Well, the boys loved being home for 2 weeks with all of us. Drew was getting a bit burnt out from going to school it seemed, so he certainly loved the break. And Noah almost always puts up a fight going to school, so he was happy to be home as well! (His school was open, but didn't think it right to send him when everyone else was home!) The boys spent lots of time playing Legos before and then TONS after Christmas! There was also lots of video game time and movies, especially loving the Christmas shows and specials on TV this time of year. The boys and Mommy also spent some time crafting some gifts for Christmas, so that was a different diversion than usual. They were mostly into it once we got started, but sometimes hard to pull them away from the aforementioned Legos and video games! :)
Some other Christmas prep we enjoyed was making some yummy Christmas treats. The boys helped pick out what cookies they wanted to leave for Santa and helped make those which was mostly fun! (We don't spend alot of time teaching them the ways of the kitchen, and I feel badly about that, but it takes so much patience! I think we need to do it more one on one rather than trying to wrangle both at the same time!) Anyway, we enjoyed making some treats for our neighbors this year as well and the boys LOVED helping us deliver them to everyone. We have felt extra blessed by our neighbors this year and we love being surrounded by such wonderful people. So we wanted to extend some love to them this time of year too. We really do just LOVE our neighbors! We have a pretty good relationship with 9 households on our street, which is hard to come by these days, so we feel so blessed! Hope we can continue our relationships and Christmas sharing for decades to come!
With all the hullabaloo of Christmas and such, Kate's naps and sleeping was all over the place, but we seemed to manage/or suffer through it all. The night we went out driving around as a family to look at Christmas lights was a little rough on baby Kate, but Mommy moved to the back and helped to get her to sleep eventually! The boys really enjoyed it and especially liked getting out and running through the lights that are put up every year at the YMCA as the Benbrook Winter Wonderland.
We were able to make it to the 4:30 Christmas Eve service, where Mommy and Kate spent only the first part of the service in church, and then was pretty fussy, needing a nap! She was really concerned about the trumpets that played during the service - just got this very surprised/concerned look on her face - it was so funny and cute! The boys were just about normal - hard to please, but thankfully we had enough options to keep them busy. We were surrounded by very loving people that were very understanding, so that always makes us feel better too. But we made it through and continued with our 'when at home Christmas tradition' of going out to dinner. The boys did well, but Kate was still a bit distressed, not really getting much of a nap, but we made it! Then, as a tradition passed down from Papa to Daddy to now our kids, we all looked for Rudolph's nose on the drive home!
We had a wonderful Christmas morning with the kids and Kate slept through a big part of it, which may sound bad, but was kind of nice! Since she isn't old enough to get it, it was nice to be able to focus on the boys that were totally excited about it! Drew was over the moon with excitement and couldn't wait to get the next present. Noah was into it some, but then just wanted to play with what was already opened and we really struggled to keep him moving through them...eventually Drew started opening some and Noah didn't mind at all! Mommy opened up Kate's gifts and she enjoyed playing with some of her new toys too - the big hit is the new play gym - she loves it! Which means we do too!
We spent the rest of the day at the Palmer's house, and had a great time with whole family in attendance! Love those Palmers! The boys had fun with their cousins and did a decent job at playing together. They all enjoyed playing with the new Ninja Turtles and super heroes, which caused some issues between the boys, but overall, did pretty well. Kate took the BEST naps, all long and went down without too much fuss! Which is amazing regardless of the setting, but being in a different house, that was NOISY with family and kids, well, it was no less than a Christmas miracle that we were VERY grateful for!
Kate and Mommy had a pretty good trip to Austin. We drove down with Uncle Kevin, so that was nice to have company and some more one on one sibling time. (I have a GREAT brother!) Kate woke up around Georgetown, making the last bit not quite as pleasant. We enjoyed seeing our good family friends for lunch and then off to catch up with Denise - the one that prompted the trip in the first place. It was so great to see Denise and her family - her kids were VERY interested in baby Kate! It was if I had seen them just not that long ago...just marched right back into the house that I knew so well in high school! :) Love that Neunaber family! We met up with some good friends for dinner (Jennifer, Lindsey and Anne), and Kate was pretty fussy through dinner and then the next day for lunch! But it was so good to make time to see some good friends. Kate and I left from Kerbey Lane after lunch and sweet girl slept the ENTIRE trip back home - it was a rough two days for her apparently, so we were happy to get back home to our normal 'routine' of sorts!
It goes without saying, we are so very blessed!
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