Day after Christmas

So this is what my view was this morning ... It's not hard to smile around these guys. Much, much more playing today. But honestly I don't want to show you all what a wreck my house has become. :)
Wish me luck ...

Merry Christmas!

We had a wonderful day ... I hope you all did too!
Started off kind of slow ... Zaida slept in until almost 9 o'clock (which is highly abnormal). Robson was up about an hour earlier and when he saw the tree and presents his eyes lit up and he tried to make a break for it. It's amazing how young he is and yet how easily he recognized that there was something different.
Mom, Dad and Quinn came over after only about 3 gifts in. But, let me say that I LOVED that Zaida stopped opening presents to help her little brother to play with his toys. It just warms my heart. And that's why she got some good loot this year. :) Including her beloved Baby Butterscotch. Robson was digging his basketball ... He wouldn't put it down even when he was playing with his other toys.

Christmas Eve

We went to our traditional Christmas Eve dinner with Angela and Ben at the Macaroni Grill. Then Angie and Ben came over to the house to open some gifts and some Just Dance butt whooping! Zaida was so excited ... But she went to bed pretty easily though. She listened to the Night Before Christmas about four times then promised to stay in bed (which is saying something!). I went up to check on her about 10 minutes later and she was out!
Got a picture after Santa came to our house ... Looks magical doesn't it? It'll be great to see how excited the kids are tomorrow morning.

Silly Ruby

We sure are going to miss our little elf! She has been so crazy funny ... And she's really good at puzzles. But, why am I so tired?? ... It's not like I was up all night trying to complete a puzzle. :)

Eskimo night

Fun craft with our favorite Eskimo! Brought stuff to the Wheeler's house so they could make their own little Eskimos. And you can see where the orange cookies ended up. And now that I see them I am craving them again. Might need to make some more today.
Finished off the night with some ice cream bars. Look at that death grip Robson has on this ice cream. He's awesome!

Holiday Inn

Zaida and Corey fell asleep during the movie. Zaida looks so peaceful laying by the fire. Was a perfect little Christmas scene to me ... Bing and Fred dancing and singing, snowing outside, warm and cozy by the fire, great friends/family gathered on the couch watching a classic film.

Christmas cookies

I made some of my Grandma Wheelers orange slice cookies. I LOVE these cookies. I think I forget how much I love them until that first cookie. Seems like I always make a couple of batches of them within the last couple of weeks of each year.
I have some friends who think they are "an acquired taste" but maybe don't want to acquire the taste for them. :) On the flip side I have some friends who look forward to getting them each year. And I have a friend/sister that gets angry when I make them without her. :)

Joyeux Noel

I, of course, forgot to take a picture of our meal. We had our great friends over for dinner and I made a classic French meal, Bouef Bourguignon. If I can say so myself ... It was delish! It's quite the process, and I've been able to streamline it a little bit, but me thinks it is worth the effort.
Johnny, we need you to give us some more ideas on how to celebrate the holidays French-style!
I guess our house is a little too warm for our North Pole elf ... :)
I also wanted to show the cute gift we made for Zaida's kindergarten teacher. Her favorite candy is, of course, a Snickers bar.

Wrapping and rapping

One night we listened to Christmas music and wrapped up most of the presents ... Again seems like I am the one doing all the work around here. :)
Here are a few ... This year I tried to make things "easier" on myself and each person has a different wrapping paper. That way I don't have to write a name on them or try to figure out what each gift is before handing it to someone. (ie Zaida has the polka dots & Robson is the stripe)

Another craft ...

... That I ended up doing pretty much by myself. :)
Zaida did help layout the sticks for a couple of minutes.
You can't tell in the second photo, but I painted them silver and they do look quite cute!

Off white Christmas

We went to the Off Broadway Theater with Angie-la, Ben & Seffy. The kids loved it. Zaida has decided that we are going to go to all of them! :)
Thanks again Angela. We had a great time!

Activity (aka nativity)

We took the kids to check out a semi-live nativity scene near our home. I say semi cause the people weren't real, but all the animals are. It's pretty neat ... In the distance there are also the 3 wise men and their camels.
Then when we got home we put up our own little nativity.

Sledding

Corey and Angela booked me a massage and facial (thanks guys!).. So while I was out getting pampered the kids went sledding. You know daddy is in charge when the Zaida is wearing her gardening gloves in the snow! :)

Ruby's shoe-choo train

Our elf is rambunctious ... She gets naughty ideas from my friends elves too. Thanks to my cousins elf, Ruby found a new game.

Santa's reindeer

Went to take the kids to a "reindeer" farm.

Bell's Big Move

Zaida, Robson and I went to the mall tonight to pick up a couple of gifts ... And Zaida fell in love. We could not leave without Bell. (Honestly I was thinking about buying Jingle for them anyway, but I didn't know they had a girl dog.) Zaida was so precious on the way home talking to her. She said quietly, "I can't wait to show you your new home!"
Robson was skeptical when we all piled in Zaida's little bed. But once Bell barked ... He was all smiles and ears!
Can I just say how much I adore my kids?! I think they are the best.

Artsy day

Zaida and I worked on another project ... It's not quite done, but I think it's awfully cute. I have another one in mind for Robson, but I just have to figure out how to do this painting thing with a wiggle worm.
And, on a side note ... Corey passed his final CPA exam. We are sooooo proud of him! Wat an accomplishment. Since we met 10 years ago we have each gained 6 letters behind our names. Corey added "MBA & CPA" and I added "MEURER". :)

Make up day

I knew I would miss a day ... So, here is a flashback to our Festival of Trees experience. Robson didn't like this Santa either. :)
Zaida is posing in front of the tree our ward created for the festival ... They sold it for $2300! I think it turned out wonder-ful. (It is Alice in Wonderland themed - I know I'm an idiot sometimes)
Ruby however has not missed a thing. She is such a rascal, but we love her!

Another movie night

It's hard to tell in the picture, but we are watching The Grinch Who Stole Christmas. This is the first time that Zaida has seen it (that she can remember). She's pretty into it. Hopefully she will be able to sleep okay tonight.

Neighborhood Christmas party

Zaida did great ... Told Santa what she was hoping for this year. Excited that he knew her name!
Robson was less than impressed. :)

Crafts

Day 8 ... I thought it would be fun for Zaida and I to do a craft together. Zaida enjoyed it for about 3 minutes. But I finished it. I think it actually turned out really cute.
Ruby, the elf, has a silly personality. She really loves Zaida's other little friends.

Feliz Natal

This is the Portuguese way of saying "Merry Christmas". (Corey went on his mission to Brazil.) I made a dinner that resembles what we ate when we visited Ipanema. And then ate some dulce de leche ice cream, which reminds us of the cashew caramel ice cream we had in Buzios.
I also wanted to share what our dare devil elf did last night. A least she is safe ... She recruited Flynn to belay for her. :)

The Christmas Pickle

"In Old World Germany, the last decoration to be placed on the Christmas Tree was always a pickle ... Carefully hidden deep in the boughs. Legend has it that the observant child who found it on Christmas Day was blessed with a year of good fortune ... And a special gift."
In order to do this I had to finish off our Christmas tree (finally). Here is our black and white tree with a close up of some of the ornaments I made. (I made the striped letter ornaments, the music wrapped ornaments, the black flower ornaments and the glass ornaments filled with family members ... and the glittery "M"). It has been a long process, but I think it has turned out pretty nice. I'll actually probably add more, but this is pretty much complete. Whew!