Christmas Day

More presents! The boys were SO excited to wake up Christmas morning to find that there were presents under the tree.

But first we opened stockings  

And posed by the tree
Aren't these pictures awesome?!? So much for a nice pose by the tree. What was this mom thinking anyway?

Oh, I see! It takes presents to make you smile nice. Now I get it!!

Isaac was pretty excited about his gifts!

Lots of beer recipes!

Jacob is very serious about his new Transformer

Now that big brother reads lots of chapter books, Isaac wanted one of his own.

Gotta have something to put all that beer in!

It would help if I held the giftcard the right way, huh? I'll blame the photographer. He should have told me, right?!?

While the guys worked on putting all the vehicles together, I sat and enjoyed a cup of my new pomegranate tea in my new owl mug and read my new magazine. Ah bliss!

My mom and Jeff came over late morning - my dad was flying to MI and Mike and Jenn were celebrating with her family. 

I bought some tamales from a friend's grandma who makes them every Christmas. They were delicious, but took much longer to cook than I thought so we started with our beans and salad and ate tamales a while later as they got done. I think our lunch lasted about 3 hours. Then we had cake. 

This picture is of horrible quality, but I am including it because the story is too funny. Isaac's feet are all blurry because he was thrashing about in distress. We were talking about eating apples and teased that if Jacob ate the apple core and all the seeds, then an apple tree would grow in his stomach and branches would come out of his ears. Oh, how Isaac got upset about that and just kept saying over and over, 'Jacob, don't eat the apple core! Jacob, don't eat the apple core!' It took a while for us to convince him that we were just kidding. This picture is of Alan trying to calm him down about the whole thing!

 Playing Trouble - one of Jacob's gifts. My brothers and I played this game when we were kids!
I think Jacob was challenging his Uncle Jeff on his moves.

And Isaac played with the castle most of the afternoon.

It was a nice, relaxing day - loved it! 

Christmas Eve

We got together with my family on Christmas Eve for a delicious brunch, followed by a present opening frenzy and ending with a birthday cake for Jesus. 

I didn't get a picture of all the food, but it was good - ham, quiche, potatoes, fruit. Yum!

The boys were just so, so excited to open gifts and to give their gifts to each other. We were trying to get them to pose together for a picture, but they couldn't quite get which way to face. Sillies! 

Jacob gave Isaac an 'Iron Man push a button' which Isaac has been talking about for months. He was so excited to get it!

And Isaac got Jacob 'Tale of Despereaux', something he has been talking about for months. 

 

Oh, this was a hit!

Iron Man with Iron Man. Could Isaac be any happier?

Alan's new endeavor - beer making!

Isaac threw a dart and stabbed me in the leg. Who gave a 3 year old a dart? I'm not gonna tell! He was so upset that he hurt me - just a little - it could have been much worse, but he still felt really bad.

The boys' big present was a knight's castle. Pretty cool!

The cake I made this year was a chocolate, almond, coconut cake. It had coconut milk in the chocolate cake, a buttercream frosting with coconut and almonds between the layers, topped with a chocolate ganache and garnished with more coconut and almonds. Satisfied my chocolate coconut craving!

Such a fun day spent with family!

Christmas Programs

Is there anything more precious than watching a children's program?

Jacob got to be in two Christmas programs again this year. The first was the JrK and Kindergarten program at his school. 

The second one was at church and both he and Isaac were in it together.
The first song they sang was 'Rock the Baby'. I'll admit I was a little nervous about how Isaac would act while singing this song since at home he ran around like a wild banshee screaming it! He and Jacob did very well and were both so, so cute rocking their stuffed animals.

The second song they sang was 'Away in a Manger' and it was just precious to see all those littles doing the motions.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

 This is the first year we did gingerbread houses with the boys. They loved it!
One Friday night Alan and I worked on assembling the houses.

Then the next day while I was off galavanting in LA with a friend, Alan and the boys decorated them.

Isaac likes to point out to everyone that his has door knobs and two doorbells. One goes ding-dong and the other one goes dong-ding.

We had a lot of fun decorating the tree.

Most of our decorations are handmade ones of the boys from school, Sunday school or from our Advent last year. Love it!

One morning Isaac was busy playing outdoors. I looked out to see what he was up to and saw him gathering a bunch of dead plant stuff. He told me he was making a manger for Baby Jesus, then ran inside to get the baby Jesus from our nativity. Oh, so precious!

Every year I try to do things to make Christmas meaningful, so the boys realize the true meaning of Christmas is about God's gift to us, not just about receiving gifts, that we are to find the joy in giving to others, especially those in need. 

Last year we used Truth in the Tinsel for our Advent so this year I searched for something similar to do each night. I found this book.

While some of the questions are a little above Jacob and Isaac, I still find it is very good. The stories are short and there are cute little object lessons that are fun and meaningful. 

I also discovered this book and we've been finding ways to fill our Sparkle Box, which is a special box you put under your tree for Jesus. It's a gift for Jesus, and you fill it with things that will honor Him and bring Him joy on Christmas Day – His birthday!  

There are so many great things to do with your kids during the Christmas season, it is easy to get overwhelmed thinking we have to do it ALL. I have to keep reminding myself to keep it simple and meaningful. That's what the boys will remember. They don't want a busy, over-stressed mommy. They'll get more out of it if we just focus on a few special things. 

Thanksgiving weekend

6 days until Christmas and I am just now getting around to blogging about Thanksgiving. Yikes!

I failed as a photographer on Thanksgiving. I took one picture and it didn't even have people in it. Fail!

So, here is the picture and it isn't even a good one. Alan had a cream whipper and was showing Jeff how to use it. Something went wrong and the tip of his pumpkin pie got blasted off. It was a little dramatic. 

We did have a wonderful Thanksgiving, in spite of blasted pie. Alan sous vide some turkey legs and then Jeff deep fried them. I didn't eat any, but hear it was fantastic. It was a beautiful day and we spent some time playing corn hole before dessert. 

Thanksgiving weekend is always the Apple Butter Festival up at Riley's Farm in Oak Glen so we headed up to check it out. We went on a hike and ate our lunch up at the duck pond.

Jacob and Isaac have their maps all ready to lead us where we need to go!

Looking at the ducks at the lower pond.

 It was so beautiful up there. I could have stayed all day!

This is where we ate our lunch....and threw sticks into the water.

Then we went back to the festival where Isaac showed everyone his awesome dance moves.

Alan made some popcorn ice cream. It was ice cream flavored with caramelized white chocolate so it tasted like kettle corn. Then Alan used liquid nitrogen and a cream whipper to make it look like popcorn. It was too good!

These are the thankful turkeys that we made this year. Each night the boys told me what they are thankful for and I wrote it on a feather.

Jacob is thankful for:
Isaac, my mom, my dad, Boppa, Oma and Homer, books, baseball and soccer

Isaac is thankful for:
Mommy, Daddy, Jacob, Boppa, Oma and Homer, super heroes, Jesus