Grandma and Grandpa's House For Christmas

We headed out to Western Nebraska to spend Christmas with Brad's family.

The Family

Favorite Moments...

Outdoor Time

Doesn't matter how cold it is...at Grandma and Grandpas, It's Gator Time!!!

Cold and a little snow will not stop this girl from getting her animal time. She loved spending time with Oreo and the cats.

Grandpa gave me at least one or two full mornings "off" when he played outside with the kiddos. They cannot get enough outdoor time here! He is such a trooper!

Gingerbread House Building

Grandma had the idea it would be a fun time building gingerbread houses with her grand-kids. :) Many sticky fingers and "earthquakes" later we did have a little village. Not sure how relaxing it was for Grandma! ;) But, they made some memories. :)

The Only Cousins Shot of the trip...minus Brooklyn!

Duckpin Bowling

One of the hidden gems of Potter is their Duckpin Bowling alley. Grandma and Grandpa rented it out so the family (including a few extended cousins) could have some fun bowling together. Makin bowled all. night. long. He had the lane with the bumpers all to himself and had a blast. This top picture was my turn to reset the pins for him. Lorelei preferred to help set the pins up. :)

Christmas Eve

One special thing about going to Grandma's for Christmas - everyone has their special hand-made-by-Grandma stockings. Everyone's is different! Love it!

All dolled up for the Christmas Eve candlelight service.

After church - Top Right, Lor very excited about the goodie bag tradition of peanuts, apple, orange, and candy. My personal favorite was the chocolate covered peanuts!!! :) The rest - took a few more pics waiting for Grandma and Grandpa to get home to open 1 1/2 gifts (each got to pick one of their own and open the joint gift also). I also took some fun videos...may add them later but have not gotten the hang of adding videos yet!

Both kids loved the Magna Tiles and had fun creations built right away. This is also Daddy's favorite of course. Then they were very excited to find a good place for a little table for Santa and the reindeer's treats. "Santa must be one lucky guy to have milk and cookies in the living room!" :)

Christmas Day

Jeanette took a quick picture of the present opening that happened first thing that morning. The kids were happy campers. Brad, on the other hand, ended up spending the day on the couch with the bug that seemed to be going around to nearly everyone (and hit our kids on the way home/when we got home), and was not able to go to the family get-together at Aunt Evie's. I was able to chat with his family and enjoy the day and delicious food while the kids played.

Build-A-Bear

Or...a rabbit and a velociraptor? ;)

Grandma has been wanting to treat these two kiddos to a trip to Build-A-Bear for quite some time so we headed over to Loveland to enjoy a day of Grandma spoiling which the kids soaked up like they should. :)

Getting to help stuff their new friends, pick a heart to put in them, and then clean them up.

Meet Boing/Boingy the Velociraptor and Hoppity Rabbit the Rabbit :)

Thanks Grandma!

Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for a great visit!

Christmas Activities Week Three

The highlights of our week include...

Second Annual Reindeer Games

We had a fun time, but I'm really hoping next year we can have some friends to join in the fun! :) We did quite a few relay races, and then went inside for a few games since it was COLD. :) They loved "Dress The Tree" and yes I'm that cool of a mom and let Lorelei turn me into a tree as well. And yes, its intentionally the smallest picture ;) Pin The Nose On Rudolf and a Bow Throw game were also hits.

Jesus' Birthday Party

We had an extra-special Family Night celebrating Jesus' Birthday with games, face painting and cupcakes. (We helped make 2 dozen of them and the kids loved decorating them!)

Opening A Few Gifts Early

We had Nana and Papa's gifts sitting under the tree for quite some time. Friday seemed a great day to have the treat of opening them so that they would keep the kids occupied while I baked, did laundry and packed. It worked pretty well! Lorelei loved practicing her drawing!

Christmas Lights

We packed up hot chocolate treats along with popcorn and Christmas Peanut M & Ms for driving around and looking at Christmas lights! (We also combined this with coffee cake drop offs!) There was even a house where the lights danced to music. We parked and sat through the whole "show" at that house. (This is why they aren't buckled into car seats.) I think this will always be one of my favorites activities. :)

Christmas Program

"This is our first REAL play." Lorelei mentioned this several times, loving that they were sheep in the church children's program. She did sing in programs at school and church years prior, but this is her first time being an actual character in a play. Neither of them had any lines, so no stress from this Momma! :) Just had to show up on time. :) The kids practiced the last several weeks at family night and were very excited to be performing for our church service on Sunday. The only kinks they ran into were Makin having a hard time crawling with his costume. :) Lorelei yawned a lot while singing, but I remember that being a normal problem. :) So, one cute pic, and the rest are videos that only the grandparents may want to watch. :)

Christmas Activities Week Two

Sunday was a great start to our week. We had a family game night! When this idea came to me, I was thrilled to find super-cute printables readily available on pinterest. We played a Christmas matching game, Christmas Go-Fish, Jack Frost's Not Lost and Holiday BINGO. I'm guessing this will become a usual as well.

I cannot tell you how glad I am the kids are both old enough to do these games now. :) Getting close to being able to have game night once a week...if only Brad and I had the stamina to play Candyland that often... ;)

I tend to include a "special treat" with some of these evenings. We spotted Candy Cane Oreo's in the store after accidentally going down the aisle one should never go to! So, I stashed them away for this type of thing. It was a hit for everybody but Makin, who still thinks the candy cane flavor is "too spicy." :)

Game Fun

The next few days of our week involved crafts and some kindness (making treats for people and giving them) so the real "super-special" stuff didn't start until Friday.

I loved the idea of a Polar Express movie night. We had a great time watching it last year, but I was excited to add a few more special touches to our night.

Friday we got them into bath early so they were in jammies for our movie. Their Christmas surprise that day was just, "you will have a surprise at bedtime tonight" so they had been waiting all day. While Brad did bath I got hot chocolate and fixins ready and put the tickets on their pillows.  They were surprised to find the tickets on their pillows but also a little confused. They didn't remember the movie much from last year, so it didn't "click" that these were like the ones on the movie. After we explained it, they headed downstairs and were elated about the hot chocolate bar. :) Brad added anything they wanted to their cups, which was everything minus Makin not wanting the stuff that included peppermint.  I had him fix mine too because he did such a good job on theirs! :)  When they settled into bean bags to start the movie, Makin did not want to put his ticket down. :) I'm not sure kids are ever as silent and in awe as they seem at the beginning of this movie. :) They both sat so well for it and loved it. Great way to spend our Friday night. :)

When I was asking around to find out what Christmas festivities there are in the area (after finding pretty much zilch online) Miss Susan (one of our favorite librarians) suggested Lauritzen Gardens which has a special poinsettia and train display for Christmas. This seemed like a perfect fit.

I have to admit to being pretty disappointed. I try not to compare too much to Texas (I don't need to be a complainer!) but they definitely have the train thing down to an art at several places there. We have been spoiled the last two Christmases being able to see their amazing displays, so this one seemed pretty tiny and was a bit of a let down. Makin still loved watching them, so I think we may have lasted there about an hour, going back around the area several times and just letting him watch the trains. Since it went more quickly than expected we tried to enjoy the fact we were in Omaha and eat out and do a little shopping. I think they still enjoyed their day. :)

There was a balloon lady at Spaghetti Works. Lorelei got Rudolf and Makin got a snowman, which he named Banana.

Most Gorgeous Snowflakes Ever

Remember the line from Oklahoma "Where the wind goes sweepin' down the plain?" Well, its in the song for a reason. Growing up, when we had snow, 95% of the time it was falling sideways. I did spend 6+ years in Nebraska after Oklahoma, and still don't think I have ever seen the snow like this, but maybe I was hulled away in a dorm ordering pizza. ;)

As usual, Lorelei was asking to go out in the snow the second she woke up. She loved just looking out watching it fall. The girl loves snow.

My sad attempt at showing the amazingness of the snowflakes. Just in awe.

Since it was a Sunday morning, Brad and I planned to put the snow adventures off until that afternoon. While he took his turn in the shower, the pretty snow that was peacefully falling turned into ginormous snowflakes falling and I had to concede that they deserved to go out in it that morning. Plus, who do you think puts their winter gear on anyway!? So they went out just the two of them and loved it. We caught snowflakes on the paper, they played and did their own thing and seemed to be loving it, which made me feel much less guilty for not going! :) They came to the door asking for raisins, a carrot and their magnifying glasses. :) To build a snowman and look at the snow of course. The rate we are going we may have to break the hot-chocolate-if-it-snows rule around here! :) They both had hot chocolates before church and it was a wonderful way to spend the morning! Then after nap I braved it and went out with them. Brad has the excuse of not having snow boots, which we will remedy soon and he will put in his time soon enough!

Blessed to have these adventures. :)

Christmas Time Is Here!

Christmas is just so fun with kids. Just seeing their reaction to having the tree up with lights and special ornaments warms my heart. Lorelei in particular just seems to appreciate the specialness.

We are full force into our Christmas activities, which I start Dec 1st. We have something each day of the week counting down until Christmas.

They  loved putting the ornaments on the tree this year. We did have to do a little rearranging but they did well overall. They also had complete control of their own trees in their rooms, which they love.

A few of this week's activities...(not all included as the crafts and a few others are not super picture-worthy, even though you know I took pics of doing them!)

What will probably be a Dec 1st tradition...Christmas books out along with their Christmas PJs. Brad said they looked through their books for an hour.

Baking Gingerbread Men...I decided to forgo the house/houses this year and try out the little men...probably won't do this again soon, but the kids really did great! They had such a fun time cutting them out and frosting.

This month will include Christmas movies on our family movie nights. :) Our first one was A Very Monkey Christmas (Curious George) and the kids loved it. We have some decorations both downstairs and up so love that warm feeling of Christmas decorations. :) Also snuck in some Christmas Peanut M &Ms with popcorn to make it extra-special!

We had a fun-filled Saturday with Super Saturday at the library, including frosting cookies with Mrs. Claus and a reindeer craft at another table. Makin even let her paint his hands! :)

Then after nap was our visit to see Santa! Both kids did a great job showing/telling him what they wanted. It was fun to see Makin talking a lot more this year.We had papers made up a week or two before (hoping to prevent what happened last year, and it worked!) so they asked for what they had drawn pictures of. We must have pretty easy lists compared to the rest of the kids because Santa kept saying, "Is there anything else you want?"  They stuck with their lists and have very short and sweet requests for their presents. :) 

Advent By Candlelight

So, I kinda accidentally signed up to do a table for our latest church function...

I had gone to an Advent By Candlelight back in Denver when I was student teaching and loved it. It was gorgeous and special and an event every lady looked forward to with excitement.

I sort of just wanted to sign up to go to it this time as well, but the lady in charge assumed I meant a table, so I just signed up for a table and there I was suddenly now in charge of decorating the whole thing, making a dessert and inviting guests! Thankfully Michelle Smith agreed she would do the table with me, and she took on the dessert side of things and most of the inviting! (And baked a cheesecake on her birthday, Dec 1st nonetheless!)

I spent weeks toying with different ideas for the centerpiece with multiple trips to Dollar Tree and making returns after changing plans. So naturally, the day before the event, I was still dragging Heather to Hobby Lobby to help with table plans. My other favorite Michelle (Purcell) graciously offered her beautiful Christmas dishes, so that helped me narrow down a plan...we just had to put it into action. This involved Heather cutting a candle for the right size as well as helping pick out some red berries. Then Sunday Brad trimmed our bushes for the greenery. I was really happy with how it turned out and had a great time visiting with the ladies who came. There was an amazing speaker, Deb Burma, who is the pastor's wife from Peace and even has her own devotional book published! We also enjoyed a performance from a singing group from Columbus High School. It was wonderful to reflect on what is really important at Christmas and a great way to start December.

Thanks For Visiting Aunt Heather!

Aunt Heather got to see the kids open their Christmas gifts from her. So glad she was there to see their reactions. :) Both very happy with their own Little Foots! :)

Primping Sunday Morning...they just adore their aunt!

We are so glad you made the trip to visit us and are blessed to have you, Heather!

Birthday Fun

My birthday this year involved pancakes made for me for breakfast followed by a trip out shopping kid-free with my sister. (Which also involved coffee and custard!) Then when we got home Brad had slaved away on cheesy potatoes and a cake, so we had my favorite meal followed by cake. (And Brad got an even greater appreciation for his multi-tasking wife. ;) I'm not sure he has ever spent so many consecutive hours in a kitchen.) Even Google knew it was my birthday. ;)

Thanks for the extra-special day Brad and Heather!

Showing Aunt Heather "Our" Zoo

Fearlessly walking the rope bridge in the rainforest! :)

Aunt Heather is a zoo buff like myself, so we couldn't have her here and not make sure she got to the Omaha Zoo, since she had never been. Brad worked from the restaurant that overlooked the rainforest, so we all enjoyed the trip and Brad fit in a little fun too.

It was chilly, but still doable to walk to even the buildings a good distance away from the entrance, as well as make a trek for Makin's beloved giraffes (all the way across to the other side!) so was a great day for the zoo for sure!

Our Monkeys Hangin Out

Enjoying Lunch Overlooking The Rainforest

Loving The Aquarium

I think she thinks this is WAY more fun than me dragging her to Black Friday sales...but hey I'm still loving those $5 comfy pants... ;)