Christmas Vacation -- Part Two

Subtitled:  Family -- Isn't it About Time?  Hahaha.  The answer to that question is YES.  Yes it is.  And my children in particular were MORE than stoked about the opportunity to spend LOTS of time with the cousins in Indiana.  Especially since we haven't been able to spend a good chunk of time with them in a really long time!  An added bonus was that Scott's parents were also at Kristin's house for Christmas, so we were able to get all kinds of family time in before we came back for the New Year.  :)

All in all, fun was had and memories were made -- always a good way to spend a vacation.  Right?  Highlights of our trip to Kristin's include ear piercings, hair cuts, outings to the outlets, game nights, movie nights, a trip to Kids Commons, and another installment produced in the kids' "Attack of the Sea Aliens" movie franchise. 

Picture highlights of the week:

 Sophie got her sparkle on.

 After being to afraid to get her ears pierced for years now, she finally mustered the courage about a month ago and told me she was ready to really do it!

 She was REALLY excited about the bear to clutch while getting her ears pierced.

 They did both ears at the same time, and even though the momentary pain was definitely worse than she was expecting, it lasted only a second and then she pulled it together without ever uttering a cry of distress.  Overall, I was SUPER impressed.  I thought for sure we'd have all kinds of dramatics to deal with.

 The picture is terrible, but she chose the rose crystal daisy.

 Lover Boy was MAJORLY in need of a haircut.  While we were there, we determined that the LAST time he got his haircut was some time this summer while we were visiting the cousins and went to the same place to get it done!

 He was surprisingly still for the cut which was impressive.  He really liked that cape he was wearing due to the elephant and other animals being printed all over it.

 The after shot -- not a great one, but he was really into that dum dum they gave him.

 Father-son shot!  Scott got a haircut at the same time Alex did.

 No trip to the cousins' is ever complete without visiting the children's museum, and the older kids really wanted to rock climb this time around.  Ethan and Sophie went first...

 ...while Grace and Hannah patiently waited their turn.

 Meanwhile Alex was in heaven when he found the basketball hoop.

 Back at Kristin's house, Alex and Jane REALLY liked the light sabers...

And the big kids REALLY loved playing this game.  Telestrations is the name and it's a cross between the telephone game and pictionary.

 They seriously loved it.  

 We all did.

{The funniest part is in the instructions when it tells you how to win the game -- "Did you have fun?" it asks, and then, "You all win!" it responds.  Hahahaha.}

Bananagrams was the other big crowd pleaser.  Here is a finished puzzle of Ethan's.

We stayed from Wednesday afternoon until Monday night, and even though we experienced our fair share of meltdowns and freakouts while we were there, the kids surprised us all in not making life miserable for us when it came time to take off.  With the kids having to go back to school on January 2nd {SUPER lame -- don't even get me started on the fact that they didn't get a solid two-week Christmas vacation}, we knew we needed a couple of days (and nights) back at home to get everyone back on schedule and ready for the new year.

Once we were all home, I think everyone was sad to realize the break was almost over, but life goes on and at least there was still New Year's Eve and Day to celebrate before getting back on track and back to reality...

Christmas Vacation -- Part One

Featuring the build up to the big day.  This year I was happy to have a few days leading up to Christmas with the kids already out of school.  With Christmas day on a Wednesday this year, there just seemed to be a lot more time available for increasing our holiday cheer.  Haha.  And since Scott had not really used up ANY of his vacation days prior to the holiday season, he decided to really kick Christmas vacation up a notch by taking a full two weeks off.  Best Christmas present ever!  :)

In the days before Christmas, we managed to fit in most of our holiday traditions and I was even able to squeeze in a few extra projects as well.  Because nothing says merry Christmas Eve like finally finishing the painting of a desk that has been sitting in our garage for the past 2 months and then some!  Hahaha. 

Painting in the kitchen on Christmas Eve.

Grace's desk take two.  If you'll recall, one of her Christmas gifts LAST year was a new {to her} desk that I had found at a thrift store and revamped and repainted a pale pink color.  While we both liked the pink color in and of itself, something about the combo of the Ballet Slipper pink paired with the Bird's Egg blue of the walls in her new room didn't really work. 

So, I stripped off all the paint {we're talking at least 3 or 4 layers worth!}, stained and waxed the top and then painted the bottom the same white as her dresser and other furniture in the room.  {The top has been finished for months, I just had never gotten around to painting the bottom.} The chair is another St. Vincent de Paul thrift store gem.  I found it several months ago and spruced it up by recovering the cushion with some fabric I had leftover from some of the blocks in Grace's baptism quilt.  And voila!

{Alex chose Lucky Charms for his Christmas cereal this year.  He REALLY liked the marshmallows.  And I'm pretty sure his box was gone in about a day.}

Jane holding the shrinky dink ornament she got from her Primary teacher at church.

Isn't that so cute?  Jane LOVED watching it shrinky dink it up in the oven.  :)

Christmas Eve was quite the busy day as we also decorated our annual gingerbread house and got OUR house ready for the company we had invited over to share our traditional Christmas Gumbo and join us in our nativity pageant.

I made the mistake of telling Ethan he was "in charge" of this activity. 

So much sugar consumed...

Sleepy little puppy has not been falling asleep for naps while the kids are home from school.  

Look at that concentration...

 The "haunted" side of the Gingerbread house.  Courtesy of Grace and Sophie.

 
The kids were super excited for the big day, but managed to get their acts together and get themselves in bed and asleep in a very timely manner at the end of Christmas Eve.  It makes Christmas morning SO much better when they've actually gotten a good night's sleep!  We went with Secret Santa for the stockings again this year, and I think the kids were pretty happy with the results.  I always find it hilarious to see what the kids pick out for each other -- Grace is notorious for choosing things that she really wants, Sophie has an anything goes philosophy, and Ethan just wants to get his shopping over with as quickly as possible.

 In keeping with tradition, all non-Santa gifts were exchanged on Christmas Eve.  This is the gift I made for Scott this year.  I printed out a picture I took back in the fall and wrote the lyrics on top to one of my favorite songs that make me think of Scott. {From "The Light" by Sara Bareilles}

Post-Santa's visit.

Look at all those cute little faces!  So happy and excited.   :)

Grace had Alex's name...

Sophie had Jane's...

"Jane" had Sophie's...

"Alex" had Ethan's...

 

and Ethan had Grace's.

All the loot from Santa.  Plus a couple of presents that Ethan bought for the girls.

Jane with her 3 gifts.

{Lalaloopsy dress, 3D cardboard castle, Mercy Watson books}

Alex with his 3 gifts.

{Little People superheroes, Magna Doodle, board books}

Grace {wearing her "Lucky Charms"} with her 3 gifts.

{Earring making kit, Paper Twirling klutz set, Diary of a Wimpy Kid book set}

Sophie with her 3 gifts.

{Princess dress, Lego Friends set, Clementine books}

Ethan with his 3 gifts.

{Speed stacks, Dollar Origami book, The Secret Series}

As a whole I was rather impressed with the unfolding of Christmas morning this year!  Everyone posed patiently on the steps for our annual kid shot before opening presents, no one was up SUPER early, and everyone was totally fine with taking turns as they opened their gifts one at a time, one after the other while I tried to snap pictures of everything.  AND -- in the end -- they were all very appreciative of what they got.  Always a nice thing to witness.  

Ethan's loot...

Grace's...

Sophie's...

Jane's...

and Alex's.

{A stocking stuffer I slipped in for Sophie -- some brand new earrings -- as token to let her know

that she could get her ears pierced over Christmas vacation.  She was VERY excited!}

Some Christmas morning fun:

 

Eating leftover Gumbo for breakfast.  Featuring her brand-new "donut bun" that was in her stocking from Jane.

Fun fact -- Scott and Sophie eat exactly the same way.  It is hiLARious.  You'll just have to trust me.  Every time I look over at the two of them munching along in exactly the same manner it slays me.  Hahaha.

I knew Ethan would enjoy this present.  He spent the majority of his vacation stacking.

 Modeling her princess dress and the lipstick that was in her stocking.

 I found Grace inside Jane's castle working in one of her Diary of a Wimpy Kid activity books.  {That giant Beanie Ballz is the gift Ethan gave her.}

Some more of Grace's stocking stuffers courtesy of Ethan.

And that was that.  The kids were more than excited to hit the road a few short hours later and head on over to Indiana to stay for the week at the cousins.  Stay tuned for Part Two of our Christmas vacation...