Lately

Finishing off 2015...

The days after Christmas involved a lot of toy playing, fighting, and game playing.  Did I say fighting?  Overwhelming amounts of fighting.  The kids haven't quite grasped the concept of playing by themselves.  Or should I say enjoy, because they know what it is and how to do it, but they need the other (or parent) to play with them.   Oh they're kids, let them be little, right?!

On Sunday the kids and I watched movies, played games while Nick slept since he got off work at 6am.

Xander still wasn't feeling well and he threw up that morning.  We sat on the couch and watched Paddington.

  

After Nick woke up, I headed to Target to check out the clearance, alone.  It was glorious.  I've been couped up in the house because of the weather, holidays, stores closed since Tuesday.  I was ready for an escape.

I found these comfy socks in the dollar section and Sterling thought they were ear warmers.  Silly girl.

On Monday it snowed all day, the base was closed as we are expected to get 4-8 inches.  I think we already had 6 inches at 5 pm.  I shoveled 95% of the driveway and sidewalks before everyone else came out.  It was nice to be alone, but really cold.  Nick played with the kids awhile and I came in to warm up and cook dinner.

On Tuesday we played games and tried to keep quiet as Nick had to sleep some of the day since he worked at 6p.  

The kids were playing as if they enjoyed being around each other.  They have a love-hate relationship.

Xander received a post card in the mail from his Uncle Cory and he wanted to write him a note so we walked it down to the mailbox to mail it.  In the freezing cold.

We were monkeying around.  Notice how Sterling has a different top than from earlier in the day?  This girl thinks she needs to put a new outfit/top on every. single. day. around 4p.  It's ridiculous.  She has a total meltdown and will ripe down dresses or tops out of her closet and change herself.

On Wednesday I had a class to take for work, so after I got home, I scooped up the kids and took them to Chick fil A.  It started out great, but ended with Xander fighting another kid.  The boy he punched was following him around and pushed him down, so Xander reacted by throwing punches.  I guess first response self defense?  I don't encourage fighting because fighting does not fix anything.  If anything, it makes things worse.  So, we left.  I was pretty upset that he would even throw punches because I've always told him to come get me or another adult when he's upset.  But, this is where different parenting conflicts come in.  Nick thinks he needs to defend himself when another kid does something harmful, such as pushing him down, and tells Xander all the time that he needs to fight back and stick up for himself or his sister.  

After our adventures in Chick Fil A, we headed home to take breaks and then Sterling and I headed to Yankee Candle and Bath & Body to take advantage of some great deals.

New Years Eve (today) started with making our #2015bestnine on Instagram.  How fun to see what people like to see.  

The rest of today involves playing games on the Wii, taking Hawkeye to the vet to get a shot, checking out Targets dollar spot, and grabbing milk at Sam's.  Fun times.  Now, let's just hope the kids are in good moods at the stores.  It's not looking good already, Xander's having a rough morning.

  Be safe and enjoy tonight, Happy New Years Eve!

Christmas Day

Christmas morning was great!  The kids woke up right before 6:30 and rushed in saying "mommy there's a pig outside our room. there's a pig.  come see"  I got up, and went to see the "pig". I turned on the light and said oh, this is a funny looking pig. I held it up and we discovered it was a dinosaur.  Then they saw the babydoll and Sterling was sad because it wasn't the one she wanted.  She wanted the one with the long hair (AG doll).

Then it dawned on Xander that it was Christmas morning so he shouted, Merry Christmas and Happy Birthday, Jesus!  We all then headed downstairs.

I was able to get the videos up...turn up your volume and I hope you can see this!

Xander really got into his stocking, where Sterling cared less about hers.

The first gift Sterling opened is the same gift she came out of my closet with one day.  I came up with an excuse that it was her cousin Kinley's, hid it, and wrapped it that same day.  So when she opened it, she was so excited saying "this is the same one Kinley has (giggling)"

These boots I think were her second biggest hit. She loves them!

More Peppa Pig, thanks Auntie Renee!

Xander was quick to open his present, set it down, and move on.  He'd stop opening his presents and play with his fire station.

We gave both kids their own kindles so I could have mine back and not have kids games bogging it down.  Sterling was so excited (although she's not a big player right now, only about 15 minutes, but she exclaimed "my own iPad".  No dear, it's a kindle.  Sorry to bust your bubble.

More fun stuff for his batcave toy

This little check up n go mobile car is the best! I love playing with it.  It zooms all over the house, even on carpet.  And its fast!  So much fun!

Xander got his own drone.  Thanks Auntie Renee!  We're going to have lots of fun taking this and Nicks mini helicopter out to the fields when the snow melts!

Sterling and her expressions.  She's a hoot! She opened this up, asked who it was from.  I said Opa. She put her finger to her cheek, tapped it, and said "Opa is the best!"

She then opened this last gift from Opa and was disappointed because it wasn't what she wanted.  Ha!

But she loves the baby dolls and those boots!

And Xander LOVES that dinosaur.  We now have a rule that the dinosaur stays upstairs.

Later in the day, Sterling put on her "wedding dress" and played nicely. Nick ended up working at 6p-6a so he took a nap while I tried keeping the kids quiet playing excitedly with their new toys.  It didn't work so well.

They watched movies in their new comfy chairs.  Xander started feeling sick the day prior, but on this day, it was worse.  He had diarrhea.  Poor boy.  I didn't end up making our planned meal of lasagna roll ups because I knew he'd want to eat them and I didn't want his stomach more upset.  So he had toast, and Sterling and I had cereal.

Xander came to get me to take this picture of him with his dinosaur. He really loves this dinosaur.

This dress had been sitting downstairs for a month waiting for me to put her name and a tree on it.  But since it was Christmas Day, I didn't want to put a tree on it, so I just did her name.  Well when the machine started stitching out the 't' it put a hole in her shirt!  I was mad. I have no idea what went wrong, but I had to come up with a new plan because she wanted to wear this dress.  She'd been asking for over a week to wear it.  So I came up with a no sew idea.  I cut out three hearts, put heat n bond ultra on the back and ironed them on over the hole and even spaced them.  It was quick and simple.  I like this idea and may do this a little more.

Christmas Eve

We woke up to a nice surprise of snow. It was not in the forcast and since we had been getting rain for the past 36 hours, it wasn't expected.  When I opened the back door to let Hawkeye out, I was shocked and said 'we have a situation guys!'  LOL

The kids enjoyed watching it snow.  It was coming down pretty good too.

Because our elf left his goodbye note and hot chocolate, Sterling dove right in and enjoyed her "snowman poop" from the day prior with it.

After I was finished getting our pot roast in the crockpot, Sterling needed a cuddle.

After lunch we headed outside to shovel and play. Nick and I started out shoveling, but I ended up helping the kids build a tunnel and sledding hill.  Much more fun than shoveling. Nick finished the job though.  We stayed out for close to two hours. So much fun!

Sterling LOVED sledding and didn't want to stop.  It was a fight to get her back in!

We also stuck to our tradition of opening one gift on Christmas Eve before heading to bed.  They both choose their gifts, and Xander choose this one from Grandma Naomi

And Sterling got lucky and choose the Peppa Pig house from Auntie Renee.  She's been begging for this house since our time in Bismarck back in May.

Xander also wrote a note for Santa.  It says "Thank you Santa for bringing us presents (heart) Xander"

Sterling want to say "Merry Christmas Santa, I love you"  So I wrote it out and asked her to trace it.  She started but didn't finish all of it.

Around 5 we headed out in the minivan express with our golden tickets to look for the North Pole.  And all the fun lights and crazy set ups that some people do.  The ones that are way over the top are the most fun to admire.  It's not my electrical bill, lol!

We didn't expect this one to stay awake long, and she didn't disappoint.

After dinner and three games of Candy Land, we made up Santa's plate.  We thought he'd want something different than his usual, she we put out oreos, kisses, and water.  And Santa loved them, I'm sure:)

Santa got busy and removed all the presents from under the tree to trick the kids.  (I'd been telling them that Santa was going to take their presents back to the North Pole and give to other kids since they are so naughty)

Notice the bottom half of the tree lights not working?!  Next year I'm getting a tree without lights and just adding my own.  It'll be cheaper in the long haul.

The gifts were transfered to the dining room/office with the fun mini tree.  The gigantic dinosaur and babydoll in the box were set up upstairs outside their door. 

Tomorrows a good one, you don't want to miss the kids reaction to the presents missing! It was good!

The days before Christmas Eve

On Nick's birthday, the 19th, we decided to let the kids open one present.  Because why not?  They of course choose the biggest gifts.  (I wish I could post the video, but I have no idea how to make it smaller)  The kids were ecstatic, Xander exclaiming-screaming "this is exactly what I wanted! this is at the store, this is at the store!"  Oh my, he was ecstatic!  It was an Imaginext batcave.  Sterling opened up her gift gasping "this what I wanted, it's this" and jumping up and down screaming.  She had a doc mobile cart.

Letting them open these 6 days before Christmas was good and bad.  It was good because they were occupied with wanting to play with their new toys every day, but then it was bad because Sterling thought she could open a new present every night. Sigh.

The kids also moved up in ice lessons that morning.

We've been playing a lot of games and making a lot of crafts on break.  We've all been enjoying it.  Well until Sterling wins at a game and she wants to continue playing or when Xander loses and goes crazy.  Sore loser already.  

On the 22nd, we made little elves.  I told the kids we would make a craft out of toilet paper rolls, so I started looking on pinterest and Xander ran off and came back with a toilet paper roll.  I asked him where he got that, he said the toilet paper.  He forgot that I had a bin FULL of them already collected.  A little eager?!

On the 23rd it rained ALL day and mixed in snow later in the afternoon.  They were huge flakes. My favorite kind!

Our Elf came and left snowman poop because the kids were ridicously naughty the day prior and then on the 24th he left his goodbye note and some hot cocoa. Kids loved it!  Although Xander didn't appreciate the snowman poop and was concerned how the snowman pooped because snowmen don't have butts!

They wanted to feel like they were at Nana and Papa's house.  When we go visit them, they like to make makeshift tables to sit near the adults.  They love it!

Fun with watercolor.  Sterling loved mixing her colors a little too much for my liking.  It's hers so I let her be! 

Fun with Candy Land. We've played way too much. 

I got crafty and created planner stickers.  It worked, just not exactly like it should have.  I was still able to use this set, but I need to figure out some tweaking to perfect them.  I'm loving my Cameo!  I'm going to start practicing on cardstock until I get the hang of it.  I've heard that's the best and cheapest way to learn rather than wasting a bunch of sticker sheets and vinyl.

Talking Christmas Eve tomorrow.  It was such a fun day, don't forget to come back.