Saturday, December 27, 2008

Christmas Day

Thursday, 12-25-08
Zachary woke up at 5:15am, not for presents, just his normal early hour. I got up with him and we rocked for about an hour and then Elissa got up around 6:45am. Darin came down just before Elissa and Nana. Nana slept in Elissa's bed and Lissy slept next to Nana in her sleeping bag. I think Elissa forgot at first that it was Christmas day. She did her usual coming downstairs and going straight to the fireplace to sit there and warm up. I asked her if she remembered what today was and she thought for a minute and shouted "It's Christmas!" She wanted to go to the Christmas tree right then and I told her to wait so I could get over there and get my camera ready....forever thinking of scrapping/blogging. LOL
I think Elissa was a little overwhelmed when she saw her doll house.
"Wow, is that mine??"
"Look Zachary, you got a train!"Zachary sat right down and started his train up.Elissa started looking at all the furniture in the house.Then she took all the furniture out so that she could put it in the way she wanted it along with other furniture that Grandma had given her last night.
Then it was Darin's turn to be surprised....he had no idea what I got him.
He got it part way unwrapped and was saying "yeah, that was a good choice."
I got him an iPOD Touch. Last year I considered an iPHONE, but the monthly cost was crazy and this year I was thinking about the Blackberry Storm, but again the cost. I saw an add again for the iPOD Touch and remebered that it also had wireless connectivity and plays video games and movies, so I thought that it would be the perfect gift. I WAS RIGHT!!! He absolutely loves it, more for the wireless connectivity then anything else. Yeah!!
This is Elissa's wrapped gift to us from Preschool.
A super cute plate that she drew the picture on.
After a little while, Elissa finally saw that she had her own computer set up in the entry way. She was VERY excited about this. She loves to use the computer and we hadn't let her do it much. She mostly plays at Nana's house.
Zach is loving his Handy Manny, truck and tools that Nana gave him.
Big hugs for Nana!
Elissa likes Zach's toys too....they are all learning how it works.
Zach loves books with trucks and construction equipment, so Daddy got him one. He wanted it read to him all morning.
Zach is "telling" Grandma about his train. He was putting the phone in front of the train set to show her. :0)
Elissa is intent on learning how to use her computer school.
Here is Mommy's cricut that I bought myself! Darin wrapped it and put it under the tree. I can't wait to clear room on my desk and get it out and use it!! Darin also surprised me with a really cute coat and sweater from Eddie Bauer.
Zach is learning how to work his truck. He is very good at using the screw driver.
I think Darin configured Zach's Geotrax 3-4 times that day. Tomorrow we will be getting another add on piece from Grandpa Frink and Grandma Myrna, so then Darin will be working on setting it up differently again. Very fun for him!
Nana with her new cute vest!
Elissa learning how to draw and paint on her computer. She is really good at making pictures now. The only problem is that is all she wants to do so I will have to make her work on her letters and numbers.
A little morning mimosa just after our overnight french toast.
Scooping up his megablocks with his scooper from Grandma & Papa.
Loving his train!
Elissa making some more changes to her doll house.
It snowed on and off all day long. We loved having a white Christmas though it kept Grandpa Frink and Grandma Myrna from coming over. They were snowed in in the Renton Highlands.
Zach took a little time away from his train to put Elissa's baby to bed and to give her a bottle. So sweet! :0)
Christmas dinner with Papa, Grandma, Gigi and Nana.
The kids weren't too interested in dinner.
Me with my parents.
We had a wonderful Christmas day and we are so thankful that our family is close to share it with us. We are also so thankful to share our faith in Jesus Christ and know that that is the real reason to celebrate Christmas Day.

Thursday, December 25, 2008

Christmas Eve

Wednesday, 12-24-08
We spend Christmas Eve with my side of the family. This year we decided to take the kids sledding. Fortunately we had lots of snow in town so we (I mean the boys & kids) went to Earthworks Park in Kent. It looks and sounds like they had a really good time. I think this will become a yearly tradition. I now wish that I had went with them. :0)
Papa made his own sled......he is so creative! He is going down the hill with Chase & Zach.
Papa & Zach
Cole, Lissy, Zach, Papa & Chase
Sweet girl!
Daddy & Zach
Daddy & Lissy
Cute boy!
They had so much fun sledding!
The Boyd Boys back at Grandma & Papas

Grandma & Papa got Elissa "Bye Bye Baby Chou Chou" because I told them that she kept on saying she wanted it when she saw the commercial. When she opened the box she knew exactly which baby it was and was SOOOO excited. She danced around and wanted the box opened right away. It was so fun to see her so excited. The grandparents loved that!!
Chase & Zach loved their monster trucks.Again, loving the baby. She even put her down for a nap in the back room while we ate. :0)
The Boyd's (Auntie Holly) got Elissa a Tinkerbell "head" doll that you fix her hair & put pretty stickers on her....all very fun stuff. Elissa really liked her too! You can see that Auntie Holly is VERY excited about her purchase. LOL
Zach wanted Chase's Geotrax add on. He carried the box around for awhile. It made us even more excited to give Zach his own Geotrax tomorrow morning.
The fun at Grandma & Papa's was over and we went home and got ready for Santa to come. Grandma had made the shaped sugar cookies for us and we came home and decorated them. Zach was more interested in eating the frosting and candies.

Here he is eating right from the tube.....needless to say all the cookies went into the garbage after they went to bed.
Masterpieces!

After the kids went to bed....the work began. The night before we had opened a lot of the boxes and taken the toys out of all the crazy security wires and wrapped them. So tonight Darin had to hook up Lissy's "Computer School", put together Zach's Geotrax and put together Elissa's doll house. I got our overnight french toast ready and frosted the cake I had made.

Nana got Elissa the computer school, so she was figuring out how it worked.
Darin figuring out how to put a simple Geotrax configuration together.

Now the big task.....the doll house. The instructions say "18 simple steps". It did actually end up being pretty easy to put together....at least from my point of view. :0)
What a talented guy!
The scene is set......now we just wait for morning.