Merry Christmas Eve...

One more picture, from my mom's camera... Too cute! After all the anticipation, it was finally Christmas Eve! Jack had been counting down the days on his Christmas chain, lighting the candles on the Advent wreath and opening the windows on his Advent calendar and he knew that it was time to celebrate! Daddy snapped one picture before we headed out the door to the Lindstedt family celebration... When we arrived, Jack and Grace were so excited to play with Milana, first they checked out the front yard... And we got a couple more pictures on the balconey... Since we only had a short time to spend, the kids got to open their presents before we left - even Grace was excited!And she fell in love with Baby Alive... And stripped her right away... Jack opened a transformer, which was EXACTLY what he had asked Santa for - the only thing... If Christmas had ended at that exact moment, then he would have been completely happy. But there was so much more. After the Lindstedts, we headed out to my family's party. When we walked in the door, we took a picture and I'm so glad we did! The excitement continued and Santa came. Jack fell on the floor in dramatic joy... he's such a ham... Another TRANSFORMER! He was shocked and by this point, he could not think of anything else he could possibly want. Speaking of hams... this girl has the drill down. She cautiously walks to Santa, Posses, takes the gift, and runs... She knows we just want pictures and she just wants the gift. :) She was totally attached to my cousin Chia all night and opened presents with her...On the way to the second party, Grace fell asleep and Jack was not making any sense at all and would not stop talking. It was obvious that they were totally overwhelmed and exhausted. But they were troopers! They kept on smiling and played with everybody. We didn't get to stay too late, but the kids had a blast and fell asleep in the car with sugar plums dancing in their heads... Plus, mommy and daddy had a lot to do!

Jack's Big Christmas Show!

This year, Jack got to participate in his first big performance! He and all of the Joy School kids performed the Christmas story. He only had one line, but boy did he master it! He was first an inn keeper, where he got to tell Joseph and Mary "NO ROOM!" and then he appeared again as one of the three kings. Here's Jack and Nate getting into character... This was a dress rehearsal and Nate's house before we went to the old folks home to perform for the first "real" time. Here he is during the performance. Olivia (to the right) is singing and they're all about to jump in.Here they are admiring baby Jesus... This is the photo opp at the end of the show... Gracie had no problem jumping in for pictures and candy!The whole group (and some siblings)... Here is a small portion of the show... One of the boys is missing. He was one of the three kings too and he decided to look inside his gift for the first time during the performance. He had a bit of a breakdown because "I can't give baby Jesus NOTHING!" I think that it's a really cute story - how sweet of him to wonder about what he was going to give baby Jesus! The gave a little ornament to each of the people there to watch and they gave the kids candy canes - needless to say, they were excited! Then on Monday night they did an encore presentation... It was in the evening so daddy and the grandparents got to see! Here's the whole group of Joy School kids (and Grace): Jack, Me, Grace, Pamela, Ana, Christine, Daniel, Cristina, Nicholas, Imelda, Luke, Nathan, Denise, Olivia, Melissa, Lila, Rimini and Joey... They made little drawings that we used as garland to decorate... Jack had a blast both times... He had no stage fright at all and hammed it up! Merry Christmas!

Christmas at Bass Pro...

We did a little Christmas shopping at Bass Pro Shops this year... They have a lot of festive decorations! But, the line for Santa was huge! So we took a couple of pictures in the "snow" and listened to Mrs. Claus read some books. Gracie was SO attentive to Mrs. Claus...So cute!

Candy - Candy - Candy!

We visited Logan's Candy Store in Ontario the other night and learned all about how candy canes are made... Maybe I should say that Daddy and Jack learned all about how candy canes are made... Here's Jack raising his hand during the demonstration that took place in the front window of the store...He was so excited to answer EVERY question - even if he didn't really know the answer. This is the inside of the store... (quite a little place)... While the boys were inside, Grace and I played peek-a-boo, tag and she just pretty much ran up and down the street in front of the store... At the end of the demonstration, we each got a warm candy cane to mold into what ever shape we wanted! Here we are enjoying our candy - I'm not a big fan of candy canes, but I must say that the warm candy cane was delicious! And some of the boys and their sugar highs....

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas! Alright, let's be honest... I'm super behind on blogging and it's looked like Christmas around here for quite a while! We decorated the house on black Friday and the kids had a blast! Here they are building the tree - I must say that I never thought this would be part of our traditions... Things have really changed over the years... I used to make sure that we were wearing something festive while decorating... but now, pajamas are just fine! Gracie was so jealous of Jack putting the tree topper up - so she had to do it too... Merry Christmas!