We Wish You a Merry Christmas!

In case Christmas went by too fast for you, here's a little bit of Christmas cheer! That we've been listening to over and over and over, every single day.

Jan 3, 2018

Aquarium

Our excursions to the aquarium usually consist of petting the sting-rays and sharks for 90% of the time, and then a quick walk around the rest of the tanks. I decided to splurge and bought the kids some food for the sting-rays (small dead fish cut in half). It took some convincing for them to hold the half-fish, but once they did, they enjoyed the ray sucking it off their hand. 

 This was Jake's favorite shark to pet, "because it just lays there and lets me pet him!" 

 A worker came by and gave the kids some food for the fish to grab out of their hands. After, they decided to trick the fish with no food, and they still got their fingers nibbled a little bit.

And blizzards for all, making it an extremely good day!

                      

Jan 2, 2018

New Years

Emma and Jake stayed awake all the way to midnight for the first time! Wow-za! I was sure watching movies in bed would put them right out, but they made it! Happy New Year!  Bring it on 2018 -- we're ready!

Jan 1, 2018

Scentsy Sledding

Still not much snow, but enough to go to Scentsy's hill for a little family sledding. 

 We all went over and over again. Except Luke. I grabbed him three or four times and forced him to go down with me. I couldn't convince him that it was super fun. Maybe next time. 

I forgot that I'm getting older, and tried repeatedly to go down the hill standing up on the sled. I actually did fairly well towards the end. The next morning was instant regret upon feeling every sore muscle in my body. Ouch. 

Dec 30, 2017

Winter Wonderland

We went to Caldwell to look at their Winter Wonderland light display. It was incredible, beautiful, and freaking freezing, so we didn't last long. 

 The rainbow light tunnel. 

 It appears Lucas is having a meltdown, but I promise, that's his happy "cheese" smile. Yikes!

 Very beautiful, and we'll have to return again next year, on a warmer day :). 

Dec 28, 2017

Christmas 2017

Another Christmas morning full of excitement, cinnamon rolls, and fun and games with the family!

The kids liked racing Jake's new RC cars. Lizzy kept growling and barking as she chased after them. 

 Lucas loves the magnet-blocks at the library, so he got his own set for Christmas. He likes to build (have other people build for him) castles/houses, and cages for little animal figures. 

 Emma, our Lego Queen, spent the entire day building her new hospital lego set. Brad got another Star Wars Lego set to work on also. We also built Jake's police station lego set. Lots and lots of legos...

 Lucas and Jake love playing with their new magic tracks sets. A new favorite toy around here. 

We played Twister, Trouble, Lego Dimensions, and just spent a fun day together having fun! Oh! And I got a new best friend -- Alexa. She's marvelous. We all love her.

Dec 25, 2017

Nice and Cozy

For my birthday I was given (bought myself from Costco) two of the softest blankets ever. My kids have been envious ever since. They've caught on that on Christmas Eve every year, they get to open one present, and it is always jammies. So when they found three of the exact same size presents for each of them, and that they were soft, they were convinced that's what they were. I denied any previous knowledge of a Christmas eve jammie tradition, and that they weren't getting jammies. They weren't convinced. Sometimes, they just don't trust me... I may mess with them occasionally...

They were surprised to find their own super-soft blankets! They love these blankets, and frequently bring them down to snuggle on the couch in the mornings. It was an awesome buy. Lucas -- who the older two had convinced  him he was getting jammies -- insisted that he needed Christmas jammies. Luckily, I had a pair of jammies upstairs that he'd never seen. 

Dec 24, 2017