't-wanted to go outside, but I don't think he would have lasted long, either.  He hung in the garage for a few minutes.

Ahhh, hot chocolate.  And all is right in Avery's world (after a frigid 6 minutes outside).

"Outside?"

She really wanted to get down to business on making the gingerbread house, though.  I held her off until Ben went to bed because no.

This troublemaker and a gingerbread house assembly? Don't think so.

She wrote her letter to Santa.  She wasn't really into it-I had to prod her along.  She has an interesting flair to her letters…just need to work on the spacing.

Toy kitchen

For a change, I took Ben out shopping with me Saturday.  He was fairly content with a box of Teddy Grahams.

We got home just in time to see the Sooners win in the last few minutes of Bedlam. Best five minutes of the game.

Saturday night we treated ourselves to pizza and frozen yogurt.  A hit on both accounts.

We finally hung the measuring stick Avery got for her birthday.  Ben is 2'8" and Avery is 3'5" (they were both just under the marks but close enough).

Sunday I decided to brave the dreaded mall.  The below-freezing temps and snowy roads luckily kept some people at home.  It wasn't THAT bad considering it's just a couple weeks before Christmas.

I told Avery Santa would be there, if she wanted to see him.  She did.  She didn't.  Then she did.  Then she didn't.  Definitely no.  Then I pointed out he had packages of M&Ms beside him.

She was in.

Then she wasn't.

Long story short, she braved it and fared much better than her brother.

She enjoyed the carousel.

Ben enjoyed the play area and the Christmas tree.

Sunday evening we went to dinner for Gigi's birthday.

Happy birthday!

Great end to the weekend!