It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas?

OR NOT...we had a beautiful day Wednesday (one week before Christmas) it was almost 60 degrees.  We spent a couple hours at the muddy park.  The big boys even took their shoes off and went barefoot.

 

 But no fear...it's cold again and still looking like Christmas in our house!

Johnson Polar Express

For the 12 days before Christmas we have an advent calendar with an activity listed that we do each day.  Today when the boys turned over the stocking it said, "Polar Express."

I showed the boys that I had borrowed the Polar Express movie from the library and told them we were going to watch it this evening.  Little did they know, that was only the first part of the plan.

Dancing to the Polar Express.

After tucking the boys in bed, we waited a little while and then sneaked back into their bedroom with jingling bells.  They were a little surprised.  We asked if they could hear the bells.  When they said yes, I said, "well I guess that means you have to ride the Polar Express, come on it's here.  I grabbed Caden and Clark grabbed Ethan and we ran up the stairs.  Caden was giggling so hard!  At this point I think they were expecting the train to be in our front yard. 

 I told them that to ride the Polar Express they needed hot chocolate.  So with hot chocolates in hand we threw them in the car and snuggled them in with a big quilt.

Our Polar Express Sebring drove around town to look at Christmas lights.  We had a great time singing Jingle Bells, Christmas Bells are Ringing, and Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer as we went.  They LOVED it!  

I LOVE this age so much!  These little guys are just so easy to please.  There were so many comments from Caden like, "this is awesome," "this is the best night ever," "thanks Dad for taking us on the Polar Express," "you are the best mom in the world."  Caden's shrieking and giggling is still bringing a smile to my face.

Ethan:  "I love this PANDA Express," "this is the best Polar Express ever," "can we drive all night?."  

Quinn:  "wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow," he sounded like a broken record.

I'm hoping the Johnson Polar Express comes to this station again someday!!!  Truly a magical night.

A Video Message FROM Santa

Yesterday Santa sent an email message to Clark with some video messages that were very personalized to Ethan and Caden.  It was awesome!  The look on Ethan's face was priceless.  At first I think he was very concerned that Santa's message wouldn't be so positive.  He had a very serious look of consternation on his face.

It turned to a big grin when he saw his picture on Santa's wall of fame for nice children.  Caden loved it too.

I LOVE these little faces!

 

My mom and James were on Facetime so they could so the boys' reactions.  They had to push mute so we couldn't hear them laughing.

 It was so funny.  Love these sweet and honest reactions from my little boys!

2nd Annual Neighbor Party

As much as I joke about living in the retirement community, we do have some very nice neighbors.  Carrying on with our tradition from last year we hosted a Christmas gathering for our neighbors.  This year we were able to invite a few more couples that we have met since last Christmas.

It was a great night.  We had so much fun chatting and we played the right-left game passing around Christmas treats.  The game was hilarious, at one point one of the ladies yelled out, "don't you know that old people confuse easily?"  Our boys had a great time basking in the attention of all the grandparents that came.  I was nervous right after we delivered the invites that no one would want to come, but it turned out to be a great night.  This has turned out to be one of my favorite Christmas time traditions.

The only picture from the night...a quick shot of our food table before everyone showed up.  I spent way too much time in the kitchen that day!

Do You Want To Build A Snowman?

This song from Frozen has been in my head since we saw the movie.  And yes my boys have been wanting to build a snowman.  Unfortunately, when we got our first big snowfall the temperatures also dropped to well below freezing.  The boys would last a few minutes outside and then cry because their fingers were so cold.  One day we brought the snow inside.  It wasn't right for building a snowman but it did provide some wet fun in our kitchen.  It was all fun and games until Ethan started a snowball fight.

 

Right before Ethan dumped the first spoonful of snow on Caden's head.

This is the look on Caden's face right before he got Ethan back.

 

Fun afternoon!

Christmas Time Fun

10 days til Christmas...and today I am worn out.  We had a busy past Christmas week with lots of fun!  We hosted 2 parties (one for our neighbors and one for the residents Clark works with) at our house and helped with our party at church.

The Kindergartners got to wear their pajamas on Thursday and take a special stuffed animal to sit on their desk with them.  Ethan was ecstatic to take Brown Dog to school.  On the way to school he told me that Brownie had been waiting for this day all year.  He looked awfully cute running into the school with his boots and jammie pants, and little Brown Dog peeking out the top of his bag pack.

 Our party at church had a lot going on.  I was kind of in charge of the dance portion.  I taught everyone a Romanian folk dance.  We also had an inflatable screen and set up the Wii with a projector and played some Just Dance.  It was fun.

The boys got to see Santa.  I thought they looked pretty cute waiting excitedly for their turn.

Quinn was NOT impressed!

Ethan had some serious things to discuss with Santa.

 We discovered that Quinn LOVES pinatas!

Waiting for his turn

 

He didn't need a bat, just his bare hands.

Letters FROM Santa

I absolutely love the excitement and pure innocent joy my boys have about all things Christmas!  There is nothing better than Christmas with little believers.  Last week the boys wrote letters to Santa and much to their surprise today they received letters in the mail from the jolly old man!  OH. MY.  I wish I would have had it on video.  When they realized who the shiny red envelopes were from there were many woo-hoos and yips of excitement!

Caden was actually a little speechless when the letter contained so much personal information about him...including pointers about putting his art supplies away and wearing underwear (something Caden doesn't like to do recently).  Ethan was just ecstatic!  So thrilled that Santa was impressed that he is "bee-ing strong" and trying new things.  Ethan gave me the biggest hug after we read the letter.  I hope I can always remember the look of surprise and awe on his little face.

The letters were pretty awesome...thanks to Grammy Tammy (she has an in with Mr. Claus).

Christmas time is just so great...and so hard to wait!  Caden gave his countdown calendar a good effort...and then just couldn't wait!  I love his little sweet tooth!