I was so excited for Christmas break. I got my kids all to myself, without having to share them with school.
On the last day of school before the break, I got to go into Stanton's class for his Polar Express party. We made graham cracker trains and he snuggled on my lap while we watched the movie. All the kids cuddled with their parents, and they weren't embarrassed. I love Kindergarteners!
Here is his whole cute class, all 11 kids, bless you half-day Kindergarten! They are all so sweet and they're such good friends, and his teacher is wonderful!
Oops that Stanton's the only one not wearing p.j.'s. I forgot to put his pajamas on him, and his jacket, and socks...triple oops.
He said he didn't mind, but now I can see why he doesn't bring home his library books from school. I guess I wouldn't trust me to bring them back either.
The next day Tara, Adam,Rhea and Amelia came into town for 2 weeks! We started off our non-stop playtime with making our own snow and melty homemade snowmen on a plate.
Then we ate the carrot noses and blueberry eyes and went outside to have a snowball fight.
The next day was Christmas Eve, and I got a Christmas Eve surprise (while wearing my Christmas Eve shirt) Chick-fil-A is opening right by our house. Thanks Santa!
That night Robert and I started getting premature post Christmas blues, even though Christmas was still 2 days away, so we layed in bed talking about how we wished it could be Christmas everyday, but robert reminded me of the cartoon with Huey, Duey and Louey when they wished for Christmas to be everyday and their wish came true but it backfired.
Then we read some super sad/sweet/spiritual Christmas stories, which depressed us even more.
We were both tearing up a little, and Robert said, "Geez why can't we find a happy, superficial Christmas story about people who have fun going into debt to buy their kids tons of presents they don't really need."
I told him it's cause that's not as uplifting as the stories where people give their coats to homeless people, and that maybe we should make our Christmases more like the people in the stories and he said that I already pay more attention to homeless people than I do to him, and I said, "Technically you are homeless cause you still live with your parents."
Then he told me I was super funny, and we were both cheered up. You probably had to be there, but it turned out to be a happy Christmas memory that I don't want to forget. I love that husband of mine!
We had our traditional Christmas Eve lunch with Grandma Mary and Grandpa Dan and friends at Red Lobster. grandma brought giant jingle bells to lunch, which I'm sure all the customers really enjoyed.
That night we had our traditional Christmas Eve Mexican dinner and program with Robert's family, with lots of laughing around the dinner, beautiful music and the Christmas story. I always love it. Winston just liked walking around with a box on his head.
Then we got ready for bed and left Santa his cookies, 1% milk, a giant carrot for Rudolph and a thank you note in advance for the presents.
On Christmas Day we went to Grandpa Dan and Grandma Mary's with lots of friends and played in the play house and the giant off roading wagon that Grandpa built them and then we came back home and Grandpa and Grandma Curry took us all to see Monsters Inc. The kids were so excited cause Grandpa got them popcorn, a drink and a candy, lucky ducks!
It was a very special Christmas with lots of family and friends. I know I get caught up in the lights and the music and the activities, but amid all the celebrating I am so thankful for an everyday reminder, all month long of the birth, life and sacrifice of our Lord! Christmas truly is the most wonderful time of the year!
The next day Grandma took us and Tara and Rhea and Jade to Makutus Island. the kids have gotten so brave. They climb the highest nets and go down the fastest slides, even Little Winnie.
We played hard!
The next day we went ot Bounce U with Rhea and some friends. We love taking Rhea on a tour of all the fun places to go in Az.
We paused momentarily for a goldfish snack.
And then we went back to bouncing, and sliding down the slide in a dress and accidentally flashing everyone...second day/second slide in a row. I really should invest in some skorts.
That night Daddy got us some free VIP tickets to Cavalia, which was like Cirque de Solei with horses, but first, we got to go in the lounge before the performance and fill our faces with 3 courses of free fancy food.
It was different than anything I've ever seen. I'm not that into horses (or horsies, as Robert kept calling them to make me laugh) but I was so into the whole performance. There was so much intersting color and music and acrobatics. It was definitely entertaining.
Afterwards we got to meet the cast and go on a stable tour. I asked the guy if we could all flex for the picture, but I don't think he spoke English. He didn't get my arm motions either, so I just settled for a regular old picture before I further embarrassed myself.
The day after that we headed to the Science Center, where they happened to have snow that day and where I happened to lock my keys in the car. Robert's dad was our rescuer and so kindly came to our aid so we could finish playing. He was me and 5 little kids hero that day!
And play we did!
That night we had a fire in our backyard. Noelle and Rhea and I tried to roast marshmallows on wooden spoons, since that was all we had, but we were vetoed for "safety" purposes by Stanton and the rest of the adults who've been brainwashed by Smokey the Bear. Just for the record, I am certain I could've made them all nice toasty marshmallows without any casualties.
The next day was New Year's Eve, and we were determined to make it awesome cause it's usually always a bust, and we struggle to make it up until midnight. So we started off the day right by going with the whole family to the Phoenix Children's Museum, SO FUN!
Winston loved the noodle forest. He and Rhea also loved hiding in the fort room and riding bikes in the car wash.
Noelle loves painting the rocket. That's where she always spends most of her time.
I love this picture of Stanton cause he is sticking his tongue out of the side of his mouth, which means he is intensely concentrating. He spent like 30 minutes using 3 scoops to try to get the scale full of beans to 9 lbs. we were there for hours. It was such a great time!
Someday I will recreate this amazing museum in my home.
That night we came home and lit off tons of fireworks! We had so many that we needed an intermission.
The kids stayed up until "midnight" (NY time) They watched the ball drop and danced to the music and toasted sparkling cider in fancy glasses.
Then we went back outside for the grand finale of Daddy's fireworks extravaganza as 2012 went out with a bang...
and we jumped right into to 2013! Hee-hee, what a creative writer I am (:
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