Christmas: The Main Event

Finally, it was Christmas morning.  We told the kids that we would go downstairs when everyone was up, but no earlier than 7.  Luke was awake shortly before 7 and when I went to get him, the girls were sitting in their doorway.  After I fed Luke, I told them they could come into our room and hang out with us until Jack woke up.  Jack slept until 7:30ish.  I wonder when kids start waking up at 5 on Christmas morning?  Not that I am complaining.

I went down first and plugged in the tree.  The kids came down excitedly behind me.  Thomas tried to capture it on video, but for the second year in a row, the video did not come out.  So, just picture what you think of when you hear the expression, "like a kid on Christmas morning" and that is what our kids looked like on Christmas morning.  We opened up our stockings and then I went to make breakfast.  The kids had decided they wanted breakfast casserole. We had already told them we were going to do a prolonged Christmas morning.  Instead of opening our gifts all at once, we were going to open a present every 30 minutes.  We told the kids this would give them an opportunity to enjoy each gift they opened and they were (surprisingly) on board.  We were going to cut back this year, and I guess we sort of did, but the kids still had about 17 presents each.  Many of those were small and that includes the gifts from relatives, but it was still a bigger number than we really wanted for them.

Anna's first gift was a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle blanket.  Jack opened some Minecraft figures and Kara opened a Littlest Pet Shop toy (don't worry, I'm building to a point here and don't plan on writing about all 70ish presents).  Anna spread her blanket on the floor and sat on it and Jack and Kara immediately began playing.  We picked our second gifts and Anna opened a largish lego set, Kara got an Elsa costume, and Jack also got legos. Anna wanted to open her legos and play on the family room floor.  We told her that she would need to go into another room because there just wasn't enough space to play where we were opening gifts.  With nothing to play with, she then muttered the best line of the day, "well, I guess I will just go sit on my blanket then." She stated this in a very droll voice and with a perfect sarcastic lift, knowing it was going to be another 30 minutes until the next unwrapping.  I am not sure it translates, but Thomas and I found it absolutely hilarious! That will be the new line we say to each other whenever we are not pleased with how something is unfolding.

Anna asked Thomas to swaddle her in the new blanket

Thomas set the timer on his watch and we continued unwrapping every 30 minutes.  We enjoyed a leisurely breakfast, Skyped with my sister and her family, ate way too many cookies, and just generally enjoyed the relaxed pace.  Around 3, we sped it up to every 15 minutes and then at 4 we were ready to see what Santa brought.  Each child had two gifts from the Big Guy.

Jack opened his first Santa gift to find a Lego Castle set.  He took it and literally ran into the basement. We didn't see him for another 2 hours and that was only because we made him come up for dinner. He had no interest in his Kindle, the "big" gift from Mom and Dad, or his new Wii game, which surprised us.  Anna got her requested game of Operation and some Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle dolls and Kara got the Doc Mobile and a Leap Pen.  Everyone was very pleased.

Of course, Thomas and I also got some great gifts.  Thomas is a fantastic gift-giver, it is one of his many talents.  He always manages to get me something very special.  This year it was a book called, "What I Love About You," filled with many happy memories, some funny and some sappy.  As an example, I just turned to a random page, which says:  Kori is sweet as Caroline Ingalls, strong like bull, smart as anyone, and brave as Mel Gibson in "Maverick" (he who runs away, lives to fight another day). What an awesome gift!  He also gave me a beautiful ring, earrings, the fitness watch I wanted (see, New Years Resolutions Blog--coming soon), and lots of other awesome stuff.
I gave him an old US Map (from 1793), a pen carved from a tree planted in 1770 at Mount Vernon, an old comic book and some smaller stuff.  We joke that Thomas' Christmas list is that of a ten-year old boy: comic books, baseball cards and legos. Fortunately, his mom sent him baseball cards and he got some legos from both the kids and me, so he was happy.  Whoever says Christmas is for the kids does NOT live in our house.

That brings us to the youngest member of the family.  Luke was not too impressed with Christmas. He managed to rip some of the paper, but not when it was the paper you were asking him to rip.  He was not very interested in his presents, although he seems to like them now. Overall, I would say he was mostly upset about all the changes in his routine. He was up a bit earlier than normal, missed his morning nap and had his play area overtaken by the rest of us.  Fortunately, he is a good-natured little fellow, so he has bounced back.  And, since it was his first Christmas, a few bonus pictures of the little Elf.

The last two presents were addressed to the whole family.  One was from Twinkles and was the game Parents Versus Kids, Disney Edition.  There was also a present from Santa, but no one was very interested, at least not at the same time.  Jack was busy with his legos and the girls were playing their Kindles.  It did not get opened on Christmas day.  On the 26th, the girls woke up and immediately wanted to play the Kindles.  We told them they had a few days of unrestricted use before the limitations began and they are taking full advantage.  Jack woke up and ran to the basement, shouting that he was "heading down to build."  It was 10 before anyone mustered any interest in breakfast.

On the 27th, we made them go outside and play for a while and then we finally opened the last gift. It was a karaoke machine with a microphone!  We immediately put it to use with an awesome impromptu concert.  Seriously, it is so much fun!  Jack is the least interested, but Thomas got him to sing along to a Weird Al song, The Saga Begins.  Anna and Kara and I have all had a "rehearsal" in preparation for tonight's show.  It is so much fun (so true, I had to repeat)!  Also, Luke clapped last night for the first time during the karaoke show.  I guess he was waiting for something profound to display this skill.  I guess Thomas rendition of "Achy Breaky Heart" was the push he needed!

Singing some Weird Al

Favorite gifts:
Anna: Operation and the Karaoke machine
Jack: Legos and Kindle
Kara:  Doc Mobile & everything
Kori: the aforementioned book
Thomas: the map & pen

Twas the Week Before Christmas

I have been a true blogging slacker this year.  I haven't written very often and I feel as though what I have written has not been very good.  I'm not sure who to blame, certainly not myself, so I will just say it was the fault of those pesky kids.  Of course, the year is not over, so if I were to do two blogs a day for the last week, I would be almost on goal.  This seems more appropriate for my New Year's blog, than my Christmas blog.  So, I will leave it at that for now.

Ahh, Christmas.  How I love you.  To wrap up the Holiday adventures we went to Mount Vernon's Family Christmas on the 20th.  We had a great time.  One of my favorite parts of the night was when one of the workers asked Jack if he knew anything about George Washington. Jack responded, "of course," and proceeded to rattle off more facts than I am guessing many of the grown-ups knew (i.e. he was born at Pope's Creek, he also lived at Ferry Farm, he was a great General, the first president, John Adams was his vice President, etc).  When he was done, the man praised him and asked, "have you heard the story of the cherry tree."  Jack responded, "yes, but it didn't really happen, some author just made it up."  Thomas was very proud of his history protege.

The kids were taught part of a 18th Century dance, we ate barbecue on the front lawn, listened to carolers (Anna is convinced her two student teachers were part of the group, but she wouldn't go up to them to confirm), toured the house, saw Aladdin, the Christmas Camel, and enjoyed the fireworks. They had troops showing what a winter encampment might have been like and troops riding around on horseback.  George, who should be addressed as Mr. President or General, and Martha were out and about.  On the way home, we stopped at Krispy Kreme, thus making it a perfect evening,  The only drawback was that poor Luke was very cold.  When I went inside to feed him, his legs were like ice cubes.  We had him in jeans and a blanket on top of him, but in retrospect, I should have put layers on his legs like I did for the rest of him.  Because it was dark, we didn't take any pictures.  So, here is a random one of Twinkles, our Elf on the Shelf.

We relaxed the rest of the weekend.  On Sunday, Thomas was outside playing with the older kids when Jack ran in to get me.  He told me that Thomas needed me right away and that he was hurt.  I assumed it was some sort of a trick, but Jack was insistent. I later learned that Jack also assumed it was some kind of trick and made Thomas confirm his seriousness before he came to get me, which I think must say something about the kind of tricks Thomas is known to play.  Although, in his defense, I don't think they usually involve injuries, he is not that kind of jokester. I followed Jack outside and saw Thomas writhing on the ground in obvious pain.  He had been running when his ankle simply collapsed with a "crunch" underneath him.  He refused to go to the hospital. We did the ice and elevation and hoped for the best.  Monday, he could bear a little weight, so he decided it was probably just a bad sprain.  Fast-forward to today, Saturday, and he is still in pain.  It is still swollen and bruised and he is still refusing to go the doctor.  However, he has said he will go on Monday if it does not improve significantly.  So, stay tuned to see whether or not his procrastination was reasonable.  I just took these pictures for the blog, so the bruising is how it looks on Day 6.  I wish I had a picture of the swelling and bruising on Day 3.  That was an (awful) site to behold.

Monday was the kids first day off from school.  We did some holiday baking and wrapping and Anna resumed her dance classes.  She had been missing dance, so I e-mailed the studio owner and learned a new class had just started.  Anna was a bit nervous to go without Kara and was very excited when one of our neighbors turned out to be a classmate.  Tuesday, was more more of the same.  Each night we watched a Christmas movie. I tried to convince the kids to go look at lights, but they just weren't interested.  It was pretty funny to watch them watching, "Home Alone."  Jack just cackled the whole way through, at one point, exclaiming, "it's like a real life Tom and Jerry!!!"  We also watched Elf and The Santa Clause.

On Christmas Eve, we did our traditional Christmas cookie baking.  Like many families, my mother always did rolled sugar cookies for Santa on Christmas Eve and I am happy to pass on the tradition. Thomas joined in and even Luke enjoyed sitting at the table with us, especially when he got his hands on the floury spatula.

I wasn't pay attention to what I was doing while making the frosting and instead of locking my mixer into place, I turned it on and the sugar went everywhere!  Despite my  best somewhat lazy efforts at cleaning, the floor is still sticky.

Because the kids were so good all day, we let them open one present each.  They all chose a present from their Grandma Kathie and Grandpa Dave.  We had received a huge box from them a couple of days earlier, that was filled to the brim with gifts and they were anxious to get to them.  After all that excitement, we read The Night Before Christmas and called it a day.

Anna opened a headband maker

Jack was thrilled to receive Lincoln Logs

Last, but not least, Kara with a Littlest Pet Shop toy

Stay tuned for the Christmas morning post!

Holiday Fun (Photos Galore)

Like just about everyone, we LOVE the time between Thanksgiving and New Years. This year, we had every weekend accounted for with some great activities.  The first weekend, we took our annual Norfolk trip.  This year, we went down for Thomas' drill weekend.  Unfortunately, that meant he had to work during the day.  But, there just wasn't enough time to make the trip twice in December.

We left after shortly after the kids got out of school on Friday and arrived around 8pm. Thomas checked us into our lodging and we headed to the apartment.  When we got there it appeared as though the apartment was already occupied.  Thomas went in and saw that they had given us a single room in a shared apartment.  Can you imagine that with the 6 of us? Fortunately, it was just a mix-up, and we were back in our $76/night home about 30 (stressful) minutes later.  We had a nice 4-bedroom apartment.  It was exactly like the one we stayed in last time, so everyone ran up to "their" rooms.  We had to adjust a bit because of Luke, so Anna and Jack happily decided to bunk together. Kara was thrilled that her room had a chair and a laundry basket. She decided that meant her room was like a hotel room in and of itself and was thrilled with the arrangement. She insisted on using the laundry basket and invited everyone to throw away their trash in her trash basket.  Ahhh, the little things!  It was very sweet.  The weather greatly interfered with our plans, on Monday morning we went out to breakfast, took Thomas to work and headed to the Children's Museum in Portsmouth instead of the zoo.  We were going to just go for the morning and meet Thomas for lunch, but the kids were having too much fun.  We ended up staying until Thomas was done for the day.  That meant no naps for Luke, but he is always so happy to be out and about that he was fine.

Anna surrounding herself with a giant bubble in the bubble room

Kara loved pretending to drive the bus

"Fishing" was Jack's favorite activity.

Hanging out in the music room

Luke helped to check Jack out in the grocery store

Jack playing on the stage while Anna and Kara manned the lighting

The massive train room

Luke loved playing with the train tables

Faces of Jack.  I loved this thing.  I want one for our playroom.

Kara and Anna in full profile

We went to Chick-Fil-A for dinner and then did the Botanical Gardens drive through lights.  As always, it was completely amazing!  We read that they have been nominated as one of the 10 best in the country.  There were a few new elements and even with the drizzle, it was still great and everyone loved it.

Sunday was another rainy day, which left me with few options.  I thought about taking them to a movie, but wasn't sure how Luke would hold up.  So, we did something I swore we would never do. Chuck-E-Cheese.  I told the kids I had a surprise for them and as I was driving looking for it, the girls noticed it and Jack said, "Mom, isn't taking us there.  She would NEVER take us to Chuck-E-Cheese!" It wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be, but my threshold was really, REALLY, low.  We still have a bunch of tokens left, so I am even willing to try the one out near us.

Luke and Chuck

Thomas got off a bit early and we headed home.  It wasn't nearly the trip we've had in previous years, where we have gone to Christmas Towne at Busch Gardens or other Williamsburg activities, but it is always nice to go and show the kids where they were born and we do love the Botanical Gardens.  

The next weekend, Thomas and I had a date night on Friday.  We went out to dinner (Texas Roadhouse) and then went to Sotterley for Christmas by Candle Light.  They have people act out what was happening on the plantation in years past.  It was a nice evening away.

Saturday, we were back at Sotterley for their family event.  We did a tractor ride down to the river, saw the animals in the petting zoo, walked around for a while and did several crafts.  It was a lot of fun.  Saturday night was the Darrow's annual Christmas party.  Alecia and Josh always do an awesome job. We built gingerbread houses, ate delicious food, played a Christmas themed game of Family Feud and another game where we had to sing and then did the white elephant gift exchange. We brought some candles that Thomas was really reluctant to give-up.  He wanted them back, but despite our best efforts, they kept getting stolen away.  We ended up with an iTunes gift card and some toffee.  A fun time was definitely had by all.

Making a bird feeder at Sotterley

Sunday (we are up to December 14th!) we went to Cookies with the Clauses in Solomons.  It was fantastic!  We decorated gingerbread cookies (they were from a local bakery and were delicious), made crafts and then Mrs. Claus read us a story.  After that, Santa called up each child by name and gave them a small gift.  It cost $8/person and I felt like they must have spent more than they made. .  Mr. and Mrs. Claus were very personable.  When a kid asked for electronics, they talked about a waiver parents have to sign and how kids have to be in the top 5% to even qualify.  They were just really funny and clever.  The kids and the parents were all very entertained.  Luke even made a friend!  There was another baby there that was just 2 weeks younger than Luke.  They kept grabbing each other and laughing.  We all had such a good time!  The place was beautifully decorated and they even had fake snow blowing as you walked in.  Really, I just can't say enough good about it.

Decorating

Kara's finished product

Luke and friend

Luke's first visit with Santa

Four cute kids

This week in school has been full of fun for the kids.  The first grade had cookie decorating parties on Wednesday.  I went in to help Jack's class.  Because of his food allergies, I like to be in his room when there is food around.  Thursday was Kara's Kindergarten sing along. Her class sang "Must be Santa" and "Rudolph, the Red Nosed Reindeer."  She did a wonderful job and loved getting dressed up.  I even let her wear my Christmas lights earrings and necklace.  Today is pajama day for all their classes. They get to watch the Polar Express and eat popcorn.  Everyone was eager to go to school all week long.  Earlier in the week we made treat bags and some gifts for their teacher, 17 gifts, of varying size, in total. They really enjoyed playing Santa and handing things out to their favorite school personnel.  

Pajama Day!

This weekend we are going to go to Mount Vernon for their evening family event and we are hoping to go to the Christmas Village, a new activity at the county fairgrounds.  Every night we do our Christmas countdowns, Advent Calendars, and the Naughty or Nice ornament (which almost always unfairly tells Kara she has been naughty, at which point she almost always gets very upset).  

Grandpa Kurk's Visit (Thanksgiving Week 2014)

We have had a lot of fun lately.  There were some things I really wanted to write about, like our family date night to dinner and a haunted house.  We also really enjoyed some other fun Fall activities, like our annual trip to Bowles Farm.  There was an amazing performance at the kids' school featuring Suna, the Artist in Residence from Uganda.   And, then there is the everyday stuff of watching Luke turn from a tiny baby into a bigger baby with a personality all his own.  But, I am giving up.  None of that is going to be memorialized in the blog.  I am starting fresh and writing about the most recent thing that happened--a visit from Grandpa Kurk.

He flew in late last Sunday.  The kids had their Fall Festival on Monday, so we sent them to school. Thomas had to work, so Kurk and I met him for lunch at Panera and then went grocery shopping (thrilling for Kurk, I'm sure).  It was a pretty calm, uneventful day.  Well, except my Dad was having heart surgery in Florida, which made me a bit anxious and nervous.  Fortunately, he is doing well. Tuesday, we kept the kids out of school and went to Washington's birth place, always a fun drive and outing. Wednesday, the kids were out of school, but Thomas had to work again.  I did some Thanksgiving cleaning and preparation and we went out to Chick-Fil-A for dinner.  Apparently Thanksgiving Eve is the one day of the year the place isn't packed.  Hopefully, we can remember that.

While at Panera, we discovered that Luke REALLY likes pickles.  He cried when it was time to go and we tried to take the pickle from him.

Thanksgiving Day was fun.  We got up early and Thomas and I worked in the kitchen.  As is our tradition, we watched the Macy's Parade (on a delay, because there are way too many commercials), but the kids weren't that interested this year.  They mostly played in the basement.  We had our friends and neighbors, the Hoopers, and Joey, my friend from work, over.  Joey came over last Thanksgiving and I am sorry that she will be moving next year and this was her last Thanksgiving with us. Thomas made his famous garlic smashed potatoes and a delicious pumpkin cake.  I did the turkey, stuffing, cranberry 'salad,' and an apple pie.  The Hoopers brought a ton of food and Joey brought cookies and a really delicious butternut squash dish.  We could have easily fed another 10 people. In fact, we are just now starting to run out of leftovers and we have had turkey for the past 6 out of 8 lunches/dinners.  Fortunately, Thanksgiving is Thomas' favorite holiday and neither of us are complaining.  The food was great and the company even better. Definitely, the recipe for a successful holiday.

Since the sales started Thanksgiving night, Thomas and I decided to go out after the kids were in bed. I needed a new coat and got one at J.C. Penney.  Then, we went to Target and didn't buy much of anything, but still managed to spend a ton of money.  We are exactly the suckers they are marketing to!  It was really nice to have Kurk to stay home with the kids, otherwise, it isn't possible for the two of us to just go out like that.  

Friday, we were going to go to St Mary's City, but it was just too cold.  We ended up buying a Christmas tree instead and decorating it.  It is so fun to go through all our ornaments and the memories attached to so many of them.  The kids each have their special ornaments that they like to put on the tree.  When we were done, Anna wanted us to hold hands and sing Christmas carols, so we did.  It was fun and a memory I will cherish.  The kids are just so sweet and find so much pleasure in simple things.  Luke made some good progress on crawling, mainly because he really wanted to get to the ornament boxes we kept (meanly) moving out of his path.

Luke searching for his first Christmas tree

With the finished product

Saturday, we (well, Thomas and Kurk) put up the outside lights.  We went out to dinner and then surprised the kids with a trip to Flat Iron Farms.  Kurk treated them to pony rides and we had a great time walking around the antique area and seeing the animals and lights.

Luke helping Daddy with the lights

Kara with the 1951 Ambulance

Today, Kurk had to fly home.  His flight didn't leave until 3:40 and it was at Reagan, so we decided to squeeze in a trip to Mount Vernon.  After we strapped Luke into his stroller, we called for the girls, who were playing in the grass in front of the car.  Kara ran into the parking lot and almost got hit by a car.  Naturally, we yelled at her to stop and then reminded her about being cautious in parking lots. Whenever she gets embarrassed, she covers it with a tantrum.  And, apparently, she was really embarrassed.  She refused to walk, so I carried her, crying, in front of all the tourists.  At one point, I told her that George Washington would be sad to see her acting this way, to which she loudly responded, "I don't care.  I don't care about George Washington... or the Revolutionary War."  This amused the  school group we were passing.  Unfortunately, their chuckles and stares only made Kara madder.  She refused to do the house tour.  Anna didn't want to go without her, so the girls sat outside while the boys, including Luke, saw the house. The positive was that I got some nice pictures of Anna.  Kara kept wandering away (but, not too far) and a security guard must have thought I was a neglectful mother, because he followed her and stayed within a few feet of her (she was mostly sitting on a bench, so I know he wasn't worried about her doing something she wasn't supposed to). For the record, I also kept a close eye on her, I just did it from a distance.  She was wearing a neon jacket and I made sure to always keep her in my line of vision.  Finally, her mood improved and we were able to enjoy walking the grounds.  Then, Thomas chose to race the kids and Kara ran right into him, causing her to fall on the ground.  Once again, there were a few smiles from strangers and she got embarrassed.  We were able to cajole her out of that potential tantrum with the promise of lunch, but it was a rough outing for our little Kare Bear.

One of my fun pictures of just Anna

And, here she is right on the center front steps

Another family shot with Kurk

The site of the racing injury.  It is amazing to see how much land surrounds Mount Vernon.

After that interesting visit, it was on to the airport and guess what we passed?  A Krispy Kreme!!  A dozen (well, minus a couple) of Christmas donuts are now sitting on our counter.

To pass the time on the drive home, we played the "guessing game," which is a common car game.  One person asks a question and declares a prize (a high five, a hug, the choice of what to watch during nightly television, etc.) and the others in the car have to guess.  Questions are usually very random, for example, "what color am I thinking of" or "who is my favorite friend at school," and it is a game the kids generally love.  The other favorite Wilson car activity (because we are mean and only let them watch a movie if the drive is more than 3 hours) is using Rhapsody and going around the car and letting each person choose a song to play.  We can count always count on Taylor Swift, Lady Antebellum, and Weird Al getting playtime. 

And, I am now all caught up on my blog!