Christmas Day

Baby Jesus arrived in our Nativity manger on Christmas morning!

Actually, a couple things I forgot to mention about Christmas Eve...

1) The kids opened some new, already-washed, Christmas jammies on Christmas Eve morning while we were all huddled up in our bed, upon them waking us. They were excited to leave the jammies on their pillows when we left for church later that day, knowing they'd get to put them on before bed that night. Christmas Eve is so filled with anticipation and excitement!

2) We placed Mary, Joseph and the donkey on the buffet a little ways from the stable so that they appeared to be traveling towards it. ;) Before bed, Mary and Joseph were IN the stable and Will begged to be allowed to add baby Jesus himself. It was very sweet.

Santa left the kids a note after snacking on most of the cookies...
In years past, I've had the oompf (a word I learned from my mother) to get up and shower before gift opening and put my pj's back on to look more presentable in pictures. Not so, this year. ;) Nope. This is plain 'ole me.

Christmas morning in our Christmas pj's... in front of a completely inconspicuous (right?) wrapped gift. ;) (How else would you wrap an assembled trampoline?... Other than a big drapey wrap, I suppose? Haha!) Will came upstairs to announce that it was Christmas morning and that Santa had brought a trampoline for us!!! :)

This year, our "Santa presents" were wrapped in red paper with gold bows and the kids each had three to open. Two together gifts (the trampoline and this giant, candy stripe, jump rope - below) and two individual gifts... plus stockings. The only other gifts under the tree were gifts that Craig and I exchanged with each other.

Will got a nice set of wooden pick-up sticks... (I loved this game as a kid)

...and Sophie, a M&D bat and ball set.

Sophie also received a game called Don't Let the Bugs Fall (like Jenga for kids) and Will got Qwirkle (a cross between Dominoes and Uno).

Oh, and daddy gave them Babe & Babe II on DVD because he just really wanted to get them something at the last minute.

Monkey face.

Stockings!

Poor Soph - her jammie pants just wouldn't stay up even though they were her size. I kept saying to her "you're losing your britches, baby girl!" ;-)

Stocking stuffers included: board books, a rainbow silk streamer, a Burt's Bees chapstick etc. for Soph... and a new hat, measuring tape, animal yahtzi game etc. for Will. (Can you tell I LOVE Magic Cabin?)

This was a big hit!!

I got a new coat & mittens from Craig as well as some slippers, movies and wool socks.

And I bought our new iPhones back in November and also got Craig some cologne and a movie.

When we finished upstairs, Craig said (in his most confused voice): "Wait a second... these gifts were all from Santa! Don't you think mommy and daddy got you some presents?" Will & Soph: "Yaaa!" Craig: "I wonder where they could be? We should look around."

We all proceeded to hunt through the first floor and then Craig snuck downstairs and got the video camera set up in the playroom to catch their reaction. The kids knew Craig had been working on a playroom for them, but didn't know he finished and hadn't seen anything since the drywall was hung. So we were SO excited to show them!

Finally, I hinted that maybe we should check downstairs where the playroom was going to be. Their eyes lit up and they hurried down the stairs. In general, the kids are never allowed in the basement unless accompanied by me to help with laundry or whatever. So they were psyched.

You will see some glimpses of the new room in this post... but I'm going to do a much more thorough reveal once we get just a few more things done. I'm hoping by early February, but maybe sooner. The kids are down here every day now, but there are still more things we want to do to it before we'll call it "complete". (Starting with my first job: painting that ivory door white.)

First off: I am NOT a fan of this Dora mat. But it was given to us for free and right now it is serving as a pad for the trampoline to sit on. We put their mom-and-dad-gifts there on Christmas morning.

Their easel from Nana & Papa (last year's Christmas) set on top of their table & chairs set from Grandma & Papa (also last year's Christmas) served as a perfect message board. :)

The kids opened: dino magnets, an abacus, a couple of puzzles (world & space), a marble game (a smaller version of this one... but I might like to get that one too 'cause the kids loved it!) and some new colored pencils. We also put all of their Advent books up on the new book shelves.

Brutus loves to help open. :)

More fun with the silk streamer. Craig and I love that thing!

Assembling the marble run.

The kids were overwhelmed to say the least. Just seeing a brand new space and all their own toys in it was a lot to take in. They really didn't have a ton of gifts to open on Christmas morning, which is something I was REEEEALLY striving for... but even what they did seemed like plenty or even too much. There was just so much going on. I absolutely plan to continue the book Advent in future years 'cause that is so valuable and so fun. And I am really pleased that not one of the gifts they received from Santa or us required batteries. Haha! A few games/puzzles, several physical activity things and a bit of art supplies. Plus the books. I put a lot of thought into selecting gifts for our kids with regards to what will be the most used, most educational and easiest to store for the best price. But even still, I see this playroom at max capacity very soon. So an upcoming project will be to examine the things that are being ignored (older toys that the kids have outgrown) and make a point of donating them.

After our playroom time, we had to tear the kids away for a light breakfast before heading to Nana & Papa's for a bigger brunch meal and gifts there. I made my favorite Cranberry Nut Coffee Cake - it's easy, festive and delicious - and we called it "baby Jesus's birthday cake". We sang happy birthday to baby Jesus and then ate some "cake" and fruit.

We also burned our Advent candle for the last time.

Sophie with Uncle Taylor at Nana & Papa's house.

Taylor's girlfriend, Lindsay, was so attentive to Sophie with every little game of pretend she came to her for.

Will and Uncle Dub

Tree & gifts

Cousins!

Love the headbands, ladies!

We tried to get a picture of the girls in the Ohio State tutus and t-shirts that Nana & Papa gave to them, but no one was cooperating. :)

To go along with that theme, Will got the cutest Ohio State Nike pullover ever. I love it! It looks so cute on him. And it's that lightweight, fleecy inside with nylon outside material.

These two are just little balls of personality. I love to watch them grow. :)

Both kids got several nice gifts again, including some "gaming" chairs to watch movies in their new playroom.

Will got new Hatley dino boots & matching umbrella from the Rethmans! Love them!!

We ate a big brunch, played with new gifts and then hurried home for a nap before moving on to the Buhro home (my mom's sister's fam) for that side of the family gathering. This party is not routinely on Christmas Day, but my Grandpa Konesky had knee surgery shortly before Christmas this year and we got together with just the Buhro's in lieu of a bigger, extended family Christmas at Grandma & Grandpa's.

Sophie brought her new lacing cards from the Rethmans and the three girls entertained themselves with those for awhile.

Love these girls!

Will took a break from tractors and dinos to play too.

Family!

Haha, Wes. :)

I LOVE this picture! One of my new faves of Sophie... because of the adorable smile and because it was just a really sweet moment. She was SO infatuated with the baby in Brittany's belly and just wanted to be near her and talk about the baby for a good portion of the evening. She sang songs to the baby and talked to the baby and, as we left later that night, said "Goodbye, everyone!... Goodbye, baby!" At home lately, Sophie has been wanting to play pretend that she is the mommy and I am the baby/little girl. She is quite the little mother.

So cute of them. And Brittany is quite possibly the best dressed pregnant lady ever. Look how cute her belly is! February is right around the corner!!!

Well, the morning got a little hairy and rushed trying to get everything done, but this evening was very relaxed and comfortable... as Christmas should be. A very, merry, family day!

Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve morning, we actually shipped Will & Sophie off to Nana & Papa's house for a couple hours so we could make a mad dash at getting most of the kids things (books, toys, puzzles, games, art supplies, etc) moved into the new play room. Craig still had to hang shelves and I still had four dishes to prepare for parties. So we were literally running to get everything done on Christmas Eve Day. Nana fed the kids lunch and I picked them back up to lay down for nap at home while we continued working on quieter things.

We were very late to church at 4:30... but still made it, thank goodness. All throughout the season, I have been talking to kids about the meaning of our Christmas celebration. We were NOT about to miss Christmas Eve mass.

After church, we made our way to Craig's parent's house. Christmas Eve is always spent there with the King/Powers side of the family (my mother-in-law's family).

The train is always a mesmerizing hit for the young and young at heart.

Tea party for one?

Finally, Celia arrives!

Grandma & Papa have a couple of high chairs built by the Amish (I've mentioned these before) that can be used three ways. Upright as a high chair, laying on one side to be used as a desk or on the other side to be used as a rocking horse. The rocking horse is just barely big enough for TWO little booties. :) I love these pictures. Cecelia is ~21 months here.

So cute.

Will & Sophie received presents from Grandma & Papa as well as several of Craig's cousins.

One cousin, Megan, traveled half way around the world to be with us on Christmas this year. Megan and her husband live in Indonesia and brought the kids gifts from home. Sophie got a really beautiful backpack and Will got a popular children's book character as a stuffed animal.

Celia opened a new tricycle (low rider style?) from Grandma & Papa and there seemed to be just enough room for Sophie to hop on the back. :)

The one thing Will repeatedly asked for this year was Transformers. He was so excited to open them and he has played with them A LOT... but the actual transforming part is difficult even for an adult. Like, ridiculously difficult. We don't really transform them much.

Craig and his mini-me.

Sophie's big present this year was a doll house!! She loves it! And I love that it is simple and not too foo-fooey. I have a feeling that it will be played with by both kids, just as Sophie plays with Will's barn and farm sets, so I requested a unisex look and as "natural-looking" as possible. This house and room sets are by Ryan's Room.

It's sometimes hard coming up with "big" presents for the second child. We don't need a wagon, a tricycle, an activity table, a water table, etc... But she seemed old enough for a doll house and now that we have the play room... this seemed like a perfect gift for her this year.

Grown-up cousins!

(Minus Kelly & Steve who were home at this point tending to their newly expanded family... plus Sophie who snuck in at the last minute. Haha!)

We stayed until about 10:30 and then came home to get kids to bed and get ready for Santa to visit!

Some of our homemade cookies for Santa that were saved in the freezer. (The candy canes broke at the last minute.) Plus a dino picture for Santa. ;-)