Christmas Day 2012

Is there anything that makes you feel so giddily happy as knowing you're about to give your child exactly what he wants for Christmas?  That's what I was feeling on Christmas Eve.  For about a month Cole had a steady answer for the question "What do you want Santa to bring you for Christmas?"

A red scooter.

Is that not a quintessential little kid Christmas gift?  And a big red bow and sparkly gift tag makes it all the better, I think.

I of course woke up to the sounds of Santa and came out just after he left.  I decided to take a picture because it was so peaceful and pretty.

Tess got a shopping cart, which we have now filled with toy food approximately 2937 times.

Spencer got a Phineas and Ferb Wii game.  Not a Wii U or a Nintendo 3DS, but good enough.  I feel torn about Spencer's requests for such extravagant gifts: part of me really wants to be able to afford and give those gifts to him.  But another, more rational, part of me knows that it's not always best for kids to always get exactly what they want.

Joshie got a Johnny the Skull game, which he had requested quite frequently and which Santa fortunately found a good deal on.  It's a game you play in the dark, where the skull toy projects ghosts on the wall and you have to shoot them.  It's actually a pretty cool little piece of technology - but maybe a little too realistic.  Josh is just the slightest bit nervous playing the game!

We warned the kids not to get up before 7am, never thinking they'd actually follow through on it.  To our surprise and delight, they did! 

I was a bit disappointed not to get any sort of reaction about the scooter from Cole.  Seriously, Cole!  You couldn't give me one good Kodak moment?

He was far more interested in the candy in his stocking.  Fortunately, Tessie started playing with the scooter, which made Cole VERY interested in it - especially in keeping it away from Tess.  He now plays with it a bunch, riding around and around the basement.  (There's too much snow outside.)

Tessie has to have her morning milk before she can really wake up.  And a candy cane filled with candy.

There was lots of excitement and rushing around.  Josh did NOT understand the concept of taking turns to open presents.

Spencer and his Optical Illusion book.  He wasn't that excited about it until later that afternoon when I showed him what it was all about.  Then he thought it was pretty cool!

Cole wasn't that interested in opening gifts because he is a crazy three year old.  But once the gift was open, then he was pretty interested.  Lance and I got him this cool fire truck because he's really into large vehicles right now.  What I didn't realize when I bought it was that it actually squirts water from the fire hose.  I wasn't too thrilled with that until today while potty training Cole.  (Yes, we're going through that.  AGAIN.)  We were able to make the firetruck go potty, which Cole thought was pretty great.

Tess got a new doll, which I think is pretty cute.  It has a magnetic paci that sticks to the baby's mouth, and you can easily take the baby's clothes on and off.

Tessie likes the baby, too!  Baby now has to be in bed with her at bed and nap times, and must be under the blankie with Tess.  It's pretty dang darling.

Lance... doing something... I don't even remember.  But he was there.

Josh reading his "Find Phineas and Ferb" book.  It was a very Phineas and Ferb Christmas.

Tessie playing with this really cool little car track thingie (I'm such a descriptive writer).  It was a gift for Cole, but Tess loves it as much as he does.

Checking out the moveable firetruck ladder.

Spencer drew Tess's name this year for gifts.  I had to talk him into it, but he ended up buying her a whole bunch of plastic bead necklaces.  She was so excited and had to put them - all - on.  Right then.

Oh yeah - baby has to go in the cart, too.  Because Tess totally knows all about that.

More necklaces!  This cheap gift turned out to be super pricey, since yesterday Tess whapped my BRAND NEW LAPTOP screen, breaking the LCD monitor.  Even though I argued that a monitor should be able to withstand something like that, the guy I was chatting with in India did not agree, so the damage was not covered by the warranty.  I just shipped it off to get repaired today.  I suspect it'll take almost a month and $$$ to get fixed.  Blasted baby. 

Tess also got a large MagnaDoodle, which she loves.  We have already misplaced the magnets, surprise surprise.  She sat on my bed and just played and played with it.

Christmas can be really hard work for a toddler!

Notice Baby right by her side.  Also, notice the cute zebra jammies Grandparents Roper sent.   They have ruffles at the bottom of the pants - too cute.

Later that day I caught Tessie stealing Josh's stocking candy.  I was going to clean it all up and save it for him, but I had warned him several times already to put it away.  So I let her and Cole eat it.  Actually, it was Cole who ate 90% of it.  Tess just wanted to put it back in the tube.

Cole refused to get dressed after his bath.  He did not, however, refuse a ride on his scooter.  Nothin' like scootering in your birthday suit on Christmas day!

Christmas Eve 2012

It is blizzarding outside, so it feels more like Christmas now than it did a day or two ago, which was relatively warm and dry.  (We've been having a really warm winter so far - it's been so weird!  And I'm sure you're so interested in a weather report from Indiana.  Anyways.)

For the first part of the morning I was a wicked mother and made my children do lots of housework.  I just really like to have a clean and tidy house for holidays, and since I didn't make hardly any of the messes around the house, I thought it perfectly fair to enlist their help.  The children, on the other hand, thought this was torture.

But they survived the torture.  As the afternoon wore on, they got more and more excited.  Spencer and Josh for obvious reasons, Tess and Cole because they totally feed off of their older brothers. 

At one point everyone - including Lance - was wrestling and screaming and shouting upstairs, next to the Christmas tree, while I was trying to make dinner.  I sent them all - including Lance - downstairs, with a warning not to come back up until I called for them.

This is what happens when you send a dad downstairs with four wired kids.  Good grief.

This children, of course, loved it.

Dinner was finally ready and we all sat down to feast!  This year's menu wasn't too exotic, mainly because I really didn't want to hear my kids complain.  (I get that every other stinkin' night of the year - I figured we could all use a break.)  We had ham, shrimp, broccoli, yummy Grandma Roper rolls, and some really yummy roasted potatoes.

Everyone actually ate without complaining!  It was a Christmas Eve miracle!  The only thing I would have done differently would be to have used the good china instead of regular dinnerware. (I got lazy and didn't want to get the china out, or make Lance hand wash it later.) The meal just didn't feel as special, and the kids didn't seem to think it was any different from any other night.  (Besides the less complaining, that is.)

 

Dinner was full of the usual banter.  Who's coming tonight?  Santa.  Have you been naughty or nice?  I've been nice - siblings have been naughty!  What do you want for Christmas?  Spencer: A Wii U.  Or a Nintendo 3-DS.  Cole: A red scooter.  Tess: More broccoli.  Josh: A girlfriend.

You read that right.

What do you do with a girlfriend?  Hang out and go on dates.  What else?  What would you do with a a girlfriend?  Get married.  Well alrighty then.  Mothers, hide your daughters!  Joshie is apparently on the market.

Mmmm... yummy roasted potatoes.  Is it weird that I take pictures of food?

After dinner we gave the kids their pajamas.  However, this year the packages were hidden around the living room.  This proved to be very exciting.

Thing 3 was ready to open his present!!

Still looking for presents.  As per usual, even though they get pajamas every year, Josh and Spencer were still a bit surprised when they opened them.  Must be Christmas amnesia.

We all sat down to open our gifts.  Tess thought it was time to say a prayer.

So Daddy helped her out.

Cole was pretty excited - new jammies!

Once we were all changed it was time for our annual family picture.  Aren't we all super attractive?! (The 'official' picture was in the last post.)

Then the kids wanted individual pictures.  Seriously, I have no idea what is up with these poses.  But I think we can all agree that they are awesome.

Apparently Josh is serious about finding a girlfriend.  What a hottie!

Spencer was pretty excited to have Lego Darth Vader jammies.

Cole decided he ad to get in on the posing action.  I think he kinda looks like my Roper cousins in this photo.

Tessie loves elephant jammies!  (Yes, blurry.  The child does not hold still.  Ever.)

I tried to get a shot of all four.  This is the only one I got.  Apparently we are raising a bunch of little gangstas.  South side represent!! (Seriously, we didn't pose them at all.)

Then is was time to get down to the real business of the evening: CHRISTMAS EVE BINGO!!!  I told them to show me their game faces.  Everyone but Lance took this to mean "move your face so it's blurry in the picture".

The competition was fierce.   The prizes were awesome.  Fortunately, the bingo caller was able to magically make sure that everyone won at least one game.  The bingo caller is awesome like that.

Finally, it was time for dessert.  I had planned on making one of those towers of cream puffs with the caramel and spun sugar - you know, the ones that look super fancy and magical?  Yeah, not so much.  The sugar burned and tasted gross and I thought "Do I really need this stress?  No.  No I do not."  So I just melted some chocolate and made a cream puff tree.  Kinda.

Whatever.  It tasted good, and that's what matters, right?

After dessert we read one of our new Christmas books, but by then the kids were super wired.  Can't imagine why...

So they played with their bingo prizes and raced around the room while Lance played the piano.  It was a bit wild.

 

It was finally time to go to bed.  Which is exactly what they did: they got into bed.  They did not sleep.  Josh came into our room at least twice claiming he was too excited to sleep.  Let's just say it was a late night for Santa.