Oh, The Busy Holiday Season

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas.  I know we did. The holiday season is extremely busy for us.  We go from Christmas, to Shawn's birthday, to New Years, to my Father-in-law's birthday.  All of this, is within a week and a half.  Exhausting!!!!

To top it all off, the kids have been sick.  Ben and Rylie have been sick to their stomachs and now poor Ben has an awful cough.  Sydney started coming down with the stomach bug today.  It's awful.  Tomorrow we have a chance for snow, well a lot of snow and I absolutely HATE driving in it.  I'm afraid that I'll be taking kids to the doctor in the snow tomorrow, but I have to do what I have to do.

On the other hand, I am so excited for snow.  I just hope we don't have to go driving in it.  They are saying we could get a few inches.  It would be awesome.  It snowed a little over a week ago and most of it has stuck around, until today anyway.

Since so much has happened since my last post, I'm going to try to do a quick over view update about everything.  Hang in there, we've been up to lots of fun stuff.

We bought the complete Harry Potter Collection on Blu Ray and watched them all with the kids.  A movie a night, complete with popcorn.  Sometimes we spread a movie out over a period of nights due to sleepy kids or adults.

We went out to eat downtown and then went on a walk to look at all the pretty lights.  It was so beautiful!

Then, there was the snow day!  It just so happened that school was cancelled on the last day before Christmas break.  Ben's class was supposed to be making gingerbread houses, and he was heartbroken that he missed it.  To make up for it, we started out the day with Home Alone, while I made chocolate chip pancakes.

Shawn worked from home since he has such a big commute and the roads were all in bad shape.  The wind was blowing 50 mph.  Once the wind calmed down a little, we went outside to play in the snow for a few minutes.  It was so cold so it didn't last very long but we did have a good time.

Since Ben missed out on the gingerbread house at school the next night, my in-laws all came out, they ordered pizza and we built gingerbread houses together.  It was so much fun.

Here's the kid's finished gingerbread house:

Here's the crazy house Andy and Morgan decorated:

Ben and Sydney could not wait to eat their house, so they did.

The day before Christmas eve, we went to our best friend's family Christmas party.  It was our first time meeting all of Torren's extended family, but they were all just as nice as he and his parents are.  We had a great time, but Ben enjoyed way too many sugar cookies and ended up making himself sick that night.  After the party, Shawn and I came home to bake cookies and wrap presents while the kids slept.

I know, my children are spoiled, but we are also raising them to also be grateful for what they have.  Also, a couple of weeks ago, we cleaned the entire play room and got three trash bags full of toys to donate.  Ben and Sydney were actually really excited at the idea of other kids getting fun toys that used to belong to them. I was proud at how giving my children are becoming.

On Christmas eve morning, I made cinnamon rolls with red and green sprinkles on top.

Those were a major hit!

Every Christmas eve we have a party at Shawn's parent's house.  This year Santa made an appearance and brought a little something for each child there and even stayed long enough to take some pictures.

After the kids went to bed Santa came back to set up the kids presents.  Yup, once again, I know my kids are spoiled.

When the morning came, it was time to gather the troops.  We all stay the night at Shawn's parent's house and so we get everyone together before going into the living room so everyone can see the kids get the Santa gifts.  It's really fun.

While we waited for everyone to wake up, Ben and Sydney both got to hold their newest baby cousin, Leigha.

Then, present time...

The late night, the early morning, and all of the excitement made for super tired kids later in the day.

Yup, Rylie fell asleep like that, on her dad and uncle.

The ride home, meant more sleep for the kids.

That night my family came over, but the kids slept through the whole thing.  The next night Torren came over.

Now since Christmas, even though they've been sick, the kids have been really enjoying all of their new toys and looking super cute in their new clothes.

Shawn is so excited because Ben is playing Minecraft on his iPad.  Shawn has it set up in "create mode" or something, so there is no bad guys or other people so he can learn the game.  It's so cute.

This weekend, has been pretty lazy.  Cleaning, coffee, football, Game of Thrones, Doctor Who, and crochet.

This coming week, New Years and my father-in-law, Andy's birthday.  Also, hopefully, snow!