Yesterday was the first snow experience for the boys. Last year it barely snowed, so we didn't get any sort of boots or snowsuit for them. Heck, they weren't even walking at this point a year ago. So, it was pretty interesting to see their reaction. First, we took them "sledding" up and down the driveway. We tried it on the grass, but they just toppled over since the snow was so soft still.
Then they wanted to experience the snow on their own. Unfortunately I think we got a little too much snow for them to know what to do with, so I think we'll have to shovel down the snow in the yard a little for them to even be able to walk. One of the issues was their mittens. Parents out there - is there such thing as mittens that will actually stay on small hands? Another issue might have been how bulky they were. It was just a little much for trying to pick up their legs high enough to play in the snow. It just reminded me so much of Randy from A Christmas Story, what do you think?
Randy
They don't look quite so stiff, but definitely couldn't move very well in the high snow.
Randy stuck laying down
And what is so funny about this, is that this was their preferred way of "enjoying" the snow. We would sit them up, and they would just lay back again. It's almost like they were making a snow angel!
Hopefully the temperature gets out of the teens and we can go out again this weekend!
We couldn't have asked for a better Christmas around here - including Christmas Eve Eve and Christmas Eve.
We started with a bit of an impromptu trip to the Chandler's on Sunday. Mike and Ann were in town and we haven't seen them since my baby shower (yikes!), so a visit with them was beyond past due. Lots of fun catching up, visiting, having a favorite drink (wine smoothie!), dinner, and watching the kids play.
They love playing with balls, so it was no surprise that they would LOVE this big ball!
They had an absolute blast playing in a dog crate in their basement. I guess it's kind of like a fort huh? =)
On Christmas Eve, my parents came over and spent the night with us. We started with a yummy ham dinner with all the fixings, then the boys made some sugar cookies for Santa, and we attempted a few family pictures in front of the tree, before they headed to bed. I love the fact that it started snowing around dinner time too. I actually can't remember the last time we've had a white Christmas!
Santa thanks you boys for some yummy cookies!
On Christmas, I was shocked that they slept so long. They are normally up by 7am, but Ellis didn't wake up until 7:45 and Logan was sleeping until a little after 8! They must have been completely exhausted from all the fun with Grandma and Grandpa! Santa put together their play kitchen so once they saw that, they didn't really realize they had more gifts to open. It was a bit of a struggle getting them to focus on the other gifts, but we made it work. It was awesome to see them get so excited at each gift. They would get this huge smile and then practically run in place in excitement. We had finished putting together their trampoline and realized it was already almost noon (we actually ate breakfast before opening gifts, and since they woke up later than normal, I don't think they even realized they were hungry) - time just flew by as they played with their new toys, we couldn't believe it!
Santa brought a lot of new toys for Bella too!
After their nap, we headed to the Reaves house for a Christmas dinner and more gifts. We had our adult Secret Santa exchange and the boys got even more gifts. They had an awesome time and so did we! I know last year was technically their first Christmas, but they clearly didn't understand anything about it. I'm not sure that they really understood what was going on this year either, but they definitely showed their excitement more and that was just awesome to see.
They love their new tent and tunnel from Aunt Nicole and Uncle Mark that I put together for them to play with once they got up this morning!
Today we are just laying back. Troy had to work, although just for a half day, and I was here with the kids. Unfortunately this cold that I thought I was doing a good job trying to fight since Saturday, came in full force today. At least it waited until after Christmas, but I was happy I had no obligations today and could stay in my pajamas and lay low while the boys played with all their new toys. Tomorrow we hope to enjoy the snow outside. We have to go out and get a sled, but I think the boys will thoroughly enjoy playing in all the new, white snow. I'm not sure they will love being bundled up in their new snowsuits, but they will have to get over it if they want to go outside =).
I hope everyone had an amazing Christmas and is enjoying the last few days of 2012!
This week has definitely had it's ups and downs. All "downs" were work related, so I won't focus on that. Instead - here are the ups:
Monday I stayed home from work and spent the day with the boys. We had lots of fun, but definitely the most fun when we made salt dough ornaments. They had no clue that they were making ornaments, but they seemed to really love pushing the cookie cutters into the dough and Ellis throughly enjoyed using the rolling pin. We even got them to be able to make some hand prints in the dough to cut out.
Tuesday was my last class for the semester. I took my final and was out before the 2 hour mark. Grades don't come out until Thursday this week, but I'm feeling very confident that I did well.
Thursday, we spent some more time with Shaun and Julie before they returned back to Seattle. Sky and Bryan came over too and we had a nice visit.
Saturday, was the yearly holiday cookie bake-off. Nicole, mom, and I usually get together to make some cookies, but this year we had Morgan join us. She was so cute and loved being the helper of each of the cookies that were made.
Morgan was excited to be able to help me crush the candy canes for my cookies.
Throwing them on the ground wasn't enough, so she happily used the mallet to finish crushing them.
Today, nothing completely special, but I wrapped some gifts and put them under the tree. They didn't notice them or do much with them at first, but I did catch Ellis trying to take a tag off of Parker's gift, before I caught him - ha!
I'm definitely hoping for a much more calm week at work. Fingers crossed that the next 5 days go smoothly. I did get an email from the library about Santa pictures, and I got to view them. I requested a few electronic copies, so I will post those as soon as I get them.
