Christmas in Arkansas

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Christmas 2011

We had a wonderful Christmas with my family in Arkansas and really enjoyed our visit. The hardest part was the 15 hours we spent in the car driving to and from Arkansas, but I think we are finally recovering from that. We loved getting to see family and friends while we were there and stayed very busy. John and I enjoyed several runs together on the hills surrounding my mom's house. I forgot how hilly Arkansas can be and how beautiful it can be as well. We loved having some warmer temperatures to get outside and play and loved spending more time with our cousin, Calvin. Our week was topped off by a birthday celebration for Aiden who will be two on January 2, 2012. He had a Curious George themed party complete with monkey cupcakes made by Aunt Sarah and they were fabulous! I have so many pictures to share from our week that I am posting just a few highlights and perhaps will post more later. We hope you had a wonderful holiday and wish everyone a very Happy 2012!

Christmas Crafts

Couple of our Christmas craft projects. Note Aiden's gingerbread man in the middle with nothing on it. He glued everything on and then pulled it all off.

Can you tell which one is Aiden's gingerbread house? Far left, front row. He put all the candies on the house and then took them all off and ate them.

hmmmm. Looks good, but let's see how it tastes!

Did you eat any of the red icing?

Aiden and Luke repairing the vent for Daddy

Decorating cookies

Liam is hard at work

We have attempted several Christmas crafts recently and most of them have gone fairly well. I say "most" of them because the wild card is Aiden. This is the first year that Luke and Liam have actually gotten into doing crafts and we have a good time doing them. To name a few of the ones we have tried: several types of christmas ornaments, christmas trees, gingerbread men, cotton ball snowmen, paper snowflakes, etc... Aiden does, however, show an interest in all of the crafts that involve FOOD! Naturally, he has no problem decorating cookies with icing and candy or putting candy on a ginger bread house.

Wishing all of our family and friends a very Merry Christmas!

Preschool Program and Christmas with Friends

Popcorn and a Movie with our friends!

Left to Right: Aiden, Charlie, Luke, Jack, and Liam

Baby Andy and Kirsten

Opening our presents

Aiden is really not a big fan of Santa Claus yet

Luke and Liam's preschool program

Liam did a great job singing

Liam did a little "cooking" during the program

Luke is holding up the final "A" in SANTA

Luke is behind the "A"

Aiden really wanted to climb up on the stage and pull down the ballons

Our Elf, Cowboy, has been playing a few tricks with the boys and eating some of their cookies! The boys are really enjoying the Elf this year and jump out of bed to find Cowboy each morning.

The boys had their annual Christmas program at school over the weekend and it was really hilarious to watch. There were three kids who dropped out at various times during the program and one child who had to use the potty midway through. Luke and Liam, however, somehow survived the entire program and even managed to sing a few of the songs. I was suprised last year by how little they sang any of the songs, but their teacher assured me that this would come with age. Seems like they are always pretty vocal at home, but maybe not in front of lots of people. The program happened to be in the middle of the afternoon which is a rather tricky time for us since it is close to naps. Luke and Liam can skip their nap and survive reasonably well, but Aiden is a different story. Aiden was in desperate need of his nap by the time the program began so we made a quick exit after treats and a visit with Santa.

We also got together recently to exchange gifts and watch the "Elf on the Shelf" movie with our best twin friends (Jack and Charlie) and their baby brother, Andy. It was a loud, fun, memorable evening with presents, popcorn, and lots of fun. This might be the first year where the boys played independently for a short time and the adults actually held some conversation. We are thankful for all the good friends we have met during our short time in Minnesota.

Let the countdown begin....

In addition to finding our Cowboy Elf each morning, we take turns moving Santa on our calendar and remind them that there are still a lot of days left until Christmas.

Luke is checking out Santa's beard

Liam trying on the guitar costume that John wore to help with the Magic show

Standing up front with Daddy after the show

Is that really Daddy up there (far left of picture)

Watching the magic show at Daddy's work party

Mmmm. Red punch.

Sled rides!

Down the hill on the side of our house

Sampling the snow

Seems like they enjoy laying in it more than anything else

We even know how to shovel!

Aiden with his George

The boys have officially started their countdown to Christmas. Our infamous Elf on the Shelf, Cowboy, has returned again this year and brings the incentive of toys and treats for young boys who listen to their parents! Actually, I will really miss Cowboy after Christmas.

We had a fun weekend that made it feel a lot like Christmas. We went to a Christmas party at John's work for the children of all employees at his company. It was an amazing party complete with a magic show, storyteller, food, a christmas shop, visit with Santa, crafts, and more! Seriously, we were busy the entire time and I am pretty sure John and I were exhausted at the end after trying to keep up with all three boys. Everyone had a great time and we will definitely do it again next year. On Saturday evening, it snowed a few inches so first thing Sunday morning the boys wanted to play in the snow. We were outside for several hours because the temps were pretty mild for our winters. The boys seem to enjoy the snow even more each year and we finally have all the gear to make going outside a little easier (even if it still takes a half hour to get everyone dressed and out the door). Luke is still a little disappointed that there is not enough snow to build a snowman yet, but I keep reassuring him that there is more to come.