Christmas with the Kids

Joe actually wanted to name this blog "Before...". As in, before we returned to Iowa City to complete chaos. The reason that it took us a long time to post our Christmas blog is complicated, involving a crashed hard drive, leaking ceiling in Olivia's room, Kate's kidney stones, mold in Olivia's room, no phone service for 3 days, and Ethan's 102* temperature. All within 7 days. Anyway, we had a great time in Illinois for Christmas. We stayed in Litchfield, celebrating Christmas Eve with Joe's family in Edwardsville, and Christmas day with my family.

Grandpa bonding with Ethan. As of this photo before Christmas, Ethan was pulling up on any object he could with great ease. As of December 30, he began to crawl. He has become a very good crawler for his age, but luckily has yet to discover the ability to crawl AWAY from me, as he mainly crawls towards me. That will change soon enough. Now, I am shocked to say, he is beginning to show early signs of climbing and walking.

Mmmm...chex mix. That is a Christmas tradition with our family that began with my late Grandma Marian (she passed away from breast cancer in 1999). My mom promptly picked up the tradition and we will usually eat our way through 4 or more batches of the nicknamed "crunchy crack" as it is so addictive.

Yes, another gingerbread house. Olivia insisted that grandma's house needed to have one, too. This time, Uncle Luke and Beth were able/forced to join in the fun.

Cookie decorating time. Another family tradition that no one is exempt from. Each year some people (namely a certain husband of mine) complain about this, but then we all have fun (yes, Joe, we do) attempting to decorate more creatively than the previous years. You'll also notice that Olivia is wearing her Ariel princess dress. When at grandma's house, she rarely wears real clothes and spends the entire time in some sort of dress up clothes.

Ethan practicing for his cookie decorating debut next year!

All dressed up on Christmas Eve.

New sunglasses from Grammy. We think that she raided Elton John's closet.

Ethan provided much of the entertainment on Christmas Eve. Here he is opening his presents with daddy, Uncle David, soon-to-be Aunt Jen, and Uncle Tim.

Santa came one day early for Brennan with the gift of Rock Band. Once that gift was set up, everyone took their turns being rock stars. Here are Brennan, Joe, and David, with Olivia not so patiently waiting for her turn.

Olivia, Joe, and Grammy in their band. This is actually a fun game, and Olivia had a great time on the drums. I have promised Joe that upon our return to Springfield we will purchase a Wii, Guitar Hero, and Rock Band. I may never see him again after that.

Leaving cookies and a letter for Santa, and a carrot for Rudolph. Poor Ethan missed this moment due to being completely exhausted from the fun at Grammy's.

Twas the night before Christmas and all in the house were asked to read a bedtime story to Olivia. Here are Uncle Luke and Beth taking their turn.

Aunt Rachel and Uncle Thomas get their turn.

And of course grandma and grandpa take their turn reading to Olivia. As more people came into the house each night, her bedtime ritual became much longer.

Christmas morning has arrived! Reading the letter from Santa (Aunt Rachel and Beth...shhh!).

Olivia and Ethan posing prior to the absolute chaos of Christmas morning. And don't think for a minute that what you see are all of the presents that they received. Those are just the ones from Santa. Olivia may have been the only child on Christmas day to say "mommy, Santa brought me too many presents".

Olivia in her Barbie dress riding her new princess scooter. This Barbie dress was the one item that she consistently asked for all of December. I have no idea where she first saw it or why she wanted it so badly.

Ethan receives his first box of baseball cards. This is also an important family tradition - grandpa buys each of the guys a box of Topps every Christmas.

Olivia and Beth playing with new princess figures. Beth was great with the kids the entire vacation. She tolerated early wake up calls from Olivia (Beth was sleeping in the basement where the toys are kept), did art projects with Olivia, and was a great playmate.

And, finally, you have come to the last picture of this entry. I know it was a bit long, but thanks for sticking with it. This was taken the day after Christmas when we had a nice dinner with the kids, great Uncle Scott, great Aunt Donna, Beth, Luke, grandpa, grandma, great-grandpa Ed, and Marge. The crowns are from some Christmas "crackers" that hold crowns and toys.