Celebrating Christmas

Christmas as an adult is weird still to me.  I had more trouble getting into the magical spirit of Christmas this year I think because I still associate Christmas with extended family, rest, fun, etc.  This year we had no family to spend the holiday with and there is no extra sleep and just more work to do as a mom.  I know, bah-humbug.  

There were some things that made me feel Christmas-y though.  One was Sarah's Christmas spin class.  Nothing like Christmas music, decorations, and endorphins to make me happy!

 After spin I hosted a kid's cookie decorating party.  I had 3 extra adults, so it went really smoothly.  They worked in shifts: big kids and little kids.

The Big

 The Little

As a family, we made gingerbread men and ate them with Egg Nog, per tradition.  This year we got the Egg Nog from our local dairy.  We also brought the same treat to a few families in the ward.  The boys sold some toys this year to clear space out of the basement.  I presented the option of using that money to buy gifts for other kids and they actually agreed.  They had fun shopping for people on our ward's angel tree.

 When the Baer's found out we were spending the holiday alone, they invited us over for Christmas Eve.  I was so happy to spend the evening having fun with friends.  It made it actually feel like a holiday!

We decorated cookies, ate tamales...

 and acted out the nativity.

 Christmas Eve!

 Of course Christmas day was fun letting the boys play all day.

 The boys all got "new" bikes from Santa.  Benton loves that this bike has a toy tool kit.  He is doing pretty well for not having training wheels.  Because he learned on a balance bike, he is great at balancing, but doesn't know how to pedal.  The bike is also so much bigger than his little balance bike that he is still awkward on it.

 Ethan was nervous about a bigger bike, but was fine, of course.

 They boys didn't get a ton of toys because we got season passes to LegoLand for them instead.  The Legos they did receive were the first things to be played with.  The day after Christmas they got out these Lego books I got at Scholastic (I volunteered so I could get books for them and the school library).  They got a book of Chain Reactions and one of Contraptions.

 Maze books from Usborne.

 Ready to go ride bikes.

"Accomplishments"

I think they must be doing character mapping at school.  Ethan doesn't seem to understand how this is not a super nice note, but his Kindergarten teacher (1st favorite) thought it was awesome.

Before Thanksgiving Ethan's class had to disguise turkeys so they wouldn't get eaten.  We had already left for Thanksgiving when they played a game to guess which turkey was which.  Ethan's "won" because it was the last to be figured out.  Not sure what the rules were that made obscure clues win, but it was a cute project!

 Ethan is getting a lot better at drawing.  This is the "cover" for one of his weekly story maps.

 Ethan had his first piano recital.  His practice had fallen by the wayside with all the travel, so I made him practice a ton the week before.  He got the song memorized and played it pretty well, so I'm glad he had a good first experience.  I missed it because I already had a race scheduled.  I was super sad to miss it!

ComTrans is sponsoring employees in races (which I am planning), so this was the first of, hopefully, much more regular races.  This was the 12k's of Christmas, but there was a 6k option.  I decided to do the short one too and just try to go faster.  We missed the start, so I was behind all the walkers (with dogs on leashes), but I ended up getting 3rd in my age group with about an 8:48 per mile pace, yay!

 This was my first time placing!  It is hard for me to be motivated to train for speed, but hopefully this will keep me going.

 Race swag.

 Ethan's Santa letter cracked me up.  Benton's was on brown construction paper, so too hard to see to include, but he asked for a big boy bike.  I love that the boys go along with asking for what I want them to ask for.

 Robin made the last of our stockings!  The family is complete.

 Ethan's winter fest was really cute!  He is in a suit and Santa hat.

 Ethan with Mrs. Matt.  After we left the concert he said, "I'm not going to have a happy holiday...I want to be with Mrs. Matt."  We have been very lucky to have great teachers.

Pre-Christmas December

The day after getting home from Thanksgiving we went to the Leybas' annual gingerbread competition.  There were two judges.  One gave us 1st place and the other didn't give us 1st or 2nd.  Here is "The Little Engine that Could."

 On Wednesday morning I flew with Asher to New York to watch Lisa's kids.  Dan surprised me by being on my flight and getting us upgraded to first class, score!

 Unfortunately, when we got to DC for our layover, our flight had been cancelled because of weather.  We would have to wait so long for the next flight, that if it got delayed, we would miss Lisa and Dan's flight to the Bahama's, so we rented a car and drove 7 hours to Rochester.  Asher was a champ.  He did not like being told he couldn't go up and down the escalator and stairs at will, but other than that, he was super patient.

 I wasn't a super exciting aunt; we mostly laid low with a sick Ruth one day, and school for the big kids.  We tried to surprise Lisa with getting some chores done (although, I must not have mentioned the surprise part to the kids, because they told her every night) and did dance parties in between cleaning.  I also got to play games with the big kids at night.  On the last night I took the kids out to ice cream.  I love pigtails!

 But boys are pretty cute too.  Asher was jealous of Rosemary while we were there.  He would sit on my lap every time I changed her diaper.  When I did her hair, he would position himself between me and Rosemary and slowly starting back up forcing Rosemary to get further away from me.  They both have buckle turtles that they love, so Asher learned the word "turtle" while we were there.

 Cute game between James and Asher.

 This means I can check him right?  He was really good on both flights (5 hours on the second), but didn't sleep much.

 He pushed the stroller all over the airports instead of riding in.  He got lots of attention for that.  I was amazed with all of my traveling how kind, patient, and helpful people were at every turn!

Cool temperatures brought hail (look on the grass)!

 And the most "white" Phoenix sees as people over their plants to protect from frost damage.

 The first day of Christmas break (after chores) we went to Enchanted Island.  Asher is getting old enough to enjoy it and Ethan is getting old enough to get bored with it.

 Ethan liked riding with Asher to help him enjoy it more (showing him how to steer/honk/etc.).

 We took a preschool field trip to Butterfly Wonderland.  The tour started with a 3D movie.

 Looking at the hatching butterflies.

 Butterflies!

 Notice the butterflies stuck to the boys here.

 There was also a sting ray petting tank.

 Benton was totally into this.

 And the random, huge, desert tortoise I saw crossing the road.