More Christmas

Christmas cactus from my Grandma Ruth.  I like to think I got my love of house plants from her.  I kill way more of them than she does though.  I have sent dying plants to her in the past, she revived them and then gave them back to me bigger and stronger than ever.  :)  Hopefully this pretty one makes it in my care.

 I had to laugh when I got up one morning and noticed Isa snowgirl holding up Daddy snowman.  He completely crushed her by the end of the day.

 Bingo hats.

 Isa loves assisting in the kitchen.  Flipping pancakes is a favorite.

We used Christmas money from great grandparents to get the kids a Wii.  Their excitement was a gift to us. We were tackled with hugs and kisses.

Christmas Eve.  Benjamin requested steak for dinner.  Expensive taste.

Off to our Christmas Eve service.  Hot wax dripped down Sam's candle onto his hand during the candlelit service.  I grabbed his candle and while checking to see if he was okay, started the cardboard around my candle on fire with his candle.  After madly blowing that out, Stella thought this whole scene was hilarious. For the rest of the service she kept very loudly trying to blow out all of our candles.  Never a quiet, dull moment with our family.

 Christmas morning cinnamon rolls.

 Stockings.

The kids were so sweet with each other.  They would unwrap the dollar item that their sibling bought them and give an unprompted hug, "Thank you!", and pat on the back.  Giving and receiving at it's best.

Next post: Christmas with Papa and Nana

December iPhone Photos

Stella is my workout companion.  She plays with the little Lalaloopsies in her purse while I work out at the KSAC.  

Drew received 6 free chicken sandwich coupons from a former PA.  Yeehaw.  Eating out is such a wonderful treat!  

December has been unbearably cold here.  Boo!  There have been several nights that we just needed to get out of the house and have headed to Taylor to run around the KSAC.  The kids love to wrestle around on the mats.

Our new friend, Mariana.  She was adopted from Guatemala as a baby and is a lovely, kind soul.  We are excited that she is just a Freshman at Taylor and hopeful that Isa will have lots of time with her.

 Silent Night.

 Taylor's Christmas Banquet.

 Snow Day.

 Late night Ohio State game.

A kind woman in front of us at Kohl's bought this Barbie and then asked Stella if she like Barbies.  Her response, "Uh-huh!  I have three geerrls (girls) but one geerrl's head fell off."  The woman smiled, handed her the Barbie and said, "Merry Christmas."  Stella was stunned.  She couldn't take her eyes off of the doll.

 Little drummer girl.

B-i-n-g-o

We had a really nice day yesterday with my family.  The kids almost died waiting for Jay's crew to get here so we could start Bingo.  Thankfully, they did not die like they thought they would and enjoyed hours of playing Bingo and picking prizes.  

Stella has allowed me to put her hair in braids for a solid week.  Oh joy.  I cannot handle those little braids with the perfect little curls at the end.  Merry Christmas to me.

 Sam and Stella spent the waiting hours playing with magnets.  

 Sam and Aunt Julie chillin' on the tiny Elmo couch.

 Bingo partners.

 Stella paid no attention to the numbers called and filled her whole board every round.

Isa was the caller for adult Bingo until her brain started hurting from so much concentration.  Our favorite moment was when she picked one up and when she couldn't immediately think what number it was, she threw it back in and picked another one.

 Carter didn't play Bingo so he had some gifts to open.  He had a little bit of help.

 Ready for summer and fishing.

What's Christmas without a lights show?

Benjamin.

 Jackson.

 Matea.

 Raja.

Attempt at a grand-kids' photo.  I waited until the end of the night for a photo.  Not the best decision.  Zero natural light and Carter was done.

 Stella!

Best we got.

We miss you Josh, Janelle, Johanan, Sofia and Titus!  Nine years of skyping just doesn't cut it.  We love you!  xoxoxo

Gumballs, Snowmen and Cookie Exchange

We had Drew's office staff over on Monday for a Christmas party.  Lots of delicious dips and finger foods and then a white elephant gift exchange.  It is the first white elephant exchange that our kids observed.  It dawned on me that white elephant is a kid's dream.  A bunch of tacky, sparkly, huge, ridiculous things wrapped up with bows.  I opened this Yard of Bubblegum.  They were all excited but Sam was ecstatic.  He was hugging it and rocking it.  Drew said to his staff, "I dare any of you to steal this from him."  The overpowering smell of bubblegum and the excessively loud chomping that goes along with it made me want to gag this week.  To the kids' great delight, Drew's grad assistant also left his gifts hidden all around our house.  Benjamin claimed a creepy Jar Jar Binks cup, Sam a camera key chain that flashes, Isa a stuffed elephant and Stella a wooden replica of the Taylor Bell Tower.  Merry Christmas to all!

I watch Micah Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays.  I cracked up when she came in on Friday.  She and Stella looked like aerobics instructors from the 80s (Stella) and 90s (Micah).

We got 6-7 inches of snow Friday night and Saturday.  Yesterday was warm and the snow was so wet.  It was the best packing snow we have played in for as long as I can remember.

Benjamin would like the world wide web to know that he made this snowman all by himself.  Let it be known that his mother did not lift one hand to help him.  She may have tried to assist a time of two out of instinct but got a verbal slap in the hand not to touch it because he wanted to complete it without any help. So for the record, he did not need ANY help.  No help.  Got it?

 Stella's winking snowman built with the help of her sister.

 Isa's sleeping snowman.

 Sam's leaf eyed snowman.

Yesterday, our friend Lucy hosted a girls only cookie exchange.  Benjamin felt very discriminated against for the first time in his life.  He's always loved a good party.  He and Drew are planning a boys only nacho party for sometime in January.  Drew told him they can grunt and burp and fart.  Ha!

Adorable girlfriends.

 Darling Grace.

 Focused Lucy, hostess with the mostess.

Whitney's home looks like a Target catalog.  I love these photos of Julian.  She's not my kid but I couldn't narrow them down they were all so sweet.  Julian has some of the best facial expressions ever.

 Trying to convince her mom she should eat just one more cookie. I'm convinced.

Stella only wants to play with Lucy's toys when she is at her house so she ate her cookies when we got home.

 Handsome firstborn.  Looking so old.