George had some time off during the holidays and we spent a lot of time lounging around. It was fabulous. One day, we went to Pizza Hut for lunch to redeem Lucy's Book-it certificate. As we were following the waitress to be seated, Austin belted out, "I'm gettin' nuttin' for Christmas. Cuz I ain't been nuttin' but bad." (swinging his arms with a big 'ol grin).
Here's a few other random things we did:
Botanical Garden Preschool - learned about chocolate, made cocoa pods and sampled different varieties of chocolate. Yum! (at least from the kids' perspective)
Finished off with a nutritious lunch of candy canes and oranges
Library story time and puppet show
Walk down Christmas Tree Lane for FHE
We were tending two boys and I felt like I was back to the days when I had "twins." :)
P.S. Excuse the hat... it was a sick day for me. Boo.
Family Christmas Caroling/Cookie eating with Lucy's First Grade Class
George did some snorkeling at Electric Beach
We spent a lot of the week after Christmas just hanging out around the house. The picture above was taken 5 days after Christmas. Yeah. Not a lot of time was spent cleaning. That is what January is for, right? The girls made beds/houses with the Christmas wrapping paper. They loved it.
One thing I love about the Christmas season is all the fun mail! I'm always sad to take the stuff on this wall down.
On New Year's Day, we visited the Laie Temple Visitors Center. It was the last day for their Christmas tree display. They had 17 different trees decorated by the different stakes the temple serves, all with some theme of the true meaning of Christmas.
The trees were really cool, but in truth, the kids liked pushing the buttons of the computer/video screens the best. It kept them occupied for almost an hour.
Then Elise told us she was going to sit by Jesus...
Whew! These Christmas posts are lengthy. Hang on... a couple more to go.
For us, Christmas morning started around 7:30am. Not bad, huh? Austin came sauntering in our bedroom and George asked, "Austin, did Santa come?" Austin (very casually): "Uh.... no. I think he did not." The girls were sure he was wrong!
Austin: "Say cheese!"
Here's a few videos... nothing too exciting... just thought the grandparents might want to see.
We always have to encourage Austin to "keep digging." He likes to stop and play (and EAT!)
Elise got TWO packs of bubble tape which was her "very very favorite ever ever ever."
Austin kept shoving candy into his mouth. He was so happy. Here's a (kind of long) clip of what happened when we walked downstairs...
"Austin, are you going to come down or just eat candy?"
"Umm... just eat candy."
Lucy: Hello Kitty sewing machine, Kanani (the Hawaiian American Girl) with fun accessories (ukulele, boogie board, etc)
Elise: Princess digital camera, boogie board, twin baby dolls
Austin: digital camera, boogie board, glow in the dark nerf gun (Geo kind of took over that... he loved the thing)
Cole: musical drum, balls
Family: mini stereo with microphone (Santa had a moment of insanity there. Our family needs a microphone? ha!) and Blokus (this has been great too! There is a little frustration as the toddlers make up their own version. I admit Geo is the champion at squeezing his blocks into all sorts of spaces. He says spatial relationships is a manly talent. I think he is right. I never pick the right size tupperware for leftovers either. Ok. Little diversion there.)
The cameras were definitely a hit! You'll see a lot of those in the pictures.
ugh. too much packaging.
Lucy loved her sewing machine! She immediately started making plans to make her dad a shirt and Elise some doll clothes.
"Say cheese."
Cole was amazed with all the chaos.
Austin got a few add-ons for his train track - an animal train and more curvy pieces. He loved it.
I thought one of the best gifts was a stack of paper (600 white and 800 construction) for the girls. It was immediately put to use and they've already made quite a dent in it.
The funniest thing for me this year was the amount of "presents" Lucy gave us. I think each person in the family got about 15. We got drawings, "books" (written and illustrated by Lu), math problem pages (for Austin and Elise), lots of cards, etc. She whips several pictures out at a time (more quantity interested than quality :). She also "bought" us something at her open market (they get fake $ for good behavior and have a shopping market once a month). Austin got cars, Elise got a pen, Geo got chocolate kisses. Every day, Lucy (and usually Elise) would be at her desk making something or asking me for ideas. Lucy painted a canvas picture for Geo's desk at work and made a duct tape wallet. She made Austin a drum and Cole a mobile. It was pretty cute!
While Lucy was making her gifts, Elise folded up wrapping paper in various sizes (most the size of pennies), taped them up several times and put them under the tree.
Austin loved his handmade drum!
Elise looked like this most of the day.
The baby doll was immediately stripped down and her hair was "fixed."
Lu taking a picture of her doll
We did present opening in shifts. First all the Santa stuff. Then cold cereal or cinnamon rolls. Cole slept while we opened family gifts. Then church. Then we skyped my fam and the kids opened their gifts. Then skyped Geo's fam and they opened more gifts. THANK YOU to everyone! The kids definitely got a lot of fun stuff! We also talked to both missionary brothers which is always a treat.
Cole got a Hawaiian quilt. I've been working on it off and on for a year and a half. It is a breadfruit pattern. Hawaiian legend says that if your first Hawaiian quilt is a breadfruit quilt, you'll never go hungry. Good. But I think it will be my first and only. It was a lot of work.
Mobile from Lucy
Church was at 1:00. And of course, we were rushing to get there. These pictures are taken when we got home and more than one kid was starving.
We had a wonderful Christmas and feel very blessed. Hope the same is true for you!
We had a dinner for Christmas Eve with the Powells, Storms, Elder Latu and Elder Robins. Menu: Salmon Chowder, Tuscan sausage soup, salad, bread, peppermint and mint choc ice cream with hot fudge, cinnamon sticks... delicious!!! With a few extra cooks, dinner is always better!
Elena directed our nativity play. Lucy was beyond thrilled to be Mary. Elise refused to be anything other than Snow White. (At the last minute she agreed to put on wings though.) Austin loved his wiseman costume and kept it on the rest of the night. Elena gave him a beautiful wooden jewelry box filled with "gold" to present to the baby Jesus with the instructions, "Be very careful with this box. It is very special to my mother." George promptly took the box until it was Austin's turn and of course Austin threw himself on the ground crying. But when the time came to present his gift, he did a great job.
Throwing marshmallows in the wreath
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After everyone left, the kids dressed up in PJ's from grandma Cindy and grandpa Ed. We read "The Grinch" and "The Animal's Christmas Eve" (book from grandma Liz and grandpa Tom - its a great one!) I couldn't pick a favorite of these pics, but the big one is George's fav. I sure love these little kiddos!
Lucy made a nativity set for us at school as her Christmas gift. Cool, huh?
December 15, 2011
For Lucy's class Christmas party, we had a gingerbread house creation extravaganza. It was 2 hours of craziness so the kids loved it! I had arranged to have the toddlers tended by a friend, but a couple days before, the teacher told me siblings were invited. I asked the kids what they wanted to do and right away Elise threw her arms in the air and said, "Build houses!!!" and Austin did the same thing but said, "Play!!!" So, my friend took the two boys and the girls and I had a ball!
We had been working for a few minutes when the teacher mentioned to the class that we COULD have a special visitor (Lucy whispered "Santa." :) and if we did, she didn't want the class to run and charge him at the same time. So when he appeared, all of them waved and yelled, "Hi Santa!" and kept right on working. I thought it was so funny! (See him in the doorway?)
After they got the "go ahead"...
Busy classroom! (You can see Lucy's flat kid hanging up. She's been visiting Elina in San Antonio.)
Elise always knows what she wants to do. Towards the end, I helped her build a fence and she'd also give me some direction with the icing, "Draw a line" or "Draw a window" and then she'd put the candy on. Notice the little "shimmy" in this video. When she's proud of herself, that's usually the move we get. :)
Lucy likes to do her own thing too. She finished the house pretty quickly and then moved on to the yard area. That's where she really got going... she made a garden, mailbox, pool, a front door and a back door (which meant she needed two paths), a playground for the gingerbread people, and pumpkins.
We spent a lot of the week after Christmas just hanging out around the house. The picture above was taken 5 days after Christmas. Yeah. Not a lot of time was spent cleaning. That is what January is for, right? The girls made beds/houses with the Christmas wrapping paper. They loved it.
The trees were really cool, but in truth, the kids liked pushing the buttons of the computer/video screens the best. It kept them occupied for almost an hour.
