Christmas Day

After the annual sleepover in Mom and Dad’s room – our Christmas began (at 6:00 AM I might add).  This year I could really tell a difference in the kids. They loved every minute of Christmas. From Advent to Santa – they really finally understood everything!  And I for one was glad Max still believes in Santa…..probably by next year he won’t!

Here’s the loot! (why did Santa find the need to watch TV too??) Obviously ESPN Sports Center is his favorite.

The kids patiently waited in our room for us to turn on lights and get cameras set.  Then it was time to head out for the excitement – after all Santa is one cool dude – doesn’t even wrap the gifts – just pure surprises! Mia’s expressions say it all! She was SO happy to get the magic wand cake maker and fun art things in her stocking!

Megan was happy too – she got the Squinkies she asked Santa for, a clay maker and the Webkinz Red panda in her stocking (full of candy and smencils!)

And Max – Legos and Video games..what more does a boy need? The gifts for the kids included clothes and small toys…but the big gifts were new game systems for all! 

Mia got the new Fisher Price ixl with KaiLan and Princess games, Megan got a new BLUE dsi xl, and Max well we TOTALLY surprised him with an xbox 360 with Kinect.  He’s been asking forever – we told him he’d never get one…boy was he surprised!

Dad and Max got some cool new Buckeye sweatshirts, Megan got the Justice version of snuggie (the cozy), and I got the boogie board from Brookstone. The kids were so proud to give it to me. I told them I wanted something to write dinner on so they would quit asking me what’s for dinner, so it works perfectly!

Everyone here had such a great Christmas. After gifts the kids packed up and headed with Grandma and Grandpa to PA to see their cousins. Since I was still in a lot of pain, it gave us a chance to recoup from all the chaos and rest. So, thanks to my family for watching my kiddos!

Hope you all had a great Christmas too!

Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve, the kids were excited to have the annual shape pancakes.  Still down and out with 2 huge herniated disks in my neck, Daddy had to step in for me :) and he did such a great job! Perfect pancakes!

After breakfast it’s tradition for the kids to exchange gifts between themselves. Max and Megan pick out Mia’s…Mia and Megan pick out Max’s…and Mia and Max pick out Megan’s – you get the picture.

Then Mom and Dad open the handmade gifts from school – only Megan and Mia made them this year – apparently 5th grade is too old for that stuff!After all afternoon of playing with their new stuff  - and Mommy rested, then it was time to head to Grandma’s for Christmas Eve dinner and presents. I barely made it through dinner until the pain killers set in!Scott and I got new winter coats – while GMa made out with a new laptop from Grandpa!

Then a few family photo shots – what would Christmas Eve be without them! And then we headed home to get tucked in until Santa arrived!

Our Singing Angel

Mia’s Christmas program was last week.  It dawned on me that I was sitting in my last official preschool Christmas program. Kind of made me sad.  I was so proud of my girl – she knew every word, every motion and she sang her heart out!  Of course she wanted a new dress for the occasion – she’s my girly girl! So a pretty Santa dress we picked out!

Here she is with her very best buddy in the Monkey’s class – Charlotte.  We have had a few play dates with her and she’s super nice! I’m so happy Mia has made some friends at school.Where or where is Mia? Our little shorty is right in line with the microphone about 3 rows up….   She had quite a crowd at the concert – Mom, Dad, Grandma and Grandpa, and Max and Megan – we took a whole row!  She was happy to have everyone there, and afterward we had Happy Birthday Jesus cake!

Columbus Zoo Lights and Santa

It’s been so long since I’ve posted – sorry! Unfortunately, I have been down and out with a pinched nerve in my neck.  Also unfortunately, we haven’t done much this holiday season with the kids.  I missed their class parties, etc. and couldn’t move for 6 days.  Although it is getting better, I have a long way to go.  Enough of that, let’s get to some fun!!

Scott took the kids to see their school chorus perform, the lights, and of course see Santa.  So, in 25 degree weather, they all bundled up for the big event. The girls had hot chocolate, and Max decorated icing (with a little bit of cookie) with Mrs. Claus. And finally they were able to see Santa and tell him what they wanted.  Scott said they only each said one thing.  Makes our job a little easier! I wish I could have been there to see everything, but I know that Dad had a blast with his kids.  They even saw live reindeer and hitched a ride in Santa’s sleigh!  It was a fun night for the family!

Scale Olympics

Max and Megan have been working so hard the last few months in preparation for this event.  Scale Olympics is a piano competition for students to compete for ribbons in events (blue is 1st place and red is 2nd place).  Each student is required to do a theory test, scales, triads, arpeggios, sight reading, inversions, and transposing a piece in 3 keys.  Yep, it sounds like a lot! I don’t think I even knew at their ages all of that!

The competition is held at Otterbein College.  Here are Max and Megan outside the School of Music and Arts.  They registered as “buddies” which meant they went from room to room with each other while Scott, Mia and I waited in the big auditorium.  Here they are registering for their events. Max competed in all 8, and Megan competed in 6. We weren’t allowed to follow them or hear them play before the judges, all we did was wait for them to come back and get their ribbons.  I don’t know who was more nervous  - Max and Megan, or Scott and I.  The waiting to see them seemed like forever!

When they came back, they were all smiles!  Megan received 6 Blue ribbons for her events. Max received 7 blue ribbons, 1 red ribbon, and an overall achievement ribbon (yellow) for competing in all 8 events.  He did much harder transposing of Silent Night in 3 keys.  He was especially nervous, and was disappointed he messed up enough to get red.  But, we think they both did great! It is 2 years before the event is held again. Both of them said they wanted to go back. Who knows, maybe we will have 3 kids in Scale Olympics by then!

Happy 15th Birthday Matthew!

Our nephew, Matthew, celebrates his 15th birthday today.  They were in town over the weekend, so we were able to have ice cream to celebrate.  It was fun hanging with them for the Ohio State / M*CH*G*N game.  All of them looked so cute – even at 15 :)  My kids love their cousins.

Happy Thanksgiving!

This is the only picture I have from Thanksgiving.  We ate dinner with my mom and dad. Then, we had friends over for dessert.  Alexa and Mia both had pilgrim hats from preschool plays, so here are they demonstrating the proper way to be a pilgrim! We hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving too!

Decorating the Tree

This year, Thanksgiving is such a crazy weekend, we opted to go ahead and decorate before the big weekend!  We are glad to be done – lights inside and out.  We put up the family tree, 4 kid trees (they share a big one, and each have a tiny one in their room), a Buckeye tree, and outside lights – all in one day!  This year, it was Megan’s turn to put Santa at the top of the tree.

Every year, we order ornaments from Bronner’s Christmas Wonderland in Frankenmuth, Michigan.  This year, we only ordered a few, because we had purchased some from Disney on vacation. 

Mia’s is Tinkerbell. This was by far her favorite character on the trip – and she was Tinkerbell for Halloween. Megan picked Nemo out at Disney.  Again, Nemo is by far her favorite character, and we saw the Nemo stage show.  So, it was a perfect ornament to represent her year!

Max’s ornament this year is a band ornament.  He didn’t see one at Disney, and this was fitting since he started trumpet in the 5th grade band. 

This year Scott and I chose 2. One family ornament – Mickey ears.  On the back it says “China Reunion”.  And, we picked out the Mexican sombrero for our 15th Anniversary trip to Cancun.

 

I love our trees.  These are the finished products.  One Family Tree. And one Ohio State Buckeye (and other Ohio ornament) Tree in our dining room.  We are ready for the holidays!