Christmas!

This is a going to be a long post because it includes all of the activities leading up to Christmas! A few weeks before Christmas we took the kids to go see Santa at the mall. Last year Conner screamed so I was curious what his reaction would be this year. He was actually really excited to sit on his lap… mostly because he knew he was going to get a candy cane. When Santa asked him what he wanted for Christmas he told him “a green present.” Jayden was the crier this year. Conner told him “It ok baby Jayden.” and held his hand… so sweet!This year Conner wanted to be very involved in decorating the Christmas tree...You could tell which branches he decorated because there would be 5 or 6 ornaments on each one...Jayden helped by taste testing every ornament he could get his hands on. The weekend before Christmas we went with our neighbors to a house outside of town that is decked out with Christmas lights and decorations.The coolest part was that they had a real camel there that you could feed carrots to! If you can’t tell by Conner’s face he didn’t agree that it was cool to be that close to a real live camel.It was FREEZING cold but Jayden stayed toasty in his car seat and looked so cute peeking out! They even had a Santa clause there giving out candy canes!Conner had eaten his candy cane down to a tiny little stub and when he tripped it fell into the dirt. He was SO upset that we had to ask Santa for another one. Conner ate it down to the very end again and when we were walking back to the car he fell again and got it dirty. He cried the entire way back to our car yelling “get another one from Santa!” Besides the candy cane incident we had a ton of fun and I think we will make it a tradition… as long as the people keep doing it year after year!
We spent a few days before Christmas up at our cabin. There wasn’t as much snow as usual so my Dad thought that he would try driving in… bad idea! It took a few hours of shoveling to get the Tahoe out! The kids all geared up to snowmobile into the cabin…Jayden wasn’t too thrilled about all the layers... but didn't mind the snowmobile ride. He fell asleep instantly on the way in and on the way out.Conner LOVED the snowmobile. Every time Nathan would stop he would say “Why you stopping Daddy, keep going!” I even taught him how to drive… since I was the one who taught him I got what I deserved. When I was getting onto the snowmobile Conner gunned it and I flew off the back!
We went back to my parent’s house the morning of Christmas Eve. That night we had a delicious turkey dinner and then acted out the nativity scene. Conner did not want to wear anything on his head until he saw how much praise Kynzee was receiving from being Mary. It didn’t take him too long before he said “I be Joseph!”Afterwards we went out to see some of the Christmas lights. When we got back the Elves had left all of us a present and pj’s. My Sisters and I wearing our new jammies!Conner and Kynzee both got play kitchens for Christmas. (Despite Nathan’s objections… it is ok for a boy to play with a kitchen. Maybe if Nathan would have gotten a play kitchen when he was 2 he would help out in the kitchen more… that’s my theory! ) We set the kitchens up next to each other and the kids were super excited Christmas morning!They would have been happy if that was their only present. But it wasn’t… we were all spoiled rotten! Jayden would have been happy with just the wrapping paper... We could have gone REALLY cheap this year... :)Nathan got a new XBox and kinect and we had so much fun having dance offs! I thought I was pretty good until my Mom showed up and beat everyone... I'm going to have to work on my moves! We had a wonderful Christmas! I couldn't ask for a better family!