Saturday, December 28, 2013

Christmas 2013

As you can imagine, Christmas Eve was a little crazy in our house. John's brother Stephen was finally back in the States after being stationed in Qatar, Saudi Arabia for over 6 months and was able to come up late Christmas Eve afternoon. We were not sure if he was going to be able to make it so we did not tell James - and the excitement of seeing Uncle Stephen after so many months was off the charts... and then he remember Santa was coming that night - and well, it took a very long time for his to settle down for bedtime. He was good though and didn't come out of him room, but we heard him in his room singing and chanting "Ho, Ho, Ho" for hours.

 
And when we went to check on him before we went to bed, he was sound asleep on the floor.

 
 
We didn't wrap a lot of gifts for Madeleine and we left some of James' bigger "Santa gifts" unwrapped - they were both very spoiled and loved by everyone.

 
 










 
It was a crazy mess of paper and boxes and toys - but so much fun to watch. When we finally got breakfast going, we popped in one of their new movies from Papa Steve and let them watch while they ate and we had mimosas!

 
We had to be at our friend's house for Christmas dinner at 4, and we didn't get out of our pjs until 330! Good thing they live half a block away :) It was a perfect relaxing morning and the kids really got to enjoy their gifts in their Christmas pjs courtesy of Nana.

 
Even though we are far away from most everyone we love, our hearts were with you.   


Tuesday, December 24, 2013

Getting ready for Christmas!

Last week when James told us that Santa's sleigh was pulled by moose, and then argued that we were totally wrong when we corrected him, we decided that we had done a terrible job of explaining the whole idea of Santa to him. Well, that and the fact that we need to start teaching him the differences between animals with antlers. So we went over to our good friend's house and had a Christmas party - one that included Christmas PJs, cookie making and the movie "Polar Express". I'm not sure how much it helped, but it was a really memorable night!
 


 

Our neighborhood had a breakfast with Santa - and he arrived on a fire truck! Nothing could have been more exciting for James, he was totally in awe.

 
He sat on Santa's lap and gave him his very "long" list of only stickers and candy. And then he made Santa repeat it back to him so that he wouldn't forget.

 
James is way more excited then he was last year, which makes John and I so much more excited too - Madeleine of course is very unaware of what's going on, but that's perfect... this year will be all about James. He's such a wonderful kid that he deserves one big Christmas before he has to share it with his sister. 

Thursday, December 19, 2013


 
Can you believe Christmas is next week?? I feel like we just got back from Thanksgiving in Ohio a few days ago... I dont know where the time goes this time of year - but it always just flies by! The pictures above are from James' preschool. They had a photographer come and take some pictures - they turned out pretty cute I think. My two can be big hams when they want to. The picture below is James and his school friend CiCi. They LOVE each other so much, always trying to wrangle a few playdates and sneak into the others car on the way home. We've gotten together a few times out of school so they can play, but with the holidays here it has gotten harder with everyone schedules - so hopefully in a few weeks they will be able to see each other more. 
 
 
Since his school is a co-operative school, one of the many things that the parents are in charge of is the raking leaves. We came to help (and let the kids play) one weekend and it turned into a day long project, but they kids helped and had a blast.


 
They have started snuggling together on the couch, doesn't get much cuter than that!


 
When the weather is really nice (which is fairly often) a lot of the kids will stay and play on the playground after school - and all the siblings get a chance to play too! This time they all wanted to play Ring Around the Rosie, Madeleine did not quite get the part where everyone falls down - but she always laughed when the other kids pretended to fall.

 
Shes getting sneakier...

 
Our neighbor Parker came over for the morning a few weeks ago and we all just lounged around in PJs... She is a year younger than James and will follow him everywhere. They are so sweet together, kinda melts my heart.

 
As usual, I failed at taking a lot of pictures in Columbus over Thanksgiving week. But here are a few, the kids had a great time - they always love seeing their "Ohio Family".





We went and cut down our tree the weekend after Thanksgiving, and the kids loved running around - Madeleine wiped out a few times over some tree stumps but shes tougher than she looks. James found us the perfect tree. Native NC trees look more like big tree shaped firs, but it works!


 
James is back to sleeping on the stairs... the kid has got great balance.

 
James' preschool will let the kids play outside no matter what the weather is (unless it is dangerous - but we rarely have dangerous weather - so they are always outside). Which is awesome because they get their energy out and have a blast... but then they come home covered in mud. I have learned to keep a change of clothes and a few towels in the car.


 
Amanda and Addison came and spent a weekend with us - James and Addison get along amazingly. Not that they are older, they have the most fun together. Its so great to watch. The top picture is of the boys three years ago playing together with a bin... and the two pictures at the bottom and of them playing with a bin this past visit (Addison is once again in the box!). Some things never change!
 
 
This is a day after school when he was just so muddy I stripped him and then immediately through him in the shower - what a day!

 
John bought himself a remote control helicopter - Madeleine just yells at it the whole time. Its a happy yell, I promise!

 
Future firefighters!

 
Our most recent family picture, not the best but better than most!!

 
Hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas!!