Dunkable

These two surely know the best way to eat an Oreo…

I know they will teach Brynna lots of things in life but I guess having her learn young all about the glory of dunking oreo’s in milk isn’t so bad. Could be worse things for her to learn…she just needs to get that darn lid out of her way.

Yes I realize these aren’t oreo’s. But to young kids the duplex cookies are just as good and they are cheaper

Christmas Happenings 2014, part 2

With our lists submitted to Santa we were officially ready for Christmas. We kept tradition and spent Christmas eve with the Zimmers followed by gifts at home before bed. Troy and I both grew up opening gifts Christmas eve and then Santa gifts/stockings in the morning on Christmas day. So far we are really enjoying keeping this tradition with the kids.

Brynna really got into opening gifts this year. It was surprising since she wasn’t real good at it when we did Christmas around Thanksgiving. It never gets old seeing a little kid really get into opening gifts. She could have cared less about what she got and just enjoyed ripping open the paper.

If Cohen would have been willing to give a list to Santa it would have included all things Spiderman and teenage mutant ninja turtles. Before becoming a mom I was never a huge fan of character clothing. But once you have a kid that literally lights up getting to wear certain clothing with monkey’s, race cars, Spiderman, or ninja turtles on it you learn to love it all. There will always be times when I can dress him in “nice” clothes but watching him become independent and opinionated is certainly a pay off especially considering where we came from.

We feel like we’re already entering a stage with Sevea where it will be hard to buy gifts for her. Sure there is always clothes and such but when it comes to toys she pays with less and less. She was happy with the things she did get and thankfully Grandpa and Grandma Appeldorn totally made up for the lack of toys on our part.

The kids left Santa a cookie and some water and promptly drifted off to sleep. Santa went to work filling the stockings and making sure to eat a nibble of the cookie and wash it down with some water. All for the kids to wake up excited that Santa came while they were sleeping.

I finally took the plunge and got new stockings and I have to say I’m pretty excited. I love the look of them but love even more that they are bigger and hold more. I love me my stocking stuffers!! I just wish I had a better place to hang the stockings. Maybe I need to put a new house on my Santa list.

Cohen and Sevea were so excited to open their Santa gift and dig into the stockings. Brynna however was not real sure. She needed time to wake up.

Santa did good and the kids were happy with their stocking stuffers and gifts. Christmas was a success. But we weren’t done yet. We still had to go to Grandpa and Grandma Appel’s house.

The kids were again spoiled by their grandparents. I think the best thing the kids got from both sets was the time to play with them. The toys and clothes and such are nice but you can’t beat seeing grandpa playing dolls with his granddaughter. I bet this father of only one son didn’t ever play with barbies before. But you wouldn’t know it because Sevea certainly enjoyed her time with Grandpa. I’d certainly give all the toys back for more times like these. The kids might put up a little fuss but they too seem the most happy when playing with their grandparents rather than just playing with a new toy. Definitely what I think is the best Christmas blessing.

We had a great Christmas season. We hope you had a blessed holiday as well.We feel lucky to be spoiled with great family and friends. A blessing that gives us so much all year long, year after year.

Christmas Happenings 2014

The month of December definitely flew by without giving me much time for well anything. Squeezing in a week long vacation into an already busy month while sooooo worth it surely made for a more hectic time trying to get everything done in time. I’m going to try my best to recap some of the Christmas happenings of the year.
The season can’t start without putting up the Christmas tree. Each year gets more and more fun with the kids wanting to help. Sevea put on a lot of the ornaments. Thankfully year after year of being a parent prepared me to relax a little when the ornaments were not evenly spaced on the tree. By the end of Christmas the tree was even worse as we moved almost all of the ornaments above Brynna’s reach. Very interesting that it wasn’t until the third child that this happened. I blame it on the other kids.

We celebrated Christmas with my family the weekend before Thanksgiving which surely extended the holiday season. I don’t think the kids minded one bit and it did relieve a little stress to have one event out of the way.
The kids were spoiled rotten by Grandma and Grandpa Verstraete. But we still figured they should get their lists to Santa. After all I do think they were pretty good kids this year. We decided since last year was a success visiting Santa at Emma Krumbee’s we’d go again this year. We totally loved the experience once again. Of course not everyone loved seeing Santa. Cohen was okay with Santa from far away but sitting on his lap was out of the question. Even being near him wasn’t exactly something he was into. The donuts and apple cider/milk at breakfast was more his thing. So he still enjoyed himself. Sevea asked for a camera. Santa of course had to ask her what else she wanted and she said an American girl doll. This was news to us. Ugh those expensive dolls and their more expensive than my wardrobe clothes. Spoiler alert Santa did not bring her the doll. Maybe she’ll still want the doll by her birthday and we can take out a second mortgage by then to pay for it and some accessories. Brynna on the other hand had no requests from Santa. You can make her happy with a candy cane and the freedom to walk around the store. So easy to please.

More Christmas happenings to come!