Happy Holidays

I just wanted to pop in here and wish everyone the happiest of holidays. Holidays are such a magical time with children in the house. While the boys are (literally) bouncing off the walls with excitement and driving me crazy, I wouldn't change a thing. Their excitement is absolutely contagious and I am anticipating Santa's arrival almost as much as them. The thing I love most about the holidays is spending time with friends and family; cliche, maybe, but definitely true. I find such great comfort and joy in the simple traditions that we celebrate as family. A few of our favorites:


Each of the children has a tree in their room, decorated with cultural items from their birth country. This is HD's tree with a few of her many Kyrgyz ornaments; can you tell the boys helped her decorate?!?

The boys love making crafty goodness for family members. Here are a few jars full of yummy treats that we made. They had such a good time with this project.

Meet our resident Elf on the Shelf. Mr. Noodle is one of the boys favorite parts of the Christmas season. He hides in a different spot every day and is always causing mischief. He also reports back to Santa each night on the childrens behavior. He has been known to make surprises appearances throughout the year as well, when Mommy needs a little help in the discipline department. The boys will be so sad when he hops onto Santa's sleigh tonight and heads back to the North Pole.

Of course, what Christmas would be complete without the decorating of gingerbread men? Here the boys are hard at work...

And the finished product:


One of HD's favorite Christmas items is her nativity set I picked up in Kyrgyzstan. It comes with a yurt and Baby Jesus has a mohawk. She will play with this for hours.


This is after Christmas Eve mass. You can imagine the fun we had trying to get them to sit still during mass. Did I mention they seated us in the first pew? (Seriously, who puts a family with three kids in the front pew??!) Can you tell the kiddos are really excited about Santa's impending arrival?

And then there is just general silliness all day long.
Santa made a quick trip to Nana's house last week as we celebrated Christmas with the cousins. I couldn't believe it but HD actully liked him!

Monkey wanted to make sure that I put up a picture of him with his new Polar Express train. For my train obsessed little boy, this was the best present ever! We are so lucky to have such a wonderful Nana and Pops.


Guess what Chipmunk wants for Christmas?? Yep, he lost both of his front teeth this week (along with a bottom one he lost last week). The Tooth Fairy has been a busy woman at our house.


Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!