Ashland Trip–Cousin time and Opening Gifts

After Christmas, we headed down to Ashland to spend some time until New Year’s Eve.  Becky and Nate came, and Camille was already there from flying in the week before.  Even though Jake and Stacey live less than ten minutes away, they stayed over at my parents’ house while we were there so they could stay up at night after their kids went to bed.   We missed David and Liz being there, and wished they could have joined us!

The kids all had fun playing with each other, and playing with Grandma’s toys.  Here are a few miscellaneous shots of them throughout the week:

Kallie and Landon racing balls down the racetrack, and Davis playing games on the computer

Landon and Davis dancing to the crazy drummer boys (on piano) and watching a show.

Davis, Kallie, Bennett, and Landon excitedly watching the snow, and the three stooges watching a Little Einsteins show

James hanging out in Grandma’s exersaucer

Once everyone arrived, we had a mini gift-opening party.  We opened our gifts that we had drawn names for, and we opened our gifts from Mom and Dad.  The cousins drew names for the first time this year too, and they had fun exchanging gifts also.

Davis’s Cars slippers from Grandma, James opening his “keys,” and Kallie “wearing” Stacey’s new boots

Sitting around opening gifts, and James’s name train from Becky (she’s given one to all of our boys)

Bennett giving Davis a hug, and Landon playing with his new bug set

Shane with his golf money, and me with my new sweater

Davis with his new car, and Camille’s jewelry holder that Becky made for her.

Christmas Day

This year, we had a nice, relaxing Christmas here at our house.  The boys woke up just after 7:00, and they lined up and headed out to the tree when they heard the Christmas music begin to play. 

The gifts lined up on the couch – and the sandbox from Santa.

The boys had fun just playing with the toys in their stockings for awhile and looking at their gifts from Santa.  Their biggest gift, the sandbox, they couldn’t really play with, but they sure were entertained by the small gifts in their stockings.

A small Buzz action figure for Landon, and Davis pulling things out of his stocking

James playing with his stocking stuffers, and Landon and Davis enjoying the “Skittle Santas” in their stockings

In their stockings, Landon and Davis each got a book light.  While Shane and I were getting breakfast ready, we realized that the boys weren’t around, and we found like this, in their bedroom with the lights out, reading with their new lights.

After checking out our Santa gifts, we ate our breakfast of croissants and hot chocolate, and then read our cards to each other.  Kelly joined us for breakfast, and he brought over his presents to open with us.

After breakfast, we opened our presents.  The boys had fun opening their gifts, and James enjoyed the wrapping paper.  We also got to webcam with Shane’s parents while we opened their gifts and visit with them for awhile.  It was nice to see them and visit with them over the computer even though we couldn’t be with them for Christmas.

Landon opening his Toy Story 3 DVD, Davis putting the garbage can from Uncle David on his head, and Landon opening the “Build-a-Fort Kit” I made for them.

Landon and Davis trying out their new towels I made for them (James got an orange one, but he was asleep by this point), and Davis opening his Mater’s Tall Tales DVD, which he wants to watch multiple time a day (maybe not the best gift after all)

A few fun shots of James after he woke up

The rest of the day, we enjoyed relaxing, playing with our new games and toys, and reading.  It was a great Christmas!

The traditional picture with gifts in front of the tree.

Happy Birthday to me and Christmas Eve

For my birthday morning, Shane told me I had to be ready to go by 9:30.  I got up that morning, and Shane made crepes with strawberries and whipped cream for breakfast.  It was delicious!  We got all ready to go, and I had to close my eyes and guess where we were going.  After a drive weaving through our neighborhood, we ended up at my friend Kara’s house, (which I guessed on my second try), and we played a game with them (hot potato).  Each time I got the potato at the end, I got a letter, and when I had them all, I had to descramble the word. 

The next stop was my friend Jenn’s house.  There, we played memory, and each time I got a match, I got more letters, and by the end, more letters to descramble.  At each house, after I had descrambled the word, Shane gave me a “Free Nap Card,” which said it was good for one nap anytime, anywhere.  That in itself was the best birthday gift a mom could ask for! 

We came back home, where I had one more word to descramble made of letters I had earned at each house.  The letters spelled “Jeg Elsker Deg",” which means I love you in Norwegian.  I didn’t realize at first the it was a word in another language, but with the choices of letters, I quickly realized it must be!  When I had accomplished my final task of unscrambling the last word, I got to open my presents.  I got a nice jacket for running, a long arm stapler to make books for the boys, some scarves, a BYU shirt, some nice smelling lotions, and . . . a new laptop!  It was something I had been saving for a long time, so Shane helped me get a good deal on one.  It was much needed with my three work-from-home jobs.

Here are a few pictures of me with my gifts:

We then went to lunch at Bajios, one of my favorite places.  It’s on the other side of Portland, so we don’t go out that way very often, so it was a nice treat.

That night, we had Kelly over for dinner and had our Christmas Eve celebrations.  It’s so nice to have family that lives only 10 minutes away!  We had yummy ham, potatoes, and rolls for dinner, with my favorite razzleberry pie for my birthday dessert.

After dinner, we watched a couple of Mormon Messages videos about Christ’s birth, and then we acted out the nativity.  Landon was a shepherd, Davis and Kelly were wise men, Shane was Joseph and I was Mary, and James was of course the baby Jesus.

After acting out the nativity, the boys got ready for bed while we hid their books in the living room.  Our tradition is to hide a book in the living room for each of them, and using a piece of wrapping paper to know what to find, they each find their book to open and read in bed that night.  Landon got some Magic Tree House books this  year (he’s a huge fan), and Davis got two Cars books, including one that tells of Mater’s Tall Tales.  He has read that book at least once every day since then.

We ended the night by checking for Santa on the Santa tracker online, setting out some cookies and milk for him and a carrot for the reindeer, and going to sleep with “visions of sugar plums” dancing in our heads.  It was a great birthday and Christmas Eve!