This week has been so much more fun for me than last week. As much as I look forward to Christmas every year and try to savor the whole experience, I ALWAYS look forward to the week following the holiday. It seems like building up to the actual day is filled with busy schedules, WAY too much to do, frantic wrapping, late nights, wildly excited children that won't go to bed at night and in general a frenzy in our lives. As soon as we get through to Christmas and the presents are unwrapped, the lazy days begin. This involves sleeping in every morning, laying around on the couch, watching movies, lots of toy playing, and in general just a lot of mom and children time together. The other bonus this year was the ten day off work stretch I scored. By working the beginning of last week and the end of this week I managed to get a whole chunk of time off which has been glorious. I have really enjoyed going to several girls night outs to the movies, ice skating with the kids, multiple cookie making/decorating days, wrestling with the kids on our bed, learning how to play our new Xbox games, and lots of puzzle doing and game playing with M and R after E is in bed. Just this evening Maddie told me that she has loved how much fun we have every night before bedtime. I am trying to soak it all up as best as I can for when our real life begins again next week. On Tuesday morning Jesse and Maddie head back to school and once again our frenzied life begins. But until then I think I will enjoy another relaxing evening and late morning tomorrow :)
We were so excited to all get a pair of ice skates for Christmas from my in-laws and were able to use them on Tuesday at the local ice rink next to our neighborhood. M was literally in heaven and went around three extra times after we were all off the ice because she "just wanted to go around ONE more time...please?!" She did surprisingly well and was able to hold her balance for the most part and actually look like she was skating verses walking around on the ice. She is super excited to bring her ice skates to school and skate on the frozen pond at recess in January/February. Robby also did fairly well and liked it...for the most part. He actually went around by himself mostly, but would kind of get frustrated when he started falling a lot. He was also pretty sad that he wasn't the fastest one skating. He told us the other people kept "beating him". But he was a trooper and stayed on the ice for the most part with a smile on his face. E was completely unsteady on his feet and practically did the splits in between my legs as we went around. But he was in heaven and begged to stay on the ice the entire time we were there. Every time we passed the entrance/exit I would ask him if he wanted a break and he shook his head emphatically and declared he wanted to keep ice skating. I can't wait to see the improvement in all my kids over the next few months! {Note the skirt Maddie has on over hover her pants....not there by mistake. She wanted to be dressed like all the "dancing girls" in the middle of the ice practicing their spins}
Tonight we decorated sugar cookies for the second time in the past week. Maddie has been in heaven decorating them all kinds of crazy, frosting and topping caked ways and has loved picking out the colors for the frosting. She always makes me laugh because as she's decorating she will tell me exactly which cookie is for which person..."this candy cane one is for you Mom, and the snowman is for Dad, and this wreath is for Robby...." One of my favorite parts in her winter break has been all the kitchen time I have shared with all my children, but specifically my daughter. I cannot wait until she is just a bit older and can help me prepare more baked goods!
Eli, pant-less as usual and sporting his cute little underwear. He got this fun Cookie Monster toy from Uncle Adam for Christmas and thinks it is the most hilarious toy ever. He loves how the cookies go straight into the backpack and that Cookie Monster counts as you put the cookies in his mouth. One of the funniest parts about his toy though is all the "time-outs" that he has placed Cookie Monster in for biting. He will play with toy and put the cookies in the mouth and then send him to our time out chair because Cookie Monster is biting his fingers "agaaaaain". I laughed out loud multiple times today when I saw him doing this. He even goes over to our microwave and insists I set a timer for two minutes and then will come get his toy when the timer beeps. Apparently my kids are quite the pros with how time out works at our house....for better or worse :)
Robby sporting a slightly painful looking smile. The look of pain is because I tried to have him pause his XBox game long enough for me to snap a picture and he just wasn't having it. R has LOVED all the fun new games we got for Christmas for our game box and has spent a good chunk of time trying them all out. His all time favorite continues to be the Sonic Kinect game where he rides a snowboard throughout the course....thank you Aunt Esther!
I love how Eli is concentrating so hard at frosting his cookie that he is sticking his tongue out. So cute!
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