whobody did not get coal?

warning: I am putting almost THIRTY pictures on this post.

 

I picked my favorites from Christmas morning....and I guess I had a lot of favorites.

 

We really had a great Christmas morning. As usual, Santa was extremely generous and even though the kids aren't perfect, he gave them lots of gifts! FIVE to be exact.  FIVE each...so that made for 20 gifts under the tree....Lucky kids.

 

The kids all actually slept in until after 7...Nash slept til almost 8.

But, I had warned them the night before that we would not be opening presents until at least 8:00....because Cruz is a sleeper....and usually sleeps until at least 8.  I was not willing to open presents without him. 

 

 So, at 7, the older 2 kids had breakfast and then waited for Nash and Cruz to wake up.  When Nash woke up, they were all able to open their stockings.  The kids each had a few little gifts in their stockings...play doh, nerfs, Keaton-watch, Lola-aqua doodle stuff, Nash-Lightning McQueen stuff, and then these bike horns. 

 Let me tell you, these bike horns may quite possibly be the MOST ANNOYING sound ever.

Smart Santa, real smart.

 

 

 

 

They also each got one of these light up spinny things in their stockings....

 And then, Keaton, Lola and Nash each got one of these....which we were all very confused with.  Keaton was sure it was some sort of cartridge to a video game....

 it turned out to be a memory card for their new digital camera! who knew?

 Cruz's stocking was filled with binkies and his toy hammer.....

 Oh my goodness...he is just SO cute (and I love his Christmas jammies).

 I made the kids get together for a picture before we began opening...

 Then I said...okay...now we can open our presents....and INSTANTLY Nash

ripped this one open. 

Let it be known....in our house we always go youngest to oldest....and take turns and open one present at a time.  Nash must have forgotten that...he was SO excited!  (and he loved his really really big dinosaur!)

 Cruz was just happy to stand on his presents...

open, shmopen...these are great climbing toys!

 

The 3 older kids EACH got their own 'real' digital camera. 

This is something that they have all wanted for a long time.

K&L both have some kid fisher price cameras...but they really don't take good pictures at all (not even printable)....and they really wanted to be able to take videos.  I am very glad that Santa brought them cameras...now, hopefully, they won't be messing with MINE all of the time!  Bonus...I didn't realize this until the day after Christmas, but these cameras are also able to take pictures 'underwater'! YIKES.

 Nash got a blue camera, Lola's is pink, and Keaton's is white!

 

Nash helped Cruz with his presents, whether he needed it or not!

 

I thought this was funny...Keaton & Lola took pictures of the

little boys opening their presents!

 

 

 Below is a picture of Keaton opening a Cars video game...it is a steering wheel with a little screen and you drive the car in a race against Francesco! 

In this picture he is doing the "YES!" elbow.  He was very excited!

 This is his first 'video game'. (Our kids are pretty deprived. :)

 

 

 Cruz, well he was just excited about everything!

 

 This is Nash's new remote control car.

 Lola got these "friends" legos...she really wanted this horse stable set...and has diligently been working hard on it since Christmas. 

 She is surprisingly good at following the directions!

 

 

 Lola's favorite gift was a MICROPHONE that can actually take a video of you and play it on your tv.  She has pretty much been singing and talking into it non stop since Christmas. Santa must have thought this would be a great way for her to practice her

rock star skills.

 

 

Santa also got the kids one present to share...the game

HUNGRY HUNGRY HIPPOS.

 

Seriously...Nash was PUMPED he has been talking about this

game for the last couple of months!

 

 

Both Keaton and Lola had made each of us pictures for Christmas....

below is the picture that Lola made for Jason:

 

 

It says "the joy of Christmas brings people together."  and she explained that it is a picture of

Mommy & Daddy kissing!

Hilarious!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Finally, the first game of Hungry Hungry Hippos....

 

We really had an excellent Christmas. The kids were extremely

impressed with

and

grateful for

their gifts....which seemed a lot different than other years.

 

In the past, they would just open their presents...and then kind of have the attitude of

"what else do i get?"

(which seriously made us feel sick!)

....SO...either Santa is giving fewer yet better presents

OR my kids are just learning how to be better gift receivers...

and not quite so selfish and ungrateful. 

 

I hope it is that the kids have changed... as I work hard to try to help our kids to be

'good' people

(so much more than just behavior). 

 

Sometimes I think it would be so much easier if Santa didn't spoil these kids quite so much...or at all...but then I remember that THIS MAGICAL TIME in their childhood is so short and fleeting that sometimes I need to just quit thinking so much and enjoy it.

 

 

Either way, it made for a very enjoyable Christmas day! 

After we opened gifts, Jason's brother Thom came over for lunch (lasagna) and to try out all of the kids new gifts!  Then the rest of the day was spent with just the 6 of us...

just hanging out!  It was perfect.

 

We are heading to Milwaukee tomorrow to have Christmas with Steve & Lisa and

Steve & Tessa & Cora.....the kids are so excited to see them all...

and I think they are excited to stay in a hotel too! 

whobody left something for santa?

I took a few quick pictures of the goodies we left for Santa before

I went to bed on Christmas Eve.

 

First....the spread.

One cookie. One candy cane. One cup of coffee. Nine pieces of celery for the reindeer.

Notice the pink note Keaton stuck to the plate of celery.

"Sorry we didn't have any carrots....Bye Bye."

(I guess we should have bought some carrots at the grocery store....however, I do think the reindeer were satisfied with the celery....)

 

Then, the notes to Santa and our elf, Gilbert:  First...Lola's note to Santa

 

Then her note to Gilbert (our family's elf on the shelf). (She did have a small melt down when she said Good-night to Gilbert on Christmas Eve...she didn't like knowing that she wouldn't see him again til Thanksgiving.)

Notice the sad face on her note....she breaks my heart a little.

 

Now for Keaton's notes.

The kids were very excited for Santa to come...they even all picked up their rooms that day....so Santa didn't see any messy rooms when he stopped in.  Lola was a little concerned that her room would look too messy because she was in her bed instead of it being made. :)

 

I assured her that Santa wouldn't mind that a bit,

 and would just be glad that she was sleeping!

whobody got ready for Christmas?

So... I should have actually written this one before the Christmas Eve one....but I kind of forgot about these pictures until I was looking through them today! Oh well.

Can you tell that I am really trying hard to get all caught up on this year before it is over? I actually decided that during this week of Christmas/New Years I am going to only do the household maintenance stuff (laundry, dishes, meals)....and use the rest of the time to spend with the kids and/or do my blog.  (You might say I am taking 'vacation'.) 

 

 So...here I sit. Nash is napping, Keaton is playing outside, Cruz is playing on the floor in front of me, and Lola is sitting at the table putting together her Lego friends Stable that she got from Santa. (With my occasional help.)

I hope I don't get too used to this 'vacation'....it is actually quite relaxing!

 

SO...onto the good stuff: 

We do a lot of things to prepare for Christmas every year. 

I think traditions are so important, and I want to make sure that the kids realize  that there is a lot

more to Christmas

than just opening Santa's presents. 

One tradition that Jason started when Keaton was a little boy was on the 23rd (or around then) we go up to all of the Nativity scenes at the churches in Garnavillo and the park....and we clear the snow off of the figures and away from the front of the stables.  We usually then sing "Away in a Manger" or "Silent Night" and move onto the next one. The kids really like to "help" and I think that they feel pretty important doing so. 

 

 

Some years the snow isn't very deep and it really doesn't need it...but this year we had a lot of work to do! The kids loved it and did a good job.  I even rewarded them with hot chocolate in the car...and we drove around and looked at some Christmas lights too.  Yes...Cruz came along...but stayed in the car and watched us out of the open window.  I'm sure next year he will be LOTS of help.

 

 

I asked the kids to help me pick up the house before Christmas so that I could just relax and enjoy the holidays. (It is so hard for me to relax when things are messy....something I need to work on....because a totally neat house is NOT realistic when you have 4 kids.....and way too much stuff.)  Anyway....here is Nash 'helping' me pick up toys. (To help, he dumped out a basket of toys...and then carried around the empty basket trying to find some toys to put into it....)

 

Notice the safety glasses....his new favorite toy....safety first, I always say! (pay no attention to the fact that he is wearing only underwear.....he usually gets dressed sooner or later.)

 This picture was taken the night before Christmas Eve....Nash insisted that he wear this shirt...and the Santa hat....then he pretended he was Santa for a little while....

I guess Santa can't help but climb on furniture.

 p.s. I am not quite sure WHY he is running around with no pants on all of the time....we must keep our house warm enough.  One more example of me choosing my battles!

 

Finally, a picture of our Christmas tree by the fireplace.  I have always DREAMED of having a fireplace to sit by when we are opening presents on Christmas morning. We put this in last year, and we have had it on almost every night this winter! I

 love it! (and I love how our tree turned out too!)

 

whobody had a Christmas-y Eve?

I am going to take a little break in sharing about our Disney World

trip to write about our Christmas holiday. 

This WAS the best Christmas ever!

Everything went well...everyone was mostly healthy...and we had lots of good family time.

 

We spent Christmas Eve day just hanging around the house,

 and getting food ready for Christmas Day. 

This time of year, I am SO THANKFUL that we have nowhere to travel for the holidays.  We live close to both of our homes and don't have to travel to go "home" for Christmas.  (Makes for a much less stressful holiday for me, I'm sure.) 

We spent the evening taking part in our usual tradition....we went to Grandma Tractor's church for Christmas Eve service.  Then we headed to her house for dinner and present opening.

 

First...my good looking kids (I'm a little biased) in their church outfits:

This is the FIRST year that I did not get them all special Christmas outfits. We really just wore what we wore for family pictures this fall....and what Lola wore last year for Christmas.  I STILL think they looked awful cute though.

 

The tie for Cruz was a last minute find in his sock drawer...

since the sweater I had planned on putting him in was, ahem,

a little snug. 

NOW seriously...the tie made me giggle all night long.

LOVE IT and LOVE HIM. 

 

 

For some reason, Cruz only wants to have his picture taken by himself....when I try to get a group picture, it just doesn't work as well.

 (Probably because the whole time Nash is yelling "me want to hold little cruzie woozie"...and Cruz is just trying to get away from Nash....)

 

 

Church went alright...Cruz LOVES going to church...I think he really enjoys the music AND the people who sit behind us

(and above us in the choir loft) and smile at him. 

 

At church, Cruz was actually really loud! 

I think he was trying to sing along after the music was over.  

 

We actually got to sit with Jason's family, which the kids really enjoyed. (But, it seems to me that next year we are going to have to spill into another pew.) 

 

I always get a little emotional at the Christmas Eve service.

I'm very thankful that God sent his Son for us....

(obviously, the whole reason we celebrate Christmas)

and, of course, I am also

very thankful for our family

...and amazed at how much my kids grow year to year.  It is crazy to think that last Christmas Cruz was just a teeny tiny 12+ lb one month old!

Sigh.

 

 

FUNNY story from church. 

Father Koopman always invites the

kids up for a childrens' sermon to review the Christmas story. 

He does this in a question answer format....so he asked questions like

 

"where did Mary & Joseph stop for the night?" 

 "what is a stable?"

"how do you think they kept baby Jesus warm?"

 

....and the kids had all of the normal answers for him...

and then he began talking about the shepherds and asked

 

"how do you think the shepherds smelled?" 

and Lola's answer was

"with their noses."

 

The whole congregation laughed...

(I didn't even know this was Lola until after church!)

 

 

After church we headed to Grandpa and Grandma's house.

Mary had a wonderful meal for us (and some good wine and snacks too) and we enjoyed being together with Jason's family. 

The kids, as always, LOVE playing with Mason, Cagney & Devin.

 

We opened presents after dinner....

Cruz was actually very fussy at this point (we are fighting a terrible diaper rash :( and he was feeling some pain)....so I didn't get the best pictures in the world. 

At this point I thought we were going to have to call it a night....but a little snuggling from Mommy and he was back to his happy self. (I loved that too.)

The kids were very excited about all of their awesome presents!

 

 

and yes, Nash still has the same great smile....

Keaton was happy with his presents too...I guess I just didn't catch any good ones of him....

I am sure that Nancy did though....

 

Even Cruz had a great time! This was the first Christmas

 he didn't sleep through....

 

 

He did have fun...BUT...did start to get a little sleepy near the end of the night. 

Once again, a wonderful Christmas Eve with the Reimer family. 

Merry Christmas!

whobody went to epcot and explored the hotel? {dw three}

Our first full day at Walt Disney World began with

Nash's favorite thing about the whole trip. 

Taking a bath in the master bathroom.

Throughout the trip...it seemed like some of his happiest times were

when he was taking a bath! (weird kid.) 

 

The sliding doors behind the boys in the picture above opened up to the master bedroom...which had a tv....which usually had cartoons on it...which Nash thought was "way cool"

 

He also played a lot in the bath with his new Mater....

and seemed to really need that downtime.

 

I don't know if I mentioned this or not, but we actually let all 3 kids share the king bed in the bedroom, and Jason and I slept on the pullout couch in the living room....while Cruz slept in the pack and play...which we moved around the room a lot until we found the perfect spot for it in the 2nd bathroom. (Too bad it took us until the last day to figure that one out). 

The older 3 kids really slept great throughout the trip...even though they were all sharing one bed.    Cruz...well, he had a little bit of a rough time...but he really didn't feel great, so I didn't blame him.  He still did well for sleeping in a pack and play!

 

After the kids were all cleaned up from traveling and ready for the day, we went to Epcot and met my parents there. (They were staying at a different hotel.) 

 

As I said in the first post, Nash fought riding in the stroller throughout the whole trip!  I decided to take a picture of him reluctantly getting a ride.

Looks comfy, huh?

 

 

At Epcot we saw lots of cool things....but Lola's favorite was this shark! It was in play area/aquarium that was at the exit of a Nemo ride...and the kids had SO much fun in here. (Except Nash...he was extremely afraid of this shark.) 

 

 

 There was one spooky part/creature in the Nemo ride which seemed to ruin Nash's ride experiences for pretty much the rest of the trip. I DO think he had the same thing as Cruz...and just didn't feel well the whole time.

This seemed to make him much more uncooperative than normal....

 

 He did enjoy looking at the aquariums though....

 

 

From that point on, Lola was being a complainer......(we later found out why...but I will get to that).  We finally let her ride in the stroller because she was "so, so, so tired". 

 By the way, most of the pictures of Cruz...well, they involved his

 sweet little chubby legs

sticking out of the stroller. He was SUCH a good trooper!

 

 

The whole family 'in transit'...I believe this was actually on our way out of Epcot. 

Everyone looks a little tired, so it must have been close to nap time!

 

except Keaton....he was ready to GO GO GO!!!

 

 

One of the coolest things about our hotel (and actually why I picked it) is that it is on the monorail...which makes it very easy for us and our huge stroller to get to both the Magic Kingdom and Epcot.   The kids love riding the monorail...and it is so handy to not have to fold the stroller up (like we do for the buses)...we could just roll Cruz right on and not have to wake him up or anything! 

 

By the way, when you are a big kid, like Nash, you don't need to sit down on the monorail....you stand and hold onto the poles. 

 

It never failed...no matter HOW TIRED my kids were before they got to the monorail....they weren't too tired to stand throughout the whole ride.  However, we did make a new rule that if you needed a ride in the stroller up the ramp to get TO the monorail...you had to stay in the stroller ON the monorail.  From then on, we only had to push 30 lbs up those ramps....much easier than 80.

 

Here is my sweet 'little' baby Cruz with his binkie and blankie.... As you can maybe see in this picture he had a slight fever...pretty much on and off for the whole week. He was still extremely good and tolerant....but he wasn't extremely happy or smiley. 

He was still a.dor.able!

 

 

 

And...now for the picture of Nash that makes me laugh SO HARD!!!

He grabbed one of the pairs of earmuffs off of the stroller and put them on himself....

I thought it was SO funny how if made his cheeks look. 

CUTE!

He just kept on looking at me like

 "why are you laughing, mom? what is so funny?"

 

We headed back to our room and got Nash down for a nap...Lola tried to sleep, but couldn't...and instead, made me something for me out of pipe cleaners!

Cute! 

 

After the older 2 had some down time in the room reading and drawing....

we headed down with my Mom to check out the pool area. 

 Keaton wore his goggles,

 because he claimed that he could see better with them. 

He was VERY SILLY that day....VERY! 

Behind the kids is the slide that was in the pool outside of our building. 

 

 

 

As I said..Keaton was feeling extremely silly and kept on doing these CRAZY poses...

I had to keep snapping pictures...he was too funny! 

You can tell that Lola wasn't quite 'feeling it' though....and was trying really hard to have fun, but just didn't feel good! 

 Check out Keaton's poses:

 

 

 

 

 

We headed back to the room and woke up Nash so we could head back to the Magic Kingdom for the evening. We had one more character meal at the Crystal Palace with Winnie the Pooh and friends.... here are the boys checking out the ducks while we were waiting for our table to be ready....

Then, I wanted a picture of the 3 kids in front of the castle...

Lola was still forcing the smile...and within minutes of this picture she got sick. 

 

:( 

 

Luckily, she was close to that fence and she was able to keep

her "sick" off of the pathway and in the bushes. 

Poor kid.

 

Right as she got sick, our buzzer rang that our table was ready for supper with Winnie the Pooh.  So...quick decision was made...and my mom, the infamous Grandma Piano, went back to the hotel room with Lola, while I stayed with all of the boys, including Jason and Dad, and ate supper with Winnie the Pooh. 

 

Remember when I said earlier that she was being a complainer? I was really giving her a hard time that morning....because, well, she tends to be very dramatic....turns out she probably WAS not feeling good. :(  Oh well. She went back to the room with Grandma, drank some Sprite and watched cartoons until we got home. 

 

Then we all watched the fireworks together from our balcony and she woke up the next morning feeling JUST fine!

 

 

Next up! Pictures from our meal with Winnie the Pooh and friends.