Feliz Mommy Dad

Christmas was so much fun this year.  Holidays, traditions, and everything that goes along with them are so exciting when seen through the eyes of your children.

We started off Christmas Eve morning with our little celebration as a family of four.  Luckily, Santa knew we were heading out of town, so he stopped by a day early.



Santa brought a bicycle and a woolly mammoth for Buddy and a scooter and a puppy for Punky.





Derek and I kept it simple again this year.  One day these kids are going to realize that we aren't going overboard and we will change, but for now, they seem happy getting the gifts they do get.  Punky didn't even officially make a Wish List this year- the only thing she would ask for is "anything a girl would like."  Huh?  I remember having a list a mile long as a kid.

I saw a little saying on Pinterest:  One thing they want; one thing they need; one thing to wear; one thing to read.  By following that, it really made shopping easy and kept my impulse shopping under control.  We gave Buddy the Lion King 1 1/2 DVD, a hooded towel, a sweater, and Where the Wild Things Are.  For Punky, we chose the Despicable Me DVD, a hooded towel, a dress, and Madeline.



After our (2nd annual) tradition of homemade caramel rolls, we packed up and headed to Grandma Trudi and Grandpa Scott's for two days.  We had church that night, followed by dinner and gifts at Great Grandma Margene and Great Grandpa Menno's.  Punky and Buddy filled up on the relish tray and buns.  I wonder if they will ever taste lutefisk?







They crashed hard that night and woke up Christmas morning to celebrate with Grandma and Grandpa, Auntie, Ryan and Baby L.  Sadly, the roads were terrible for Uncle Sean and Hilary, so we didn't get to see them at all.





I've never seen a baby actually open a present, or even care about anything more than the paper.  But boy did Baby L know what to do with those boxes!  He loved playing with the boxes and ripping the paper!



We had fun opening presents and we all got a lot of great things. Grandma took a work trip to China this fall and brought us all a gift.  The grandkids got silk pajamas. Adorbs.



It was a really nice day spent in our pajamas, relaxing, playing with new toys, watching movies and just being together.

Thankful

Finally a chance to blog about our Thanksgiving weekend.  This year we headed to South Dakota for 4 days.  We left after work on Wednesday and didn't arrive to Grandma and Grandpa's until 11pm.

On Thursday morning, Punky and Buddy helped Grandma get ready for (27) guests. It was a good meal and good company with family we hadn't seen in a few years.



That night we took a swim in the "hot pool".



The next day we helped Grandma decorate for Christmas. They both enjoyed taking the nativity scene out of boxes and looking at each piece. Of course, Buddy was obsessed with the sheep, ox and goats. He tried to convince Grandma that he would "be careful with dis ox at my house." Eventually, Grandma promised to buy him a new ox at the store. When we went the next day, Buddy changed his mind and chose a grizzly bear. Does Buddy think there was a grizzly bear in Jesus's manager?

Punky is so excited for Christmas this year. She's been so antsy to decorate our house now- I hope we can find the time for her soon!



It was a little cold to enjoy the outdoors, but the kids did spend some time outside trying to catch Grandma and Grandpa's new cats!  They now have five actual farm cats that like to be petted and played with (the other four run at the sight of anyone).  The kitties are so sweet.  In fact, as we pulled up to the house on Wednesday night, one kitty even jumped right into the truck to check us out!  Buddy has definitely fell in love with one of the kittens, "Little Guy".  He's been constantly pretending to be a cat for the last two days and will only answer to "Little Guy".



We were so thankful to get to spend the long weekend with Grandpa and Grandma.  We can't wait until Christmas!

Baptism

Punky and Buddy's baby cousin L was baptised this weekend.  Derek and I were godparents, along with another one of his aunt and uncles.  Earlier in the week, Punky decided to draw a picture as a gift.  I was very impressed with her drawing and told her she did a great job.  She pointed out the baptismal water, Auntie's red hair, and other details that went into the picture.  Then I asked her "What is the decoration on Auntie and Ryan's shirt supposed to be?"  Punky replied matter-of-factly, "That's their intestines."

Tiny Dancer

Punky had her last dance class tonight.  She had a lot of fun and did a pretty good job following along with the choreography.  There seemed to always be a comment coming from her mouth, but nothing too distracting.  The kids performed three routines for their families (ballet, jazz and tap).  We also got to see warm-ups, stretches and the freeze dance (Punky's favorite part).

Ballet

Jazz

Tap

Funny kids

No pictures or big news to report about Girl's weekend although it was a very fun and productive weekend.  Punky and Buddy did a good job of following Grandma and I around at our stores (with promises of toy stores if they were good.)  Here are some cute things the kids said this weekend that I want to remember...

Buddy (after barging in on Grandma in the bathroom):  Grandma, are you doing a poopy or a potty? ...  Do you want privacy?

Punky (while playing with a Magic 8 ball in the toy section):  Will I ever see a unicorn?

Buddy (at the toy store):  I don't like dump trucks,  I only like animals!

Buddy:  I think Daddy would like a tuba for Christmas.

Mish Mash

I have been a bad blogger lately.  It feels like we've been super busy the last few weeks, but for some reason there is not much to report.  I suppose with working late on Mondays, dance on Tuesdays, gymnastics on Wednesdays, and working every other Saturday our free time is a little limited.  I have a few small things I wanted to jot down before I forgot them though, so here it goes:

Way back when we used to play outside, Buddy created a new way to play with all of his animal figures.  He drew chalk "cages" on the driveway and made "Como Zoo".  He really gets into his animals and loves playing with them.  In the house, he sorts them by continent or area (Africa, forest, farm, dino world, bug world, etc.).  He will sometimes make Como Zoo or Noah's Ark or an animal parade.  Buddy knows so much about animals.  The other day he told me to pretend to be a gazelle and he would be a cheetah.  Then he said he would chase me and eat me.  How does he know that stuff?!?



Buddy has been coming in to our room for the past few weeks saying he was scared. At first, it was 5 or 6 in the morning. We would just let him snuggle in for the last few hours and it wasn't a problem. Lately, though, he's been bringing a blanket and pillow around 1 or 2 a.m. and expecting to stay the whole night. We've had to put the smack down. After a hug and some reassuring, we can get him to stay in his bed. He's been up twice a night for the last few days but we haven't let him in our bed. Hopefully he'll get the picture soon.

We are getting excited for Girl's Weekend this weekend and then Thanksgiving and Christmas. I am sure the next few weeks are going to fly by!

Halloween Prep

You never know what to expect on Halloween night with the weather in Minnesota.  Snowpants and a winter coat over your Halloween costume is unfortunately more common than not.  Luckily, we have lots of chances to celebrate and dress up besides trick-or-treating on the 31st.

First off, let's start with the costumes!  I figured this was most likely the last year that I would be able to (a) get the kids to wear coordinating costumes and (b) have any influence over what they dressed as.  So, I decided to dress the kids as a flamenco dancer and a matador.  I told Punky that she was a Spanish princess, and she was happy with that.  Her costume was found online.  We showed her a youtube video of flamenco dancing so she knew what we were talking about.  Buddy was happy being a bullfighter too.  I couldn't find a premade costume, so I had to make his.  I am really happy with how it turned out!  I found a girls velour bolero jacket at a consignment shop and cut the fur collar off.  I also bought matching velour pants there and gold trimmings at the craft store.  Some hot glue, a cape and some pink socks (for luck!) and the outfit was complete.  

One of our favorites is our annual trip to a local grocery store's Boo Blast.  The kids get reusable grocery bags as they enter the store (I suppose these are really for us moms, but after 4 years I have quite the stock pile already).  There are trick-or-treat stations throughout the store with typically healthier options like carrot sticks, milk cartons, etc.  This year the kids also joined in on a hula-hoop contest and danced the hokey pokey!  We waited in line for animals.  Punky chose a dog on a leash and Buddy requested a (black) cougar.  The balloon lady looked at me with a "that isn't on the idea board" look and I told her just to make a dog, he wouldn't know the difference.  Anyway, Buddy's cougar didn't even make it home, he popped it in the car.  

With Punky's Bffs Strawberry Shortcake and Lemon Meringue

We carved pumpkins tonight with the kids.  Last year I bought a pumpkin carving kit on clearance after Halloween and oh my gosh it really changed our carving experience.  It was so much easier!  I might even carve another pumpkin after the kids are in bed some time this week.  I want to try out one of those tricky patterns.  When I asked Buddy what kind of face he wanted his pumpkin to have, this is the reply I got:

Silly!

Scary?

Maybe a squishy face?

Here's what we ended up with!