Cousin Christmas

Because of both of our schedules, we finally had Christmas with my sister and her family this afternoon.  Since Leah recently spent the night with us successfully, she was not shy at all when they arrived.  She usually takes at least 20 minutes or so to warm up to us but she ran straight to Chris when she got out of then car and then asked about Burke.  We were outside playing when Mimi arrived to celebrate with us.  She brought over gifts from Nancy for Timmy and Leah.  Collin had already opened Nancy's gift.

We did not open presents right away.  Paul and I started building the rest of Collin's Lego castle while Collin and Timmy played with the castle.  I really enjoyed sitting around the table listening to the boys play with each other AND to have help with the castle.  Since Christmas, Collin helped a little but I had built most of it myself so far.

After we finished the castle, it was time to open presents.  Leah was really quick opening all of her presents.  She even opened and looked like she was trying to read the cards that came with a few of her presents.  She got a lot of baby dolls (4 of them) and the boys got action figures, dinosaurs or cars. 

Leah already started unwrapping her present while we were still passing out all of the presents

Slowing down the unwrapping to see what the others got

Look at that face!!!  She is excited to see ANOTHER doll

Timmy is having fun opening his gifts yelling out what he got

Transformer!!!

I love her expression. 

Mimi right in the middle of it all

Timmy lining up his gifts.  He was really happy to show these all to me.

The kids got hungry after opening all of the gifts.  Leah announced that she wanted Laura's waffles.  I asked if she wanted what I severed her for breakfast.  She said, "Yes, I want waffles!"  She really meant that she wanted the pancakes I made when she and Timmy spent the night last weekend.  Fortunately, I had leftover pancakes I had frozen from what I made yesterday.  I pulled these out, put two in the toaster and served hot pancakes.  Guess who else said he was hungry?  Yep, Collin ... and then Timmy.  Glad I had the pancakes because all 8 were eaten.  Collin also wanted strawberries. 

Before leaving, we took a few pictures by the Christmas tree.  Mimi was going to take Collin with her to spend the night so Daddy and I could go to work tomorrow.  Collin was really excited about spending the night and packed most of his clothes and animals in his suitcase by himself.

I felt blessed today and this Christmas to be alive and celebrate with my family and friends.  I am so glad I felt great and finally feel like the cancer and side effects are under control. 

"You Sunk My Battleship"

Collin's cousins Ben, Will and Hollis were in town for the weekend starting from Friday until Sunday.  It's been at least 6 months since we saw them last. Collin was SOOO excited about them arriving.  "How many more minutes until they are here?"  He did not understand that it takes at least 4 1/2 hours to drive to our house so he asked me "How much longer?" every 10 minutes or so.  I decided to set the timer on the oven so he could see it counting down.  He took one of the kitchen stools and sat right in front of the oven so he could see the timer working.  I was so thankful that the cousins arrived a little early so I did not have to explain where they were when the timer buzzed and they possibly were not at our house yet. 

Everyone was so excited about seeing each other that we stayed up until close to midnight.  The older boys slept on the bunk beds and Hollis and Collin slept in his room on his trundle bed.  It was the first time we actually used both of the beds next to each other.  Collin did not know his bed did that and thought it was fun.  I could hear the two little ones talking in the room and having fun....making memories so I did not stop them.

The next morning, after having pancakes or peanut butter, chocolate chip scones I made with my new Vitamix blender, we thought it would be fun to see the Battleship Texas.  I have seen it but did not realize that Daddy had not seen it.  What?  We definitely had to go then.  Hollis went with us and Collin rode in the other car with the other boys. 

When we arrived, we explained that the large ship was used in battles.  Collin wanted to see a battle and was upset when we explained that there would not be a battle or a fight.  "I want to see a battle", "When can I see the battle?" or "Will there be a battle later?"  He just did not understand that there was not going to be a battle at all.

Once on the boat, the kids liked the guns the most and then climbing up or down all of the stairs.  We were fine with the stairs until we where on the third level and WAY up in the air.  Collin and Hollis were getting really close to the sides and the rails.  It was making Daddy REALLY nervous.  We were surprised when we got off the boat and looked at the time.  The hour just flew by.

After having lunch on the way home, the kids swam our pool that we heated.  They had a blast!!!!  I thought for sure this would have worn the kids out....nope!  They still stayed up until after 11pm. 

Burke's Mat

Instead of buying a mat to go under Burke's food and water, Collin and I decided to make him one.  We started with a large piece of paper that we have been using on the table under his home art projects.  I let Collin decide what he wanted to draw on the mat.  He thought and thought about it and then decided he wanted to draw a rainbow.  He had me call out what color on the rainbow was next and then he would color it.  I drew and colored Burke's name but Collin did tell me what color I was to use. 

We then went to a place that laminated the paper.  I explained what they were going to do to the paper and he did not quite understand so I held him up so he could watch what was happening.  He did NOT like that the paper was disappearing into the huge machine.  However, when the lady brought the finished product over to us, he loved what he saw and wanted to carry it to the car.  It was sprinkling a little and he said "this mat will not get wet because it has the shiny stuff on it now". 

I must say that the mat works really well and catches most of the water Burke spills on the side of his bowl. 

Merry Christmas!!!

The Holmes family had a fantastic Christmas this year spent with family and friends.  It started last night when Grandma H came over to have dinner and then look at Christmas lights around the town.  Collin was interested in the lights at first but then got bored and started singing made up songs.  Daddy was taking notes about the light displays he really liked so he could stock up on yard displays for next year.  Sounds like we are going to add more deer and white Christmas trees.

We came home and watched Elf before Collin finally was tired enough to go to bed.  We then got ready for Christmas morning and then went to bed.  Collin was so excited about Santa but did finally settle down.

The next morning, Collin woke up around 7am and was ready to open presents but surprisingly had patience and slowly opened his gifts.  He did not linger looking at the gifts Santa brought him like I thought he would.  That's probably because it was a Lego set that needed to be put together.  For the first round or two, he did get the gifts from under the tree and passed them out to either Daddy, Grandma H or myself.  He opened up the following besides the gifts from Santa which were the Lego castle and accessories he asked for last year and then again let Santa recently know this year:

• Books
• Wii U game console plus several games
• Airplanes that either flew by twisting a rubber band or shooting the plane with a rubber band
• Compass
• Movies for Grandma H's house such as Planes, Croods, and Turbo
• Night light that shows stars on the ceiling
• Remote controlled car
• Wooden car and airplane to build

Sitting by the Lego castle and accessories

One happy little boy

Time for stockings.  That's my favorite part.

Wii U game

After opening presents, we had brunch.  I LOVED this idea especially because it was just the four of us AND it was so easy to plan and cook.  I made Monkey Bread, crustless quiche (which was not ready in time) and a side of bacon.  Grandma H never had Monkey Bread before but really liked it. 

After brunch, we watched two of the new movies:  Croods and Planes.  Collin only watched some of Planes because he was busy playing with some of his new toys.  After the movie and Grandma H left, Collin and I played outside before Mimi, Pappy and Dustin arrived.  Time for more presents!  Collin LOVED the soft Monkey blanket and really liked the remote controlled car Nancy got him.  He also liked the whoopie cushion before he jumped sat on it a few times and it broke within 5 minutes of him opening it.

Monkey blanket that includes pockets for his hands and even a little monkey tail

 Before Mimi, Dustin and Pappy left, we had to take a few family pictures in front of the tree.  However, you cannot see much of the tree.  Sorry Mimi!!

Mimi and Dustin

Pappy and Mimi

Mimi and Me

Mimi and Pappy getting crazy under the mistle toe

The fun Holmes family

We left the house and went to the Mosses for an early dinner and for the kids to exchange gifts.  Collin had a great time playing with Oliver and Lucy before eating the meal.  He did not like that we included green and orange stuff on his plate.  After eating the carrots, he announced that he was going to choke.  Thanks kid!  Then, he said that the turkey stunk.  I am so glad these are good friends of ours...and that Oliver had the same table manners as Collin.  The kids continued to play after the meal while the adults talked. 

Before heading to the Polleys to exchange gifts, we saw the Henleys across the street so we gave the kids their gifts.  We then stayed at the Polleys for about an hour just long enough to watch the dance performance the Polley boys made up for us, exchange gifts for the boys and then have the adults catch up while the kids played.  We missed seeing the Jureks but we will catch up with them over the next few days.

What a great day and a very memorable Christmas.

A Day with Cousins

Timmy has spent the night many times before but it was Leah's first time to do so.  Aunt Lisa dropped the kids off yesterday afternoon.  At first, Leah was a little clingy but then warmed up to me.  I found her some toys to play with that were Collin's when he was her age. She was so proud to have her own toys that she let Timmy know "these are my toys only...not yours".  Timmy was fine with this too because she kept knocking down what he was building.

Later that evening, the kids settled down to watch a movie.  Leah snuggle up next to Collin while Timmy sat on the other side of the couch. When it was time for bed, Leah wanted to sleep with Collin in his bed while Timmy chose the top bunk bed in the other room.  I was surprised by Timmy's choice because he usually likes to sleep on Collin's floor. Timmy went to sleep last.  He wanted some milk to drink to help him sleep and was later frustrated that he was still awake.  "I drank milk to help me sleep but it's not working!".  I laid on the bottom bunk and he fell asleep within 5 minutes.

Around 1:15am, I heard Leah cry out.  When I came into Collin's room, she was standing up and whimpering a little.  She wanted to sleep with me.  I was glad that she was not asking for her mommy because of the time.  She snuggled up next to me in my bed and went to sleep.  She is different than sleeping next to Collin because she does not move unlike her wiggle butt cousin.

In the morning, Timmy woke up first around 7:15am.  I heard Collin get up to tell Timmy that tomorrow Santa would be here and they would have presents.  The boys started to talk about what they wanted for Christmas. 

I made homemade pancakes for the kids.  They ate the two each that I served them.  The boys were still hungry so they shared a bag of chocolate chip muffins.  Lots of sugar for the day...yeah.

After play for 2 hours, we loaded up and went to see Santa at the bike shop.  They were excited about going until we arrived.  Timmy and Collin were fine to get on Santa's lap. Leah would not move from my arms and did not want to look at Santa.  Later Collin told Leah that it was OK because Santa was really Tom.  Collin had heard one of the bike shop guys call Santa "Tom".  Way to go Justin!

We then headed to Aunt Lisa's house to drop off the cousins.  Leah did not want to go home but, instead, back to Collin's house.  I guess she was comfortable enough with us and will likely be fine to spend the night again.  Collin wanted to play so they played outside on the backyard dirt pile.  We did not have anyone where special to go so I did not care if Collin got dirty.  Wow, he sure did get dirty though.  It was stuck to him everywhere.  However, they had a great time playing for over an hour making great memories.  Aunt Lisa and I watched and caught up with each other.

Trying to dig to the other side of the dirt pile

Timmy sitting in Collin's hole he dug

Boys and bugs

Doodlebug.  He did find a wasp too.  No, I did not let him pick up that one.

Leah playing King of the Hill

 

We cleaned up and then went to see Grandma Filla. I was exhausted from the day so I laid down to take a quick nap.  Collin joined me 20 minutes later.  The 1 hour nap was what I needed.  We visited with Mimi and Grandma Filla before heading home.