What We're Doing on Our Christmas Vacation

Well, we've been busy playing here while we recover from a cold/cough that has hit everyone in our house. Although we haven't gotten to play outside in a couple of days because the cold weather makes our coughs way worse, we've had a great time indoors.

Here's Ethan suited up in full Diego protective gear. He's been riding laps around "the loop" in our house (through the entryway, into the kitchen, through the dining room, through the living room and back to the entryway). So far, his steering has been very accurate and there haven't been any collisions or crashes.



Mary Kate has been busy making and serving tea to everyone (thanks, Uncle Jake!). Here, Ethan takes a break from his bike marathon for some refreshment courtesy of little sister.



Then Mary Kate decided she needed to run some errands, I guess, and she got ready to go with her purse (thanks, Siepker family!) and sippy cup.



Ethan played his new Cranium game...Sounds of the Seashore (thanks Aunt Lauren!) while Mary Kate did a Play-Doh project.

Christmas Day...This One's for You, Grandpa Grilz

Another wonderful present for Mom and Dad... the kids slept in until 7:45 a.m. MK actually slept until 8:15. Ethan raced downstairs to check his stocking.

By the time MK woke up, Ethan had made it into the living room to discover the new bike Santa brought.
Mary Kate found her bouncy Inch Worm rider and decided to take it for a spin while holding her Gears toy. Notice that she is wearing some new purple Mary Jane crocs...very stylish with the pink flannel reindeer pjs.

Ethan helps Mary Kate open her other present from Santa...a new dollhouse.

After all the gifts were opened, we had breakfast. In the middle of breakfast, we got a call from Grandma Brenda telling us that Grandpa Grilz came down with a very bad case of the stomach flu on Christmas Eve. We decided that Christmas dinner wouldn't be the same without them, so we postponed our dinner until Grandpa's recovered. We hope you are feeling better soon, Grandpa!! We love you.

Without a big meal to cook, Mom decided to stay in her pajamas and play for most of the day. We had a great time with all the new toys and gifts. We got several health updates from Grandma Brenda and spent lots of time talking on the phone to family across the country.

Here's the view of our snowy back yard from our family room. We've had such a beautiful, snowy December. For the past several days, temperatures have been in the high 20's to low 30's and it's been fabulous for playing in the snow. We've received about 13 inches of snow this month, and more is on the way. Hooray!

Merry Christmas to all our dear family and friends. We wish you peace, love, joy and health.

Christmas Eve...Afternoon and Evening

We spent the rest of the morning reading our new books and our collection of Christmas story books. The favorite this year was the Nativity Lift the Flap book. After a quick lunch (very quick), we got dressed up and opened the Christmas presents that were under the tree. We made sure to read all the labels very carefully to make sure Ethan understood they, in fact, were not all from the UPS man.

We tried to get a nice picture before the paper started to fly, but the kids weren't in the mood to sit still. Here's the best one we got. Doesn't Mary Kate look angelic with her finger in her nose?

Mary Kate wore the Santa hat (that Grandma Mary made for Dad when he was a little boy) and handed out the first present. It was a Twister game for Dad. Cool!

Here are a few highlights from the gift opening:

Mary Kate and her Pound-A-Ball (from Ethan)

Ethan and his new snow shoes (from Uncle Justin)

Mary Kate with a cool gears toy from Nana.

Ethan trying on his new Scooby Doo hat from cousin Zachary. Thanks, Zach-man!

Ethan exclaims "Oh, wow!" upon opening the Matchbox Raceway from Nana.

Mary Kate LOVES her new kitchen playset from Uncle Justin. Especially the tea set.

After church, we had our traditional lasagna supper, got into our comfy pj's and wrote a note to Santa. Here it is, dictated and signed by Ethan. Then it was off to read books and snuggle into bed.

Christmas Eve...Morning

We began our Christmas Eve celebration at 8:30 a.m. Our blessed children both slept in. That's the best gift we can think of (except fine jewelry, of course).

The kids got to open one present in the morning. Ethan got a Trucks and Diggers magnetic play book where you get to drive all kinds of vehicles all over roads in the book. It was a big hit.

Mary Kate got Animal Hide and Seek and loved lifting all of the flaps.

Best Birthday Ever!

On Friday, we celebrated my 35th birthday. It was a really great day. Ethan woke up, ran into my room, and gave me a huge birthday hug and kiss...what a fabulous way to start the day! He also gave me a "Birthday Girl" button to wear on my shirt all day...boy, that really gets you a lot of "Happy Birthday!"s from total strangers when you are out in public!

Next, John surprised me by taking the day off and we partied all day! Mary Kate had a doctor's appointment at 11 am and while she and I were at the clinic, John and Ethan ran some "super secret" errands. They picked us up from the clinic and we all went out for lunch. I got flowers and the royal treatment at Panino's.

Then we went home and MK took a nap while the rest of us headed outside to build an enormous snowman. When John was taking the pictures, Ethan was exclaiming "Happy Birthday, Mom!" Oh yeah, I got to wear a crown, compliments of Ethan, while we were outside.

While I'm thinking of it, here are Mary Kate's stats (18 month...even though she is 19 1/2 months...we had to reschedule her appointment/shots due to a double ear infection back in November):

Height: 33.5 inches (90th percentile)

Weight: 28.5 pounds (90th percentile)

Head: 60th percentile (they didn't write down the measurement)

After snowman building, we came inside and decorated my cake. Ethan is all about the decorations, and he had Tinkerbell decorations, plates, napkins, etc all ready.

The boys made homemade pizza for supper...they are great pizza chefs. Ethan wanted John to throw the dough up in the air like the pros do it, but he had to settle for rolling it out instead.

I got to open lots of great gifts...thanks to everyone for the wonderful presents!

Then we finished up the party with cake and ice cream...followed by baths for the kiddos to rinse off all the frosting. Here's me with the beautiful cake.

Making Snowflakes

This year, one of our favorite art projects has been cutting out paper snowflakes and trees. Ethan and our neighbor Cassie, whom Ethan adores, cut out lots of great patterns, and then we hung them all over the house. We have been getting a lot of snow, too! It must be our lucky snowflakes!

We Love the UPS Man

We have been receiving lots of boxes full of presents from the UPS man. He's so great! There's still 5 days left until Christmas eve, when we open presents from friends, so we are learning about something called "patience." Mom says. Ethan calls it "waiting" and says "its taking forever!"

Making Caramels

This year we started a new tradition...making caramels to give as gifts to family and friends. They turned out great and every one has a job to help out in the process. Here's Ethan getting ready to get started helping with his job, which is wrapping them up. Yum!

Ethan's Preschool Christmas Program

On Thursday afternoon, Ethan's preschool performed their annual Christmas program. It was fabulous. We'll post a video clip soon, but for now, here are a few photo highlights.

Mary Kate waited patiently for the show to begin and studied the program with Grandpa Grilz and Grandma Brenda. Michele, Laura, and Nathaniel Wells came, and so did our friends Mary and Lauren Fullerton.

The preschool classes take the stage. Ethan is in the top row, fourth from the right in the maroon sweater.

Performing "Rise Up Shepard and Follow." Great star-waving!

Performing "Children Go Where I Send Thee." The actions in this song included counting down from 5 to 1. We think E's hand is almost as big as the head of the little girl standing in front of him. Dad estimates that E's feet will be as big or bigger than his by the time Ethan is 12.

Ethan sees us in the crowd and waves.





Ringing bells to "Deck the Halls."

"Silent Night"... the "sleep in Heavenly Peace" part.

Here's a post-concert pose with Laura and Mary Kate before going out for supper at the Three Seasons. Boy, that place has good root beer! We had a great time.

Putting up the (fake) tree

Anyone who knows us knows that we love to go on a Christmas tree hunt adventure the first weekend in December. However, this year, with half of our numbers suffering from the stomach flu and amazingly frigid outdoor temperatures, we succombed to the convenience factor offered by the 5-second assembly of, yes, that's right, the artificial Christmas tree.

Mom says that any "tree" that comes in three parts that hinge together, with lights already attached, is, well, not deserving of the word. Dad says that this artificial tree is a god-send that does not cause him to break out in hives anywhere his skin comes into contact with evergreen needles (yep, he's allergic).

A Visit With Santa

First off, we'll apologize for our pathetic lack of updates in the past month. We've been so busy celebrating the Christmas season, Mom is completely wiped out by bedtime and can't even stay awake long enough to post pictures. We know, it's a poor excuse.

The day after Thanksgiving is a fabulous day to go see Santa at the mall, because everyone else leaves their kids at home to pursue bargain deals in the stores. There was no line at Santa's place and we had lots of time to chat. Ethan told Santa that he wants a race track and race cars for Christmas. Mary Kate was mildly interested in the big guy, but not enough to give him her trademark great big grin.