Merry Christmas to All...

Wow, what a weekend.....and it's not over yet! For those of you who have been involved in this weekend, you will agree that it has been quite the whirlwind. Let me recap for you all.

Thursday started our weekend (Matt was off work on Friday - yeah!!). We went to dinner with Matt's co-workers for their Christmas party at 5pm. We hustled out of there a few minutes before 6pm to take the kids to Christmas at the Zoo.They had NO idea this was what we were doing and even upon arriving, they had no idea that Grammy, Grampy, Aunt Cara, Uncle Dave, and Sethers were inside waiting for us. They had SO much fun! Carson acted like a scaredy cat all night long, but we are attributing that to the fact that it was dark outside. The lights were beautiful and they got to ride the carousel and train (thanks Dave and Grammy!!!).

Friday was a day of anticipation. The kids were looking forward to spending the night with Grammy and Grampy (and drinking chocolate milk) and Matt and I were stressing over our plans for the evening. If you've ever seen While You Were Out on TLC, that is what we were doing. The kids were going to Grammy and Grampy's house, Uncle Aaron and Aunt Shannon were coming over and there was going to be a TOTAL overhaul on their bedrooms while they were away. This whole process started a few weeks ago when Matt went to stay at his dad's for the weekend and the two of them built Delaney a big girl bed (twin size). The bed was left in his father's care for painting and Eunice did some decorating on the footboard for princess Delaney. Aaron and Matt left when we put the kids down for a nap to go get the bed from Hanover. My mom and dad picked up the kids around 5:30 and Shannon and I worked like mad women to get the rooms cleared out. We had the wall paper stripped before dinner and had primed Laney's room and put a coat of paint on each room by midnight. We stopped for a Starbucks run and then put another coat of paint on each. So far - it was going MUCH better than the kitchen fiasco!!!!! Shannon and Aaron left for home around 3am and we cleaned up the painting messes and fell into bed exhausted.

Matt and I woke up a little after 7 and started again....the rooms looked GREAT and we were ready to reload them with all the new stuff - Merry Christmas Laney and Carson!! See the attached photos to view each room. Carson's favorite thing was his new pillow. He's never slept with a pillow before, so he was in awe of it!!! Laney loves her big girl bed. She refused to nap this afternoon (yes, the kids came home around 2pm.....whirlwind weekend) because she had to go through all of her stuff to be sure it was still there. She only requested 2 of the items I'd tried to get rid of....not too bad!!

They are both sleeping like little angels in their new rooms right now......so, to all a good night!!

Love,
Gretchen and Matt

PS Santa came to visit our house Tuesday night. He put a little fear in Laney and some awe and wonder in Carson.....they are very excited for him to leave more presents while they are sleeping - so excited they ask every morning if he came during the night :-)

Merry Christmastime

Christmastime is a word used a lot in this house! The kids are starting to get the concept that just b/c the tree is up doesn't mean that Santa is coming tonight (or last night or the night before that!!). I am thoroughly enjoying this season with them - they are really "getting it" and that is FUN!!

I know I mentioned we kicked off the season by going to the Christmas tree lighting downtown. I hope you all know me well enough to know that I won't let the entire season be about Christmas lights and Santa - those are great and the kids get excited about them, but we're doing all of this for a reason and I want the kids to know that too! Thanks to my parents the kids have this great Little People nativity set which has led to lots of great discussion! Delaney is obsessed with setting it up EXACTLY how it looks on the box - it's like a puzzle to her. But she is really getting the concept that we are celebrating Baby Jesus' birthday and how special that is to us. She loves to sing "Away in a Manger" and gets most of the words right :-)

Delaney has also learned to write - really write - during the past month or so. She can write Delaney, Carson, Mom, Dad, Lin (Lion - but she sounded it out), and Twix (she still has to ask what makes the tw sound every time). She will try to write just about anything and is getting pretty good at it. I am sooo proud of her!! She is very interested in sounding things out and figuring out what letter makes that sound. As a teacher, I am thrilled and am really encouraging this skill.

Carson has really learned to talk and has some great conversations with us. Yesterday when we picked him up from his class at church he had a scratch on his face. As we started to question him we learned that he had been pinched by a little girl. Matt inquired more and got out of him that he had pinched her first. Later we learned that he had been in a shoving match with a little boy in his class - too much time with his big sister, maybe?!?

This past Saturday we took the kids to Jolly Days at the Children's Museum. It was soooo much fun! We all got to go down the "snow" slide. We rode the carousel (Delaney and I rode 2 times). I am guessing we will be back there before the end of December when it all goes away.

Matt put the Christmas tree up Thursday night so when the kids got up Friday it was there to greet them. Actually, I was "fluffing" the limbs when Delaney woke up and she came out in awe of the lights. Then when we got Carson up he seemed to be more confused, like how'd that tree get in my house while I was sleeping and is it okay to be there? We decorated it Friday evening - the kids helped, so it is a little heavy on the ornaments in the front/bottom section :-)

On Friday we went downtown to have lunch with my mom. My mom's cousin Nancy went with us. The kids had a lot of fun "showing off" for her! I let them both walk since Nancy was with me to help hold hands, but Carson spent more time on his knees than walking - lesson learned - stroller for Carson is a good idea!!

On Thursday Delaney got measured for her outfit for her recital (tentative date is Saturday, June 7 - we will know for sure by the end of December). Delaney will be a butterfly - they are doing Bambi. It should be adorable - I mean, come on, it is a bunch of little girls Delaney's age - what could be more cute?!?

Wednesday was story time at the library. Carson was the ONLY BOY in a room of 16 children! He didn't realize it, but if this is any forecast of his class in school, the pickings will be good little man!!!

Tuesday I worked and they spent the day with Grandpa Bub! I am sure lots of wildness was enjoyed, but since I put Grandpa Bub and Daddy to work as soon as I got home, I didn't hear about lots of it. I just heard about them getting us a new microwave. I promise pictures of the kitchen will come soon - I want it to be totally finished before you all see it, so there are still two more things that need to be done.

Delaney with the circle she drew (dot-to-dot, of course!!). Notice that she wrote "circle" above it :-)	Carson "cooking" at the museum.

Have a great week!
Gretchen