Final Christmas Preparations 2015

We are on the final leg of Christmas complete with some clown shows where each kid tried to out-do the other with their own couch performance. I missed the picture of Ben, who started it all, dressed in the actual clown suit, but hope that there is video of it somewhere!

While at Tractor Supply the other day, the kids somehow talked me into buying the gingerbread barn.  I have to admit it was one of the more successful gingerbread structures we have made.

We had friends over yesterday to play while their parents did some last minute elf chores.  The kids were playing outside and when I went out to join them this is what I found... their team work was impressive.  I think these Maine kids are getting desperate for winter.  Yes, those are pajamas all our kids have on... even having friends over does not stop them from having a pajama day;) I would like to add that it was December 23rd and the kids didn't really need coats... crazy!

Gabe had to work Christmas Eve again this year, but got out in time to join us for soup making.  We had soup for an early dinner with some friends and enjoyed a wonderful Christmas Eve service at our church. The last 3 pictures are of the boys opening their Christmas Eve gift. I tried to explain to Noah that I was taking pictures and he probably wanted actual pajamas on, but he claimed not to care... Audrey is not in the pictures here, but instead in bed.  After the Christmas Eve service at church she was pretty tired, so she went to bed and was asleep before she was aware of missing the fun.  Merry Christmas!

Christmas Preparations 2015- Part 3

This week was a busy one!  We gathered to sing Christmas carols downtown, made more sugar cookies to frost (it's Christmas, right?!?!?) and got ready for our annual Christmas party.  One of the best parts about the Christmas party is getting to see many different people that we, somehow, don't get to see often enough during the year.  The kids really enjoyed themselves and were thrilled with their special gifts from santa.  The next morning we had a fairly quick turnaround for the kids to be in the Christmas pageant at church.  James decided against being Mary this year since a real baby would be involved, and chose to be an angel instead.  Noah was a shepard, Ben started out as a angel, but eventually grew tired of that and decided to be a spectator.  Audrey, being almost 3, didn't know what she wanted to be, but was specific about her outfit- she had shepherd pants (like Noah), a sheep belt and was considering a halo... it was all for naught though because when it came time for the actual performance so refused to join the group on stage:)  After church we did get to play in the "snow" that squalled the night before... we are very ready for "real" winter!!

Santa's Village at Christmastime:)

Last weekend we decided to give Santa's Village a try at Christmastime.  We are glad that we went, but don't feel the need to do it again;)  The warm weather and lack of snow continues, so that may have lead to the crowds.  I have been to Santa's Village many times and have never seen it so busy.  This was a sentiment also shared with several of the park workers.  We arrived 10 minutes after the park opened and had to park near the back of the overflow lot.  The lines on the most popular rides were so crazy long that we had to skip some classic rides, but there was still plenty of fun left!  Being able to walk around without coats in December was pretty great.  Audrey continues to be the daredevil of the group and went on all of the rides several times that we had to work hard to convince her brothers to ride.  Now if she were just tall enough for the bumper cars life would be great;)  Probably the best reason to be at the park around Christmastime is for the amazing light displays and shows.  It is a magical place!

Get Air & Christmas Preparations 2015- Part 2

This week we attended a homeschool group trip to Get Air in Portland, a trampoline park.  Although we would probably never go when there are lots of other kids, this day seemed pretty safe.  Since most other kids were in school, the total of 40 people in the whole arena certainly felt like we had the place to ourselves.  Audrey had a great time, but really wished she were tall enough to join her brothers for the "fun" section of the arena.

On Tuesday, the kids and I were on our way home and saw a rainbow over Wilson Lake.  It has been very foggy around here for a few weeks, so the rainbow was not surprising, but I realized that I had never seen the actual end of a rainbow before.  This picture doesn't do it justice, but it was pretty amazing to see the end of the rainbow go right into the lake.  I instantly regretted pointing it out to the kids when more than one of them started screaming and throwing a fit that we weren't going to get in a boat to go and get the gold...

For the first time in a few years we are putting ornaments on our tree.  The lack of ornaments, since we moved into this house, was mostly laziness on my part, coupled with the fact that the kids weren't able to help AND highly likely to destroy something. This year though, the kids were beyond thrilled and actually really helpful.  It turns out that they were excited to do the mundane job of putting the hangers on all of the ornaments... I despise that job... I guess we will have ornaments from now on.  I wonder how many years until I can let them decorate it completely independently while I sit back and watch...;)

Christmas Preparation 2015- Part 1

Thanksgiving felt late, so we are trying to get a jump on things by decorating cookies AND getting our tree in the same weekend.  We chose to get the tree on Sunday mostly because it was sunny and 50 degrees out... I don't ever recall getting our Christmas tree and being hot on the same day.  Sunday was an eventful day... I was making frosting for our advent party after church (yes, for those keeping track, that is cookie decorating 2 consecutive days), the kids were playing, then Audrey fell. Well, she was standing on James' "computer" (aka pizza box)... he didn't want her to do that... so instead of getting angry and pushing her off (personal growth right here) he gently tried to lift the box with her on it to move her to another location.  Well, she fell, hit her chin on the floor and for the second time in a few months she split her chin. Mercifully, Gabe was home to help because this one needed more than a butterfly.  So, like any good parents who work in pediatrics, we finished our frosting, got everyone dressed for church and drove to Gabe's office.  This was a nice lesson for us in keeping our supplies up to date at home.  We were having a conflict of whether she needed stitching or just glue... and then how much we would traumatize her by us being the ones to stitch her us vs. glue.  Ultimately, we didn't have the right supplies for sutures, so we glued... this was the less traumatic approach for all of us until Gabe glued my fingers to Audrey's face and I had to pull them off (we agreed that I would get to do the glueing next time...).  So, some butterflies and a band aid later we were off and 45 minutes late for church...

The kids enjoyed the advent crafting/lunch, so we decided to power through to get the tree.. our poor luck must be over for the day... (lesson learned here: with 4 kids injuries are ALWAYS imminent... the odds must overwhelmingly support this). We were on the search for a Christmas tree, it was warm and muddy. Ben tripped and started crying, when I came back to his row, Gabe was holding him with blood dripping out of his mouth. He had tripped over a tree stump and a branch caught his lip/gums.  We evaluated that it was messy and painful, but not life threatening, so we all walked *carefully* back down the hillside and to our car.  When the kind lady who worked there spotted us and said, "No luck finding a tree? Oh no, what happened?!" she was not comforted by our calm demeanor. We took him to the truck, cleaned things up with gauze and he was just fine. She brought some ice for him, took one look at Ben's face and then Audrey and made a kind/humorous comment, but she was probably debating about calling DHS... Especially when we went back out to continue our search.  Everyone was fine at the end of the day and after we washed an entire load of soiled clothes, we got to sit back and admire our tree:)

The last picture here, I just couldn't resist.  The kids take turns going out to open the chicken coop when they wake up.  On this morning it was particularly cold out, so I told James to make sure he put on plenty of warm clothes.  When I looked out my bedroom window this is how I saw him... Winter boots, winter coat, gloves and even a balaclava, but no pants... it is a good thing we live in the country where our neighbors can't see these things;)