Friday, January 2, 2009

Our Favorite Santa!









Well, it's my favorite Santa anyway! I have taken my kids to see him every year since Jonathan was a baby. One year he was in Alaska, but other than that, we have never missed a year! And we ALMOST missed this one due to all the snow. We went on Christmas Eve and waited in line almost 2 hours. The kids were good sports. I told the boys this was their Christmas present to me, so they went along with it. Then we went to Applebees for dinner and Walmart for the kids to buy gifts for each other (Jonathan really wanted to do this. Jake was just as happy wrapping up old toys from around the house to give to people.) I heard Jonathan ask Santa for a skateboard (huh? Hadn't heard about that yet!), Jake asked for a kitten, and Jayden asked for a baby. There are also a few pix at our house before we left- by the tree.

Thursday, January 1, 2009

Snow!


































The last 3 days before Christmas vacation were snow days. The kids were thrilled... but then it didn't stop and they started to get bored! It continued to snow on and off for at least a week. It spoiled many of our plans, but it was beautiful. We ventured out in the car 3 times, and it was scary and stressful. The first time I did a "180" getting onto the freeway (so scary), so we turned back around to head home. We didn't realize how bad the main roads would be. The second time, mom and I had to go Christmas (Santa) shopping. I was starting to panic that we'd run out of time, so we chose what looked to be the "best" (least snowy/ icy) day and headed out. On our way home it was like a white-out- ugh. The third time was Christmas Eve (day). After finally getting out of our driveway, we went to see the Santa we always go to, to do some more shopping, and to eat at Applebees for dinner (thanks mom!) The parking lots were awful. We almost got stuck at Walmart, but managed to skid our way out! I'm glad it has now all melted!

The kids went in and out to play in the snow during the week. The snowman Jonathan built had boobs- I didn't notice until I was taking pix, so then I took them off. Oh brother- both boys thought this was hysterical... Jayden liked the snow in small doses. She got cold quickly. We drank tons of hot chocolate and hot apple cider when we'd come inside. The saving grace of these snow days was the little store that we can walk to from our house. We walked/ sledded over there many times to buy candy, drinks, etc. We even rented "We Are Marshall" and watched it one night on our new big-screen TV (Jonathan's pick).

Mom's Fuzz Problem!


OK Paula and Katie, this one's for you!!! Mom was trying to help reduce our garbage load by chopping up big bricks of styrofoam (to save money). It wasn't as easy as she'd thought! It stuck to her everywhere and took her at least an hour. But, it did prove to be highly entertaining. We had to vacuum it off of her!

Misc. Christmas Pix




We have an Advent Box, and my kids love opening a box each day for a little treat. So far the boys have liked the Whoopie Cushions the best- and Jayden likes her Chapstick. The little kids have a small tree in their room with Christmas books wrapped under it. Each night before bed they'd open one or two for me to read to them. Jake and Jonathan each wrote a Santa list. Jake's for Santa and Jonathan's for me!

Senior Center Christmas Event








Our local senior center had a Christmas "party" with Santa, crafts, balloons, cookies.. We went there after school one day. Jake didn't want to go at first (too "babyish"- even though he still believes in Santa), but was talked into it after his friend Kimber decided to go, too. Jayden loved it and Jake ended up having a fine time, too. He waited in line for nearly an hour to get balloons from the balloon man. He got a penguin for himself and a Rudolph for Jayden. Believe it or not, both balloons are still "alive" as we speak! They were worth the wait!