Christmas Day

A picture of Christmas morning, all decked out in their new super hero/princess t-shirts from Santa.

Grace with her beloved new American Girl Doll she named Sarah. That thing has gone everywhere with her lately. She has played with that one doll more in the last 2 weeks than she has played with any other dolls ever in her life. She loves it. Grandma also gave her several outfits and a coat that matches one she made Grace. They have worn them together. I'll get a picture.

Xander in his new superhero costume from Grandma Ellen.

Super Will!

Even Super Grace!

A creative present from Grandma and Grandpa Niebuhr. A tent, sleeping bags and a pretend camping set. This will keep them busy for days!

A nice group picture. They got several new board games, including Sorry and Trouble. They love playing games!

So, I'm a little mad at myself. I left my purse at my mom's on Christmas eve and in my purse was, you guessed it, my CAMERA! They did come over for brunch Christmas morning, and she brought it back, but it was too late for any pictures of opening presents from Santa. Of course, we had just gotten rid of our old camera days before and our video camera takes still pictures, if there was a memory card in it. So, no pictures from Christmas morning, except for that first group shot taken after my mom brought the camera back.

We really did have a nice Christmas this year. The kids just were SOOOOO into everything Santa. I think Gordie, our elf, really helped in that regard. When we got home late from my mom's on Christmas eve, we had to make sure to leave Santa milk and cookies and we laid out 8 carrots for the reindeer. (Grace realized later that there were actuallly 9 reindeer if you include Rudolph, so I had to go lay out another carrot to make her feel better.) They woke up bright and early the next morning, and could barely contain their excitement looking at the presents at the bottom of the stairs. It was really hard for them to wait turns opening presents (in fact, Will ripped open a couple of group presents before we realized!). They marveled at Santa getting all these presents into our house and read and re-read the letter Santa left for them. (Gordie also left a note saying Thanks and see you next year. They haven't even stopped talking about Gordie, they mentioned him again this morning.)

They really got a lot of stuff.  Santa brought scooters (which they were able to ride outside on a nicer day last week) books, DVD's, the superhero t-shirts, princess things for Grace, and Imaginext Space things for the boys, among a few other small things. Mommy and Daddy gave them clothes, stocking stuffer type things and the biggest hit, a Leapster Explorer. We spent a long time trying to decide which video game system to get the kids, and decided on this one and it has NOT disappointed. We're pretty much a fan of everything Leap Frog makes (the beloved magic pencil is made by Leap Frog) and this Explorer is no exception. It is a hand-held video game system for kids ages 4-9. It has a stylus that you can write and play with, but you also use traditional video game buttons. It comes with a few games and you download/buy more cartridges. We downloaded a game called Jewel Train that Xander and Grace have already completed all the levels on, it's a great logic game. We have several other math, reading and writing games we haven't even played. Pretty much someone is playing it at all waking minutes of the day. And it's kind of nice because one will disappear with it and the other two will play nicely with something else.  I'm constantly surprised how well they adapt to technology, they can run it so well. We highly recommend it - great learning games!

Christmas night we went to Niebuhrs. We actually hung out there in the afternoon while the kids napped, then opened presents and ate dinner. It was a nice evening. The kids wanted every SINGLE present opened the next day. It was literally like Christmas had thrown up in our living room! But, after a quick run to Target for more storage bins and a major purge of toddler-type toys, we are once again organized.

Unfortunately, the sickness bug didn't pass us by last week. I had a stomach bug the day before Christmas eve, and early Friday morning (New Year's Eve) Grace started throwing up. We had just been to the indoor playground at Mahoney that morning, so that's more than likely where she got it. We ended up canceling our New Year's eve plans (and we actually had plans this year!). Xander started throwing up on Monday afternoon, but was fine on Tuesday. Will hasn't gotten anything (knock on wood!) On a happy note, I filled Will's steroid inhaler last week (He's been on it since October, but we've been using samples from the dr.) and it only cost me $10 and will last 60 days. Compare that to the steroid solution for the nebulizer which cost us $60 for 30 days. We have gone from spending around $700 a year to $60. That is mind boggling! I can't believe it. Hooray for growing up!!!!!!

I think that is finally all for now. Long post, but I hadn't posted much lately. Thanks for reading thru to the end! Happy New Year everyone!