Yahtzee

Tomorrow the kids are back in school and no doubt the big topic of conversation will be, "what did you get for Christmas?" I'm hoping Torii leaves out the fact that he got Yahtzee for Christmas. It's a great game and we've had fun playing it, it's just that Torii can't get the name right. I don't know if he just keeps forgetting the name or we've just had too much Indiana Jones around here, but he keeps calling it "Nazi". I didn't know what to say the first time he told me he wanted to play Nazi. So I'm hoping he doesn't tell his classmates and his teacher about his new game Nazi and how much he likes it. He has also told me he's really good at playing Nazi. I keep correcting him, but it's just not sinking in. So hopefully he gets it right or just doesn't talk about it. Or else I hope that's the phone call Fred gets from the school.

Happy New Year

I am currently waiting for the clock to strike midnight. Fred is at work and the kids are asleep. The boys and I watched a movie and ate candy from the movie sized candy boxes. They thought it was cool staying up past their bedtime and eating candy so late. I could go to sleep, but I thought what the heck, I'll stay up until next year. So, I was fooling around with the computer and I learned something new tonight. This is my first hand painted picture. I think I may have found a new obsession.

December Fools

The very short background story to this post is that Torii wanted a new winter jacket from Santa. I was going to wait until next year for new jackets, but Old Navy had a very excellent after Thanksgiving sale so I picked up two jackets. I was just going to give the jackets to the boys, but realized that Torii really wanted a jacket from Santa. So I hid the jackets with the rest of the gifts. On Christmas Eve as Fred and I were taking out all the gifts, I placed the jackets on top of one of the laundry bins. Then I started doing my Santa business; wrapping gifts, stuffing stockings, and hiding all the clues that led them to their Wii. After that was all done, Fred and I ate the Santa cookies, drank the milk and headed to bed. Christmas Day was great. The kids all liked their presents and we spent the day enjoying each other's company as we stayed in, surrounded by snow. The next day I decided to get off my butt and do some cleaning. The house was a real pit of new toys, empty boxes and bits of wrapping paper. I also decided I should get some laundry going while I cleaned. As soon as I walked in the laundry room I saw the two jackets still sitting on top of the laundry bin. Once again I thought about just giving the jackets to the boys, but I thought up a lie and I thought it up quick. I took the jackets to the boys and asked them where these jackets came from, because I didn't buy them. Where did they come from? Do you suppose it was Santa? The boys concluded it was Santa and he forgot to put them under the tree. Torii, for some reason, was talking about April Fools Day earlier in the day so he said Santa did a December Fools on us! I found the perfect jackets for the boys. Torii got an all black one that looks really good with his favorite Steelers hat and scarf.

Rion wanted a "fluffy" jacket like his former one. I found him the ultimate fluffy jacket. He loves it.

Christmas

Today we were housebound as a major storm blew through. There is no travel advised in pretty much all of North Dakota. The interstates and highway 83 are closed. While the weather is frightful, it is kind of nice for us, because Fred doesn't have to go to work tonight. It's unusual to have him home on both Christmas Eve and Christmas. He usually has to go in for one or the other. The weather probably messed up a lot of people's plans, but fortunately we had our family get together last night. We went to my parent's house and enjoyed some good food, family and for the kids-presents. Today we had no plans but to stay in and play with all our new toys. The fridge is filled with leftovers and snacks and the kids were entertained by all their new things so we didn't mind the blizzard. Now it needs to clear up so my sister and her fiancee can make it here and it'll all be good. The kids decorating sugar cookies, which is always a fun mess. I use my mom's tip: Cut out lots of bells and stars. They are the easiest to decorate! I also found a couple of extra large Santa and snowman cookie cutters which I used. They used up a lot of dough so we didn't have a whole lot of cookies to decorate. The only problem was that the kids picked out two of the big cookies for Santa. After eating all evening I really didn't want to eat them, but I would have felt bad just throwing them away.
Cordelia got a stroller for Christmas, which Heidi was insanely jealous over. Kelly-I guess you know what to get Heidi for her birthday!

Rion spent most of his day playing with his new Lego set from Santa. He helped put much of it together, which should help with his fine motor skills. He didn't need much help from me. He just has a mind for stuff like that. He's a builder.

Between the Wii and Torii's Bakugan video game Cordelia didn't have any TV time. She got a new SpongeBob DVD so I let her watch it on the portable in her room. She also got the cat in the picture from Santa.

Torii playing his new Bakugan game. Now maybe I won't have to play pretend Bakugan Battles with him.

We had a very enjoyable Christmas and we hope everyone else did as well!

Church school program

On Sunday the boys had their Christmas program for church school. The boys got to dress up as shepherds and the girls got to be angels. First the kindergartners and preschoolers sang some songs. Torii sang so loud I could pick his voice out of the group. I'm sure the music director reminded the kids beforehand to sing really loudly as they usually aren't that loud.

Rion kept playing with his shepherd's hat and had it completely messed up by the end of the program. He has also lost another tooth since this picture. I really don't know how the kid can eat anything with that many teeth missing.

Doesn't she look sweet? This sweet little thing has really been trying my patience lately. It's like she's two or something.

Ho, Ho, Ho

Last Sunday the kids finally got to see Santa. Rion asked for a Wii plus a game. Torii asked for Bakugan. Cordelia just wanted to leave. Luckily she is easily bribed with a candy cane. Will Santa come through for them? They only have a week to wait and then they'll find out!

Christmas program

All the kids had their letters to Santa on the wall.
Rion had to unroll his long list and then check it twice. I had recorded the afternoon program and Rion watched it when we got home. When he saw himself unroll his list he said, "I did it!"

Rion got to play Santa in the first grader's Christmas program. He did a great job. The whole program was really good. In the afternoon the kids did the program for the entire school and then the evening program all the parents and relatives got to see it. We actually went to both performances. The kids were more goofy at the evening program. The music teacher actually had to hush them a couple of times. They were probably goofy because their parents were there. But both programs were very good and all the kids did a great job. A few days ago after school a kid came up to Rion and asked if he was Santa at the program. Rion said he was and the kid said, "that was awesome!"