celebrating as a family

We had a fun day celebrating Christmas as a family.  Nathan enjoyed making quiche for breakfast, homemade pizza for lunch, and Chinese food for supper.  We ate well!  The boys enjoyed opening the presents from us and from Grandpa and Grandma Tintle.  I enjoyed making gingerbread cookies with the boys and just being home together all day!

Zhu Zhu pets!  Levi really treats his as if it's real.  :)  We're thinking that someday we'll get them a real pet...but for now we are happy that their Zhu Zhu pets don't need any extra care.  :)

 Just a little excited.  :)  Dorian opened a Leapster Explorer handheld game from Grandpa and Grandma Tintle.  I don't think he even knew what it was...but appearently it looked very exciting!

 The Duplo Fire Station that Levi got from Grandpa and Grandma was a hit as well.  It was immediately dumped out of the box, set up, and played with!  He loves it.

 The boys surprised me with a folding banquet table that I was wanting.  And we gave Nathan a couple of sweaters and Mad Gab cards.

 Nathan got a nice rolling suitcase from his parents and we gave the boys suitcases for Christmas for all of the traveling we do.  I took them right to Dorian and Levi's room because I'll be needing to pack their clothes soon for our trip to Iowa on Thursday.

 Bowling!  I had done most of the purchasing and deciding on what gifts to get, but the bowling game was Nathan's idea.  He thought we'd all have fun playing that together.  :) 

 I was getting ready for church this morning when I heard the boys quietly playing the Leapster together.  Well...Nathan was playing the Leapster.  :)  It was precious to see them all cuddled together!

 I wanted to take a family picture using the new tripod that I had gotten from Mom and Dad Tintle.  I figured that if I waited to take the picture until after we got home from church, the boys would both have cookie stains on their shirts, so we snapped a photo before we left.  :)

 The boys opened their stocking presents before church as well.  They each got a new ornament to hang on the tree for 2010 and a Tootsie Roll bank. 

This afternoon we (well mostly just me) iced our gingerbread cookies and packed some up to bring to our neighbors.  When we saw that Alex and his dad were outside, I bundled Dorian up so he could go outside to play with Alex and also to bring the cookies and Christmas card over to them.  I was going to walk over with him and when I went outside with Dorian, he told me he wanted to do it by himself, so I went back inside.  :)  How brave and sweet of him!

                                    



Our lives are richly blessed!



a glimpse of december

Homemade chocolate cupcakes, compliments to Nathan!  The boys all worked together to make a very delicious bedtime snack!  What a great husband!  They were delicious!  Levi mostly just ate the frosting off of the top of his though.  :)

I took a short online class called Holiday Joy about creatively capturing the Spirit of Christmas in photography.  It was fun to read other people's family traditions and think about the things that we want to do with our children.



This is an ornament that I received as a child!  Still on our Christmas tree.  :)



Looking out of our front window.



This is the ornament that I got for our first Christmas together.



Our side door is decorated with a floral that my mom made.





A delicate eggshell nativity made by Nathan's grandmother who had passed away before we met.



Enjoying the afternoon with my usual glass of Dr. M and making Christmas lists from the Target ads.  :)

I love to have the tree lit, even during the day when we are home!



Levi and Dorian have been taking turns each night at suppertime opening another verse on our advent calendar.



Homemade play-doh! 

It was supposed to be red, but it turned out pink.  Oh well, I was just really glad that it worked!  It was the first time I've done that.  :)  Dorian is actually sitting across from me at the kitchen table right now, playing with it again.  Levi is napping.  I love quiet afternoons.

I was searching for all of the library books that we had checked out so we could return them and get new ones, but one was missing.  As I was searching the house, I was inspired to clean out Dorian's closet.  He is funny about his toys.  He keeps getting more and more "special toys" and stashes them in his closet.  The heap of toys needed to be sorted.  Thankfully Dorian warmed up to the idea.  After this process, we decided to put the Little People toys in the storage ottoman in the living room.  And now the boys have been having fun building Little People towns.  I love it!

I've been in a shopping mode for the last week or so!  I didn't really have too many gifts to get, but I broke down and decided to buy some new clothes for myself!  I was really trying hard to save money and I knew that I didn't need anything...but then changed my mind and decided that I really did.  :) 

We've spent a lot of time playing in the snow already this year! 

Our box of Christmas gifts from Mom and Dad Tintle arrived yesterday in an unusual way.  A man who I didn't know drove up in a truck, and after some debate, I opened the door to see what he wanted.  And as it turns out, he lives about a block away and had received our box of presents!  Thankfully, he brought them to us!  

We enjoyed taking the wrapped gifts out and putting them under the Christmas tree.  But the boys had the most fun playing inside of the box with all of the packing peanuts!  And when Nathan got home from work, we decided to let the boys open one of their gifts.  :)  They each got a CD with songs that had their names in them so we've enjoyed listening to them. 



Christmas parties and programs are underway.  We went to the Sciences Christmas party this past Friday evening for a little while.  Tuesday night was the Math Dept Christmas party which consisted of a delicious meal of soup and bread, dessert and white elephant gifts.  Last night my friends and I all got together for a cookie exchange.  The highlight of the evening was passing around a picture of ourselves and our husbands in middle school...the years of "big hair" gave us all a good laugh.  Sunday was our Christmas program at church.  Dorian was supposed to be a stable animal, but as it turns out, he wouldn't do it.  :(  I'm really hoping it won't be an issue next year.

We plan on having our family Christmas party on Saturday.  I'm looking forward to making Gingerbread cutout cookies with the boys.  It was mostly Dorian's idea to take them to our neighbors after we make them!  How thoughtful! (We did do something similar last year as well.)  Nathan is excited about making our meal...not sure what he is planning.  And we are going to open the gifts that are under the tree!

This coming Tuesday Dorian will have a Christmas party at preschool.  We plan on making cookies for his teachers and he also has to bring in a $2 gift for a gift exchange.  Hopefully he'll enjoy that!

And just one week from today, we will take the drive out to Iowa to spend about a week with my family.

Lots of excitement!

Winter is here.

Snow & Christmas decorating!
We had a day at home today.  It started out with a lot of excitement!  The ground is covered with snow for the first time this winter and the boys were overjoyed!  In fact, I decided to just let them head outside in their pajamas (along with boots, hats, mittens and coats of course) before breakfast.  :)  Nathan left for work and we decided to put up our Christmas decorations.  We listened to some Christmas music and enjoyed unpacking boxes of treasures that we hadn't seen in a year.  Dorian couldn't resist going outside again around lunch time to shovel snow.  And then we all went outside for an hour before supper time.  With 3 shovels and a sled, we were all set to have fun!  This evening the boys helped put ornaments on our Christmas tree.  I remember enjoying that each year as a child.  :)  And now, Nathan, Dorian and Levi are all sleeping and I'm enjoying our quiet, festive house.

Parade of Lights
Last night when we told the boys that we were planning on going to a parade, Dorian couldn't stop jumping for joy.  :)  He was elated!  We bundled up, packed up the double stroller and some blankets, and parked at our usual spot- the Math Dept parking lot.  It was super cold, but we enjoyed watching a couple of bands, and mostly lots of people and cars with Christmas lights draped all over them.  :)  When we arrived back at home, we changed the boys into their warm pajamas, made some hot chocolate, and ate brownies for a bedtime snack.

Thanksgiving Weekend in New York
It was our year to head out to the East Coast for Thanksgiving.  Last week Tuesday, Dorian went to preschool in the morning and then we left shortly after that and drove about halfway at which point we stayed at a hotel for the night.  On Wednesday we drove the second half of the trip and arrived mid-afternoon at Mom and Dad Tintle's house.

The boys were excited to meet Mia, the new cat at grandpa and grandma's house.



New bikes for the boys to ride when they are visiting!



Grandma made a very special book for Dorian!

On Thanksgiving day we ate a delicious traditional dinner and enjoyed the company of family.

The boys went for a hike around the property.

Cara and Drew brought their dog Digger.

I think the boys got their fill of football...is that possible?  :)

Dorian was wearing his Super Duper Helper Hat as he called it.  And he was quite a good helper as well!

Dorian had remembered bowling with Jillian last time we were out and wanted to do it again.

Dorian got a new coloring book from Cara which kept him quite entertained while we were finishing our meal together.

Levi and Suzanne were both happy to have some cuddle time.  :)

We brought along Christmas presents for the Tintles since we won't be able to see them for Christmas this year.

Since everyone was together, it was a perfect time to snap a family photo.

On Friday morning, Nathan and I met Brian, Katherine and Mikayla for breakfast.  It was a lot of fun to talk together!  And it was also quite relaxing because we left the boys with grandpa and grandma for the morning.  :)

When we came back, the boys were playing on the backhoe in the backyard.  :)

Cara and Drew are engaged!  It was fun to share in their excitement with everyone.  On Friday for lunch they, along with Mom and Dad Tintle, went to check out a couple of reception options.  So we ate lunch, the boys napped, and then Nathan and I took the boys to a park.  It was very cold, but we still had fun!  For supper we ate New York style takeout pizza so Nathan was thrilled!  By the end of the day, we were ready to sit and watch a movie about trucks with the boys before heading off to bed.

On Saturday we ate lunch with Grandpa and Grandma Tintle along with some aunts, uncles and cousins!

Watching a movie...Dorian didn't want his picture taken.  :)

I snapped a couple of pictures for Cara and Drew to possibly use as engagement photos.

Cara designed her ring!

We're thankful to God for families and safety on our trip.  Our lives are richly blessed!