Christmas Take Two

The Saturday after Christmas we traveled to Edwardsville for Christmas with Joe's family. The kids were in high spirits all day while reliving Christmas all over again. Here is Olivia with Grammy playing with her new paper dolls.


Ethan and Olivia receiving a music lesson from Grammy. Both love the piano, Grandpa Brett's trombone, and Uncle Brennan's guitars - these are basically seen as wonderful toys for them.

Present time! Olivia and Grandpa Brett opening gifts together.

Olivia and I looking at her new paper dolls (they were a theme this year!).

Ethan opening a new sand toy.

Again with the paper doll theme...Ethan's own version to play with. However, I still have a feeling that he will prefer Olivia's princess paper dolls and Olivia will then play with his new ones.

Fireman Ethan! Another theme this year...Ethan received fireman paper dolls, a firefighter uniform, and a fire truck - although not this one in the photo.

Olivia hugging her Mouse King Nutcracker given to her especially from Grandpa Brett. In memory of her first Nutcracker attendance this year.

Uncle David made it to Illinois from Colorado this year, just in time to play basketball with Ethan.

And here are 2 random shots of the kids and their new toys...Olivia and Ethan playing with the Star Wars Christmas figures on Ethan's new fire truck.

This teepee is actually Ethan's Christmas gift, but I could not convince him to pose in front of it for a picture, so Olivia provided me with a great shot.

Merry Christmas from the Baimas

Merry Christmas to All! May you see health, happiness, and joy in this holiday season and in 2009!

Christmas in Litchfield

We woke up Christmas Day in Litchfield and the kids immediately had to check to see if Santa had remembered to visit them in the night. Both were thrilled to see their gifts and note from Santa, and instantly tore into the gifts.

Ethan received a Melissa and Doug ice cream set that is a HUGE hit with both of them. I highly recommend this gift for kids - it is a great toy.

The beginnings of gift opening chaos.

Santa brought Ethan an umbrella so he can play with Olivia in the rain.

We immediately set up our ice cream shop and spent the remainder of the day tracking down the scoops of ice cream throughout the house as the "shop" remained open all day.

Ethan in his Bilibo. Don't ask me to explain this toy - it is one for great imaginative play as it can be anything you want it to be. It has been fun for both kids.

Balancing a quadruple dip cone.

No, the pictures are not out of order. Once the kids opened their Santa gifts, it was time to move on to the family gifts. This year I am happy to report that Olivia did not become overwhelmed (we actually did cut down on the number of gifts, although it may not appear that way), and both had a great time opening their presents.

Ethan with his 2nd annual box of baseball cards. All guys in the family receive a box every year.

Olivia wearing her "Olivia the pig" chef hat. This is such a cute hat!

Ethan with his new remote control fire truck.

Joe's gift this year was 3 Star Wars nutcrackers...Vader, R2D2, and Yoda. To go with his Christmas Star Wars figurines, to go with his black Star Wars Christmas tree, etc.

The aftermath of the gift opening.

As a Santa stocking stuffer, Olivia received scented lotions. She instantly created a "lotion store" that she made sure everyone visited regularly throughout the day.

Olivia and Uncle Thomas playing with her new spin art toy. Everyone received art project presents from her later in the day from this great toy.

Ethan enjoying a cookie while wearing his new cape from grandma and grandpa.

Olivia with Great Grandpa Ed and his friend Marge at the "lotion store".

Ethann and grandma enjoying some quiet time.

This has been one of Olivia's favorite presents thus far...an American Girl salon chair and accesories. She spent hours doing her dolls' hair on Christmas and continues to play with it daily.

Ethan relaxing with Donald Duck. He kept everyone laughing throughout the day with his Donald Duck impersonation.

Christmas Eve

We spent Christmas Eve at my parent's house doing our traditional things...decorating cookies, eating way way way too much, our candlelight dinner, and preparing for Santa's arrival. Joe was lucky enough to only work until 3pm on Christmas Eve, and was off on Christmas Day! We had thought for sure that he would work the holiday, but no one was complaining about our good luck!

Decorating sugar cookies is a yearly event with my family, and Olivia takes her job very seriously. She really concentrated on each cookie and did some very unique designs. And when it came time to eat the cookies, she would only eat ones that she had decorated.

Olivia showing off a cookie creation.

Even Ethan joined in the decorating fun this year. This is a before shot...

And this is an after shot. This is what happened after ONE cookie! He could not believe his good fortune when Joe kept handing him bottles of sprinkles and sugar and adding more frosting. That is not the typical way of doing things in our house!

After the wonderful candlelight dinner (prepared by Aunt Rachel of course) was the reading of the books. Each family member took turns reading to each kid. That made for a lot of pictures, so I just included the best two. Here is Rachel practicing her teaching skills while reading a book to Ethan.

And Olivia listening to grandma and grandpa read "Twas the Night Before Christmas".

Olivia and Ethan selected a plate of cookies for Santa, milk, and a carrot for Rudolph. Both also "wrote" a letter to him as well (and yes, he did reply via Aunt Rachel). Here is our family shot before bedtime.

Olivia's Christmas Program

Today Olivia's preschool held their Christmas program. The kids sang and performed 8 holiday songs for the parents, and then held their kids only party complete with a visit from Santa. Olivia also presented Joe and I with a Christmas gift she made at school - a calendar with different handprint pictures for each month (eg: a spider made out of both of her hands for October, an apple tree made out of her hand for September, etc.).

Here is most of Olivia's school preparing to sing (I couldn't stand back far enough to get all of the kids in the photo).


Olivia sitting next to her good friends Ava and Soo-yun. Olivia is still, hours later, wearing her "Christmas crown" and is calling herself a "Christmas Queen" like Lucy in "Charlie Brown's Christmas". At the end of the singing, the teachers invited the students to stand and take a bow. Olivia loudly exclaimed "I want to stand and curtsy like this" and then proceeded to curtsy to a standing ovation. Darn it, we didn't capture it on film.

Our First Annual Christmas Brunch

This past Saturday we hosted a Christmas brunch/cookie exchange/playdate for 32 people. Everyone had a wonderful time, and we plan to turn this into an annual event. Lots of good food was consumed, art projects were made, and the kids were properly worn out at the end of the party (the sign of a good time).

Here is Olivia getting her one on one time with Kellan before the party started.


Dominic, Olivia, Kellan, and Caden enjoying the party.

Ava, Julia, Soo-yun (all friends from school), and Olivia bonding on the couch.

Ethan making art projects.

More friends at the art table.

Ginger Bread House

This past week we found some time to complete our annual ginger bread house. Olivia was a much bigger help this year - more candy made it onto the house rather than in her mouth, and she was able to squeeze the icing herself for candy placement. The peanut butter jars that you will see are for stability. The directions are to put the house together and wait for at least 30 minutes for the icing to dry. Well, try explaining to a 4 year old about the concept of waiting. So, the jars were to keep her from moving around the cookie pieces too much. It is now one week later and the house is still standing, so the peanut butter did its job!

Olivia the big girl doing the decorating by herself.

The finished product!

On a side note, for the past 2 weeks someone in our home has been sick every day. Mainly it has been Olivia, but Joe is the only one who has escaped this bug thus far. So, the kids have been spending a lot of time like this lately: on the couch in front of a Christmas movie. Yesterday seemed to be the first day that everyone felt a bit better (just in time for our Christmas party, the subject of a future blog).

When poor Ethan was sick, Olivia tucked him in under this blanket and would read to him and bring him toys. Very sweet to watch.