christmas eve

i think that today was the greatest christmas eve. madelyn was so excited that daddy and mommy weren't working today. she loves it when daddy gets to stay home with us too. (i really love that part too.)

mason got into the presents first thing this morning (with some scooting and rolling) - i caught him red handed.

daddy made us breakfast (and cleaned it up), so i got to enjoy some time chatting with madelyn at the table. as has become routine, madelyn was asking where we were going today. i told her that we were going to make a cake for jesus, go church, and then put out our reindeer food and cookies for santa. she said, "no, not that church, CHURCH!" if you listen in the video you can tell the difference of inflection. i guess she meant that today was super special church.

we had about four inches of snow last night and madelyn went out to help daddy clear the drive way. i think she misses having daddy actually shovel. the snow thrower is cool but she doesn't like how she has to stay away the whole time and that daddy walks "really far away" down the sidewalks while clearing the snow. i have to stand at the front door so that she doesn't feel like she is all alone and matt doesn't have to worry about not being able to see/hear her.

while they were out in the snow, mason and i stayed in where it was warm.

while mason took his nap madelyn and i watched christmas movies and worked on our birthday cake for jesus (more on that tomorrow). madelyn is really, really excited that it is baby jesus' birthday and has been singing "happy birthday, jesus" all month. i guess baking the cake today made her think about his presents. she was very concerned that there were no presents under the tree for baby jesus, so she started to pick out some of hers to give him. i was so touched and proud. here is some video of me trying to ask her about what she had been telling us.

i had to work in the nursery for the 3:00 service so i left matt to fend for himself and get both kids dressed and ready for the 4:30 service on his own. the crazy thing was that it was pouring out - as in rain! we went from lots of snow to around an inch of rain. i just hope it turns back into snow tomorrow so that i get a "white christmas" (that is one of the best parts of living in the north). here are pictures of the kids after church.

madelyn brought home reindeer food (glitter and oatmeal) from school a few weeks ago and has been waiting patiently to use it. she and daddy went to sprinkle it on the snow/yard tonight after dinner, but madelyn mainly threw it on the sidewalk.

before bed we did one of our traditions - opening christmas jammies! madelyn was so happy to finally open a present from under the tree and we let her help mason open his too. i think she was more excited about mason's jammies than her own though...

then cookie and milk for santa, carrots for the reindeer, into new jammies, and off to bed. i can't wait for all the excitement tomorrow! love.