Christmas Eve

We spent Christmas with my family this year in Hot Springs, Arkansas. We arrived very late on the 23rd so Christmas Eve we woke up and got to say hi to our niece and nephews, and have some nicely prepared biscuits and gravy. We spent the day visiting and Madelyn really enjoyed playing with her cousins. Antonio was so nice and even fed her applesauce. Christmas Eve we went to Mass as a family and when we got home all the kids changed into there matching pj's and we started to enjoy some of the same Christmas traditions that I did as a kid at my Papa's house. We all gathered around and sang Christmas carols, and in case anyone was wondering we did also sing Happy Birthday to Jesus. I always thought that this was one of the sillier things we did at Christmas time, but now that I am a parent I think it is probably a good way for the kids to understand what Christmas is really about. After we were through singing we read the Christmas story from the bible, and took breaks to make sure all the pieces got to the Nativity set. Aunt Jennifer read us The Night Before Christmas and then Antonio & Thomas wrote a note to Santa and left him some cookies and strategically placed the reindeer food so that Santa would now where we were since there was not a fireplace. Thanks Antonio for making sure he knew where we were!

Our Family Christmas Stockings!

We decided that it would be neat to make our own stockings for our family. After talking to Aunt Mary and her agreeing to help us out we decided to give it a shot. Trish spent hours looking on the internet for stocking ideas and after a trip to JoAnn Fabrics, Hobby Lobby and Michaels picking out fabrics we scheduled a night to spend with Mary and Randy to start working on the stockings. Trish did a wonderful job getting them all done and I am so proud of the stockings she made! It was her first time sewing and I couldn't imagine anything I would like more. I have put a couple of pictures of the process for her. Thanks Trish, they look great! Thanks Aunt Mary for all the help we couldn't have done it without you.

All I want for Christmas......

We took Madelyn to see Santa Claus today at Santa's Wonderland at the Bass Pro shop in Olathe. We figured we could go there and get in and out within an hour. We got there around 11:30 and Madelyn could not have been happier. It was kind of a neat setup, they had all kinds of toys and activities setup for older kids to play with. After about 2 hours of laughing, talking and checking everything out we were finally at the beginning of the line and Madelyn decided to take a nap. As we were frantically trying to wake her up for her big chance to meet Santa, we realized that her diaper had started to leak. After a brief discussion of the proper etiquette in this particular situation, we decided that after two hours of waiting to heck with it we would just hope they didn't notice. It was kind of surprising, Santa can apparently tell if you have been naughty or nice, but struggles a bit telling if a 9 month old's diaper leeked on their pants. I was just relieved Madelyn didn't ask for a fresh diaper for Christmas. Anyway here are a couple of pictures from the day. Madelyn didn't want to smile for Santa but didn't cry so all went well!

Christmas Tree

Monday evening we put the Christmas tree up and decorated the house for Christmas. It was a great night! Madelyn was definitely in the mix while we were doing everything and had a lot of fun. She helped put a couple ornaments on the tree and was into everything. We have been very surprised but she has left the Christmas tree alone.

Happy 40th Mary!

Sunday we celebrated Mary's 40th birthday at Aunt Mary's and Uncle Randy's house. We enjoyed French Dip sandwiches and a delicious chocolate cake. We spend a lot of time with the Andrew's and Luke families and always have so much fun. Madelyn has started to be just one of the kids and enjoyed playing trains with everyone. She irritated Truman a little bit because she wasn't following the rules and she was taking parts of the train track apart. He was so cute and patient with her but he definitely let her know she wasn't following Grandma's rules. Madelyn also had fun playing with the Santa hat Aunt Mary gave her!

Pretty Lights!

Jim spent most of the day Saturday hanging our outside Christmas lights. It took extra long because of staple gun issues :) Madelyn enjoyed watching Jim put the lights up through the door. They look really good and Madelyn and I think they are the best on the street. Thanks Jim for all that you do, we love the lights!!!!