Christmas 2012

 Here are a few shots I got of Christmas morning. The rest of the day was a blur since I pretty much didn't get any sleep the previous night. I did, however, have the mental capacity to put together this sweet Lego helicopter. This is my first big (40 steps) Lego creation. I'm a fan. Who knew?! 

 Tyler is most pleased with the "Gushers" Santa gave him. Nice.

 Trains for Zach. This kid is crazy for trains. That's pretty much all he talks about. He sometimes just throws the words "train tracks" into sentences. It's so funny. He played with his trains basically all day,and when he wasn't playing with them, he was talking about them.

 Bouncy House!

 

So ya, Christmas was great. The kids had fun and, to me, that's a success:) Now, on to the New Year! Here's hoping 2013 is way cooler than 2012!

Christmas Eve...

 The kids seemed just as excited for Christmas Eve as they were for Christmas Day this year. Below are a few things we did.

We winded down all of our advent calendars. We have this gingerbread house that grandma gave us that has a cute little ornament in each window that you hang on it. Tyler looked forward to opening up a window each day this month.

 We have "the blocks". Whitney was usually the block turner.

 We have the chocolate advent calendars that aunt Kristen gets them.

 And we have this felt calendar that I made this year.

 

I've started the tradition of making Jammie pants for the kids each year. 

 I try to find a fabric that reminds me of the kids. I got doodle hearts and birds and flowers for Whit, because she's my little artist and likes to draw. I got motorcycles for Tyler and Trains for Zach for obvious reasons:)

 

 

We also tracked Santa all day on the computer. The kids had fun playing the Christmas themed games on the NORAD website.

For Santa, we made some donuts and sent him along with some root beer. Pretty yummy stuff... 

 

 Whit left this cute note for Santa.

 Yay for Christmas Traditions!

Oscar...

 This year, we had a little elf named Oscar come to our family to keep an eye on the kids and to report each night to Santa about how the kids were behaving. He showed up at our doorstep one day and the kids were pretty intrigued...

 

Each morning, we found him doing silly things or just hiding- trying to spy on us. Here are some pictures of where he was and what he did...

 He had a note on this day for the kids...

 He left this message for Whitney on a day when Whitney was upset because she thought he had decided to leave our house because the boys were being twits and we couldn't find the elf.

See ya next year, Oscar!

Tyler is finally 5!

 For some reason, it seems like Tyler has been 4 for a long time. Maybe it's because he's been asking how many days until his birthday since November. He started out his day with a little crepe paper, of course. (I really need to get a new shtick for birthday decorating.) Our little elf was there to greet him. More on him later.

 

  Tyler picked blueberry Pop-Tarts for his birthday breakfast. Glad it wasn't mandatory eating for the rest of us...

 I made him a motorcycle cake. You can't really see the motorcycle guy on the top, but he's there.

 Some of the faithful party-goers...

Presents! Tyler was so happy about all his gifts. Thanks to all the grandparents who spoiled him! He's one happy kid!

And, last but not least, the yearly picture with Mom that, as you can see, Tyler really looks forward to. Love that forced smile!

 Happy Birthday little buddy. We love you "more than a billion willion!"XOXO

Santa and the Mrs. at the Library...

Santa made an appearance at the library this year. The kiddos thought it was pretty cool. Whitney knew it wasn't the real Santa because apparently his beard didn't look right and he wasn't fat enough...I can't say that I disagree. Mrs. Clause came too and read lots of books to the kids. The kids even got to tell him what they wanted for Christmas.

 I love this picture. Whitney is all business when it comes to this Santa Clause thing-always has been.

 LOL, this picture just makes me laugh...good times.

Tree...check!

 Dec. 1st, tree is up! Here are some pics of that event:

 Not quite sure how I didn't see that gaping hole in the front of the tree until now... Looks like the tree might come alive and eat someone. Cool. She's up and as of now, she looks quite a bit different since there have been some ornament casualties and some light malfunctions, lol! Strugglin' in the tree department!