A Very Mellow Christmas

Christmas Day was a bit blurry for us as our Christmas Eve night was a little too eventful and a little to sleepless.

We had a wonderful Christmas Eve day...went to see a very impressive gingerbread house, took both boys to our Christmas Eve service at church, had both boys tucked into bed by 7:45 so visions of sugarplums could start dancing in their heads. Santa's elves went right to work. We even enjoyed some of Santa's cookies and milk. Then, we heard a "uh-oh mama dada" come from Carter's room. Went upstairs to check on him and poor little man had gotten sick all over his bed. Hello stomach bug.

We quickly asked Santa's elves to undo all they had previously done, restocked the cookie plate, and brought Carter downstairs for to watch the Polar Express for a bit while we cleaned his room and prepared for another stomach episode. An hour later, all seemed to be good. He was very still and calm, but seemd ok. So we tried putting him to bed again. He called out for us about 5 minutes later so I went in to check on him, while Daddy was having his turn with the stomach bug. Lovely. I was scratching Carter's back and then he burped and got sick again. I grabbed the trash can and he got sick 2 more times. Mommy's heart was breaking at this point. So we cleaned everything up again and decided we would have to divide and conquer for the night.

Since Adam already had the bug, we decided to let him sleep with Carter for the night. It seemed that Carter was more comfortable and not as nauseous sitting up (plus I was all out of clean mattress pads at for the toddler bed at this point!) I would take care of Ben and hopefully keep both of us stomach bug free.

Carter and Adam fell asleep on the couch around 11:00. I cleaned everything up and started a very dirty load of laundry. Very thankful for the sanitize cycle of our new washer and dryer. Ben woke up to be fed around midnight. Once he was back asleep, I woke up the other boys and they moved to our bed. Then Santa's elf got right to work. Wow. What a night.

Here is what Santa left for Carter...


And for Ben...


Carter woke up a bit groggy but still asking for Santa Claus. He wasn't bouncing off the walls quite as much as I expected before he came down with the bug but thankfully the worst of the bug was behind us and he enjoyed a mellow Christmas morning.

You can definitely see the tired in his face in this picture.



Here is Ben enjoying some of his new toys.



Carter did most of the opening and then would take Ben's new toys to him. (after testing them out for himself first.)

Carter definitely mastered the art of present opening this year.



We didn't open the last present until 5:00 yesterday afternoon. Thanks family for all of the wonderful gifts and for sending them to us even though we didn't travel this year. :) After reading what germs we had floating around our house this Christmas, you are probably glad we decided to stay put this year. Ha!

Late yesterday afternoon, it started snowing. Our first white Christmas. Here is what it looked like on our front porch this morning.



I think we probably have 5" now. All 3 boys are napping as I write this, but I am thinking the 2 biggest boys will be getting out the sleds after naptime.

Merry Christmas Eve

We visited the legendary Santa yesterday morning at the Children's Museum. There were no tears. And Carter asked Santa for dinosaurs and trucks and for a train for Ben.



We even saw Santa come down the chimney. Pretty cool. Here's hoping Santa can come through with Carter's requests.

After the big picture, it was playtime. I think Carter had a week's worth of no school, sick mama and dada pent up energy inside. He let it all loose at the museum. Running from exhibit to exhibit. So excited. Perhaps there was a little Christmas excitement in his step too.

We visited the apple tree...



Climbed all over the dinosaurs and gave our best dinosaur roar...



And he probably loaded this truck with the life size vegetable 10 times...



Then he would climb in with the vegetables until he would get stuck and ask for help to get out.

Ben chilled in the stroller and even managed to take a decent nap with all of the noise.



Merry Christmas Eve!!!

Holiday Granola

This year we made holiday granola to hand out to some neighbors, co-workers, and friends. It was fun and easy to make and turned out pretty yummy, so I thought I would share the recipe with you.

3 cups old-fashioned rolled oats (not instant)
1 cup sliced almonds
1 cup sunflower seeds
1/2 T ground cinnamon
1/4 t salt
1/2 cup grade A dark amber syrup
2 T butter
1/2 cup craisins
1/2 cup dates
1/2 cup chocolate chips

1) Preheat oven to 325
2) Mix together the first 5 ingredients



3) In a small bowl, stir together the syrup and melted butter.
4) Pour the syrup mixture over the dry ingredients, coating the dry ingredients well.
5) Spread this mixture onto baking sheets (either greased or lined with parchment paper)
6) Bake at 325 for 30-45 minutes until golden brown, stirring occasionally.



7) Add the craisins, dates, and chocolate chips or whatever dried fruit combination you prefer.
8) Eat and Enjoy!



The above recipe makes approximately 5 cups, but I am pretty sure we only had 4 cups left after each batch because we ate so much while we were making it!

jingle bells

Carter's First E-mail

You will never guess who sent Carter an e-mail this morning...

SANTA CLAUS!

Actually, it is a video just for Carter.



Santa talks to Carter about being a good boy, saying please and thank you, and about becoming a big brother this year.



He also hints to Carter that he knows exactly what he wants for Christmas.

Carter told me I could share this special video with you. To see the full message from Santa click here.

Thanks to the folks at Portable North Pole for sending Carter this special note from Santa!

First Blast of Winter

Last year we got LOTS of snow. More snow in one year than I had seen in my previous 30 years. During one of the snows, Mimi was in town, so she kept Carter while Adam and I walked to a nearby sledding hill. We proudly brought our trash can lids and were ready to soar down the snow covered hill. Well, we soared about 5 feet and then came to a stop. No matter how fast of a running start we had, the trash can lids just didn't cut it. So, I invested in a couple of improved sledding options this year. I was hesitant to make the purchase because I was convinced that once I was prepared for the snow, we would not see one flake. So take that, Winter. I bought a sled and we have snow. And Carter LOVED it.

Here he is trying on his new hat and gloves.



Carter and Daddy ready to play.



And play they did.

My Monday

We woke up to this Monday morning...



Just an inch or two of the white fluffy stuff. Enough to coat the trees and yards but not enough to cause any travel problems or tear off any gutters. Perfect.

Still, I decided to stay in with the boys today.

Carter helped me make some homemade holiday granola...



Ben explored the glorious exersaucer (and Carter showed him how all of the toys worked)...



Carter and I worked several puzzles...



And I had several loads of laundry to fold...



It was nice to stay warm and cozy all day and just play with my boys.

Joy & Peace

Hope you are enjoying the Christmas season. I know I have been quiet on the blog front lately. The holiday to do list always seems so long. And the boys naps are not overlapping as much as I would like so I have very few quiet moments during the day and can't bring myself to get out the computer at night. But, I promise to be back soon with pictures, stories, and VIDEO. :)

Turkey Day Crafts

We had a full house for Thanksgiving and I loved every minute of it. I am pretty sure Carter did too. Except for the part where he was supposed to take naps. He didn't like that part very much.

Before we kick into Christmas mode I thought I would take a minute to share a few of our Thanksgiving crafts...

First up, our Thankful Tree. Carter helped me come up with the list of things he is thankful for this year. Here they are:

All the Grandparents
Mama and Daddy
Carter and Ben
Susan, Warren, Robert, & Jack (aka Ra-Ja-Poo-N when Carter says all of their names really fast)
Nelson and Kathleen (our wonderful neighbors)
Ms. Julia and Ms. Megan (his school teachers)
Stickers & Crayons
Jumping, Singing, Talking, Dancing
Puzzles
Hippe, Teddy, Pacis, Blankets (his sleeping necessities)
Food: Oranges, Mini Wheats, Ice, Sausage
Clothes
Tee Tee and Poo Poo (this one was ALL Carter)
Books
A,B,Cs
Dinosaurs
Elmo, Cookie Monster, Bert, Ernie (and duck), Big Bird

That's a pretty good list. I helped him with some of them, but he came up with most of them on his own. Here is a picture of the finished tree.



We also made yummy turkey cupcakes. I found this idea online and the boys had a lot of fun decorating them.





And finally, we made Indian headbands. I bought a sheet of brown foam and a few bags of inexpensive feathers and the boys got to decorate their headbands. Robert made a pattern (green, red, orange, green, red, orange, etc.) Carter just wanted as many feathers as possible and I think Jack was still trying to finish his dinner at the table. Once they were made, we had a parade, of course. The boys found every single instrument we had and paraded around the house.



Surprisingly, Ben just chilled in his swing as the parade went by.