Ok. So here are some of the pictures from Christmas. You probably don't care to see them all, so I'll just chose a few.
On Christmas Eve-Eve we let the boys open one present each. We chose their Wonder Pets items. The next mid-morning (Christmas Eve) we let the boys open their other 2 presents under the tree from us. Malachi got a Spiderman costume & HiHo Cherry-O to play with others. Ezekiel got a box with 4 different sets of 2-car trains & a pull (with a string) Thomas with 2 cars. That Evening Uncle David, Aunt Chelle, Grampa & Grammy came over for dinner and presents. The boys got mega blocks and lots of Cars stuff & a few Micky Mouse (for Z).
Christmas day started with a few little things in the stockings at our house and the reading of the Bible story of Jesus' birth. We then went to Great-grandma Carol's for breakfast and fun with Grandpa Rick, Nana, Aunt Miranda, Aunt Tabith, & Uncle Ricky. The boys got a racing/crashing cars set, other Cars stuff, and a stocking full of goodies. They have several favorites but enjoy the Cars "bistro" set just for them and the 2 lap tables.
After breakfast we headed to Grandpa Phil's house with Grandma Cathy, Great-grandma Geraldine & Aunt Krisitin to eat lunch and the second round of presents that day. The boys got tractors and a car to play with outside. They also got a train set, globe, and a few other things.
We were exhausted after the day and had no need for dinner, but we had a great time. It's nice to have the holidays to be with family.
It's all over now. I'll post pictures soon. I've got a lot to get accomplished in the next week. I'm not sure how it is all going to get done. We are overloaded with toys and goodies after the holidays. Daniel and I have been deciding where to put the addition to the house for all the BIG toys the boys racked up at Christmas.
Both the boys are feeling better, but Malachi's drippy nose has been hanging on. Ezekiel had a pretty nasty cold a little over a week ago. Malachi caught it, and it lead to an ear infection. He woke up from his nap on Christmas Eve-Eve with 102.4 fever. It's funny that with all his horrible symptoms, he never complained of an ear infection. Apparently, Ezekiel had a "sort-of" ear infection with some drainage out of his tubes, too. We had to get drops for that. I hope that all will go much better over the next week.
On Christmas morning, We read the Christmas story and talked about it being Jesus' birthday. We asked the boys if they wanted to sing Happy Birthday to Jesus. Ezekiel immediately started singing the birthday song, so we put in Jesus' name.
Malachi said that he wanted to wrestle Daddy. It turned into, "let me stand on his back and jump off while counting." And, yes, he is wearing a Bob the Builder outfit handed down from friends at school. Of course, Ezekiel had to get in on the action, too.
We have A LOT of FAMILY around us, SO we had our first family Christmas party today. The boys had fun with their cousins on Daniel's Dad's side. It was a 2pm (so not good for naptime), so Malachi had no nap, and I tried to put Ezekiel down early. It kind of worked. Malachi was fine. Z was not horrible but oh-so irritable. It doesn't help that Z has been getting over a HORRIBLE cold (although, Z's colds are always bad. He rarely has easy colds and gets them often). Anywho. Malachi has caught his cold (& Daniel, too). There weren't a lot of presents (which none of us minded), but we did have a good time. The boys got pj's & matching Mr. Potato Heads. We've got plans for Christmas Eve & day. I've also got plans with lots of friends. More to come.
What you can't tell from this picture of Ezekiel in the background is that he kept throwing the paper from his presents on the floor to try to mimic what Daddy had done with his wrapping paper towards his dad.
Ezekiel has had an explosion of words and thoughts lately. He's saying thank you all the time and sorry when he does something wrong. He'll respond to some questions with "ok." It's good conversations and thoughts. He's had the ability and has talked in ununderstandable sentences for sometime, but to understand more and more what he is saying is just precious. It's like all of a sudden he realized how to talk to us in complex thoughts. I love this time in their lives. 18 months on is just a blast! I like the early months, but there is just something special about being there when they are taking in so much information and figuring out how to use it.
"Wa-woo" - water
"Ga-gi-go-goo" - God is so good (the song)
"eye-di-ooo" - I love you
"da-kyoo" - thank you
just to name a few
Tonight we took Malachi, Ezekiel, & Jasmine (the boys' cousin) to see a house we found last year in China Grove. The dude's house is CRAZY! I tried different modes for my camera, but none of them came out exactly right. All 3 kids had a blast looking at all the lights, inflatable santas & snowmen, and trains, etc. I think we overheard the man saying that there were over 20 trains in the case, and I don't have a clue how many lights.
It was a great plot by my husband. A 6 year old, a 3 year old, and a 21 mo. old running around our tiny little house for several hours was not going to work. It must also be said that Jasmine & Malachi always seem to have huge arguments because they are both strong-willed and would "argue with the wall (if it would talk back)." Ezekiel was actually a little dejected that he lost his playmate (his big bro) when Jasmine came in. I was very surprised that they all did pretty well this evening. It's a good thing, too. I don't know if we'll be ready for #3 any time soon, though.
