Christmas 2014

Some pictures and memories from Christmas 2014. 

It was a super special Christmas because my parents spent it with us! It's the first Christmas Grandma Evie and Grandpa Mike have spent with my kids. 

Christmas 2014 was memorable in another way too--poor David was really, really sick. Like the sickest he's every been (except for that time he ended up in the hospital). Like so sick that on Christmas morning he had to be carried down the stairs. So sick he didn't have the strength to open any presents. It was very, very sad. Poor guy! We're hoping Christmas 2015 is a little better for him.

And my favorite memories? Mary has a little lamb. (Mary was a shepherd, and Sara wore her lamb Halloween costume.) Also, when we had our little Christmas Eve concert, and Sara (still wearing her lamb costume) took out her MusikGarten rhythm sticks to perform for us the thumpity-thump part of "Frosty the Snowman." Precious.

Christmas Eve dinner. Poor David was missing. And he loves this meal!

Mary had a little lamb! Mary the shepherd with her lamb, who for some reason is holding our baby Jesus.

Say cheese, little lamb.

The shepherd and her sheep. (Why is Baby Jesus with the shepherd?) Do you see poor David in the background? And Grandma Evie preparing for her entrance as the angel?

The angel appears!

Mary and the lamb and the lamb's lamb worship Baby Jesus (played by Katie, Mary's Bitty Baby).

Grandma Evie and Grandpa Mike as the wise men!

Everybody! (Except Greg who was Joseph-photographer-narrator.) Even our sad David is in the picture.

Christmas Eve group picture!

Our little concert. David briefly rose from the dead to play the piano. What a trooper!

And Sara takes out the rhythm sticks!

She wasn't going to miss out on performing too!

Thumpity thump thump!

What a pro.

We have a few select Christmas Eve presents. Sara was a helper, still dressed as a lamb.

After jammies it was time to light the candles and sing carols.

Christmas morning! Santa brought Sara a Bitty Baby, Mary a karaoke machine, and David a Playmobil rc train. Poor David had to be carried down and only had the strength to admire the train from the couch.

It was fun to have grandparents help play with the new stuff.

And let's not forget Christmas jammies! Look at my sweet Christmas morning polar bears!

After this picture was taken, there was plenty of present opening and food eating all day long!

Another memory: On Christmas evening we have a scavenger hunt that ends in a family present. This year it ended in a new toilet!! Which I was super excited about. But our kids weren't quite old enough to appreciate the humor. Mary burst into tears. It was the biggest Christmas fail ever! Except that it was such a fail that it was hilarious. All the tears! We are seriously so mean that we got our kids a toilet for Christmas! Hah! Okay, so it was a huge disappointment, but I have to say that the toilet went in the kids' bathroom and it had been AWESOME!!! Best toilet ever. No clogs, no grossness, and for some reason it's easier for little and big boys to maintain correct aim. Love it.

P.S. This is being posted from THE FUTURE. I'm writing this post on December 1, 2015--but I'm cheating on the post date so it will be archived in the right place. Ah, Christmas 2014 was a good one. And now we're ready for the joy of the holidays in 2015!

Christmas is coming! 2014

Hi again from the future. It's the last day of our Thanksgiving weekend 2015, and I'm going to post here some pictures from December 2014. It's not exhaustive of our December--not even close! But they show some of our Christmas spirit.

Lots of pictures of my cutie-pies! 

(Sara almost 2, David 9 and a half, Mary 7.)

Christmas Concert!

Mary's second-grade concert was a festive affair. And she did a great job!

Christmas Party!

Greg took the kids to the church Christmas party, which included a visit from Santa. Santa got mixed reviews...

Grandma Evie and Grandpa Mike come to visit! 

Grandma Evie spent a lot of time reading books and doing puzzles with her granddaughters.

One evening we went to a big light display in nearby Morrow. (This led to some confusion when I announced to the kids, "Hurry up! We're going to Morrow! Get ready, we're going to Morrow." They, of course, heard, "We're going tomorrow!" and wanted to know WHERE we were going, and I of course responded, "I just told you. We're going to Morrow." It was very confusing for everyone.)

Grandpa Mike and Sara were pals.

It was a festive month! And we were ready for our celebrations on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

Pictures from Thanksgiving Weekend 2014

Hi. This is the future speaking. Thanksgiving 2015, to be exact. To kick off the 2015 Holiday Season, I'm posting pictures from 2014! (Better late than never! And it's been fun for all of us to look through them.)

Okay then. Here we go. Thanksgiving Weekend 2014.Sara was almost 23 months old, David was 9 and a half (3rd grade), and Mary was 7 (2nd grade).

Christmas Card Photo Shoot

We kicked off the Thanksgiving weekend with a semi-successful attempt to take a picture we could use for our Christmas card. Sara wasn't very interested in cooperating. David and Mary were super troopers. This is what we got:

Thanksgiving Day Race

Thanksgiving morning David, Mary, and I headed downtown with Greg, who was running the Thanksgiving Day 10K in downtown Cincinnati. Cousin Eliza babysat Sara. It was a festive atmosphere. Before the race, we got a close up look at the Bengals stadium. Greg really enjoyed the course--crisscrossing the bridges over the Ohio River into and out of Kentucky. The kids and I enjoyed hot chocolate from Starbucks. As usual, Greg ran fast, so we didn't have to wait long. It was a great morning.

 Later that afternoon Chris and Leslie hosted us for a super yummy, laid-back, fun Thanksgiving meal. It was a good day. (Three Thanksgivings in a row with Chris and Leslie! Yay!...but what will we do in 2016??)


Decorating

We built the Christmas tree and put up the Christmas decorations! This somehow also included building a super tall Duplo tower. Sara was very helpful, of course. And very cute, of course.

 Footie Pajamas!

The holiday season also marks the beginning of footie-pajama season! Sara spent most of her babyhood in footie pajamas. It turns out seven-year-old Mary was anxious for some footie pajamas of her own. The result? Twinsies in onesies!!

Christmastime had begun!