Winter Sleigh Ride

We took the kids on a sleigh ride on Christmas Day.  It was beautiful and I can't wait until next year when AJ is a bit older and we're able to reason with him a bit!  He refused to keep his mittens on and yet cried because his hands were so cold!  :)

Heading to the chalet.

All packed in...nice and cozy!

Pete & Julia (the horses) taking us out on the trail!

Finley was a bit owly that day...but we found a couple days later she had a valid excuse...

an ear infection!

Mommy & AJ all snuggled up!

Snuggling up with Papa!

Meeting Pete & Julia after the ride was over...

Ace looked very little compared to the horses!

First Comes the Laughter; Then Comes the Tears!

As promised a few days ago...more pictures of the "swords"!

The swords that Ace got for Christmas can be combined into one large one or two smaller ones.  

He is kind enough to share with little brother from time to time!

Ace thought it was hilarious that AJ kept swinging at Brent and I...

Ace was laughing SO hard!  Huge belly laughs!  And AJ was persistent!

And then the poor dogs got chased by the two of them around the living room...

...until the tears came!  :)

A Few of My Favorite Things - AJ

AJ obviously didn't have a wish list for Christmas...we knew that he would be most content with the box or really anything that he could push buttons to make noise!  He is such a good boy...very busy, but good! :)  He enjoys watching Finley and Ace play, but most of all enjoys being in the mix with them.  You can just see how hard he tries to keep up with them!  

I let him sit at the table the other day...

And he thought he was pretty cool!  :)

He loves to wrestle with Ace...and I think one of these days Ace might be on the receiving end!

Here he is playing with a Christmas present...pushing as many buttons as he can to make as much noise as possible!  HA!

A Few of My Favorite Things - Ace

Ace requested only one thing for Christmas - a green candy cane.  He was so disappointed when Santa gave him a red one on Saturday night...we explained that maybe Santa wrapped all the green ones already and had them loaded on his sleigh...he liked that.  (phew!)  BUT we had to get this special little boy something to open on Christmas Day...

He was so proud that he got a huge box full of "Moose & Muffin books"!  :)

And loved his "scooper" tractor!

He went right to work cleaning up the wrapping paper!

We also got him a Nerf sword...which we might regret!  (More pictures to come!)

He got a wooden set of bowling pins from Auntie Koko...which might have to be put away until the boys are older...I set them up twice and they played nice twice...until AJ started throwing the wooden balls around and Ace started swinging the pins around (like swords).  AH!  :)

AND...look at how content he is to just lay with his GREEN CANDY CANE!  :)

A Few of My Favorite Things - Finley

Finley is such a girlie girl!  Her Christmas list consisted of Barbies, princesses, Barbies, and more Barbies!  :)  She was excited to see that "Santa" came through with some things on her Christmas list.

I think she is gasping in this picture!

A popstar dress up outfit!

OOOH!  And the princess dress up outfit too!

I actually bought this book with Finley...she looked at it the entire time we were in the store and then I gently took it from her hands, distracted her with something else...and she was none the wiser!  

Yes, I'm good!  

She wouldn't look at me...but she is dressed up as the "popstar" with her very own microphone!

Finley didn't feel good on Christmas day...she had spiked a fever that night and continued to do so throughout the day.  She quietly sat at the table and colored for a while before falling asleep in her bed. 

Christmas Eve at Nana & Papa's

After church and a delicious meal, it was time to open presents!

AJ was the first to "receive"...a cool wagon!  :)

Ace patiently waited until it was hit turn...can you see him in the pile of presents?

Legos!

Ace enjoyed all of the special attention from Ethan!

The granddaughters all received "twirling" dresses that they quickly tested!

That's a lot of polka dots!  :)

Special Tea Party

I broke out the fancy tea set for Finley and Ace on Monday!  They were both being such good kids, I thought they deserved a special treat.  So I made hot chocolate in the little tea cups that I used to use at my Grandma Bea's house when I was a little girl.  They both thought it was pretty cool...and even better to have hot chocolate and a brownie for a morning snack!

Distraction

I was off work on Monday, so the kids were at home with me.  They were beyond excited to open presents that evening...so I allowed them to each open one that morning!

What is it Ace?

A new book!

AJ was actually the one that kept bringing the presents to me that morning...

But when allowed to open; he wasn't as interested!  HA

New books for AJ too!

Finley patiently waited her turn...

And ended up with a new book too!  :)

Pre-Christmas Fun

Last Saturday, we took the kids to Marshfield to eat at Culver's, bum at Target, and then off to the lights in the park.  We had planned on driving through the park, but at the last minute decided it would be fun to get out and stretch our legs.  

The kids were in awe of all the lights!

I couldn't get my camera settings right, but this is Ace and Finley dancing inside of the igloo!

There were a lot of people walking throughout the park...and an even longer line of cars waiting to drive through the park!

They thought it was fun to look through the cutouts!

Santa, Rudolph, and an Elf

Santa's workshop

Ace wanted to stand in line as we were leaving to meet Santa...

And Finley followed little brother's lead to get a candy cane.  Ace was of course disappointed that the candy cane was red...not green!  :)  He also tried his hardest to climb up on Santa's lap, but after a few failed attempts, decided it was okay to just stand by him!  Ha!

Finley's Christmas Program

Finley's 4-K class had their Christmas Program today.  She was very excited this morning and knew all of her songs/poems by heart!  I couldn't help but tear up as I watched her walking out toward the risers.  I could see her brown eyes quickly scanning the crowd trying to find Mommy & Daddy...and when she found us, she waved and smiled ear to ear!  :)

 

Finley's teacher has told us that she doesn't smile very often while at school. 

Finley will agree with this - she takes school very seriously and enjoys learning! 

Today, she smiled throughout the whole program! 

She loves to sing...I don't know who she gets that from?  It has to be her Papa!

She has a smaller class...14 kids...and they all did so well!

She hasn't let me wash the red paint off her nose and proudly wore her reindeer antlers to the grocery store, K-Mart, the eye clinic, and out for lunch.  I think she loved all the special attention!

After they performed we went to her classroom where she gave Brent and I a picture frame they worked on, a calendar, and a card (full of glitter).  We ate cookies and drank punch while she showed us around her classroom and pointed out her friends.

Forgotten Word

Papa:  "When your daddy was a little boy we had a milk man that would come give us milk."

Finley:  "Well now we have cows that give us milk."

After laughing, Papa clarified to Finley that the milk man delivered the milk the cows made!