One last Christmas Present

The dreaded question for me around Christmas is "What do the boys want/need for Christmas?".  My kids want everything but they need nothing.  They have more toys than they know what to do with, I honestly think they are overwhelmed by the number of toys that they don't even know what to play with some days.   Well my sister and I decided we weren't going to buy gifts for each others kids this year for the very reason that they will get plenty from others anyways.  We decided to do something fun and make memories with the kids instead and we started thinking of things to do.  We landed on a day of fun at The Waterpark of America with all the kids.  The day after Christ we piled all 6 kids (my sister brought her husbands niece with as well) in the vehicles and off we went.  The kids were so excited to be spending the day together.    It was an awesome way to wrap up the Christmas Season and the kids all had a blast playing together at the water park.  I didn't take many pictures as waters and cameras don't go well together but also because I just wanted enjoy the moments with my boys. I wanted to float around the lazy river as my three year screamed and laughed hysterically each time we went under the raging waterfall.  I wanted to go on the giant family slide with my 8 year old and my niece and nephews and watch them laugh as I ended up going backwards down the slide every time.  I wanted to just sit back, relax and enjoy and I did just that.  It was an awesome present for them and in the end it was also an awesome present for me!

 

Christmas Day

I used to think that being a kid on Christmas was the best thing every but it turns out that having kids on Christmas is even better!

The tree was twinkling, Santa had visited and it was about 7:30am when Colton came running into my room to wake me up with so much excitement that I didn't mind that I was being ripped from my nice warm bed.  He of course wanted to wake up his little brother immediately but we made him wait just a little while so he snuggled up on the couch to watch cartoons.  At 8am we gave him the go ahead and he ran into his Mason's room to wake him up.  It didn't take long for Mason to spring out of bed and for the two of them to come running down the stairs.  Frankie and I knew we couldn't hold them off any longer, it was time to open presents.  They ripped through their presents, showing so much excitement with each one they opened (except the clothes, cause really who wants clothes for Christmas).  Once the presents were all opened it was time for a delicious breakfast and then several hours of playing with our new toys.  Relaxing and not being rushed Christmas Morning, staying in our jammies until lunch and just spending time together is what it is all about if you ask me. 

 

Christmas afternoon/evening was spent at my parents house with my siblings.  We enjoyed a delicious lasagna dinner (which wasn't as amazing as my lasagna usually is because my dad thought we should try the noodles you don't have to boil first - Ha, not my specialty).  We played several rounds of my new Cards Against Humanity game that Santa brought me and we of course opened more presents!  It was a wonderful Christmas day filled with laughter, love and plenty of relaxation!  Wouldn't want it any other way.  The boys and I ended our Christmas night with a slumber party in Mommy's bed! 

Christmas Eve

We spent Christmas Eve the way we always do, going to the Children's Service at Church in the early afternoon and then going to Grandma Yvonne's afterward for dinner and of course presents!  It was a night full of laughs, good times, good food and lots of delicious Christmas Cookies/Candies, cousins running and playing (and fighting, cause that is what happens with 5 boys in one house) and presents.  The boys got exactly what they wanted, Lego's for Colton and the Paw Patrol Lookout for Mason.  They went home very happy (and exhausted after hours of playing)!

Annual Cookie Baking Day

Sunday afternoon we got to together with Grandma Yvonne for our annual cookie baking day!  The boys always get excited cause they get an entire day with their cousins (5 boys ages 2-8, craziness) and they get to taste test plenty of cookies!  The boys did awesome helping with the Sugar cookies but then they were off to play and we were left to make the Peanut Butter Kiss Cookies and Chocolate Covered Pretzel rods!  It was another successful cookie baking day and we are set with Christmas Goodies for a while!

My Little Performer

Mason performed in his first Christmas Concert during church on Sunday.  The concert was performed by the 3 and 4 year Sunday School Classes. They were so adorable and did a great job.  They performed 3 songs and it took Mason a while to warm up to the idea of singing in front of such a big group but once he got going he did great!  I still can't believe my baby is old enough to performing concerts, how did he grow up so fast?

Sand Christmas

This past Sunday we celebrated Christmas with my dad's side of the family!  I love getting together with the Sand Family, we are a very large family and it is so much fun to get everyone together in one place.  I have so many cousins that I am quite close with but don't get to see in person that often so I really look forward to these events.  And every year we seem to add a few more Great Grandkids to the group which means lots of baby snuggles and it means we keep looking for new places to hold our Family Christmas - this year it was in the church basement!  Also as we are big German Family we couldn't have a Christmas celebration without St Nick visiting, so to keep the tradition going St Nick showed up at our Christmas to sing songs with us and hand out presents to the kids! It was another great family Christmas, can't believe one Christmas celebration is already done this year. 

My cousins and I who are the same age (we were born within 6 weeks of each other) and our 8 boys!  That's right, we only seem to have boys for some reason!  Look at that good looking group of boys though, can't beat this.

Holiday Train

The boys decided to brave the winter temps (ha, it was a beautiful 29 degrees tonight) to see the Canadian Pacific Holiday Train!  The boys were so excited and we got there early so we could get a front row view of the train.  The Anticipation was building and then we heard it coming down the tracks.  Mason was so excited to see the train and he hasn't stopped talking about it all night.  Such a fun tradition (this was our third trip) and the fact that this stop is only about a mile from our house makes it even better!  There was no charge to see the train however they did ask for donations for the local food shelf.  After the mini concert (band was held in one of the train cars) they announced that this stop had raised over $105,000 for our local food shelf.  I was shocked by the amount, of course most of that came from local businesses and Canadian Pacific donated $20,000!  So awesome to see the generosity this time of year.