The 12th Day of Christmas???

Our final Christmas gathering of 2009 was at Nonie & Poppy's house on Tuesday night, December 29. Earlier that afternoon I had a doctor's appointment for the surgeon to check my incisions from my gall bladder surgery. He told me everything looked like it was healing fine, but I still shouldn't try to exercise until January 9, or one month after my surgery and to be careful. He then explained what a hernia would look like and the fact that I don't want one... YUCK! I sure don't! But, I've gained a couple pounds over the holidays between all the yummy food and no exercise, so it feels like forever until I can get back to the grind. That said, what I really should be focusing on is eating less and healthier things.

 

We arrived at Nonie & Poppy's right on time and enjoyed homemade macaroni & cheese, pork BBQ sandwiches, veggies & dip, potato chips and mixed nuts with pecan pie or chocolate turtle cake for dessert. Joshua told us he'd rather play trains than eat, but Daddy convinced him to come down for a little while. Caleb ate pretty well, though. After dinner, we got in a circle to watch the little guys open their gifts. Hilary, Missy, Kevin & Nonie were on the right side of the room. Poppy was next to Nonie, Shawn was next to him, I was in the middle and then to my left was Gayle, Brian and Alicia (pictured below). Brian took on the role of trash "bag" and helped keep the wrapping paper picked up.

 

Joshua got a 'Billy' train from Aunt Alicia, who explained that she had no idea who he already had so she got him Billy since she hadn't heard of him before and figured we didn't have him. Joshua carries Billy all over and even kissed him this morning when we left the house. Haaa!!! In the meantime, Caleb opened this latches puzzle game from Aunt Missy. We had almost bought one similar for the kids for Christmas and didn't, so we smiled when we saw it. Both kids love it. Caleb simply opens the doors, but Joshua understands the concept a little more.

Joshua has been playing with his Thomas book where he puts magnetic pieces on the pages. He is loving it. I think that came from Aunt Missy as well, but I lost track after awhile. He's been playing with that a lot today and tells me every time he picks him up that "THIS is the con-duc-tor." Haa!!! 

Caleb's favorite present, I would venture to say, was this laugh & learn puppy. He hugs it all the time and pushes on the heart and lights up when it starts to sing or talk. Oh how I fear the day that he wants a real puppy! For now I'm sooo glad he likes the fake variety. He was thrilled with this gift - thanks, Aunt Missy & Uncle Kevin!

The boys got lots of other nice gifts, too, including a Veggie Tales DVD that Joshua was excited about. I think it's called King George and the Rubber Duckie, but I've heard of it and know that it's the tale of King David & Bathsheba. Instead of the king coveting another man's wife who happens to be bathing at the time, the children's variety is about the king wanting another friend's rubber duckie for bathing. I'm looking forward to watching it with the Bean! Thanks, Aunt Hilary!

Thanks for all the nice presents. Now my problem continues of finding a new home for everything. But, again, it's a good problem to have. That means that we're not without anything, that our kids are loved, and that we need to get organized this new year! 

We had bought Jordon a really cool wave board (skateboard) for Christmas. Shawn really wanted to get him something nice - I had suggested getting him clothes since Alicia said he needed them and that way she could buy the fun things rather than spend her money on things he 'needed.' But, when Shawn heard Jordon say clothes would be a 'rip off' for Christmas, he vetoed my idea. He researched and researched, asked Alicia and got shot down on a few things (she's very careful that he doesn't get anything too violent). Finally he had what he thought was the perfect gift. It cost more than we spend on average, but Shawn wanted Jordon to like his gift. Jordon, unfortunately, didn't seem as thrilled with the gift as we had hoped when he opened it. Alicia made a valiant effort in trying to say "oh, he'll love it!" but we could see he just wasn't into it. Shawn said to me later that night when I chuckled about it, "It's not a problem - you win some, you lose some. We understand when someone makes a good effort at getting our kids something they think will be perfect only for the kiddos not to think it's amazing at first. No big deal."

 

Here's Uncle Kevin posing in Jenavieve's sunglasses: 

 

And here's Jordon in his new green Hulk gloves that made noise. Alicia looked appalled by this gift, but Jordon seemed to love them and started playing with them right away. So, I had to snap a picture even though my camera batteries were dying.

 

We left after 8 pm and the kids were exhausted, as were we. Thus ended our Christmas 2009! The next morning, I asked Mom if she minded running a few errands with me to help with the kiddos. I had to grab a few things I promised to take to our NYE party, and I also picked up some pork & sauerkraut to make New Year's Day. Then we went to J. Jill, one of my favorite stores, and I tried on some pants. I ended up buying a pair of jeans that were on sale. Afterward we went back to Grandma's house to play in her basement. I had also asked if I could use her treadmill, thinking I felt great and the doctor had said there's no real magic number, but somewhere between 4-6 weeks for exercise, less for aerobic exercise vs. heavy lifting and crunching, etc. I was on the treadmill less than 10 minutes when I felt like I was having another severe gall bladder attack... only my gall bladder isn't there, so I'm assuming it was my liver hurting where the gall bladder had been attached to it. I felt like I was going to die. Tears sprang to my eyes as I turned off the machine. I guess that's why they say don't over-do it. I changed back into my regular clothes and we went upstairs and had lunch. I was sore the rest of the day but didn't die, thankfully.

We came home and napped, and Daddy went out with the guys from our small group for a guy's night out last night. He seemed to have fun and was home just after 8 pm. Meanwhile Joshua & Caleb and I colored using Caleb's new crayons & coloring book (thanks, Aunt Alicia! They're perfect!) and then Joshua begged to use his new markers and art easel. I've scrubbed and scrubbed his hands and can't get the marker residue off of them (so much for 'washable' markers!). We also watched the Cars movie, and Grandpa stopped in after eating dinner with Aunt Jen's family. He invited us to breakfast the next morning, which I said okay to.

This morning I woke up and there were several inches of snow on the ground. But, it was a soft packing snow that mostly melted as the day went on. I stilled picked Grandpa up and we ate breakfast together and then I ran a couple more errands and dropped him off at home and came back with the kiddos to play. They're napping now and I should be getting things done, but I'd rather blog instead. :) :) :)

The Day After Christmas, I Must Confess, Santa is Gone and My House is a MESS!

Saturday morning I woke up and just looked at all the toys around me... there was stuff everywhere! I like things to be neat, clean and organized, but after a fun-filled holiday my house was anything but. We decided to wait on cleaning it up, though, to let the kids enjoy their gifts some more before finding a home for everything (and even that will be a challenge! I should have asked Santa for some storage!!!!). Caleb is pictured above in his new outfit from Grandma & Grandpa Ginder.

 

The first thing we started playing with was Joshua's trains. Unfortunately, the kiddos have a way of destroying the tracks, Caleb especially. We're trying to train him (no pun intended) on how to play with the trains on the tracks and not lift the tracks off the table. I set up the above track using every last piece from the set. I was pretty impressed with it, if I do say so myself. Here's Joshua playing trains with me on Saturday morning. He handed me my Rosie train and asked me to play with him. On a side note, yesterday afternoon the second set of trains were delivered out of the package, which included Percy for Caleb and Gordon for Daddy. They were postmarked December 18 just like the other package, but they didn't come until yesterday. Truly, it didn't really matter. Now Joshua has the trains he wanted and more!

 

Saturday morning we went to the mall for a little while on a 'scouting' trip to see what was on sale, but Shawn & the boys aren't much for shopping so I went later with my mom and my niece Grace for a little bit. I ended up getting two pairs of pants from Ann Taylor that together totaled $20. I was pretty impressed since their things are usually expensive. Unfortunately, the jacket I really wanted there wasn't available in my size even though it was on super clearance. Bummer!

 

Here's Joshua posing in front of the mirrors at the mall. Later that night, we went for a ride and tried out my new GPS. Daddy is a super-sweetie pie - did I mention that? :) :) :) I was feeling much better that day after chugging some Nyquil the night before and getting a good night's rest. I think sometimes my body tells me it's had enough going on little sleep and makes me slow down a bit.

 

We (and when I say 'we' I truly mean Shawn) started putting together some of the kids toys. Here is Caleb's book shelf/sling all filled with books that he can't destroy (in other words, books with cardboard pages). He loves it! He'll pull books off and bring them to us to read or look through them himself. He adores books.

 

Daddy also set up the boys art easel. Here are pictures from the side and then the front. It has three 'options' - one for blackboard, one with a white board for erasable markers and then 75 ft of paper that can go on either side for painting, coloring, etc.We liked that it had baskets underneath to store the paints, markers, chalk, etc. Saturday was a fairly low-key day of  trying to put together gifts and putting some things away that we knew where they would go. That night we watched Mickey Mouse's Christmas movie and headed to bed decently early.

 

Sunday morning, Dad had invited us to the Greasy Spoon for breakfast. We met him there at 9 am, all dressed up in our Sunday finest since Joanne Kroll had invited us to the Lord's House of Prayer to see their Christmas Pageant. After a delicious breakfast (thanks, Grandpa!), we headed on to church, arriving a solid five minutes late and almost missing the opportunity to tithe. We found a seat near the back and the kids LOVED the Christmas program. The Kroll's kiddos were the stars of the play, as Joanne directed and re-wrote the scripts to include all the kids and teenagers who desired to be part of it. The theme was "Camel-Lot" and it was about a woman who ran a business that sold camels the night of Jesus' birth. The point of the story was not to get so busy that we 'miss the manger.' The entire production was touching, and the boys enjoyed the play and the music and were both well-behaved. Pastor Matt Kroll had the message afterward about us not missing the manger this holiday season, and one young man got saved afterward. When we realized Matt had forgotten to dismiss the kids, we quickly took the boys downstairs to their respective classrooms, and Rebekah Kroll was helping in Joshua's room. We also ran into some old friends there, but quickly. Worship was after the message, and after a few songs we decided it was time to go and went downstairs to grab the boys. We saw Joanne and chatted for a little while before leaving. We came home and everyone napped but me. I had to start cleaning some more. It was driving me crazy-go-nuts! And it still is.

 

I can't remember what we did that night, but I think we just made pizza for supper and relaxed with the boys. Monday morning, Grandpa Georgia came over and we drove to the Pottery Barn Outlet to check it out. I had dressed the boys in layers, put their warm coats on and then their new hat, gloves and scarves set from Grandma. After we were done in the store, we let them play on the playground, and both boys enjoyed it. Joshua would shout "look at me, Grandpa Georgia; I'm in the bubble!" and then he would slide down the twisting slide "fast" or "slow" depending on what he said at the top. Caleb also climbed in the tubes and slid down the smaller slide. Soon we were cold (or I was) and we headed back to the car. We then checked out the used furniture store in Ephrata where a woman commented on how thin I was; when I told her she needed her eyes checked, she said "I bet those are pants you wore before you got pregnant." I looked down, and yes, these happened to be pants I've had since college. I told her that God has been doing a work in my life and He needs the glory. After we were done shopping, we came back and I fed the boys lunch while Dad & I sipped hot tea. Then Grandpa & I worked for hours on trying to re-build the train tracks that the boys had destroyed. Here's the finished product...

 

There are still presents to put away, but the boys are enjoying their new toys. And I feel very blessed to have such a nice family. Last night I made Shawn pork fillets for dinner with some sort of parmesan noodles and green beans and carrots. We all ate well, and then I cleaned up dinner as Shawn spent time with the boys. We gave them baths last night and Shawn put Joshua's sheets back on his bed that I had washed earlier that day. The laundry is pretty well done, but there is always be more to do. Instead, I've been reading all the boys' new books to them, which they are loving. Have a wonderful day! More soon...

Merry Christmas!

 

Finally, Christmas Morning had arrived! I love Joshua's expression in the above picture... doesn't it just say it all? I must say this is one of the best Christmases I can remember. Having children makes the holidays all the more special, I think.

Joshua woke up and came into our room at 6 am. I had just finally dozed off. Daddy tried to get him to lay down with us and eventually got up with him and took a quick shower to wake up. In the meantime, I got ready as well. Caleb woke up around 8 am and we headed downstairs. The first thing Joshua said was "I can't believe Santa ate all the cookies! They're all gone!"

And instead there were presents. Here's Joshua's train table and the wrapped train tracks. First, Daddy asked for my Bible and read Luke 2 again to us. It struck me this year how much the baby was worshiped. As parents, you always think it's great when someone goes gaga over your kids. But, these people worshiped Baby Jesus knowing that He was the Messiah... the prayed for Savior. Thinking of Simeon and Anna at the temple, the shepherds and the magi - it was amazing to think of them bowing to a baby. And what a baby! To know that He would grow up to be the Jesus that we read about, performing miracles, dying on the cross for our sins and being raised again. It's pretty incredible to think about.

 

After Daddy read the story (we never want to forget about the real reason for Christmas, and we always want God to be first in our lives), the boys started opening the many gifts Santa left.

 

Before long, Grandpa Georgia knocked on the door. He sat on the love seat and watched the boys (and us) open gifts. Then he ate breakfast with us, which included pancakes, bacon and scrambled eggs with cheese, along with fresh fruit.

 

The first thing Caleb opened was a universal remote. He always LOVES to steal Daddy's remote controls, so now he has his own to play with. He was excited.

 

The first thing we let Joshua open was his Thomas train. He was thrilled! He then said that Caleb should get Percy... only the Percy we ordered online never arrived in the mail. So, we continued to have Joshua open gifts. Joshua opened some matchbox cars (which Caleb also got), a Lightning McQueen car from the movie "Cars" which he hasn't put down since, a football, some Thomas cards, a couple more trains (like Henry, Duck, Spencer, Salty, Rosie and someone else...) and then his digital camera. He was excited. Now we have to show him how to properly use the camera. He immediately said "say cheese!"

 

Caleb opened his matchbox cars, some PJ's, a Color Wonder marker book, a Thomas pop-up book, and then his beloved prize of the day. Daddy bought him his own puppy (or the remote-operated variety) and Caleb was in love with this little barking & walking toy. In fact, he didn't want to open anything else. He's walked it around so much since that it already needs batteries.

 

Next Joshua opened his box of paints, paintbrushes, markers, chalk and art easel. Then we let him open his tracks and pulled the train table out. Grandpa Georgia helped us open all of the individually wrapped 160+ train track set. We couldn't believe how many pieces there were! Joshua was so excited!!! Everything else became chop liver then. I think we could have just done that and had a nice Christmas.

Eventually Caleb opened his "Cars" themed bopper bag that Shawn blew up for him. He likes playing with it. And, he opened his little tool set we got him. The Mr. Potato Heads set is still wrapped under the tree because he was tired of opening gifts at that point and wanted to play with everything that was already open (particularly anything of Joshua's). He tried to get Joshua's digital camera, played with his football, grabbed the Thomas trains (which we got a couple for Caleb), etc.

Then Shawn & I opened gifts from each other. I couldn't believe how incredibly thoughtful my husband is!!! We gave each other a 'wish list' and he bought almost everything on mine plus some other things he knew I liked or wanted. I tried to buy most of what was on his list, but a couple things didn't work out and then the one floor mat I bought him for the office came damaged. UGH! He seemed to like his new shirt he had picked out, and there were a few things I bought with him, but I didn't feel like I had a 'wow' item for him this year like I have in years past. What I wanted to buy him was a new laptop, but I wanted him to pick it out to get what he wanted. He said he'd rather wait and save the money. Then he spent a lot on me! One of my favorite gifts that I can't wait to try is the p90x DVD workout system. I'm so excited! And he got me a new trash can since the foot thing on our old one is broken (how thoughtful since I hadn't mentioned it!). He also got me a really nice GPS and many other things I couldn't believe. It was really an incredible morning.

After a nice hot breakfast, I cleaned up while Daddy played with the boys (and Grandpa then headed out to Aunt Jen's house). Then we opened the gifts from Grandma & Grandpa Ginder. Joshua got more matchbox cars and a really cool holder to keep them in... he LOVES it! He also got a Mickey Mouse movie with trains that he was thrilled about and a portable DVD player. He was excited! Caleb got some new shoes, big boy undies, socks, clothes and other nice items. We were blessed by a big picture of the entire family from Great Grandma Kennel's birthday and other nice gifts - thank you so much for everything!

After we all took a nap, we headed to Grandma & Ken's house. We headed down to the finished basement where Grandma handed out presents to the grandchildren and children. Here's a picture of Mom with Faith.

And here are Emma & Caleb on a stair down match.

 

 Joshua opened all his gifts with excitement. The kids got books, a really cute hat & gloves set, Joshua got a Leapster, and Caleb got a book sling to keep all his books where he can see them and easily access them.

 

 Shawn & I also got really great gifts, including some clothes for me (yeah!!!) and a game for the Wii that Shawn really wanted along with other nice things.

 

 Everyone continued to open gifts and I tried to take a couple pictures, but most of them didn't turn out all that well. Here's one of my sister Jen and her youngest son John.

 

 Here's Caleb trying to make himself comfortable in the baby doll stroller.

 

 And the Bean opened his stocking from Grandma...

 

And the big exciting bike that he begged Santa went practically unnoticed by the Bean because right before then he opened a James train from the story "James and the Bees." He LOVED it! He also really likes his bike, but he can only focus on one thing at a time. Daniel road Joshua's bike  that night quite a bit. Joshua was excited for the bike the next night when he was reminded of it. :) :) :) I'm sure he'll love it come Spring, especially! He really wanted a bike!

 

After the stockings were opened, we all headed upstairs to eat dinner, which included a sandwich ring created by my sister Jen, broccoli slaw made by my sister Becky, crackers & cheese and pretzels & soda that we brought, a fruit tray, a veggie tray, shrimp, meats & cheeses, cookies & pies made or bought by Mom, etc. It was amazing! I ate far too much, but everything was so incredibly good. After dinner the kids played a little and my nieces played Grandma's Wii and it was time for us to head home. I was still feeling a little under the weather and needed a good night's sleep. It was raining as we left, but we felt extremely blessed with all our gifts and all the love that was shared. The kids had had a fantastic day, and we had too. We all went home and crashed, feeling exhausted but thankful and loved. It was a really Merry Christmas. I think one of my favorite parts of Christmas this year was that it landed on a Friday. That meant Daddy had off work Thursday, Friday and then the whole weekend to enjoy our new Christmas 'toys.' Yeah!!!

Christmas Eve

The best gift I had for Christmas Eve was my husband being home from work. What a wonderful way to start our holidays off!

As previously mentioned, Grandma Good came over in the afternoon and Shawn helped hook up her iPod. But, I forgot to mention that as she was leaving Caleb gave her a hug and kiss. He's not real cuddly, unless he wants to be. :) Then Joshua gave her a hug and kiss. Then, Caleb ran up to her again to give her more 'love.' It was a precious moment. After playing for a little while with the boys, Daddy suggested we go see Christmas lights - something my family always did as a tradition and I had begged Shawn to do. We saw an advertisement for a house in Manheim that has their entire house decked out with lights that are computerized to "dance" with music. When you go, you tune your radio to an FM station and hear the music and watch the show. It was really neat! It took us about half an hour to get there from our house and the show was only about 20 minutes long, but I thought it was cool and the boys seemed to like it okay (especially since Daddy got them snacks on the way).

 

When we got home, we watched "Twas the Night Before Christmas" while dinner was in the oven, which included a chicken dish, green bean casserole, warm dinner rolls and sparkling grape juice that Daddy had bought to make our evening extra special. I also turned out the lights and lit candles and had the light of our Christmas tree (Joshua didn't like the lights being off, but he loved to "toast" with our glasses of juice!). The ambiance of the lighting and music made the meal special. I cleaned up as Daddy gave the boys a bath and got them in their jammies. Then we all headed downstairs to open our stockings.

Joshua knew which stocking belonged to each person. First, the boys opened their stockings, which included battery-operated Winnie-the-Pooh toothbrushes, raisins, goldfish, two pieces of chocolate, and I can't remember what else. One thing I have to say is that my husband - AKA Santa - did an AMAZING job. With my surgery, I wasn't able to go out much shopping, and Shawn completely took over and made sure we all had a nice Christmas. He is a wonderful husband and father!

Joshua was the first person to start tearing into his stocking!

Caleb wanted his goldfish right away, which we allowed since it was Christmas Eve (even though neither boy ate much for supper).

  I love his little pout-y expression in the picture below - he is becoming so expressive!

Joshua & Caleb both thought the toothbrushes were cool and didn't fight us one bit to brush their teeth that night. The pediatric dentist recommended electric toothbrushes for all kids (and adults), noting that they clean a lot better, especially in those hard to reach places and require less scrubbing from the adults as they do the necessary motions gently.

Joshua was SO excited for Christmas. We could barely get them to bed (in fact, it was after 10 pm until we finally turned out the lights for them and started the 'waiting game' of letting them get to sleep until 'Santa' came with presents).

After the boys were done opening their stockings, Daddy went next. I got him deodorant, Tums, Advil, snowman marshmallow peeps, baseball cards, Snickers, Twix, hand sanitizer, Blistex, and the normal stocking type stuff.

After Daddy was finished, I took my turn. Once again, I can't believe how thoughtful my dear husband is. I received Starbucks gift cards, blank CDs (since we had run out), my Bobbi Brown face lotion that I had ran out of recently, Halls defense cough drops, Lornadoone cookies (my absolute favorites!), Snickers, and I can't remember what else.

Soon it was time to tuck the boys into bed. But first, we told Joshua that we had to leave a plate of cookies and a glass of milk out for Santa. We explained that Santa eats the treats and leaves presents. He wasn't too sure... this is the first time we had introduced the concept to him. But, he picked out a couple cookies and Caleb picked out one to put on a "Happy Birthday, Jesus" plate. Then we filled a cup with milk and left them by the tree.

We snuggled the boys and put them in bed, but Joshua was wide awake. UGH!

 

Shawn & I went downstairs and he surprised me with a cheese ball and crackers and chocolate covered strawberries. We drank a little and watched a Christmas episode on the Travel channel. Just as we turned it on, one of the top 10 most festive places for Christmas came on... PARADISE, PA! They showed the National Christmas Museum, and we laughed. We then saw Las Vegas, Mall of America... and finally when Shawn went up to check on him, Joshua was asleep! Here's a picture of both boys by the Christmas tree... notice there are no presents when they went to bed!

And then Shawn ate the cookies and I drank the milk... and we, er, I mean Santa came and left lots of gifts!

You can see train table I ordered off Craig's List. There was no wrapping it! But, I did give it a good scrubbing with bleach to make sure it was ready for play. Some of the other bigger gifts didn't get wrapped either but rather just a bow or bag on top. Unfortunately, two of Joshua's trains didn't arrive. :( :( :( But, we knew there was enough to keep him busy.

After enjoying each other's company a little more, Shawn & I finally headed to bed to catch a few hours of sleep before Christmas morning. Unfortunately, I got sick over night. UGH! I was up at 3 am and couldn't breath. My sinuses hurt and my throat was on fire, etc. So, I took a shower and laid in bed until 5:30 am when I finally dosed off for half an hour... but I was excited for the next day and knew it could always be worse. I had a precious family and a thoughtful husband, a warm house, gifts, and an amazing Savior. Merry Christmas Eve!