Christmas...

It truly is the most wonderful time of the year! 
We had a wonderful Christmas this year!  Relaxing, exciting, joyful...FUN!
In grand tradition, we made our yearly sugar cookies.  It was so much fun because Harper actually could help with all steps in the process this year.  She stayed up from nap to help me bake the cookies...all 98 of them!  We did mostly stars this year and a few santas.  The intricate ones always seem to break.  Later that night we decorated the cookies.  Everyone got a piece of waxed paper and we made red, yellow, green and blue icing and gathered up all the sprinkles we had in the cabinet.
Owen was determined to decorate with us this year, but it yielded the same results as last year.  He decorated his first cookie and as soon as he had put the sprinkles on he said, "Can I eat it Mommy?"  Sure, so he ate it, hopped down from the table and went off to play.  He only came back to eat a spoonful of icing every once in awhile.  Don't worry, he had his own bowl!  Harper was a trooper.  She decorated until the very last cookie was done.  Hardwork sure is yummy to enjoy!

On Christmas Eve day, Richard, Harper, Owen and I opened presents from each other.  The kids were so excited to finally get to open the presents they had been looking at for so long.  I had taken Harper to Dollar Tree earlier in the week to get her presents for everyone.  She always puts so much thought in to what she is going to get.  She got Owen a monster truck and Richard a pair of blue "retro" earphones.  Priceless!

{Sneaky, our Elf, even got a present from Harper.  A stocking full of Hershey kisses!}

Later that afternoon, the kids opened their presents from Granny and Grandpa.  Owen was so excited because he got a Thomas the Train set.  And he has totally been on a train conductor kick lately. 

We headed to Christmas Even Mass around 4 pm and I think it is funny that the kids are always so curious as to why we are going to church at night, since we usually go in the morning.  They both did pretty good, but Owen was getting bored quickly.  Just a few meltdowns, but we made it through.

After mass, Boppy and Grandma came back over to our house to eat chili.  Grandma brought yummy Gigi's cupcakes that were decorated as cute as they tasted!  They got to open their Harper presents while they were here.  Boppy got a digital watch and Grandma got a linen scented jar candle.

Before going to bed, we spread our reindeer food all over the front yard.  Not one square inch was uncovered!  We also laid out four of our yummy cookies, along with milk, carrots, and an apple for Rudolph.  Owen proceeded to cry because he didn't want Santa to have any of our cookies.  (two year olds just aren't very good at sharing!)  But Harper got one for Owen and he was fine.  We read several Christmas books and headed to bed.

The next morning, we woke the kids up a little after 7 am and they ran to see what they could find.  And they found a lot.  Owen got a GeoTrax set and Harper got a desk.  Santa even brought a dog house for our dogs.  The kids played and played discovering more stuff that he had left as they went through the stack.  Santa was very good to the whole family this year!

Later that morning, we headed over to Grandma and Boppy's with Aunt Melanie and Uncle Cole to have our huge, yummy Christmas Breakfast Buffet.  We ate and ate until we were all stuffed.  We had to roll into the living room to open presents.  The kids got so many neat things on Christmas day.  Grandma made them both a ton of dress up clothes.  Harper got a real "old fashioned" dress and cowgirl clothes.  Owen got an army outfit, pirate costume and real cowboy set (complete with a duster coat).  He also got a Pistol Pete cowboy hat from Aunt Melanie and Uncle Cole, which is loves and insists on wearing on the back of his head, instead of the top.  Harper got a bunch of new stuff for McKenna (her American Girl doll) and she said to me later that day, "Mom, I am so lucky to come from a family that is so nice to remember McKenna at Christmas."  She is such a grateful little girl!  So sweet!

 {Owen is closing his eyes here!  He wanted Richard to open the present and surprise him!}

Cole and Melanie got to open their Harper presents, Melanie got a black cherry scented pillar candle and Cole got...drumroll please...a set of fake mustaches!  They were a hoot.  My poor dad was laughing so hard his chest was killing him!

We stayed at Grandma and Boppy's house the rest of the day, took naps, played games, watched movies, ate dinner and had a WONDERFUL Christmas!
The day after Christmas, we headed out to the farm to have Christmas with Grandma and my dad's side of the family.  Harper and Owen were so glad to get to play with their cousins again.  It was cold, so they had to be creative and play inside!  Owen was on cloud nine when he opened a John Deere hat, tractor, trailer and sippy cup from Grandma!

We are so blessed to have such a wonderful family!  What an amazing Christmas!

Snow Tubing at the Brick

Last week, we celebrated Christmas with our friends, the Hokes, in a super fun way, we met up for lunch at a yummy restaurant that overlooks the ballpark.  We opened presents and the kids played and had a good time.  We then headed over to the ballpark to begin our snow tubing adventure!
We all bundled up and got in line for the tubes. They were really neat and I think we might have to get one of our own for the house. (well...if we got more snow and we had hills!)
The ballpark had two hills, one for the big kids which went down two stories and one for the little kids which was one story.  We had to wait a little bit in line for the little kids line, but they were so excited they didn't care.  Harper and Owen both LOVED snow tubing.  They smiled all the way down the slope!  Sometimes they didn't have enough weight to get all the way down the slope, so the worker would come up and push them the rest of the way down.  Now that was fun!  Needless to say, Richard and I didn't need any pushing! :)  We got to tube about 5 times before our session was up and it was a BLAST!!!  We will definitely do it again next year!

 ***Owen was crying here because he wanted to get back on the slide!

Jolly Old St. Nicholas

As always, Harper and Owen wrote their letters to Santa this year.  Harper wrote hers all by herself this year and Owen was way into it.  They both were very interested in asking Santa questions...crossing their fingers for a response.

Well...that response came a few weeks later.  They got bright, glistening envelopes from Santa himself.  He acknowledged most of the things they asked for and told about how he and reindeer were doing.  He said he was so excited to come to our house again this year.  He even included door hanger checklists for the kids to complete before Christmas Eve. 
Last Friday, I took the kids to see the big man himself at the mall.  We didn't have to wait too long and they were so excited to see him.  Owen climbed right up in his lap and smiled at him the whole time.  Harper said that Owen wouldn't answer Santa's questions, but she answered for him (surprise!).  They were both grinning from ear to ear when we left.

History in the Making

It has become tradition for us to go to Branson at Christmastime with Grandma and Boppy.  It is usually really cold, but the kids don't care and Silver Dollar City is always decorated so pretty this time of year.
Earlier this year we had planned to go, but with my dad's heart surgery we had decided to stay home.  However, he had other plans for us.  He mentioned (probably 100 times) that he still wanted the kids to go and have fun.  So, Richard and I packed up the kids and headed to Branson.  Feeling guilty the entire way!
So funny thing about us getting there...we arrived at the hotel around 8:45 on Friday night.  My mom had booked the hotel a long time ago and they couldn't find our reservations anywhere.  The poor lady is searching and searching...finally she figures out that we accidentally booked the same hotel in Springfield not Branson...(she assured me that lots of people do that).  So, as Richard and I are trying to decided if we are going to go ahead and get a room there or go to another hotel (this one was an all suite hotel since we were supposed to be staying with my parents).  I am asking the lady about the cost of the suites and Harper comes running across the lobby, "Mom, Owen is throwing up!"  What???  Sure enough he is projectile vomiting all over the continental breakfast area of the lobby.  I turned to the lady and said..."We will take any room you have!"  I felt too guilty to leave!  We get up to the room and he keeps saying, "I'm sorry I burped all over the place Mommy!"  Broke my heart.  But by the morning he was feeling fine!
The next morning we went back to the scene of the crime and ate breakfast.  Then we headed off to the outlet mall before Silver Dollar City opened.  We went back to the hotel for lunch and then got bundled up and headed to SDC.  When we got there we had to wait in line for the "hoppy frogs" which we never have to do.  It was the most crowded I have seen SDC in as long as I can remember.  We rode several rides (poor Richard only rode the tea cups), ate some yummy goodies and watched the tree lighting.  By then the kids were getting cold and we left SDC, ate dinner and then went back to the hotel to go swimming.  We got up the next morning and headed back home.  It was a very eventful trip, but super relaxing at the same time.  I am glad we could make the trip there again this year!