Merry merry merry

Now that it is the middle of January, I figured that maybe I should post about Christmas and our Wonderful break. Oh man was it a nice break. Ammon did not do ANY homework and he was in between jobs so he did not work at all. ahhhhhh.... it was so nice.

This year, I made an advent calendar where the kids got to pull a card everyday that had an activity to do. We loved this! I tried to get some pictures of our favorite activity's but there were a lot that I missed. One of our first activities was going to the Lauritzen Botanical Gardens right down the street. They have a GIANT poinsettia tree as well as all their trains set up inside. We love these trains and all the little miniature Omaha buildings

(don't you love Ammon's head in the top corner ;-)

(One of the train bridges [and Ammon by the giant tree in the background])

(the train going by some of the miniature painted silo's we see when we drive on the freeway)

Another one of our activity's was decorating a tree outside for the animals. It has only snowed 1 time this whole winter so we decided to make our own indoor snowstorm. We set out a sheet and popped some popcorn without the lid. After, the kids strung the popcorn with a thread and needle and did VERY WELL I might add.

"I can take a handful and make a treat, a popcorn (snow)ball that would smell so sweet"

We decided it probably wasn't a good idea to give Avonlea a real needle but we gave her some noodles and a plastic needle and she made her own noodle garland. She did surprisingly well

The next day we cut up the fruit and put ties on to hang it up on the tree.

We wanted to be able to watch the animals eat the stuff so we just put it on one of the bushes we can see from our front window.

It turned out great and the animals LOVED it, except for the oranges which are still hanging there. Oh well, it's the thought that counts right?

On Christmas Eve, instead of dressing up and acting out the Nativity scene, we used our playschool nativity set and let the kids act it out.

This next picture is a typical scene from out house. Avonlea picked up one of the pieces, hit Addie in the head with it. Addie cried, Avonlea hugs her to tell her she's sorry and life goes on. Who is the bully in our house? Tornado...but she is great at saying she is sorry.

Pictures after we opened our Christmas jammies.

This year for Christmas we got 3 presents for each kid (+ 1 present that Santa Clause left) to help simplify things and help them appreciate their gifts more and represent the 3 gifts from the wise men. Addie asked for a Rapunzel dress, which I thought, "oh I'll just make one." Note to self, never buy the cheap satiny material again when making clothes. The edges frayed SO BAD and I had to singe EVERY EDGE with a lighter.....IT WAS A PAIN!!!! But the end result turned out nice and she loved it so I guess it was worth it.

Kimballs favorite gifts were his remote controlled monster truck and light saber...which he has slept with every night so he can kill all the monsters with.

Addie also got an American Girl doll from Ammon's mom. She loves her so much and she to has slept with Addie every night....but probably not so she can kill the monsters

This little angel got a little doll that moves and talks when there is any movement. Some days she loves her, some days she could care less. She is such a cute little stinker-pot and I cannot get enough of her.

Santa also found a great deal on a Wii, and although we weren't sure if he should bring it to us, we have enjoyed it very much and have enjoyed the power it has to motivate the kids to do chores, schoolwork, and anything else that needs to get done. We have had so much fun playing Just dance together as a family and our few other games. After church on Christmas, we came home and got back in our jammies and had some fun teaching the kids how to drive

Another fun gift that we got was from Ammons brother James. It is a remote controlled Sumo game....yes that's right, diapers and all. This picture is suppose to be a video but I still can't get videos to upload right to my blog (any help would be appreciated) but the goal is to knock your opponent over or push him out of the ring....it has been a lot of fun...until they got left on and the batteries died. Time to load up on the AA I guess

Some of our other favorite activities that we did in December were watching the kids take hot coco to the bell-ringers outside of the stores, going ice-skating together down by Old-Market on their outdoor rink, driving around to see the lights, and having a movie night and sleeping by the Christmas tree.

Ammon has started school and work again so I guess that means that I have to do the laundry again and cook the food and keep our house organized. I REALLY REALLY REALLY Loved Ammons help over the break. That was my favorite Christmas present. Back to the grindstone