Granny and Pop are here!
Month: December 2019
Granny and Pop are here!
Granny and Pop came to visit and we saved our Christmas from them to celebrate together. The kids didn’t seem too upset to be opening more presents.
We first saw these mini-arcade games at The Grind (our favorite milkshake restaurant in TN) and the boys each got one for Christmas. They have been a hit with everybody.
Another raddish recipe for dinner tonight – Thanks Teague.
Boxes are still the best.
We have reached the point in Christmas vacation where anything goes. You want to play in the unheated sunroom in your pajamas? Sure. You want to play with your older brother’s new toy? Sure. Anything goes. Let’s just hope their requests stay reasonable…
I knew I wanted four kids. I saved all of my kids’ clothes hoping we would have a fourth child. I didn’t plan on them being so far apart so some of the saving of clothes didn’t work out so well. (Turns out jeans have actually changed styles quite a bit – the legs used to be much wider when Alex was a baby!). Sweaters, tops, shorts, shoes, etc have help up fairly well and most have made it to the third boy. I have even found handfuls of socks in the clothing bins. At first that seemed great. Then I realized that the socks weren’t lasting very long… Poor Ben. Most of his socks end up looking like this very quickly. Sometimes being the third in a hand-me-down line is a little rough.
Christmas is here. The kids are so good about gathering at the top of the stairs and waiting to go down together to see what Santa left for them. It’s always a crazy Christmas morning but so fun to watch.
After everyone has enjoyed their Santa gifts, their stocking goodies, and possibly some breakfast, we then got ready for the day. That of course meant more gifts and more squeals and lots of paper and craziness. Christmas!
Although we love making cookies on Christmas Eve, we also have other activities. We take family pictures, go to the Christmas Eve service at church, and dress in matching PJs! Pastor John asked if Ben would agree to be baby Jesus for the second year in a row and although he seemed a little old we agreed. So hello 2 year old baby Jesus. Amazingly our wild child sat still for the entire time he was in front of the congregation (whew!).
My mom continues to do basket presents to count down Christmas for all the kids and grandkids. That’s 70 presents that she procures and wraps every year before she even starts her Christmas shopping. My kids are always so excited for the day they get to open the first present. Today was the day. Everyone got dressed in their matching pajamas, posed for a picture, and then tore open a present!
Here’s how this chore works in our house. Odd days Teague unloads the dishwasher. Even days Alex unloads the dishwasher. (Both boys agreed to this and Teague knew he would sometimes get two days in a row.) The rules state that the boys can possibly unload it twice a day. If we run it three times in a day (it does sometimes happen at our house) then Mom does the unloading.