Wednesday, December 31, 2014

Merry, Merry, Merry Christmas 2014

A five day weekend for five Christmas's plus sick minis plus trying to get some marketing done for my book makes for a very tiring "break." All in all it was pretty great, we got to spend time with the people we love and there was an 11 hour sleep for me (unheard of these days!) so really no complaints about our busy five days.

Christmas Eve we ran last minute errands, got the house in tip top shape (which really means there were just a few less toys on the floor than normal), celebrated Christmas with my mom's side of the family, looked at Christmas lights, and waited for Santa to come.....and while we "waited" we wrapped gifts, had an "old" friend over, and set up the video camera to catch Santa in the act.

Christmas Day we opened gifts, relaxed, Grandma and Grandpa Sheaffer brought presents over, took naps, and went to my parents house for dinner and more presents.

The day after Christmas was my favorite day of all: I slept 11 hours, woke up at 10:30 a.m., and stayed in my jammies until 5:00 p.m. That is my dream day!

Saturday we spent at the doctor's office and then relaxing with sick kids. The youngest mini and I did make it over to my dad's side of the family where we quickly caught up with aunts, uncles, and cousins as quickly as we could.

Sunday we relaxed, cleaned, made yummy food, and I finally got to do some marketing for my book (it's now available at Beaverdale Books for those in Des Moines interested in purchasing a copy).

I could have done without the sick minis part, but I'll be dreaming of that 11 hours of sleep until next Christmas!


Harrison got a catapult! Not a shocker: he loves it.
Reading "T'was the Night Before Christmas" to the boys after looking at Christmas lights. Elizabeth fell into bed right as we got home. We kept track of where Santa was via the Norad Santa Tracker. The minute I announced "Santa's in America now!" Harrison started shaking, lip quivering and shouted "I'm ready for bed! I don't want Santa to see me!" I also had to promise that Santa would NOT come look at him while he slept nor touch his bedroom door.



















Max was insistent on catching Santa on our video camera. So we set it up. Sadly, we did not catch Santa, but caught a bit of Christmas magic! See the video on my Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/ashlen.kidspert

The boys woke up before anyone else in the house. They quietly walked out into the living room, grabbed their gifts from Santa (chapter books and a computer) and took them into their bedroom until the rest of us woke up! First year we didn't get to see their reactions to their Santa presents.


We've got A LOT of Barbie stuff now.....it's taking over Elizabeth's room. 
Waiting somewhat patiently for their next round of gifts.

Max wanted to tell stories. Luckily we had one of the best story tellers, Grandma Ann, with us, who told stories about square dancing and life on a farm. Not a surprise that Max now wants to take square dancing lessons and has requested that we move to a farm.
Our obligatory Christmas morning selfie.

Elizabeth got a matching hat set so her doll could wear one too.
Max got night vision goggles so he can "spy on you while you sleep." I told him never to speak a creepy line like that to me again.

The day after Christmas looked just like this. All. Day. Long. It was the best.
After check ups, lots of blood work, finger pokes, and a shot, Max was diagnosed with strep for the third time in a month! I've been disinfecting like crazy ever since. The other two have a nasty virus that just cannot be kicked. It's been a rough winter so far.

The boys weren't able to make it to my Grandma Ann and Grandpa Rich's Christmas, so Elizabeth and I brought their goodies to them. The boys are obsessed with their 3D owl ornaments this year! Every year my Grandpa makes each family member their own ornament. These were the first 3D ornaments he's ever done and they are the coolest. The owls even have the boy's picture inside. They now reside on the boy's shelf in their bedroom because they refuse to let me put them away.


Of all of the Christmas decorations we've had, this year has been my favorite. Our tree was absolutely beautiful, filled with homemade decorations the kids made throughout the month. Our walls and shelves were lined with unique arts and crafts I had the kids do as well. I had a hard time this year saying goodbye to our tree (it was losing needles quickly and I didn't want them to hurt the little feet that fill our house). I've always been more than happy to put away our Christmas stuff but this year I was rather sad to see it go. Mostly because of how wonderful everything looked and how it easily represented our entire month. The other part was because I know I won't be seeing the Christmas excitement in my minis eyes until next season, when they're another year older.

We're slowly getting rid of the germs around here (hopefully) and have taken our free time to rest. We're looking forward to hitting up the Science Center lots this winter with our new family pass, going to a hockey or basketball game, and we're eagerly awaiting for our next Experience (http://ashlen-kidspert.blogspot.com/2014/11/experiences-for-christmas.html) from Santa that should be coming in the next few weeks!