Christmas Videos

Christmas

Hopefully everyone had as great a holiday as we did! Mom was off for most of the week so the kids got to stay home and finish getting ready for Christmas. We did some last minute shopping and present wrapping and made a gingerbread house!Sam did a great job in decorating his house. He had Mom put on all of the frosting, but every other piece of decoration he did by himself. It looked great and tasted pretty good too. We took it with us to Grandma and Grandma Beecher's on Christmas Eve for him to share with his cousins.Bailey looked adorable all dressed up for Christmas. She got a new pair of dress shoes which she loved to show off. The kids had a lot of fun spending time with their cousins and getting to open their presents. Christmas morning was wonderful. Sam slept in until 8:00 before he wandered into our room. He crawled in to bed and wanted to go back to sleep. We asked him if he wanted to go see if Santa came and he said, "No, I just want to sleep for a little bit." We eventually got the kids up and went out to the living room.Sam was very impressed that Santa brought his bike. This was the first year that Sam consistantly wanted one thing from Santa during the whole Christmas season. Bailey was quite happy with her doll. She liked to take her shoes off. And the ring pops from Santa were well liked as well! Bailey sure loves her dollies!

After the initial excitement, Sam checked to see if Santa and the reindeer enjoyed their treats. Sam was insistant that we leave 8 carrots for the reindeer. And he chose to leave milk for Santa instead of eggnog. Sam and Bailey gave their presents to each other first. Bailey got Sam a hamburger making play-doh machine.And Sam picked out an Abby Cadaby (Sesame Street) outfit for Bailey. He lovingly helped wrap it and hid it under his bed until the tree was put up. He was so concerned the one day that she had found it. I explained that it was ok, she didn't know what it was because it was wrapped.

Once we got through the chore (yes-chore-they were tired after about 2 presents) of opening the rest of the kids presents, Sam went to the basement to ride his bike. It was a rocky start, but he quickly improved.

After bike riding and presents, we had our Christmas breakfast. We had kiddie memosas (with a cherry), strawberries, and Grandma Beecher's monkey buns. The kids were really impressed.

Here's Bailey in her new outfit dancing around the house in her pretty party shoes.

And the kids playing in Rocket, which they have put holes in twice. Thank goodness for Daddy and his glue!The kids had plenty of things to keep them busy during the weekend. We spent 3 days in a row at home, lounging around, and getting to enjoy our Christmas presents. The kids kept themselves entertained almost non-stop. And luckily we have rechargable batteries because we've been changing batteries like crazy-especially in Sam's remote control car.Sam says that his favorite present was his bike. He rode it in the basement off and on all weekend and has gotten so good at getting the pedals moving, going fast, and braking fast. He said that he likes to ride around the basement but he stops if someone is in his way or if he wants to play with his sister.Bailey's been enjoying her presents too. She likes to push her baby stroller around the house while carrying her new Cabbage Patch Doll. She got another baby too that she loves to feed with it's bottle that looks like it has milk in it.Rocket (from the Little Einsteins) was a big hit too. Most of the weekend the kids were playing with this, throwing the balls around the room, jumping in and out of it, and pretending they were Leo and June. Of course, Bailey's baby had to enjoy the fun too!The weekend was so relaxing. We spent most of the time playing games, reading books, playing with toys, and refilling marshmallows (in the marshmallow gun) and batteries. It was a wonderful Christmas in our new house, spending the holidays enjoying our families, and reflecting on another year gone by!

Sam Singing

New Do

Bailey's hair is finally getting long enough to style. About the only thing to do though is pig-tails. She looks so cute! Unfortunately, they get in the way of her sucking her thumb and playing with her hair, so they don't last long. She's very tolerant of putting them in, but will need some time to learn to leave them!

A Special Visitor

We had a very special visitor stop by our house this weekend. Sam happened to answer the door and was happily surprised to see Santa on his porch. He ran to him and gave him a big hug. Santa even carried him inside. Bailey, on the other hand, instantly started whining and was not comfortable with this red stranger in her house!

Santa told us that he was stopping by to check up on little boys and girls and make sure they were being good. He reminded Sam that there were only five days left until Christmas.

With him, Santa brought his bag, which held candy canes for Sam and Bailey. Sam sat on Santa's lap first and asked him a few questions, like "Where is your sleigh?"

Sam was so excited he could hardly sit still! He told Santa that he wants another bike for Christmas because his old one is too small. Santa told him that it might have to come with a helmet so that he can ride safely. but Sam assured him that he doesn't need a helmet because he rides his bike really good.Then we tried to see if Bailey would like to get her picture taken with Santa-which she obviously didn't! She wasn't really crying, but she definately wasn't happy either!And because everyone should have presents, Sam even gave Santa a present. He made sure to tell him to share it with Mrs. Claus! Sam was relieved to know that Santa had found his new house this year! We all hope that he make sure to come back real soon!

Sam and Bailey Playing on the Computer

Bailey Reading Her Christmas Card

Bailey got a Christmas card today from Great Grandpa and Grandma Shirley that kept her busy all evening!

Shoveling Slideshow

Snow!

This week we got a huge snow storm. Mom and the kids got to have a snow day and stay in our PJ's all day. Sam and Daddy went out before the thick of it hit and got a start on the driveway.

After the rest of the snow fell, we ended up with about 6 inches. However, it was too cold and windy to go outside and play. And we needed to go shopping for a big boy sled as Sam is too big for the little seated one. After four stores, the boys found the perfect one. Sam picked out an orange one!

This morning, he decided he must get up right away and get outside to help reshovel the snow. Afterwards, he was insistant on riding his sled before leaving for the day.

Bailey and Mom stayed inside where it was warm, unlike the -5 outside, and watched out the window.

Bailey Firsts

Here are some more new things that Bailey's doing:
Getting up on brother's stool to get to the counter-she even took one of the kisses off of the peanut butter cookies without us noticing!
Wearing Mommy's shoes
Saying "Cheese" for the camera-along with please, thank you, ok, and a few others now.And the best-giving hugs! She's been great at kisses for a while, but she just mastered the squeeze of the hug. And when she hugs mom, she plays with her hair between her fingers!

St Nick

In our neck of the woods, it is common for St. Nick to visit on the night of December 5th. His visit is to remind kids that Santa is watching, leave them a treat for their good behavior, and remind them to continue being good. Neither of us grew up with the St. Nick tradition, but with peer pressure being what it is, we're starting on it.

This year we briefly told Sam about it before he went to bed that night. We didn't tell him the part that traditionally, children leave their shoes out for St. Nick to put their goodies in. But he must have heard it somewhere. We put him to bed, and shortly there after, heard his door. He never made a peep, so we didn't check on him. When we went to bed, we found that he had carefully placed his shoes in the hallway.

In the morning, we woke him up and reminded Sam that St. Nick had come. He proudly told us that he had put his shoes in the hallway. So we suggested that he check to see if he had come. St. Nick had left them each a fleece sweatsuit, pj's, and a few pieces of candy. Sam immediately notice the candy in his shoes with excitement. We asked him what else he got. He looked on the other side of the clothes and found his missing sandel. "He found my sandel!" he yelled. We told him no, we had put that there, but what else did he find? "Um... laundry?" We had to explain that he brought them clothes and went through and showed them to him. He was quite pleased.

Pictures in their new outfits!
These two dote on each other quite a bit!

More Baking

Here's some more pictures of baking-a bunch of Sam and Daddy racing to unwrap Hershey Kisses for our peanut butter cookies.

Christmas Baking

Every year we make quite a bit of cookies and so our baking starts early. Sam is getting to be a very good baker and cracks eggs like you wouldn't believe!

We started out with the peanut butter balls. Sam is just like his dad and was eating peanut butter out of the jar before we even got started.

He also loves making these cookies because he gets to get his hands in and mix it up. We make a lot so they're done in batches too big for the mixer to do a good job!

Sam and Bailey also each got new aprons made by Grandma Beecher just for the occasion. They sure got a lot of use out of them.

The biggest project is always making the sugar cookies. So far we have them baked, and hopefully we'll get them frosted tonight!
Both Sam and Bailey were great "helpers". Sam actually did very well. He learned quickly to keep the cookie cutters tightly together in order to get the most cookies out of each rolling.
Bailey also tried her hand at rolling. She thought it was a great time getting to stand on the chairs and help like a big girl.

After the cookies were cut and the baking sheets filled, both of the kids watched intently as they baked in the oven.And the best part of all-TASTE TESTING!

Decorating the Tree

Every year on the Black Friday, we decorate our house and after the Nebraska football game, we decorate our Christmas tree. This year Mom got out to the stores again at 2:00AM and was actually done at all 6 stores and home by 7:30. While the kids were still sleeping, some boxes of decorations got moved, and then it was all hands on board.

Things didn't start out so smoothly. We tried to clean the windows before putting up the tree. Long story short, in the process of trying to get the windows open (one of which was painted shut) "we" (Daddy and his muscles) broke a window. Luckily it is behind the tree for now, and one pane still remains.

It was a long day with so many "helping" hands. Things are definately harder to do as each of the kids gets older. But it was fun to watch them see everything come out of the boxes, and for Sam to get excited as if it was the first time he'd seen it all. We had to tell them both to not touch the "pretties" all day.

Decorating the tree was fun, and challenging. Both of the kids wanted to help so badly, so we worked hard to find them each jobs that they could do. Bailey was suprisingly good about not touching the ornamets once they were on the tree. Although, there were a couple that she could not help but touch, repeatedly. Sam liked seeing all of the different ornaments. They also enjoyed watching Rudolf while we were decorating.

It's going to be a great Christmas this year!

Boys Work

Sam recently helped Daddy put the snow tires on Mom's van and change the oil-all in the warmth of our new garage!