daddy went to work and the kids and i decided to go to the museum. madelyn has wanted to do most of the things she normally misses out on while at school and today she suggested the museum. feeling excited about going, she wore head to toe sparkles and shine.
the boys were pretty excited too. it wasn't all that warm, but we still walked up the monument stairs a few times before leaving. well, the kids slid down like a slide on the sides. the marble had to have been freezing on their behinds! another unexpected bonus to today's visit was that the museum was still decorated for Christmas and there were lots of things to look at beyond the normal exhibit.
madelyn pretending to be eaten by a dinosaur. i only have a picture of her because i forgot about not being allowed to use a flash and this was the only one that came out (because i used a flash - the others were too dark).
mason asked me to take a few videos of him to "show daddy how strong i am." the first is him using his arm strength to power a light bulb and the second is lifting a weight with one pulley (the most difficult option).
the picture doesn't capture how lovely the christmas lights and decorations were in the historic town.
manning was quite taken with the dalmatian in the fire station and it was extra cute because he was wearing his firetruck shirt.
when we got home, i was able to talk all three boys into a nap because the kids want to try and stay up until midnight tonight. they napped in our bed so that daddy could work on his building project (their room was too noisy). love.
a very happy day indeed! the day the three big kids receive their lego club magazines - and as an extra bonus, daddy's catalog came too. lego club magazine is free and they, obviously, allow for multiple kids per household. the kids spend hours upon hours pouring over every single page and set in ever issue. mason hangs on to his until they are literally falling apart and don't have enough left of the paper to even be able to tape them together again. madelyn is in a different age bracket so she got a slightly different issue - much to her delight.
they were all feeling inspired after looking at the submissions of other kids and got to work on their own creations. love.
this is maddux' reaction and then his reenactment of mason's reaction to seeing the picture below of the shark their cousin ford caught at the beach while visiting big pop and grandma. they were pretty impressed. love.
i said that this was my favorite week of the year. and here is another reason - cleaning house! due to the luxury of no schedule and the influx of new toys to occupy the kids, i am able to sort through closets, toys, basement, etc. and thin out everything for one last charity donation to end the year. it just makes me feel so optimistic for the new year! love.
the kids received toys r us gift cards from uncle derek and his fiancé ashley for christmas and they could not wait to get a chance to shop! this morning we made out way over there. i briefed the kids in the car about how i expected them to behave because trying to do math in my head for four kids who keep changing their minds in a crowded toy store can be a little stressful. but today was a dream! they all had a decent idea about what they were hoping to leave with and didn't change their minds! the most surprising was mason because he usually takes forever to decide which lego set he wants, but today he was the first one and never looked back. here are some pictures of their purchases we took for uncle derek.
after a few hours with their new toys, they played a quick round of "surprise slides" (the frozen version of chutes and ladders) for the first time since receiving it on christmas. all four were able to play the game together and seemed to enjoy it until the first one had to 'slide back' and didn't want to lose. the game wound down pretty quickly after that. oh well. it was fun while it lasted!
this is just my favorite week! we have zero commitments and get to truly relax. i do have to keep the kids busy but all of the new toys make that task a breeze. lots more fun to come! love.
yesterday, daddy went to work and i got to work at home with finding homes for the new toys but we still found some time to brave the mall and pick up a few deals. the kids and i spent some time outside while waiting for daddy since it was another warm and sunny day.
we couldn't believe that we were going to have an even warmer day today - 53! and still sunny! (where we live is the cloudiest place in the country and sunny days this time of year are very rare.) with no plans, we set out on a family walk after lunch. all four kids walked the entire three miles - without complaining! it was that nice out. (manning was carried for about 10 minutes at the half-way point to 'rest').
we stopped for some shoe tying and i thought a group picture was in order. apparently, we were facing the sun. oops.
blue skies for miles
we were all refueled by some starbucks (coffee for me and daddy and peppermint hot chocolate for the kids) and the half-way point. the kids ran most of the way back! we were all ready for a little snack when we got home so i let the kids eat this 'gingerbread men' we made before christmas. they received rave reviews from the kids. they are made from marshmallows assembled, dipped in water and then a sugar, cinnamon, ginger mix. we were going to decorate them, but i decided it wasn't worth the effort. maybe next year... love.
when the boys were (finally) asleep, i quickly put out the last three 'big' gifts, the filled stockings and a new sled to finish off the tree. manning's 'big' gift was already under the tree because he wasn't going to try and guess.
not too surprisingly, i was the first one up in the morning. i would normally have gone back to sleep since no kids were yet awake and we had no where to go, but i was just too excited and went ahead and got some cinnamon rolls going in the oven. around 7:30 madelyn joined me, followed shortly by daddy. the boys didn't surface until 8am.
first kid up
snuggling with daddy and waiting for the boys while watching some pbs kids.
we decided to go ahead and open stockings before eating a little breakfast. i think the kids would have been perfectly content with just the items in their stockings! they were just so grateful for everything - which was very sweet.
then we stopped for cinnamon rolls before getting into the presents. just look at this sweet kid across from me at the table.
but this is how he was really eating his roll...
in their stockings, each kid received a flashlight headband and they were a huge hit! again, they were pretty thrilled with their stockings.
and here are pictures of the surprisingly orderly, calm and delightful gift opening. note the pure joy on their faces, especially maddux as the gifts he selected were opened.
the 'big' gifts for madelyn, mason and maddux were large lego sets - their single requests.
madelyn was very pleased with her school store selections for daddy and me. i got a sand and sea shell dolphin figure and daddy received a #1 dad trophy.
daddy said that mason saw this nativity figure and knew that i needed to have it.
madelyn thought that she had received a case of her dried fruit snacks and was genuinely excited about it! but it actually had a sweatshirt with her school logo on it inside - which she also liked, but maybe not as much as the idea of dried fruit. (the fruit would have been much cheaper.)
maddux really likes eyewear and these were two of his requests that he reminded us that we needed to get several times leading up to christmas - bug and night vision.
manning's 'big' gift was an imaginext castle. the other two boys have sets that they play with quite a bit and now all three can have their own.
this boy really loves his puzzles
total happiness
later in the afternoon we used google hangout to have a three-way video conference with my brothers and their families (big pop and grandma were with uncle brad's family) so that the cousins could watch the opening of the gifts from their annual exchange. it was really special this year because we were able to all do it at the same time and the kids were all excited about what they had selected for their assigned cousin. and then we skyped with papa and nana for a christmas 'visit.' unfortunately, miss ashley's sister was in a very bad car accident this week and is in the icu so we couldn't reach uncle derek because they can't use their phones in the room so daddy left him a message from us. it is just delightful to be able to 'see' everyone without having to leave the house! we just love, love being at home on christmas! it is one of my most favorite things in the world!
we are so blessed - to have a savior come for us. jesus is truly a reason to celebrate in the grandest of ways. we did pause in the earthly joys of the day to sing "happy birthday" and enjoy this very special cake that the boys picked out for jesus. it is a little less traditional than we normally make, but it was very tasty!
maddux tracking some animals with his night vision glasses (they have two settings with a black light too)
grandma and big pop sent us a "florida" puzzle. the kids were delighted with it! but not really feeling up to assembling it. (although manning did love throwing the pieces and taking it apart a few times.) i love puzzles but this one was a little crazy. the pieces didn't all interlock and some were in actual shapes (sunglasses, swim shorts, baseball cap, starfish, etc.) and some of the 1,000 pieces were very small (like the size of a pinkie nail). i allowed myself the luxury of working on it for several hours this afternoon and decided this was close enough to call it "done" so that it could be put away before the kids lost any more pieces (there was at least one already missing). they really did like the image, the shapes and the finished product and were very encouraging and complementary. thanks, big pop and grandma!
mason's was the first set assembled - by daddy.
a truly wonderful day! merry christmas every one! love.
