We are SO excited to have Uncle Darren here from Norway for the holidays!!!
Category: Holidays
Gift Exchange…
Roman was super excited (as always) to have Addie come and play this morning…we hung out at home and then went to the library to make Christmas ornaments. They both helped pick out gifts for each other…so sweet…so we had a little gift exchange when we got back home.
Gingerbread House Decorating with Xander…
I was SO excited to get to spend some special one-on-one time with Xander this morning at preschool helping him decorate his gingerbread house. He’s such a creative, exploratory little guy…it was fun to watch him work on his masterpiece.
Holiday Stress Relief with Jonas…
Jonas had so much fun helping me make a batch of Oreo Peppermint Bark. His favorite part, of course, was bashing the candy canes into little tiny pieces with a hammer (the best kind of holiday stress relief).
Stockings with MeMe and PaPa…
MeMe and PaPa stopped by to spread some holiday cheer with stockings for the boys…
Breakfast with Santa…
The boys loved Breakfast with Santa! It’s really so well done with tickets to see Santa and crafts and games to keep little hands and feet busy while they’re waiting. Among the favorites were the Christmas card making, the gift tag stamping, and the glittery pipe cleaner ornament beading. It was great fun to help the boys out with their Christmas crafts, eat a yummy (second) breakfast, say hello to friends, and see Santa and Mrs. Claus.
Hanging Christmas Lights…
Once we got back home from our Thanksgiving trip to Grandma and Grandpa’s in Virginia and got settled back in, we busted out the Christmas decorations. Here are a few of the crew helping out with the lights…
Thanksgiving…
We spent Thanksgiving in Virginia this year at Grandma and Grandpa’s house with Grandma and Grandpa, The Seyfrieds, The Longs, and The Paccassis. We enjoyed catching up with family and friends, playing in the woods, eating good food together, working on craft projects, going to mass (although Jonas and I missed it for a trip to the clinic for pink eye), and joining in the annual turkey games.
Click on the “Thanksgiving 2014” page to the right for more pictures.
Halloween…
We were SO excited this year to get to celebrate Halloween with my brother, Kerry, who moved back this year after many years in Taiwan!!! It was CRAZY cold and blustery, so it wasn’t quite the party in the streets in our neighborhood that it usually is. But we still had fun dressing up and watching the boys trick or treat around the block, and enjoyed giving out a few pieces of candy and eating a bowl of warm chili on the porch after we got the boys snug in their beds. Here’s to having fun on Halloween with family!
Halloween Party…
Xander, Roman, and I went to a Halloween Party at the park this morning with our moms’ group. The boys were not long for their costumes as it felt more like summer today than fall. But they loved sampling all of the different kinds of snacks, drawing with sidewalk chalk, building with Mega Blocks, making arts and crafts with Halloween stickers, checking out the Halloween games, and playing on the playground with friends. How rich we are in community here…it’s a blessing that I am thankful for every day.
Fourth of July…
We had a super laid back Fourth of July which is just what the doctor ordered…an impromptu backyard water play date and a picnic lunch with our precious next door neighbors and a restful afternoon of naps and indoor play. Then, Jonas and Xander and I hung out with neighborhood friends and watched the fireworks from our across the street neighbor’s yard while Roman slept cozily and peacefully in his bed all the while on the monitor. (We missed Daddy a lot…he was on firefighter duty at the 4th of July celebration at the park.) The boys really had so much more fun staying up super late and playing with their friends than they did watching the fireworks but it was still fun and festive.
Christmas Day…
We spent Christmas Day in Hendersonville with Pops and Maw, Eddie Stubbs, Uncle Darren, Cousins Kaia and Marina, Uncle Kerry, Aunt Julie, Cousins Jordan and Dylan, and Aunt Jeanne. It was so sweet just to be around everybody…eating yummy food, playing with the kids, opening presents, and catching up by the fire. Merry Christmas!
‘Twas the Night Before Christmas…
Here are a few pictures of our precious little boys setting out cookies and milk for Santa and showing some brotherly love in front of the tree on the night before Christmas.
Christmas Eve…
We spent Christmas Eve in Gallatin with MeMe and PaPa, Aunt Jean, Aunt Julie, Cousins Jordan and Dylan, and Aunt Jeanne. We ate a delicious lunch (MeMe would totally win Master Chef), had fun watching the kids open their presents (I will never forget MeMe and PaPa coming down the hallway with a big wheel and a cool hat for each boy), and enjoyed a White Elephant gift exchange with the adults (the stealing part of the exchange is always so interesting and funny). Eat, drink, and be merry!
Gingerbread House Decorating Party…
I was so excited to be able to spend some one on one time with Jonas at his Gingerbread House Decorating Party at preschool this morning.
Wondering on the way there how they were going to afford gingerbread house kits for all of the kids in the 4 and 4/5 year old classes, I smiled when I saw the milk cartons framed with graham crackers and held together by hot glue…I love the resourcefulness and creativity of teachers.
Jonas and I worked together…I iced the gingerbread house and the upside down ice cream cone tree, and he did all of the decorating. He had bowls and bowls of fun, decorative sweets to choose from: marshmallows, peppermints, candy canes, jolly ranchers, M & M’s, gingerbread man cookies, butterscotches, gumdrops, and coconut.
Here are a few pictures of us hard at work and of his gloriously festive finished product.
Thanksgiving…
We spent a week in Virginia with Grandma and Grandpa Seyfried, The Seyfrieds, The Longs, and The Paccassis for Thanksgiving. It was cold and rainy most of the time, but we were still able to get outside and play. The kids had a blast working on their forts in the woods, we all enjoyed our annual Turkey Games (including Crazy Hot Potato, Clothespin Drop, Hula Hoop Pass, and more), and we even celebrated Grandma’s 70th birthday a little early. It is so sweet (and challenging at times if we’re honest…this year there was another stomach bug going around as well) to just do life together for a space of time…how rare is that privilege. The holidays and winter months are always hard for me for some reason, but I do so love the perfectly imperfectness of togetherness. We have so much to be thankful for…
(For more pictures, click on the “Thanksgiving 2013” picture page to the right.)
Trick or Treating…
Halloween night was so blustery that we ended up going trick or treating tonight. It was perfect weather, and we enjoyed getting to share the trick or treating experience in our neighborhood with Grandma and Grandpa. (Just in case you can’t quite tell…Jonas was Curious George, Tom was The Man with the Yellow Hat, Xander was Blue, Jodi was Steve, and Roman was Pooh Bear.)
I always get a little anxious about Xander’s peanut allergy on Halloween night, but Jonas was ALL ABOUT protecting him and Xander did a great job of protecting himself, asking, “Is this peanut-free?” and “Does this have peanuts in it?” in his sweet little voice. I mean…who can resist that preciousness. By the end of the night, Xander had gotten really good at identifying the candy that was safe for him to choose (even though Grandma and Daddy still went through everything after the boys had gone to bed just to be on the safe side).
It went by quickly with the setting of the sun, but we still had fun…the boys and Grandma and I especially liked wearing our glow necklaces and bracelets.
Halloween Parade…
Jonas and Xander were so excited to wear their costumes to preschool this morning for their Halloween parade, trick or treating, and Halloween parties. (I even put Roman in his costume…nothing’s cuter than three little boys on the front porch in their costumes on Halloween morning.)
4th of July…
We celebrated the 4th of July at the lake. My favorite part was getting to play the drums (on inverted trash cans and paint cans no less) at the family talent show with a Ugandan priest who spent the day with us.
Valentine’s Day…
We had a super sweet Valentine’s Day at our house…
I saw a great idea on Pinterest where you “heart attack” your child’s door from February 1 through February 14 with paper hearts and reasons why you love your children, ending with a special gift for them on Valentine’s Day. So, I did it for all of my guys (including Tom). One afternoon, after a particularly challenging day, Jonas noticed that there were paper hearts addressed to everybody but me and said, “Mommy, I want you to have hearts too!” (It just floored me that he would think outside of himself like that.) One of my love languages is encouraging words, so I said, “Okay, buddy, what’s something that you love about mommy?” He said, “I love the noise of you reading books to me.” Aw!!! So precious to my heart…one of my sweetest ever mommy moments.
I also did another fun Pinterest thing from the Toddler Approved Acts of Kindness Project with the boys…we read a book called “Heartprints” by P.K. Halliman, and I started passing out paper hearts for the boys to put on our kitchen wall with their names on it along with the kind things they do…it has been so good for all of us to think about (so much so that I’m totally going to keep doing it past February).
Happy Valentine’s Day to you and yours!!!
