Angel's Hands Christmas Party

One thing my kids look forward to every year is the Angel's Hand Christmas Party.  We always go and usually we regret part of it because Mason is typically miserable from the noise and chaos.  This year it wasn't so bad!  Ezra was tall enough to participate and do all of the rides and games.  That really made it fun.  Victoria was not interested in doing much so she hung out with Mason a lot and that also made things more fun for us parents!  We started at the bumper cars and Ezra was dying to try it.  I was hesitant, but the kid operating the ride said he'd be fine and that if I was riding I could just follow him and jump up and grab him if I felt like I needed to.  I did not need to.

He was surprisingly a great driver.  He thought it was the greatest day of his life.  He drove a big car all by himself.  He was so fun to watch.

A rare picture of Mason at the Angel's Hands party is him not screaming or crying.   We didn't really even have to put in his headphones.  It was wonderful.  He was cute and fun.  The only part he typically is OK with is the movie part.  That is his favorite.  We saw 'Arthur Christmas' but all Mason really was interested in was the popcorn!

We saw Santa but only Mason was really happy about that.  My kids all wait to see 'the real Santa' at Michelle's house.  This Santa was just a helper and didn't really count.  They were happy to get beanies though.

Ezra actually liked seeing Santa and asking for his balloons.  Santa was confused and told him he could ask for another toy or something.  Really?!  When the kid wants balloons, stick with balloons!

This visit to see Santa Ethan decided that he wanted a BB gun.  What the?!  Ethan is funny.  That one came out of nowhere too!

Victoria was nothing but mad that we MADE her stand near Santa.  She was in no way in a good mood this day.  It started OK, but I don't really know what happened.  By Santa she was a grump.  Santa was nice enough to sit and let her just stand by him for a picture.  She looks cute at least!

After a full day of playing and roller blading and movie watching, our kids were exhausted.  Most of them slept on the drive home.

Santa Visits

Every Christmas our kids are lucky enough to see and visit 'the real Santa' at my sister's house.  It's pretty amazing how Santa has the time to come and visit just them and sing songs with them every year.  The best part of it is the tradition that has been made.  I am a tradition lover.  The kids know that we are having Santa come to see just them and they are excited about it all Christmas season.

The kids wait by the door to try to sneak up on Santa when he comes to see just how he gets there.  They always seem to miss him.

 Santa brings in his bag filled with bells to sing songs with the kids.  He magically knows all of their names and what they like to do.  After all, he's seen them every year!

 Ethan always has to make sure that Mason is involved.  He dragged him in to get the best seat for all of the Santa action.  Mason smiled and laughed.

 All the kids get a chance to sit on Santa's lap.  Victoria was not very sure about that part.  She was convinced that it was going to be Spencer or my dad.  When Santa arrived and they were there greeting him it really confused her.  She has struggled this whole season whether or not she believed in Santa Claus for real.  She asked him for a pet.  I think it was a dog or a cat.  Santa turned to me and said, "pets are things that Santa has to ask parent's permission for.  What do you think, mom?"  I just shook my head.  I'm a mean mom I suppose.  She really thought it was great.  She was very interested in what everyone asked Santa for.

When Ethan sees Santa he always pulls out a surprise gift he wants.  This year was no different.  He has been asking us all year for electric scooters, but to Santa he asked for a mini motorcycle.  Nope, sorry dear.  Not even close!  Santa asked whether or not Ethan is being good at home.  He got all embarrassed and looked at me when he said/asked, 'yes?'  It was funny.  He's a great kid!

 Mason really gave Santa a workout.  He is a hard kid to sit on your lap.  He liked to play with Santa's jingle bells and pet Santa's beard.  Santa is a very warm, cuddly man and Mason loves him!  It was cute to see him so excited and happy sitting with Santa.

 For a minute I was worried that Ezra might be nervous, but I was dead wrong.  He wanted a lot of turns.  He just wanted to sit and chat with Santa.  He of course asked for his balloons and his cupcakes.  He's still a bit confused that Christmas is a little different than his birthday, but Santa promised balloons.  What a fun Christmas it will be!

 The part of Santa's visit that us parents love and the kids really do not love is the photos.  We always take a family pictures with Santa.  I'm sure that one day they will like it much more than they do now.  Merry Christmas Santa!

 My sweet Grandma came to the party and had to have a turn on Santa's lap.  All 94 year old granny's should see Santa I think.

 My parents with Santa.

 After the Christmas songs with the jingle bells Santa wanted his bells back.  Ezra was not sure about that.  He really just wanted to keep Santa's bells.  I told him I'd take his picture so he would remember Santa's bells.  He seemed good with that.

Family Christmas Parties

I think we see my family more around Christmas for all of our many parties than we do the rest of the year combined!!  We have a lot of things we like to do and we schedule our 3 parties before Thanksgiving to be sure that everyone can make it.  The first party we had was our 'progressive dinner.'  This is where we start at one family's house and we eat there and make our way through every one's homes eating and enjoying their Christmas decorations.  It's a great way to eat a lot over 3-4 hours and see every one's homes!

 This is one of my favorite nights.  I love our parties with my family.  It just makes me sad that we let the rest of the year go without really getting together so much.

 Ethan and his best pal, his 'Grampy.' 

 We get together another night to exchange gifts and ornaments.  Santa usually makes an appearance that night (more on that later.)  The kids all draw names to exchange an ornament and a small gift.  They had a great time opening the gifts with each other.  My Grandma Pete was able to come to most of our parities this year.  She is a great sport.  She sat and chatted with Mason for quite a while.  It really was very sweet to watch.  He talked back and she was so tickled that he would speak to her!

 Mason's happy place is sitting on my mom's lap.  They kiss and make-out quite a bit.  I only say that because Mason has some pretty sloppy kisses.  He likes to lick my mom's chin.  It's so darling how he hears her voice and moves as fast as his little broken body can carry him to get to her.  He gets so excited and giggles and kicks around until she picks him up and plays with him.

 I think the most anticipated event we had this year was the adult ornament exchange.  This was taken to a whole new level last year when Spencer pulled out all the stops.  We draw names and the only rule is that you have to make the ornament for the person you draw.  Last year Spencer wired lights into a felt Christmas tree he sewed.  This year when my mom drew his name she had so much anxiety over getting it just right!  She made him this lego mobile that really doesn't even fit on our tree it's so big!  We wired it to our light over our table! 

 Spencer shopped for parts and ideas for months and finally came up with this little star.  It looks so unassuming, but each of the little points, when pressed, plays a Christmas song that he himself recorded.  It is the funniest thing I have ever seen.  He had to build a speaker box to mount inside so that the sound quality was up to par. 

 I made my dad a picture framed photo of him with James Taylor.  I put lights around the picture and once I did that the picture was too dark so I added the book light to spotlight the picture!  It was heavier than I had hoped, but it was pretty good!

 Mikey had my name and went for quantity.  He put eyelet screws on the entire cast of Nightmare Before Christmas.  They just kept coming out of the bag!  It was pretty funny.

 This was the display of all of the ornaments made.  Heidi made Alain an dream home out of Popsicle sticks, Michelle made Heidi a lego replica of her boat, Alain made mom a copper reindeer, Dad made Karie a sea shell ornament (not pictured) and Karie made Rusty something and Rusty made Mikey something.  We never got to see those because Rusty couldn't make it this year.

 Another tradition that we manage to do every year is we dress up and read the nativity.  This year it was more summarizing and walking in to the spot for the picture, but we got the idea.  We had such a great time.  I wish I had taken pictures of the white elephant exchange.  I love the Christmas season having the excuse to make time to get together.  Those are my favorite memories.

Arizona Thanksgiving 2011

This year we decided to drive to Phoenix, Arizona to join Spencer's family for Thanksgiving.  It was a lot of fun.  Grandpa has a pool (unheated) that was the immediate interest of the boys.  It didn't last too long.  Ethan jumped in first and was on his way out before he actually got in.  Sam (Ethan's 9 year old uncle) jumped in but was so hesitant and knew how cold it would be that his head never even went under!  It was amazing.

 After they all tested the freezing waters, Spen wanted to get the crowd involved so he ran jumping in the pool around all of the edges making sure to get all of the spectators wet.  It was funny.

 Ezra was dying to swim so Spen took him on a little ride.  It didn't last long!

 Grandpa's house is great for the kids.  It was so warm and nice that they all spent the entire weekend outside.  The tractor rides were a hit too.

 All the kids who wanted a turn got to try driving the tractor.  Ezra was not going to let that chance pass him up!

 Ethan had his Grandpa help him drive. 

 Even Mase got to have a chance to ride in the back.  He was very happy the whole trip.  I was thrilled that he got comfortable so quickly.

 When it came time to get the turkey out of the fridge they realized that it wasn't quite defrosted.  We needed a place to soak it in cold water for a few hours.  Where better than the swimming pool, right?!  They bagged it up and tossed it in the pool.  It floated around all evening and most of the night.  It was pretty hilarious.  A Thanksgiving first for me!

 Another Thanksgiving first was having it warm enough outside to actually eat Thanksgiving dinner together outside.  It was a lot of fun.

 Ezra and Ellie had their own little table.  Ezra is pretty much a trouble maker and Ellie was keeping her eye on him. 

 Another first that we had this year was both a turkey and a spiral ham.  I've never had both for Thanksgiving.  It was really delicious.  Spencer has such a great family and they are all so much fun.  We were so happy that they all got together close enough that we could join them.

 Dinner on a ping pong table was interesting.  We got the side that was a bit slanted so we had to be careful how we positioned our plates with the gravy!

 Victoria had her first ever American Thanksgiving.  I was pretty impressed by her this holiday.  We went around the huge table of family all telling what we were thankful for this year and rather than refusing to participate she said she was grateful to be in America with her family.  It was very sweet.

 Ethan was grateful for his family and that we could all be together too.  It really was a fun year.

 Spen with his parents.  Aww.

 Grandpa has several citrus trees on his property.  Ezra exploited that and his aunt Kate to harvest and peel them for him.  He was in heaven.  This was him finishing his 5th orange in one sitting.  And he wanted more!

 We got to play games with everyone too.  That was a lot of fun.  We usually end up playing games around a table when we are with Spen's family.

 One night Mason just wouldn't settle down and was very agitated.  I was kind of worried about him and held him hoping that would help.  It didn't.  Ethan was still awake and asked if he could lay with him for a little while and see if he could help.  Of course that would help.  Mason and Ethan are kindred spirits.  They are the two people in the world who know each other best.  Mason was asleep in minutes and so was Ethan.  We left him there on the couch with Ethan all night.  It was his best night's sleep of the whole trip.

 Another first for me was playing horseshoes.  I stink at it.  Spen and I played his parents.  Spen and Larry were actually pretty good at it, but Susan and I were hopeless.  Spen and I lost, but we were ahead there for a while!  It was really a great trip.  I'm glad we made it.