Monday, December 31, 2012

Merry Christmas

Christmas was magical at our house this year.  On Christmas Eve, we baked some yummy cookies for Santa Claus (and we ate some too!) and Mom and Dad let the kids open one present.  As has been our tradition, that one present was a pair of cozy Christmas pajamas.  The kids were excited to wear them and they looked so cute and matchy.  Here is Amanda with Dad.
 


Dad with all three kids, some of whom were being silly.  This was the last photo we got of a happy Natalie as Will gave her a pinch right after this photo was taken and then she refused to be in any more photos. 


Oh well, we try!  Here are two-thirds of the cuties in front of the tree.


And getting food ready for Santa and his reindeer.
 


The next morning, the kids gave Mom and Dad a wonderful present:  they slept until 7:30 a.m.   That never happens in our house and Mom and Dad were very appreciative!  Will as the first one up.  He forgot it was Christmas until we reminded him.  He then got very excited and started down the staircase.  After taking just a few steps, he took a peek into the living room where the tree is and saw all of the presents that Santa left under the tree and he could barely contain his excitement.  He starting hooting and hollering about how he had, in fact, been good because Santa Claus had come to our house.  His hoots and hollers woke up Natalie and Amanda, who came sprinting down the hall.  They could not believe it when they saw all of the presents under the tree.  (It had been empty the night before because we tried to put a few presents out and the wee one of the bunch would not stop crying when we advised that they could not immediately be opened.) 

We let the kids dive into their stockings before breakfast.  Here are Amanda and Will excited about some new movies from Santa.
 
 


Will likes his light up rocket, too. 


After the stockings were done, we checked out Santa's plate of cookies.  They must have been good as he left only crumbs!  And the reindeer were very hungry, as well.






After quickly consuming breakfast, they were back at it.  Natalie was very excited!
 


They all had to concentrate hard to get the job done!







 

The kids received a ton of art supplies, which is good because they LOVE to work on art projects.













Will received some more of his favorite blocks of all time.
  
 Santa brought them this fun piano (straight from the movie, Big).  It is great fun!




The safari tent was a hit!

 
New games are always fun! 
  






And so are new clothes!
 
 
 
Barbie driving a pink convertible is the best!
 


Unless you are Will, who thinks that new cars take the cake.





The grand finale came from Santa. 


Will loves his new garage.  His favorite part is the "race track", which his cars zoom down.
 
 
 
The girls were ready for their finale.  They were SO excited to open this giant present.  What could it be??? 
 

It's a beautiful doll house!
 
The presents were all wonderful, but the best gift of all was the great day we spent together as a family.  We are so fortunate to have our health and to be surrounded and supported by wonderful family and friends.  With all of the terrible events in our society filling the headlines these days, it is important to take a moment to appreciate these most important and precious gifts.  We are truly blessed!

Sunday, December 30, 2012

Discover Time

The Discovery Museum is always fun to visit. On our last trip, we got to explore many different aspects of bones. First, we looked at a lot of different skeletons, including a tiger. Then, Natalie dressed up as a tiger.



Natalie, Amanda and Will learned that there are 206 bones in the human body.  Will and Amanda show off many of them here.
 
 


Then, we did a little role playing.  Here is Dr. Natalie getting ready to give us a physical.


And here is Dr. Amanda getting ready for her next patient.


Amanda proudly displays the organs in the human body.


Then, we rounded out our visit with a visit to the dentist chair....everyone's favorite thing to do!  Amanda was very excited for her examination.


Will and Natalie demonstrate proper brushing techniques.


And then Natalie takes her turn in the chair.


Fun times for everyone!
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Monday, December 24, 2012

Merry Christmas Eve

The kids are SO excited for Santa to come; they could barely stand it! To help keep them occupied on this wonderful Christmas Eve, we let them play with some of the many boxes that have accumulated in our house over the last few weeks.   (How did we all exist before Internet shopping?!?!)  We love the fact that they had NO idea they were playing with the boxes that all of their presents were mailed in. They worked very hard to turn these boxes into a beautifully decorated "house," and the best part is that it took them a LONG time to do this and they all worked nicely together.  That is how we define success in this house!

 
 
 
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