Our Christmas

We had a great Christmas this year. We actually had 3 different Christmases - Chris' family on Christmas Eve morning, our family on Christmas Day morning and my family on Christmas Day afternoon.

On Christmas Eve morning, we had Chris' family over for breakfast and to open presents. I made this Mixed Berry French Toast casserole, it was yummy! Then we opened presents, which was a little crazy with 4 kids and 7 adults! Then we all headed downstairs to play Chris' sister's new Wii. Brayden and Logan even enjoyed playing. I only got a few pictures from this day becuase we were all having so much fun together! Christmas morning we stayed home and had our Christmas as our family. This is the first year I can remember having Christmas morning for ourselves, at least since we have had kids! It was very relaxing and enjoyable, I hope we can set aside that time every year!! We opened presents and then Chris and the boys put together Lego's and played while I made breakfast. We just had a lazy morning, we weren't all even dressed until close to lunchtime. After Preston's nap we headed over to my parent's house to open presents and eat dinner. It isn't very often that me and my family and all my sisters and their boyfriends/husbands can get together, so it was good to see them all again. My mom made a turkey, kind of like another Thanksgiving dinner - it was good! Then we all just hung out and played games.
We were all exhausted by the end of Christmas day, but we had a good time visiting with family and being together to celebrate the birth of Jesus!

All because two people fell in love

Tonight, nine years ago, Chris and I got engaged! I was so excited that he was proposing, I don't think I even let him talk that much, I just kept interrupting him because I was so excited! (Sorry, sweetie)

"Then"

We were both only 19 years old at the time, so young and in love! I don't think I could've imagined how different and wonderful my life would be nine years from that night! I love this man so much -- he truly is my best friend!

"Now"

Well, that pretty much sums it up!

This audio clip is from the children's Christmas play at our church last week. Logan is the first speaker and Brayden is the second, but the girl at the end has the best line! So true, makes me tear up every time!

It Can't Really be Christmas (Thanks, dad, for making this audio clip!)

I hope everyone has a Merry CHRISTmas!

Bandaiditis

We have a really bad case of some kind of rare disease at our house. Apparently it is contagious and is starting to infect even the youngest of our family. Adults seem to be immune as Chris and I haven't had any symptoms yet. Here are the symptoms, in case you need to diagnose this in your own house:

• imaginary or invisible "owies" appearing anywhere on the body (although sometimes a small scratch or red mark may be seen on the skin)
• a strong, sudden desire to have a bandaid on said "owie"
• relief should be felt as soon as bandaid is placed on body
• within an hour or two, "owie" is feeling good enough that bandaid can be removed
• another "owie" will soon reappear and process will be repeated

Even Preston is starting to notice how fun bandaids can be, although he hasn't actually asked for one yet. Good thing I can get 40 count boxes of bandaids at the dollar store -- makes me feel better about wasting several a day!!

Christmas play

Brayden and Logan were in the children's Christmas play at church on Sunday. Preston was too young to be in it, but maybe next year. It was so cute -- I just love watching children's programs because they aren't perfect and the kids really make it their own, just by being kids and doing what kids do.

Logan was a shepherd.

Brayden was a wise man. I thought his costume was very cool!

They both had speaking parts that they memorized and delivered well! Logan had a little wardrobe malfunction at one point (his tunic came untied and his head wrap fell down over his eyes), but he just got it fixed quickly and quietly and kept going. We are very proud of our two little boys who did so well learning the music and their lines and who put on a great performance!

One silly monkey, falling off the bed

We had a dramtic bedtime on Saturday. I had just put Brayden and Logan to bed and was in the kitchen making dinner for myself when all of the sudden I heard a loud "THUD" and then crying. I came into the boys' room to find Logan on the floor and Brayden just coming out to get me. Apparently they had been talking and playing and Logan had been leaning too far over on the top bunk and fell off. At first I just hugged him and put him back to bed, but then I realized he was bleeding all over the place. I took him into the bathroom to find that he had bit the inside of his lower lip pretty badly and also got a rug burn on his nose and upper lip. Poor guy. I had him swish some water around in his mouth and gave him some ibuprofen and ice. The ice really seemed to help, he stopped crying when that was on there. This picture was taken the next morning, you can kind of see that his lip was fat and under his nose, it was red.

At first, I think Brayden was afraid I would be mad at him as he kept saying "it wasn't my fault". I just told him that it was no one's fault and it was just an accident. Then about five minutes later he said "mom, it actually was my fault. I started playing with Logan and he leaned too far over to see me and then fell". I told him he shouldn't be playing, but it still wasn't his fault, just an accident. I told him I wasn't mad at him, just happy that Logan was not seriously hurt. Brayden really wanted to do something to make Logan feel better, so he climbed up in his bed with him and rubbed his back while I was looking at Logan's lip and trying to comfort him. Then Brayden suggested that he could sleep up on the top bunk with Logan, but I said if they wanted to sleep together, they'd have to sleep on Brayden's bottom bunk or on the floor with their sleeping bags (I didn't want someone to fall out of the bed again!). Logan chose the floor and they both slept there all night.

It was so sweet that Brayden was really concerned and wanted to help his brother. Sometimes it seems they just fight all day, but when stuff like this happens, I know they do have a deep, brotherly bond!

Cheap therapy

It's been almost two months that I've been at this blogging thing now and I must say that I really like it! It's nice to have a way to communicate and stay in touch with friends and relatives out of town without having to send out mass emails (or a ton of individual emails)!

But I have another reason that I love it.....it has been really good for me to get my thoughts out, even if they are kind of random and unorganized. It was actually my husband who pointed out to me that it was probably therapeutic for me to write about things. I had never thought about it that way, but it is totally true. Being a stay at home mom is wonderful, but there is a little downside of not having any way to really express myself to other adults on a regular basis. And this year I have been even more uninvolved with friends and other things than I used to do with other moms for various reasons. I used to HAVE to talk to someone on the phone or in person at least once a day or I'd just be going crazy by the time Chris walked in the door at night and I would talk his poor ear off!!

Sometimes I worry that my blog posts are kind of boring or unimportant, well......oh well, this blog is my journal....a peek into my everyday life, crazy and awesome as it is! This blog is just as much (if not more) for me than for all my readers and sometimes just getting my thoughts, ideas and feelings out of my head on to "paper" helps me to refocus and go about my day a little calmer!

So, to all my readers out there, thank you for coming and "listening" to me when I just need some adult conversation!!

C is for Cookie

I spent the majority of this weekend in the kitchen making batches and batches of cookies! It was a lot of work, but I enjoyed the time I got to spend with my mom and with the boys.

Friday night and Saturday morning I made pebernoder with my mom at her house. Pebernoder is a danish cookie that has been in my mom's family for generations. They taste kind of like a sugar cookie, but they are in little, 1/2 inch square pieces. I really enjoyed making those with her, although it is a very long process. Brayden and Logan were very good helpers -- they helped mix the dough and roll it out into snakes.

I also made roll-out sugar cookies this weekend. I made all the dough on Saturday and then let it sit in the refrigerator till Sunday, when Brayden and Logan helped me cut them out and decorate them. I think Preston had the best job though.

I am officially sick of making cookies, I probably won't be making any more for a very long time! We will be giving most of them away as gifts, but we probably have 2 dozen left over for us. I guess we'll be eating cookies for awhile, but I don't mind, that is one of the yummiest things about Christmas!

Spinning and running

One day last week, it was really cold and snowing out and we had been cooped up inside most of the morning. We all had a bit of cabin fever and the boys had a lot of pent-up energy that had mostly been put into pushing each other's buttons. However, I came into the kitchen to find them all playing nicely and having fun (my niece Madison even got in on the action a little). I'm not sure what they were doing, but it's cute to watch them just run around enjoying themselves!! An added bonus was that they got some of their energy out!!

If you can't see the video, you can try to view it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52G5DwJ-sXY

Mama's little boy

Lately Preston has been such a mama's boy. When he is upset, tired, sick, etc, I am the only one he wants to hold him or try and calm him down. I feel bad for Chris because sometimes he is really trying hard to soothe or play with Preston and Preston just isn't having any of it. I know that Preston loves his daddy, but it is still probably hard for Chris when Preston just pushes him away. I try to not get too frustrated and just be happy that he knows he can come to me for lots of love and cuddles, but at times it is hard when he is fussy and I really need a break. Good thing for him he's pretty cute and hard to resist (**wink**).Well anyway, last night Chris had a basketball game and he wasn't home when I was putting the boys to bed. After his bath, I was getting Preston ready for bed - putting on his pajamas and brushing his hair, etc. and I was talking to him about how we were going to read a book, cuddle with his blanket and then go to bed. I asked him what book he wanted to read when all the of the sudden he looked at me and said "dada, vroom, vroom" and pointed to his truck book. The night before, Chris had put Preston to bed and apparently Preston was upset that his daddy wasn't home to do it again. When I sent him to go get his book, he instead ran out to the living room and looked out the window for daddy. I told him that daddy wasn't home and that I could read his truck book, but I guess I don't make very good sounds for trucks because Preston just picked a Sesame Street book for me to read! (It kind of looks like Preston is crying in this picture, but he is actually giggling really hard!)

I am glad that the boys have a great father who shows interest in them and takes an active role in their upbringing. Too often, sadly, that is not the case. I know Preston will learn in time that mommy and daddy are equally as loving and fun, just in different ways. For now, I am glad that they have his bedtime routine for some one-on-one bonding time!