Extended Christmas 2013

Pop and Mimi woke very early on Thursday morning in order to drive down and join us for MORE Christmas fun.  They couldn't get here fast enough and the kids wasted no time overwhelming them with pleas to play with them and their new toys.

After one of Patti's delicious homemade soups to warm everyone up, we dug into Pop and Mimi's gifts. They showered the kids with gifts (and us too), and the kids felt another day of family and love. Will got all sorts of trucks and Stella and Maggie got lots of Doc McStuffins.  Between Grandma, Pop and Mimi, we think the girls now have every Doc toy made so far, which is good because Stella thinks she IS Doc McStuffins at this point.

Just as we finished opening everything, presents from cousins arrived in the mail, and we were back to opening and squealing again.

When the dust finally settled, we enjoyed a fun few days of playing with new toys.  Maggie and Stella have made every Doc puzzle twice (or more), sang every Doc song, and played with every one of the 50 dollhouse pieces.  Will couldn't wait to customize his monster trucks with paint and stickers and then put on a monster truck show for us.

And Will is VERY proud of his Legos.  He is so patient and concise when making them and he is so proud of himself when he's done with one.  Plus, it's great for Dad and Will time.

1st Christmas on Melbourne!

Since we moved to the new house in June, we've been dreaming of placing a Christmas tree in the corner and watching the kids faces as they come down the stairs into Christmas nirvana.  All of that came true Christmas morning - please click here to watch the kids' reaction.

Stella and Will both woke up around 6:45, snuggled into bed with us for a moment, and then starting asking to go downstairs.  Stella even woke up Maggie so they could come down together - "Maggie wake up, it's Christmas morning!"

Santa brought Will an X-Wing fighter, a tow-truck, and lots of obscure Matchbox trucks that Will had asked for.  He brought Maggie and Stella a HUGE dollhouse and lots of dolls and furniture.

The kids did their best to patiently open one gift after another and wait while their siblings had their turns, but that wasn't easy.  Stella and Maggie kept trying to help each other open their presents and Will kept running off to the playroom to play with his new toys.  After more than an hour, we made it through Santa's gifts, family gifts, and Grandma's gifts.

Christmas was everything we could have hoped for.  We celebrated as a family, everyone was so good to one another and thankful, and the kids were so very happy.  We'd like to think that we created some very good memories for years to come.

December catch up

We've been busy with Christmas preparations, sending Christmas cards, having friends over for dinner, etc. AND the kids have been little terrors for the past two weeks.  Not even the fear of being on Santa's "naughty" list has stopped the kids from mouthing off to Patti, refusing to get dressed for school or other outings, fighting over identical carseats, napping, going to bed without a fight... It's too bad Santa probably finalized his list or these kiddies would be getting very little this year.

That said, we have had some fun.  Here's a quick recap of December before posting Christmas fun tomorrow.

The kids had fun seeing the holiday lights, both at Brookside Gardens and at the National Zoo.

Patrick and kids visited the B&O Railroad Museum in Ellicott City to see the annual Lego holiday exhibit.

In probably the funnest holiday activity yet, the kids decorated gingerbread houses.  They all really got into it and did a great job.

Will and Patrick got to watch the Packers miraculous comeback against the Cowboys.

We had Patrick's coworkers over for a fun holiday dinner.  We'd wanted to do this for a long time but could never fit everyone at the old house.

One of the few times all three kids were happy lately...

And big brother Will trying to make amends with everyone, including Santa, for being a little terror earlier that day.  The fact that it was unseasonably 70 degrees probably didn't hurt his enthusiasm either.

Snow & "The holidays are almost here"

Sunday was a mix of snow, sleet and freezing rain.  Yuck.  But when it snowed, it was gorgeous and the kids thought it was great fun to trim the trees, listen to Christmas music, and watch the snow come down.  After lunch, we treated them to a bit of playing in the yard.

We never got enough snow to make a proper snowman, but Patrick taught the kids the general principles.

Good thing we decorated outside yesterday and not today...

A week or so ago, Will blew Patti's mind by busting out his own holiday song.  You'll hear Maggie chime in at one point, but this is just hilarious (and long).  I put his lyrics in my comments below the clip on YouTube. Here is Will Carey singing "The holidays are almost here."

Two trees!

When we celebrated Christmas in our first home, we had to rearrange the entire ground floor to accommodate a modest tree.  Not any more.  One quick family jaunt to the local nursery and we were homebound with TWO Christmas trees - one for the sitting room and one for the kids' playroom.  So we again did the impossible with the minivan, but we all made it home alive.

Will helped Patrick measure and cut the big tree, and then he had the honor of placing the ornament on the top.

Sunday morning, the kids helped Patrick trim the small one in the playroom as it began snowing.  Then the kids posed for their Christmas card picture (watch your mail) before heading out to play in the snow (see the next post).

Stella and Maggie's potty party

It's been almost exactly two years since we potty-trained (mostly) Will, and here we are again.  Maggie and Stella have been showing interest in using the potty for weeks now so Patrick took the day after Thanksgiving off so that we could strike while the iron was hot.  Like Will's party, we talked about using the potty for days and days leading up to Friday, we decorated the bathroom they would be using - complete with TWO potty seats - and we forced as much liquid into them as we could for three days.

 

Day 1 was largely successful - no real accidents.  The girls were made to use the potty every 30 minutes for the entire day, and whenever else they felt they needed to go.  Nothing under their dresses to catch accidents so we covered a little of the playroom floor and limited where they could sit (ie, no couch).

Day 2 was the same but after lunch they were off the clock and only going when they felt they needed to.  There was an accident or two, but nothing too messy.  Both girls finally went poop, and almost all of it was in their potties.

The morning of day 3 was self-directed until after nap time when the girls were greeted with their first "big girl" underwear.  Their smiles were contagious, even after their first accidents in undies.  They go back to school tomorrow morning in undies for the first time so we'll see how well they hold up....

As an aside, the girls took the whole "big girl" thing a little too far Sunday night when they decided to have "a slumber party daddy" in Maggie's bed.  They were both so sure of themselves that it was a good idea that it was almost tempting to let them do it.

Will's 5th Birthday party

Will spent much of the past year telling us that he wanted a Star Wars birthday party, so Patrick did all he could to fuel that excitement.  Like all other birthdays, Patti outdid herself and Will had more fun than ever.  Bill (Obi Wan), Bonnie (older Leia), Patrick (Luke), Patti (Leia), Stella and Maggie (Ewoks) and Will (young Anakin and Darth Vader) were all in costume, as were many of Will's friends.  Will even managed a costume change somewhere along the way when he wanted to become a "bad guy for a little while."

Patti had all the Star Wars fixings:  blue milk, seven Leia dip, Han Solo carbonite jello, a Death Star pinata (a soccer ball pinata that she repainted), a Death Star cake, homemade foam lightsabers, Yoda cookies, Ewok cookies (Teddygrahams), and more.  Will had SO much fun, we had fun visiting with other parents, Bonnie and Bill were smashing in their costumes, and we celebrated the first of many birthdays in the new home.

After two hours of the kids attacking one another, they suddenly all ganged up on Bill.  Thankfully, he's good with a sword and he fended them all off.

Halloween 2013

Because we went all out over Will's birthday theme (see the next post), we kind of had our Halloween costumes made up already.  Will was a great Darth Vader and Maggie and Stella were too cute Ewoks.

Our neighborhood had their annual Halloween party and parade the weekend before Halloween so we all dressed up (Patti was Leia, Patrick was Luke) and made the rounds.  It was a great way to meet the neighbors and a pretty neat thing for the kids to see so many other kids dressed up and having fun.
















Being the first year in our new home, we weren't sure of when to leave, where to go, or how much traffic our house would get but everything turned out great.  We left at dusk, made one big loop down the nearest streets, and the kids ended up with a modest amount of candy that they are still enjoying in late November.

 

 

Pumpkin Festival

The whole family spent this afternoon at Butler's Orchard's Pumpkin Festival.  There were slides, a slide through a combine harvester, hay rides, corn mazes and more to keep the family happy.