Now He Can Clap

I am way behind on blogging, but I thought I would at least post a photo of DS#3 that I took today. He started sticking out his tongue a while ago, but it seems like he has rediscovered this trick lately. On top of his usual drooliness, he sticks out his tongue all the time. This means, of course, that he leaves little pools of drool wherever he goes. He has also started clapping his hands. He's not all that great at it yet, but in this photo he at least has his hands somewhat open.

I would say that he is adorable, but he just put DH and I through the ringer. He went to sleep at around 7:30PM, but DS#2 left the light on in the gameroom (where the baby sleeps) so DS#3 woke up at 10PM and just would not go back to sleep. He seems like he is finally asleep in his crib now. *SIGH* Okay, he IS adorable anyway. :)

Christmas Day

This was my "Christmas Day" prompt:

Make a list of the events at your house on Christmas morning. Make this a “Day in the Life of” type of journaling. What time did your family members wake up/get up? Did you open Christmas presents today or last night? How long did it take everyone to open their gifts? Did you go to church or did you go to someone else’s house today?

DS#3 woke DH and me up at 6:30AM. We didn't hear anyone up at that time, but we did hear kids get up soon after. I fed the baby and he went back to sleep. I went downstairs at around 7AM. I saw DS#1 getting ready to have his Fruit Loops (a ready-to-serve container that was in all of the kids' stockings). I heard the muffled voices of the other two, and I had to look around, but I finally found them in their bathroom! DS#2 had received a magnetic hangman game in his stocking and they were playing in the bathroom. Apparently, he was trying to be quiet and DD met up with him in the bathroom when she went there. I just laughed because DD can't really read yet and the word they were playing was "universe".

I went downstairs again and starting making cinnamon crescent rolls. Meanwhile, the kids had their Fruit Loops. They were talking excitedly about the presents under the tree and the Santa gifts next to the fireplace. DD had the "biggest" gift and DS#2 was saying that he had the "next biggest" gift from Santa. I let them watch some TV while we waited for DH and DS#3. Finally, at around 9AM, they came downstairs. Apparently, DS#3 was still sleeping, but DH knew that the other kids were anxious about opening presents so he finally awakened the baby at 9AM or he would have slept longer.

I made them pose for photos first (see above) then the chaos began. DD and DS#2 looked the most excited, especially when they opened their Santa gifts (that post will be later). DS#3 was still in wake-up mode and was still hesitant about ripping off the wrapping paper. He really enjoyed his toys, though, and DS#1 also seemed excited, but in his own understated way.

We had lunch sometime after 11AM. We had Honey-Baked Ham, mashed potatoes, and green beans. We gave the baby bits of ham and green beans for the first time. He is more than ready for table food! We didn't have anything elaborate for dessert because the kids were anxious to go outside and play.

DH put DD's bike together and she rode it outside while DS#2 played with his new gigantic Nerf gun. DS#3 and I were napping then and we slept for a couple of hours. He was in a much better mood after that. The rest of the day was filled with video games for the whole family. I even got to play with the Wii this time!

The only other remarkable event was that I attempted to make DH's favorite dessert, Dark Chocolate Souffle Cake. Just before I started mixing things together, I realized that I had run out of sugar when I made pancakes on Saturday. So, I made some ready-to-bake chocolate chip cookies instead. Oh well! DD was a hoot because she had on her Santa Hat and she was eagerly watching the oven. All in all it was a relaxing family day! :)

Christmas Eve

I postponed this prompt until now since it has to do with Christmas Eve.

List any Christmas Eve traditions you might have. Do you do some last minute shopping? Do you go to church on Christmas Eve instead of Christmas Day? Do you exchange gifts on Christmas Eve instead of Christmas Day? If you have children, do you do anything special for them on this day?

We don't really have a Christmas Eve routine, mostly because it depends on my schedule. I had to work yesterday/last night, so I came home this morning a little tired and not wanting to really do anything except take a shower. We had to get one last minute present for the son of a family friend, and we had to pick up our Honey-Baked Ham. That was all that was a must-do on the agenda, so DH and I lounged around for a bit until after lunch. He went out to do those two things. I got to go to Coldstone Creamery with the kids.

I got a coupon for a free "Love It" size ice-cream for my birthday, and it expired today, so I didn't want that to go to waste. I actually got a coffee ice cream shake like I always do, and DS#2 got a shake (the flavor changes) like he always does. My oldest son got the big ice cream cone that was free with the coupon--he's a growing boy, after all. DD insisted on a chocolate shake this time, which she didn't finish as usual. That meant that DH got the rest of her shake when we got home.

It was late enough by then that we went ahead and got ready for church. We wanted to go to the 5PM Christmas Eve mass this year so we could be free to lounge around and play with our new toys on Christmas Day. At mass, we saw our good friends (DS#3's godfather and his family) who invited us to their house for some hors d'oeuvres. That was perfect since we hadn't planned on anything much for dinner and this way we wouldn't have to cook! We only stayed for about an hour and a half, but it was really nice to socialize for a bit and have some good food.

At home, everyone took their baths/showers and the little ones went to bed. I'm on the computer and DH is wrapping presents. I think I'd better go help now. I'm a little behind on the photos on this blog. I'll try to post some tomorrow!

Merry Christmas, Everyone!!!

The Wonder of Christmas

Ask your kids what Christmas means to them. I would suggest that you ask them separately and then maybe get them together with their answers. My kids tend to mimic each other when they’re together, but sometimes that will enable the younger ones to think of an answer they wouldn’t normally think of. If you don’t have children, then you may want to reminisce about your own childhood or you might want to write about the nieces or nephews or other young family members.

DD - "To get presents"
DS#2 - "We give gifts and it’s Jesus’ birthday"
DS#1 - "The birth of Jesus Christ and peace, I guess"

It's interesting the five-year old is all about the presents, the twelve-year old understands the more abstract meaning, and the eight-year old is smack dab in between. Oh, and the eight-month old just grinned and babbled a little. ;)

Christmas Traditions

List your Christmas Season traditions. (Christmas Eve and Day traditions will be covered later.) Select one to describe in more detail, and take some photos to match. Do you have to get a family photo at this time, or do you have to get a photo of your kids with Santa? Do you have any special preparations at this time of year, whether it’s a cookie exchange or giving to some needy family?

We used to get a family photo every year at this time. This gave us a picture to use for our Christmas photo card plus a yearly glimpse at our growing family. When we had DD, she simply would not smile for strangers. We had such a tough time keeping her from frowning that it just wasn't worth the hassle. I started taking photos of just the kids from then on.

We've never really gotten photos of the kids with Santa. Neither DH nor I were ever willing to get in the long lines at the mall plus with the age differences in the children, there was almost always one that wouldn't tolerate sitting on a stranger's lap, even if it was Santa.

As for other activities at this time of year, I can't really think of any except for basketball games and soccer practices that are ongoing. We do usually get an angel from the angel tree at church and give presents to some needy family. I'm afraid that I'm skipping that this year just because I can't bear to do any more shopping! I promise I'll do better with that next year. :)

January 2008 Scrapaddict Kits

I finished my assignments this week with the upcoming Scrapaddict.com kits. I can't believe I finished these so quickly. I didn't even add that much to them this time. The first two below are from the Yellowstone Kit using Pebbles, Inc. Theodore papers. The bottom two below are from the Time For Recess Kit/OD using the A2Z Essentials What's New Club papers. Thanks for looking!

Weather

Describe the weather during the holidays in your part of the world. Does the type of affect your “Christmas spirit”? Is there anything you do to make up for the weather?

The weather in my part of the world ranges from warm and sunny to wet and chilly. The weather this year has been very variable. It is warm and sunny one day and wet and chilly the next (instead of a few days each, which is more typical). I have to admit that it's difficult to get going on Christmas activities when it is warm and sunny outside. Wet and chilly makes me want to curl up in bed inside instead of doing Christmas shopping or decorating.

There isn't really anything much that I do to get in the Christmas spirit, but it never hurts to listen to Christmas music. I love Christmas music, and this year, a couple of radio stations in town are playing only Christmas music. I wouldn't want to trade the warm and sunny days at this time of year just to get in the "Christmas spirit". The best weather here is in the winter!

Wrapping Gifts

Today's prompt:

Describe how you wrap your presents. Do you go very simple with just plain wrapping paper or gift bags or do you go all out with bows and handmade tags, etc.? Do you wrap your gifts before sending them in the mail? When do you wrap your gifts—right away or at the last minute?

I used to wrap up presents with this elaborate wrapping paper folding on top of the present combined with ribbon. I still will wrap some adult presents like that, but for the kids, they really don't seem to care. It takes a while to do, so it's not worth the time to do this for the kids' gifts. If the presents were going to be under the tree for a while, then I might want everything to look "prettier", but wrapping is usually done close to Christmas, so the presents really don't stay under the tree for that long. We do it this way so the boxes will be out of sight (and out of reach) for curious little hands. Of course this year, Eric's favorite thing is paper, so those presents won't be placed under the tree until Christmas Eve.

Holiday Shopping

Today's prompt deals with shopping, one of my favorite activities!

List some stores that you always seem to go to for your holiday shopping. Why those stores? Do you like to “one-stop shop” or do you like to go to different stores to find exactly what you want? Do you use online versus bricks-and-mortar stores? Why one versus the other?

This year, I started my shopping on the day before Thanksgiving. I stopped at the toy store down the street first. It's family owned and a wonderful place to find unique toys. The owner is always there and makes personal recommendations that really helps speed my shopping along. The only time I've seen them have a sale is the week before Thanksgiving when everything in the store is 15% off. The other great thing about this store is that the owner will wrap my gifts for me for no extra charge. Believe me, that is one perk that I like to fully take advantage of!

My next stop this year was Toys 'R Us. They were having some pre-holiday sales and I had wish lists in hand from my kids and from my nieces and nephew. Between the two stores, I finished the biggest bulk of my Christmas shopping within about two hours, despite carrying around a baby that didn't want to sit in the shopping cart. That's the way I like to get things done--not exactly "one-stop shop" but close! Another plus was that almost everything I bought was on sale!

For toys, I tend to buy at the bricks-and-mortar places because it's easier for me to find out if that's the toy I want to get when I can read and see the packaging. I do some online shopping as well, but not as much as I used to since I have such a big selection of stores here in town. What I might do is shop online to narrow down my choices then go to the store to get the item. The exception is usually my nephew (DH's sister's son). Since I have to ship it anyway, I tend to shop for him entirely online.

Christmas Carols

Today's prompt is about Christmas carols:

List your favorite Christmas carols. Pick a favorite Christmas Carol and describe what makes it your favorite. If you don't have a favorite Christmas carol, then describe why you don't like them or why you have too many favorites.

I love Christmas carols so much that I like to sing them year-round. My kids love them so much that they each request at least one Christmas song every night before they go to bed. I have many favorites, but I love O Holy Night and The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire) the most.

O Holy Night has such a powerful melody, and I find myself wanting to sing it at the top of my lungs with all of the emotion of a Diva. My voice hardly equal to a Diva's, however, so I am always disappointed that the sound I hear is not what I feel.

The Christmas Song has the opposite effect. I find it very calming, especially the version sung by Nat King Cole. I can just picture my family gathered around a warm fire in the fireplace when I hear this song.

I could go on and on, and tomorrow I might find some new favorites. There is a radio station in town that is playing Christmas Music all the time during the Holidays. I think even I would tire of hearing Christmas songs on the radio year-round, but for now, I enjoy listening to that station on my way to and from work.

Holiday Eating

Here is the prompt from my Scrapaddict.com challenges.

What are your favorite things to eat during this time of year? List some reasons why each particular dish is one of your favorites. Does it evoke special memories? Is it only offered during the Christmas Holidays? Describe in more detail how to prepare your favorite dish or treat.

I don't think I have any one particular thing that I like to eat at this time of year. I just like that there are lots of goodies around to eat. That doesn't help me as far as losing weight, but it makes life fun. :)

Oh wait, I just remembered that I love those Danish cookies that come in a tin. It's a little silly, I know, because those are available year round and no one has to bake them especially for me, but I always associate those with this time of year. I remember when my mom's boss used to give her a gift certificate to Neiman Marcus every year. Everything there was usually too expensive, but they had those Danish cookies and they were affordable and we enjoyed them, so we always got them. I never realized until much later that you could buy them for much cheaper elsewhere.

I also fondly remember the Walker's Shortbread cookies that come in a red plaid tin. I remember the apartment where DH and I lived when we first got married. The landlord lived in that building too, and she gave us those shortbread cookies every year for Christmas. That was such a stressful time in our lives, and I remember how kind she was to us. We moved away soon after she passed away. She passed away so suddenly that I am still sad whenever I think of her.

Maybe as the holidays roll around, I'll remember some more. Food is one of those things that can really trigger memories for me!

Christmas Cards

This is a preview of our Christmas Card photo this year (for those of you lucky enough to get one *WINK*). We're sending a photo card again this year. We've been doing photo cards ever since we started having children, because everyone always asks us about how big the kids are. We usually also send a Christmas letter, just because we send cards to friends and family that we don't see more than every few years. Some of my friends I have seen in many, many years, but I still enjoy keeping up with them and vice versa, even if it's only once a year.

We usually send about 80 or so of these. I entertained the idea of making my own Christmas Cards, but time is short, and these will suit our purpose. My overachiever sister made all 90 of her cards all by herself. You go, girl! :)

Holiday Parties

We try to get in the spirit and go to my work Christmas Party every year. I work at one location in the training program, and I don't see the people that work at the other location in the training program except for this party and the Graduation Party at the end of the "school year". Last year, one of my colleagues, who is apparently very good at breakdancing, did his thing at the party. It WAS pretty impressive, I was disappointed that it was too dark to get a good photo. The boys would have loved seeing it. That won't happen this year, because my colleague injured his knee at the annual soccer game and is recovering from surgery. It's too bad that we have to get old!

Last year, I was pregnant and still getting very tired very easily, so we left before 10PM. The party is scheduled for next Friday, so I can take some photos then.

There is also a work Christmas Party next Friday during the day. This one is for the whole department rather than just my section. There is usually way too much food, and that's what makes it very enjoyable. I'll report back on that next Friday, too.

Outdoor Decorations

We usually don't have too many outdoor decorations either, because DH is the one that puts them up, and they do take quite a while. This year we will have the clear net lights on the bushes out front, and some clear lights wound up on the trees next to the fountain. New this year will be a decoration I bought at Target of a lighted holographic Santa and three reindeer. DD helped pick it out and the older boys murmured their approval. DS#2 even said, "Cool!" DS#3 just wanted to eat the box. ;-)

Again, I'll get some photos up when I catch up on my backlog of holiday stuff.

Indoor Decorations

We don't have too many indoor decorations, but I would love to have more. There's just something about young children and curious hands...

We do have several Santas. I haven't bought any new ones lately, but I have more than a handful of standing Santas and a couple of sitting ones. My favorite one is the 36-inch tall one because I remember buying it when Alex was 2 years old and 36 inches tall. He got such a kick out of looking at that Santa eye-to-eye, or actually, he was taller than the Santa by Christmas time.

The Nativity scene was a present from my in-laws. There are three Wise Men included and we place them closer and closer to the stable as January 6 approaches. That's one reason why we don't put away our decorations until January 6. My MIL believes that we should exchange gifts on January 6 instead of Christmas, since that is when the Three Wise Men gave the baby Jesus their gifts. I agree, and that would be a better time to shop, but while the kids are young, I guess we should conform with everyone else.

That's pretty much it, except for the tree which was discussed in an earlier post. We used to have a garland for the stairs, but I think we accidently left the batteries in and DH threw them away. If I do end up buying a new one this year, I'll take a photo as well as photos of my Santas. :)

Decorating the Tree

Here's the Scrapaddict.com journaling prompt for December 4:

Describe how your tree is decorated.
Do you have a certain color scheme or a certain theme? Do you have colored versus clear lights? What types of ornaments do you hang on your tree? You might want to expand this to describing what certain ornaments mean to you or what type of ornaments you like to buy.

We have a collection of ornaments that we've gathered over the years. I'm partial to wooden (or at least wooden-looking ornaments. I also love Santa ornaments. A few years ago, someone told me that every year, they took their kids to pick out their own Hallmark ornaments. I started doing this soon after that, so we have a collection of Hallmark ornaments, too. This year, DS#1 was going to pick the Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End ornament, but then he saw the soccer goal/soccerball and video game controller ornaments. Ultimately, he picked the video game controller one and the DS#2 picked out the soccer one. DD picked out the Barbie as the Island Princess ornament--very fitting since she is all about the girly sparkle right now.

The boys' ornaments are also very fitting to what they're interested in right now. DS#1 is very much into the video games. he got a Nintendo DS for his birthday in October, and he has accumulated about four or five games for it since then. He also loves to play this online role-playing game called Runescape. Some of this friends from school play it, too, so sometimes he'll "see" them there. DS#2 is all about soccer this fall. This was his first season playing in a more competitive league on a team that is not affiliated with his school. He has made new friends and learned some new skills from their professional coach. The ornament itself provides some insight into DS#2's tastes because whenever the attached soccer ball goes into the goal, a recording comes on that says "Gooooooooallll!!!" or "Score! Way to go!" or "What a kick! That is In there!" DS#2 is all about the sound-making devices. :)

I'll have to take photos of the ornaments tomorrow.

Putting Up the Tree

Here's today's Scrapaddict.com journaling prompt:

Do you have a live or an artificial tree? Why do you have one versus the other type? You might want to expand this into talking about why you’ve chosen a live versus an artificial tree.

I'll have to ask my parents to be sure, but for as long as I can remember, we've always had an artificial tree. Artificial trees are convenient (easier to put up and take down), they're neater, they're cheaper in the long run, and they last longer. Especially since we've lived in warm climates for most of my life, artificial trees last the whole season, from Thanksgiving in November to Little Christmas in January. Since we've had children, there is the additional reason that the small children are not in danger from swallowing the needles from the tree.

That being said, I love the smell and look of live trees. One Christmas, we were at my in-laws condo in Colorado, and they had a live flocked tree outside on their balcony. I thought that was the coolest idea to have it outside, and I would love to plant live trees outside that we could decorate. I haven't pursued this since, but maybe in the future, we'll have multiple "Christmas trees" decorating our yard. :)

Picking Your Tree

Here I am continuing my Scrapaddict.com challenges. This is today's journaling prompt:

Describe what you feel is the perfect tree.

If you have a live tree, how describe how you choose which one to get? When do you like to go get a tree? Does one person in your family have the final word?

If you have an artificial tree, then describe how and why you picked the tree. Is it flocked, or plain? Is it a prelit tree or do you still have to string the lights? We just got a new artificial tree. DH and I had talked about how big a tree we wanted. He saw this one at Costco and there were huge crowds just before Thanksgiving already, so he decided to go ahead and get it. There isn’t much to the story, but years from now, even simple journaling like that gives some insight to what type of person my DH is (practical—very practical).

DH and I feel like the perfect tree for us is one that is the biggest we can get in our living room, one that is easy to put together and to maintain, and one that is easy to take down. Oh, and it has to look good too, of course. This year, as it states above, we got a 7.5 foot prelit tree. I took the kids out shopping while DH put it together. Apparently, except for the fact that the bottom two of the three pieces were heavy, it was very easy to put together. He didn't have to mess around with untangling lights from last year, and therefore, he won't have to worry about trying to put away these lights for next year. We would both love a taller tree, but this is one is just tall enough to allow for a topper without scraping the ceiling. I love how bright the lights are and how many there are. The tree looks pretty full, too--almost real, since a "real" tree really isn't practical for us.

The Reason for the Season

I know I'll be busy with all of the holiday stuff this month and I won't have much time to scrap. I'm running this challenge on the Scrapaddict MB this month. I want to take a photo and do some journaling daily. This way, I hope I will have the makings for a Holiday Memories 2007 album after the hustle and bustle of the holiday season is over. The first journaling prompt is below:

What special types of holiday worship, if any, do you engage in? Do you do something every week (or every day) or do you just go to church on Christmas Day? Does this have a special meaning for you? This isn’t meant to be a guilt trip for whether or not you do anything at all, but merely an account of what and why you do what you do. Remember to take a photo that symbolizes what this season means for you, too.

During this holiday season, we plan on going to church at 9AM on Sundays just like we do the rest of the year. We'll plan on going to Mass on Christmas Day also. Especially when Christmas has gotten so commercialized, I want the kids to be reminded what the true "reason for the season" is. The reason for Christmas is to celebrate Christ's birth, not to exchange presents. The reason for the special decorating we do is to make this a special time, just as Christ's birth is special and not because we agree with all of the commercialization. The reason why we go to church on every weekend throughout the year and not just at Christmas time is because we want to be able to thank God year round for all of these wonderful gifts that we get year round. My family and I are all truly blessed. :)

First Day Report

DS#3 did fine today at daycare, of course. He was in the 6-12 month room. I joked about how he had "skipped a grade" since he had skipped over the 0-6 month room. *WINK* DH asked the teacher about whether or not DS had taken any naps. The teacher said that he had taken a 20 minute nap in the morning and a 5 minute one in the afternoon. DH told her, "That's why he's here." How does that baby survive on such little sleep?!!