...because I relieved her of dipping-duty after I saw her work (bottom right cookie).
We kicked off winter vacay w/ our favorite breakfast treat - Dunkin' Donuts.
I was trying to capture Hadley's stripey-stripey outfit...
...but Finley has become a total photobomber.
But seriously, she was stripes from her shoulders to her toes.
Chippy & Snowball are back at the North Pole, yes!
One night they decorated the entry way w/ paper snowflakes and made a giant mess. Weirdly the next day, Hadley told me that she helped Chippy make snowflakes. When I questioned her, she had a full story...Chippy came into her room, woke her up, asked if she wanted to help make snowflakes, she told him yes, she helped him, then went back to bed. I asked her about this 3-4 times and her story never wavered. I don't know if I should celebrate her awesome imagination or worry that she's a compulsive liar, but she firmly stands behind this story.
Chippy & Snowball ended their time w/ us dancing the Whip Nae Nae. (I have a former colleague that has great ideas, this was a copycat). The kids loved it and I love that we are Chippy-free for the next eleven months.
Deja vu from last week's post - same kids, same outfits, same background, same songs, different day. Christmas Eve started w/ the kids singing in the children's choir.
After church we went to Grandpa & Grandma's for our annual Christmas Eve gathering.
The kids had enough of their Christmas outfits and were in their jammies before dinner. Ice cream sundaes for dessert....
Cuddles w/ Carol.
The annual Wii Bowling Tourney.
There were three heats - kids, women, men - the winner of each advanced to the championship. Finley won the kids heat, Jewel for the women, and Jon for the men. Finley scored a night-high of 209...
...but loss to Jon (the 2014 Champion) in the final round.
Thankfully we got a teeny bit of snow right before Christmas, Finley sprinkled food for the reindeer outside...
....and Hadley helped get Santa's cookies ready. Why does Hadley have a weird I'm gonna run pose?
Because Finley started to photobomb over and over and over. Seriously, he kept jumping in.
Finally he left her alone.
They quickly fell asleep and Santa got to work....
...prettier w/ the flash off.
Finley woke up first, he was patient while I finished running, and showered, and ran to get coffee...ha, mean mom. By the time all of that was done Hadley was up too.
Finley's big gift was a gray desk for his bedroom, Hadley's big gift was a makeup vanity for her bedroom.
Finley's big gift was a gray desk for his bedroom, Hadley's big gift was a makeup vanity for her bedroom.
Their Santa Sacks were filled w/ presents! I love the expressions and excitement when they opened something they really wanted. Finley wanted a flag football set so so so so bad, he was elated that Santa brought the exact one he saw on Target's website ;)
Finley is such a believer and I know that it's one year at a time now, kids talk. He has questioned a few things, not in a doubtful way, but more a confused I wonder how Santa knew that kind of way. There's so much other scary crap for kids these days, I want to keep them in a Santa-believing bubble forever.
After Santa's gifts were opened, we moved onto our own gifts. I had taken each kid shopping for the other, I was impressed w/ the thought they each put into their purchases.
So many presents, so much fun!
Onto Grandma & Grandpa's for the rest of Christmas Day!
Auntie brought a gross jelly bean game. You ate various colors of jelly beans and didn't know if it would taste good or bad. The peach-colored jelly bean might taste like peach or puke, the brown might taste like chocolate or dog poop, the green might taste like grass or lime, the black might taste like licorice or skunk. It was horrible and I didn't even play! There were a few gags and a lot of spits.
After lunch there were a few presents to open.
Crazy-kid-fun.
Every year Grandma gives each kid a nutcracker and Finley is really proud of his collection (ours stay up all year downstairs). But Finley's nutcracker this year took the cake. You would've thought she gave him a $1,000, he was jumping-around excited about his new Boy Scout Nutcracker.
Grandpa & Grandma had a GIANT present! We'll all be sitting on the lake next summer - we got them a lily pad.
We FaceTimed w/ Auntie Aryn & Auntie Shawna while the kids opened their gifts from Aryn. We are happy they were together, but sad we weren't w/ them too. Auntie Aryn recently got engaged!
Hadley tested out her walkie-talkies right away.
The kids got Pie Face, it was hilarious. They all anxiously hoped they wouldn't get "pied" but they all loved it when it happened.
Finley practiced for next Christmas Eve, I'm not sure it's brag-worthy, but the kid can Wii Bowl really well, a 257!
My favorite picture of the whole day.
The adults locked themselves onto the porch for our annual gag-gift exchange. There were some very funny gifts, one too funny I'm not going to share here, but I think mine is super-funny too. Using Target giftcards, I made Ryan a complete desk set of a tape dispenser, stapler, photo frames, pen cup, mouse pad, paper stacker, business card holder, coffee mug, and seasonal tie - I'd been collecting giftcards for over a year in hopes I'd get his name. Amanda (Heidi's neighbor) was kind enough to help me by stealing the boys and taking their pictures at Target for the photo frames. I'm confident all of the other GiftCard experts were jealous when Ryan set up his desk at work today, especially because the 8x10 frame is filled w/ a picture of me. I'm sure I was a sight taking selfies in the Target parking lot.
When we came back inside, the kids decided the porch was for kids only. Joke was on them when we locked them out there.
Merry Christmas from the 5 Littles who are looking so big.
Santa brought the biggest gifts and Auntie gave them all of the accessories to go w/ them. Finley has everything you might possible want for a desk - a globe, personalized paper, pens, tape dispenser, post-it's, decorative books, and more. He has organized and reorganized countless times, he loves it all...so my boy!
Hadley has more chapstick, bracelets, and other girly stuff than she knows what to do with. But it's kept her so busy, she has spent large amounts of time organizing only to take it all off and start again...so my girl!
The last few days have been playing and playing and playing.
I hope you had a Merry Christmas too!
The tree is long-gone and the presents are mostly put away. Within a few days it'll be 2016, we look forward to seeing where the year will take us.
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