One of the first things we did with Grandparents was go to the Children's Museum. They have a "Winter Wonderland" section every year and this year they had a snow ball fight with super sized cottonballs. It was so much fun! Boys vs Girls, Kids vs Adults, Kids vs Ref. We all had a great time throwing things at each other.
"Caught you, Neta!"
"Don't tell Daddy!"
Taking calls at the "Barbie: Fashion Experience" exhibit
After the museum, we came home and made candy houses. Patrice, JT and Jayden came over and all the kids made a candy condo of graham crackers and candy.
Ready to decorate and overdose on goodies!
Mom headed exterior decor as son took care of interior fulfillment.
After the houses were done, we spent dinner together, eating some warm chicken chowder and then we got ready for bed and Christmas morning!
Being a mother of nine and ten year old girls is difficult when trying to purchase presents. They still like some of the little girl toys but are graduating to big girls things as well. But then, if you buy some of the big electronic stuff, they aren't quite responsible enough to take care and keep track of it plus spending that kind of money, how do we make it fair for the other kids who aren't interested in the electronic stuff? Instead of buying unwanted things, I asked the girls what they wanted for Christmas. One of the things Aurora asked for was a "baby brown bunny." Eric and I had discussed it and decided that it would be a good transition from a fish to a dog (that we'll get one day), but still small enough that we didn't have to immediately fix the fence and other things that would come with a dog. So, the big present this year was a black bunny.
He was in his cage, sitting on the piano bench, behind the screen (that's why they couldn't peek). After breakfast, we had the kids line up on the office side of teh screen and wait for the gifts to be unveiled. Neta had snuck a peek and was not allowed to talk as we finished breakfast. She was then seated on the couch, as you would have seen if the video had uploaded. Their reaction was a little different than we expected, especially from Aurora.
There was a gasp and then the first thing said was "She's so beautiful!" by Aurora. We thought she would scream from excitement, but no screaming from anyone. It was really quiet, which is not what we thought would happen. Kids surprise you every day.
(I will try to upload the video again later. I had it uploading for three hours and it didn't finish, so, I don't know what is wrong.)
It was fun to watch the kids as they held the rabbit. They all wanted to hold him, but then would shy away from him when we put him in their lap. They also had a quick lesson in rabbit poop (they poop a LOT) and each kid got turns to pick up poop.
Here are some shots of the unwrapping of presents. They kids got more than I thought, in other words, I wouldn't have bought as much if I'd known so much was coming from outside sources. Luckily it was still simple enough that they were all able to play together and add to existing toys (which was the goal).
Before lunch, we spent some time playing with the toys, adults getting in on the action as well. What? Trains, tinkertoys and tracks are fun for all ages!
A little father son bonding
We had a great Christmas break and holiday. We shared Christmas dinner with Dunahees and then went to there house for dessert and Wii games. The next day was Sunday which helped us focus on the true meaning of Christmas as well.
