Archive for December, 2012

Christmas!

Thursday, December 20th, 2012

December 20th: Christmas!

We celebrated our family Christmas this morning!  It was absolutely magic =)  We had asked Serenity if she wanted us to let Donovan wake her up, as he wants to every morning, so she could go down for presents with him.  And she enthusiastically agreed, and was so excited when she heard him calling, “sis! Sis! SIS!”  We started with stockings.  Serenity found a Hello Kitty with a lollipop, and some fleece play lollipops, and one real cookie lollipop in her stocking.  There turned out to be sort of a theme with her presents this year =)  She also got a Cinderella nightgown, a Hello Kitty Christmas ornament and Skittles, of course.  She loves the candy with her letter on it the best. =)  Donovan was not very excited about opening presents, but he loved it when we opened them for him!  He first pulled out some bath crayons, that he wanted to open and play with immediately, but we instead distracted him with some more stocking fun.  So he got a gigantic bouncy ball in his stocking that he knew just what to do with.  He walked right over to the tile floor and bounced away!

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I got jingle bells in my stocking!  And snowflake socks!  Yay!

I got jingle bells in my stocking! And snowflake socks! Yay!

I made lollipops out of fleece =)  Serenity said Magical the Unicorn liked lollipops just like she does =)

I made lollipops out of fleece =) Serenity said Magical the Unicorn liked lollipops just like she does =)

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Then we got to the presents under the tree.  Serenity opened up her pillow racer first, her pink unicorn that she named Magical.  Donovan saw her riding it and said immediately, “I too!  I too!”  Fortunately, we got him one as well.  We had to open it for him but he instantly preferred his dinosaur and got right on, roaring away.  Later we fed the dinosaur leaves from the felt garden, and Serenity said Magical liked sparkly petals to eat.

 

Pillow Racers!  I swear I didn't get a new floor just because it would make these toys more fun.

Pillow Racers! I swear I didn’t get a new floor just because it would make these toys more fun.

Feeding Dino some tasty leaves

Feeding Dino some tasty leaves

Donovan also got a drum, which he banged on just like in music class.  It was wonderful to see him so excited!  And he actually says “so excited!” which is so so cute!  He says that often in the morning when we get him out of bed too =)  He’s excited to greet the day!   Serenity got him an Elmo dvd and some little golf-ball sized wiffle balls.

 

Ahhhhhhh!  Shhhh.  Love the drumming =)

Ahhhhhhh! Shhhh. Love the drumming =)

I love how Donovan just melts against me to snuggle =)

I love how Donovan just melts against me to snuggle =)

Serenity got new play-doh toys, which we also used this morning, and a mind blowing science set, which she was hesitant about until Eric reassured her that it wouldn’t actually blow her mind, it was just fun experiments.  She wanted to play with that right away too, but we need to wait for naptime.  I’m so glad they wanted to use everything right away!  I think they truly loved everything they got!  Donovan got Serenity the Periwinkle costume she asked for, and she’s still wearing it.

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Oh, I almost forgot to write about the tails!  I made an elephant hat and tail, and a lion hat and tail!  They were excited to see them!  Serenity put the elephant right on.  Actually I think both kids like the elephant best.  Donovan only wore his for a second in the morning, but he asked to wear it again later on.  Serenity went around trumpeting just like in her elephant and piggie book.  Such fun!

 

Serenity acted out various parts of her Elephant and Piggie books =)  Guess I need to make a piggie next.

Serenity acted out various parts of her Elephant and Piggie books =) Guess I need to make a piggie next.

Little lion =)

Little lion =)

Reading a new dino book!  We read lots of books now!  Yay!

Reading a new dino book! We read lots of books now! Yay!

 

When Eric got home from work, we enjoyed a Christmas feast courtesy of Papa John’s pizza, since I painted the inside of our pantry and emptied the house in preparation for our new floor on Saturday!  Then we headed upstairs to make a humongous crazy fort!  Eric got a new set of pink crazy forts for Christmas, so we made a big barn and stable.  Serenity called it her castle, and she stabled her unicorns in there.  She got the new one for Christmas, which I didn’t want upstairs for fear of sliding down the stairs on the wheeled fun.  But we discovered that she had three other unicorns, including a pillow pet, and one pegasus, so we used those.  She was Sleeping Beauty in her pretty pink dress, and she used fancy accessories to groom herself and her unicorn, and she had Eric give her all kinds of riding lessons, as she practiced galloping, grooming, and finally feeding and watering her unicorn.  She named her pillow racer Magical, and decided to call the pillow pet Magical as well. =)

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Crazy fort!!!!

Crazy fort!!!!

Grooming and accessorizing the unicorn =)

Grooming and accessorizing the unicorn =)

Workbooks for Christmas presents...  she loved it!  And she worked about half of it all on her own today, getting nearly everything right!  It's full of little logic puzzles that have you figure out things like, if Mia is sitting next to the girl with the strawberry, and Jamie is not eating fruit, who is sitting by Mia?

Workbooks for Christmas presents… she loved it! And she worked about half of it all on her own today, getting nearly everything right! It’s full of little logic puzzles that have you figure out things like, if Mia is sitting next to the girl with the strawberry, and Jamie is not eating fruit, who is sitting by Mia?

 

Such a magical Christmas =)

December 19th: Christmas Eve

Thursday, December 20th, 2012

December 19th: Christmas Eve

We’re celebrated our Christmas with Papa tonight!  When Donovan got up from his nap we headed over to Papa’s house and discovered the kids first present… a playhouse they can color!  We had SO much fun coloring while Papa fixed dinner.  I enjoyed it as much as the kids!  Papa made our favorites, fried potatoes, broccoli, and chicken, and I brought a coconut pie and snickerdoodle cupcakes.  The kids opened presents, although after Eric opened his present of a basketball net you wear on your head and toss ping pong balls into, it was all over for Donovan.  Not even Elmo could distract him from the awesomeness of Eric’s new hat.  =)

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December 18th

Wednesday, December 19th, 2012

December 18th,

Today began with us all snuggling up in the beds Eric and Serenity had set up downstairs.  Serenity woke up with a bad dream before Eric went to bed with her, so I actually ended up camping out with her last night.  I fell asleep as her pillow =)  So snuggly and sweet, even if I woke up with my back very achy!  It got better when I walked around.  Donovan came downstairs and saw us and started calling for Mama! Sis!  Mama! Sis!  So we all ended up snuggling in for awhile.

 

Serenity took pictures for me in this beautiful dress Mimi bought for Raegan.

Serenity took pictures for me in this beautiful dress Mimi bought for Raegan.

That was the last calm time though, as we headed out for way more errands than I would usually schedule in the same day.  The kids were great though so we picked up the new Christmas cards, the dvds so I can burn our home movies onto a disc for tonight, some food, snacks for the dance class party tonight, and various other random things.  But I DID forget the stamps!  Luckily, Mom came over to open presents with the kids, and she very kindly picked some up for me.

 

She brought over yogurt from Peachwave, which was a big hit.  A little scary though, because just half an hour earlier Serenity turned to me and said, “Dude, I’ve had a LOT of sugar today.”  She’s been bouncing off a few walls.  And crying because the walls are hard.  Serenity is still enjoying her first Kiwi Crate from Grandma, and Donovan got to open his present.  He got a TON of new balls from Grandma.  You’d have thought he hit the jackpot when he opened the box.  “Soccer ball!  Soccer ball!”  Then he got the balls out and when I asked him to kick me the ball, he pointed at Mom and said, “nama!” (Which is how he pronounces Grandma right now.  So cute.)  Anyway, they played soccer in the house, which all my siblings will find hilarious.

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In the evening we headed out for Serenity’s Parent’s day at dance class.  It’s also her last day of dance.  Eric was really excited about signing her up for indoor soccer, and since the time of her dance class was really inconvenient for us, we decided to switch to soccer for a session.  As much as I love gymnastics, dance, and soccer, I really want to try to keep her to just one activity at this age.  I think we’ll let her choose when soccer ends in March her next activity again.  The program was adorable!  Her teacher had the girls teach their parents all their dance moves.  Serenity was very conscientious about telling us when we were doing it wrong! 😉

She is extremely flexible still.

She is extremely flexible still.

I think she's gotten a lot more graceful since we started dance in the summer!

I think she’s gotten a lot more graceful since we started dance in the summer!

She's watching to make sure I do it right =)

She’s watching to make sure I do it right =)

Then, when we got home, I put on our home movies.  I love this tradition, especially because it means I get my act together and collect all our videos for the year and put them on a dvd.  I choose my favorite videos and edit some of the longer ones, like the ones Dad takes of the kids birthdays, so we just have a nice selection.  It lasted about an hour and a half, and the kids actually watched a lot of it!  They loved seeing themselves on t.v.  When Serenity excitedly announced that she was on tv, Donovan piped right up, “I too!” (This is what he says whenever he wants to be included or to be given something his sister has.  “I Too!” too cute)