Well here are far too many pictures of our holiday season. Please note that Oliver decided to choose this month to be his orneriest and I decided to choose this month to like being a parent the least so we made quite a pair and still managed to get in a few happy moments and memories :)
Oliver's preschool was spot on with the crafts this season. 
Here is a menorah (sorry it's sideways). I had know what it was and so I asked Oliver and he just said, "it's a menorah" like it was no big deal. I love it!
And Oliver's Mistletoes (I die!)
And the BEST craft to date: the elf hat which says "Oliver Gingersnap" He seriously went around telling everyone, "I'm and elf, I'm an elf" It was the cutest thing ever. I have so much love and appreciation for educators. Especially the ones of young children.
Oliver sat on Santa's lap, no problem, at our ward Christmas Party. He asked santa for a kitchen.
Peter didn't shed any tears. He just went limp which is his "go to" move when he is unhappy with a situation. He's a funny little guy.
After months of pestering Tim, we finally did something about all the mud in the back that the boys have been playing with.
We laid sod. And it's starting to grow!! Yay!! A little patch of grass that makes me much happier than I thought it would. Good work Tim! The timing was perfect because Santa brought Peter a little slide which fits perfectly out there.
Peter got the most legit goose egg I've ever seen. We were at my Cody and Claire's new house and Peter trip and knocked his head right on the corner of the wall. I've never seen a bruise down the middle of a goose egg like that before. It seriously FREAKED me out. It was one of those moments where I was REAL glad to be married to an ER doc. I could't look at the sweet boys face for a good 30 minutes it was upsetting me so much.
That's the corner where he knocked his face. He hit so hard that it knocked the metal strip in the wall bumping off some of the dry wall. Now that is a hard head!
We were at Cody and Claire's house to decorate gingerbread men cookies. The men are easier for the little kids to decorate than the houses which we've done in the past.
Tim was Oliver's little assistant. It's pretty great how much Oliver loves his dad.
Great Grandpa Frank and Grandma Joan and Uncle Kyle came. I love getting pictures of my kids with my grandpa. It makes me happy that they have gotten to know him. Even if they won't remember it. But hopefully he'll stick around long enough that they do.
My child being the uncooperative one for the picture. Eye roll. And you know he's rolling his eyes at me for wanting yet another picture.
Oliver decided at bedtime one night that he would like to sleep on the floor. Totally random. So the floor is where he slept. Tim and I thought it would be warmer and more comfy if we moved him to his bed after he was aleep. He was not happy to be in his bed when he woke up the next morning. I guess there's something special about floor sleeping that I am unaware of.
At some point my parents computer went ker-plunk. And, well, Tim decided he wanted to take a whack at diagnosing the problem (he is a doctor after all and diagnosing is what he does). So with assist from me we replaced the hard drive in hopes that was the issue. Unfortunately it was not. But now we know how to take a iMac apart.
Oliver's friend Roman gave him a Mighty Machines DVD for Christmas. It's so awesome how much little boys love watching big trucks and machines do things. It's all he wanted to watch for a week.
Peter's "new" face. It's cracking me up! This kid is seriously hilarious!
Oliver helped me make peanut blossoms. We took them to our neighbors. He seriously unwrapped an entire bag of hershey kisses. It was pretty impressive. You can tell he was having a great time. Please note: his shirt collar. He's going through a clothes sucking/chewing stage. I finally understand why my mom told me not to chew on my collars as a kid....gross!
Peanut blossoms are one of my favorite holiday cookie.
Christmas Sunday. I decided that we should "match" this year. Tim worked the night before so he had to sleep that day. The music during the meeting was great and I was so happy to feel the spirit despite wrestling with these two little trouble makers. I love Christmas hymns!!
I missed Thanksgiving with my family this year and I LOVE my mom's Thanksgiving dinner. Somehow I convinced her that it would be a good idea to do a turkey dinner the Sunday before Christmas. That also happened to be winter solstice (the longest day of the year), so we decided to call it a winter solstice dinner and now we have a new tradition on our hands. Fine by me :)
The before table. Isn't it extra pretty?? My mom can set a beautiful table. She always manages to keep it inviting and non intimidating.
Our sweet little Christmas tree. We get a real one every year. Mainly because we have no place to store a fake one. We have sweet little woodland ornaments decorating it.
I found this fabulous paper at Ikea and I am still using ribbon left over from wedding gifts. I also supplemented this red paper with brown packing paper from the dollar store and had a few "brown paper packages tied up with string". It goes well with the woodland theme :)
The day before Christmas Eve, the men of the family went up to the cabin to replace a leaky roof. Whitney and I decided to take advantage of their absence and do a park day with the cousins. Oliver discovered he can sit on this little perch. He was pretty happy about it.
Then Oliver and Rhett decided to make sand angels. It's just what you do in 60 degree weather when there is no snow I guess.
Christmas Eve was a lot of fun. We put on a little nativity with all the kids. It's the first one that our family has attempted. It was pretty cute and I think the kids liked it.
Oliver was a Wise Man along with the other two naughties.
And Peter was baby Jesus. This was an attempt at "swaddling clothes". It's pretty difficult to do just about anything to a one year old.
We did a little talent show after the nativity and Elle played the piano. She is getting quite good.
And then we did a craft which was also fun!
Matching Christmas Eve Jammies. I love getting them matching jams. I wonder how long I'll be able to get away with it??
Oliver left some milk, gingerbread cookies, a letter and a spy glass for Santa and some carrots for the reindeer. Thoughtful boy!!
Santa brought Oliver a kitchen for Christmas!! It only took his elves 2 hours and 38 minutes to put together (thanks Time!). He was one happy boy.
Oliver got a dino-bot in his stocking. Pretty exciting stuff!
Peter was pretty happy with the little cell phone he got. Although I think he still would rather play with mine.
Oliver got a cash register!! He is definitely living in a land of make believe these days and I love it!! Playing store and kitchen is right up my alley.
Grandma and Grandpa Riding got Oliver a BBQ and all the kids loved grilling hotdogs and hamburgers.
End of Christmas Day snuggles with Grandpa.
And let's just talk about that face.....
I mean really?!?!?!?! I could just eat him up!
And then right back to the finger sucking. He LOVES those two little fingers of his.
Tim's Christmas present came while he was at work....I wonder what he got me......packaging fail! I was pretty excited anyway!
Exchanging Christmas gifts. This is how Peter likes to ride......squatting.
What an awesome month!! It was exhausting and there was lots of naughtiness and tears shed by both mother and child, but it was good. We had a great Christmas. I was really able to feel the true meaning of Christmas which was really important to me. And I was able to spend lots of time with Tim and the boys and my family. 2014 for the win!
So what was your Christmas present? Should I know "Rainbow?"
ReplyDelete