Christmas Break, or The Rest of the Story

Christmas Break was supposed to be a great opportunity for Mac and me to make some Serious Headway into getting the house ready for putting on the market this spring.  Mac started off with the aforementioned master closet door project, which after many hours and layers of paint and spackle looks OK.  If you don't look too closely, you don't really notice that the door frame is slightly uneven.  And having bi fold doors is a BIG improvement over the unyielding slide things we had originally, years ago.

Mac "fitted" these bi fold doors into our closet opening (we had no doors at all!), and he put up the crown molding.  Crazy how much time this project took!!

Another project was clearing out the play room in the basement. This involved removing a very large bookcase which we called "The Tower of Pisa" because no matter what we did to this bookcase, it would always list over to one side. This bookcase has traveled with us from our first apartment, to the house in Yakima, and then across the country to the basement here. We decided it was time to just get rid of it!! And so we did. We also donated many of the unloved and unused toys, and we tried to declutter the basement play room... It's a work in progress.  Mac repainted the basement, and it looks nice and bright now. Alas, no pictures yet because while it looks nice, it's not quite THAT nice.

We tried to fit in some fun activities for the kids while we were all on break.  Steven and Isabel had a lot of swimming practices, most of which weren't so much fun.  Mac had a lot of trips to Home Depot, and I spent a lot of time trying to stay one step ahead of Mac and his projects... 

But we did fit in some genuinely Fun Stuff.  One day we took the kids to an indoor play area filled with giant bouncy type toys.

Steven's not quite too old to enjoy the slides!

Isabel spent a lot of time trying to capture that yellow flag.

She finally did, after about 15 minutes, and then she gave the flag to some of the younger kids.

Josie is fearless.

Luke was hard to find in this place since he ran around to all the toys so quickly- now you see him, now you don't...

Steven helped Josie climb to the top...

Checking out the view from way up there...

Playing is hard work...  We loved these cute water fountains- great for preschoolers but a tad too short for people over 40" tall.

Over break we also took the kids to Chuck E Cheese.  We rarely go there anymore (so tragic), so it is a treat for almost everyone when we do go.  I didn't manage to get any pictures of Luke there, as he was taking Full Advantage of video gaming and wasn't really in camera range, but I did get some pictures of the others...

Steven is sporting his new hat- University of Maryland gear.

The basketball machine was broken so they could shoot to their hearts content, no tokens required...  But sharing is always tough.

Who is that?  Looks like a bolt of lightning...

Maybe not EVERYONE was happy to be at Chuck E Cheese.

Those were really the Big Outings of Christmas break.  There were some random playdates and what not thrown in there, but mostly it was a working staycation!  Mac only had 7 days off.  No one really complained much about the lack of planned activities although since I'm the Cruise Director, I felt a little bit disappointed that I hadn't forced MORE fun times on everyone.

Mac took call over New Years Eve and New Years Day and he liked it SO MUCH that he kept on taking call for half of January.  Well, he took call all those days because that was the schedule more than because he loves taking call.  But nonetheless...  That's what happened to Fun Family Outings.  Nothing gets planned on a call day... 

So our big New Years Activities involved...  a special swim practice: The New Years' Distance Challenge.  Isabel and Steven both went to the challenge to see how far they could swim in 3 hours.  Fun, right?  Isabel ended up swimming 6500 meters (Woot!  That's a lot!!  She was expecting maybe 3500 meters, so achieving this number is a huge confidence boost for her!) and Steven hit 10,000 meters.  His blood sugar dropped down to the 40s while swimming the first hour (yikes) but after some juice, he kept on going.  He made his goal!  And no ER visits required, which is always a bonus.

Here are some other random Christmassy activities that we did, if not exactly during break...

Before break even started, we went to the Build a Bear Workshop, where they happened to be having a Very Big Sale.  The four kids were able to build their own bears for a fairly reasonable price, and the Super Deal included an outfit for the bears.  Building bears and dressing them up occupied the kids while Kate and Mac were visiting the Apple Store to get Kate's broken iPod replaced.  Win Win for everyone, especially the Visa.

Josie named her friend "Nina", and she was adamant that Nina would have a Tinkerbell Costume and a tiara.  Of course. 

Here is Luke with his friend, the Monkey who is a Padawan, just like Luke.  He named the monkey "George".  The lightsaber was an extra charge, OF COURSE!  But doesn't the little lightsaber just make the outfit?

Isabel and her beautiful polar bear, which she named "Katie".   Everyone say "Ahhhhhh!"

Steven's stuffed puppy dog (named "Harry")is an Oriole baseball player.  Steven prefers Orioles to the Nationals, and so I guess we can call this a souvenir?

Now, you may have noticed Steven's rather impressive hairdo.  This is the way his hair looked from morning to night, and no amount of gel could make it flat.  His hair had so much dried on chlorine from all the swimming.  It was just awful!  But after Christmas, we took an outing to a military base with a commissary and a PX (post exchange- more shopping but tax free HOOAH!), and Mac took The Boys to get haircuts by a real military barber while I took "the gels" shopping.  Happily Steven's hair looked 100% better and felt better after the haircut, but I'm pretty sure it will return to this state of defying gravity soon enough.

Another activity we did well after Christmas break was over (don't judge!) was building a gingerbread house village.  I found a very cute village set at Bed Bath and Beyond which allowed each kid to build their own little villa.  Believe me, getting them all to work on ONE house together would not be advisable...

What do you mean when you say the candies go ON the house?  Do you mean IN my mouth?

Clearly some candies got ON Josie's house.

Luke the character

He REALLY loves building stuff.

After the trauma of trying to get the house to stick together, which required several different rebuilds, Isabel finally succeeded in building a lovely house.

The architect...

And here is the village.  It takes a lot of frosting and a lot of candy to make a village.  Clockwise from the top left:  Josie, Luke, Steven, and Isabel.

And that was what we were up to for much of Christmas and January.  We had a fun Christmas, with a laid back schedule, but we managed to keep fairly busy and make some memories in the process!

Christmas Chaos part 2

We had a busy Christmas Eve, and a busy Christmas morning where we opened our Santa gifts, Mac made a Big Breakfast, and we just took it easy in general!

The kids were, of course, dying to get to the opening presents bit.  So, after a few hours, we decided to send them all downstairs where they were to wait until we had set up all the gifts and were prepared with our video cameras for The Grand Present Opening Celebration of 2011. 

Yes, that is an obnoxious amount of presents.  But there are 7 people in the family, and the tree is only a 4 footer!!  But still, over the top.

Once Mac and I had set up all the gifts, we had the kids run upstairs to get to it.  Every year we try to institute some type of organized gift-opening process.  This is hard to do with preschool aged kids!  If left unchecked, Josie will just unwrap everything in sight!  And with Mac manning the video camera only, I guess it's my job to be The Hammer and institute order.  It worked for a little while, and then like a fledgling democracy, it all just fell apart.  But I think everyone had fun...

Josie opens one present- a Pocahontas doll.  Ooooooohhhh.

This Angry Bird toy was WAY bigger than I expected it to be...  But Steven seems to love it.

Isabel asked for (and received) a LOT of books this year.  She loves all the American Girl "smart girls' guide to..." books.

Katie was a little amazed that I managed to buy her books she had read already (several times) and even one that she already owned but had lent out to a friend...  We sent the books back to Amazon, and she was able to pick out books she ACTUALLY wanted to read...

A boy and his stingray; it's a beautiful thing.

Anyway, the kids each got a Good Haul.  Their gifts occupied them for a while.  Here's a breakdown of their gifts-- at least what I can remember...

Josie:  Several "Little Critter" books, some Princess dolls, a Barbie, 3 sets of wooden play food (she LOVES to play with these), an electronic "touch pad" toy that she mostly ignores, and some other stuff that I can't remember right now...  Her special Secret Santa gift was from Steven, and he gave her a fairy dress-up outfit and a Princess Cell Phone toy which started to malfunction almost immediately, but she still uses it to talk to her imaginary friends to arrange playdates.

Luke:  Lots of Galactic Heroes (star wars) figures, the Skylanders video game (which was a HUGE hit), a shark and a tree frog Webkinz, the sting ray stuffed friend, and several books about marine life, which he loves.  His Secret Santa gift was from Isabel, who gave him a small Star Wars lego set and a light saber.

Isabel:  Lots and lots and lots of books.  Several Dear Dumb Diary type books, as well as the American Girl books, and some journals and stationary sets.  She also got some DS games, a barn-owl Webkinz, some headphones (that Kate wanted to steal right away), and some clothes and winter wear.  Her Secret Santa was Kate, and Kate got Isabel a dress from H&M.  Will Izzy ever wear it?  She says she will...

Steven:  Some lego sets, some books, a Webkinz Winter Fawn, some clothes (including some stuff from the University of Maryland which Steven is really into right now), the Harry Potter Wii game, and a Pirates of the Caribbean lego DS game.  Steven's Secret Santa was Luke, and Luke bought Steven an Angry Birds winter hat and some special candy from the special candy store in the mall.

Katie:  Gift cards were the main thing this year.  I got her the books which were a bomb, but she ended up getting books she wanted eventually.  I got her some bath stuff which she did not like (apparently she has never liked Sweet Pea scent from Bath and Body Works but I always give her Sweet Pea...).  I did get her a North Face fleece jacket (she took it back because it was too big), and two scarves.  I also got her several sets of little earrings since she decided to pierce her ears all the way up the cartilage.  She just did it "in her room" but she "was really careful" and "cleaned everything with alcohol wipes."  I'll touch back on this whole issue of cartilage earrings in a second, but to finish up the Christmas Presents for Kate, she DID manage to be happy with her replaced iPod even though it's an old one (3rd generation).  We replaced it for her just before Christmas at the Apple Store (Mac did this- Mac is a genius at getting people to do nice stuff for him-- and the guy allowed Kate to trade in her non-functioning 64 GB iPod touch for a NEW and functioning 64 GB iPod touch for only $79-- What happened to the OLD iPod (last year's Christmas gift)?  Well, Kate carried it with her to swimming inside her backpack and the shampoo in her swim bag exploded all over her iPod, so it's basically filled up with shampoo.  So toast.)  Kate's Secret Santa gift was Fancy Makeup from Josie- glittery eyeliner.  Kate has even given Josie makeovers using this glittery eyeliner.  Bonus.   

Anyway, to retouch on the Story of the Cartilage Piercings...

So anyway, Kate put in the new earrings from Christmas, and wore them CONSTANTLY for about 3 weeks, and then her ear "ate" one of the earrings.  Really gross!  Mac says he sees this all the time with cartilage piercings, and he was worried he was going to have to bring her into the clinic to get her ear drained and cleaned out.  The ear was swollen, the infection was spreading, and then Kate somehow pushed the earring out of her ear and removed it.  (For a girl who faints at the sight of other people's blood, she has a remarkably high threshold for grossness with her own blood, etc..)  Anyway,  Mac squeezed the pus out of it (gross gross gross) and Kate started on antibiotics...  Luckily the infection backed off quickly with the meds and the "intense cleaning".  I don't know what will happen to Kate's cartilage now though...  But the earrings for Christmas?  Probably not a gift she's going to wear again...

I got Mac a few things, including a headlamp for his dorky surgery stuff and what not.  He likes to wear headlamps instead of hold a flashlight in general.  I ordered him a laser pointer that he really wanted.  He picked it out in fact, so I don't know that it counts as a "gift".  I got him some DVDs that he's really not interested in watching, since they aren't involved with studying for his Boards and that's about all he's interested in watching... 

Mac gave me a couple of pairs of boots that I chose and ordered.  But he knew about it, and I've been enjoying my new boots. 

Anyway, it was a good Christmas...  Even Kate enjoyed her gifts after she returned everything she could!

Christmas Craziness part 1

It felt like Christmas came very early this year!  The kids had school on December 23, but Mac did not have to work.  He got a head start on some projects around the house, getting ready for the Big Move and (hopefully) a quick sale of our home. 

On December 24, the twins were involved in swim team activities almost all day long.  They started off with a fun practice, with lots of games and relays, followed by lunch at Cici's Pizza (amazing how much pizza Luke can eat-- truly.  He's a little guy, only weighs around 60 pounds, but he can eat at least 1 whole pizza all by himself PLUS cinnamon buns, etc., etc.).  Mac met us for pizza, having worked all morning on our master bedroom closet project.  Funny that wasn't even a project on My List...

After pizza, we headed over to a soup kitchen ran by a Catholic church in the area.  The church does not accept any state funding, so it's an interesting place.  It's really great, actually!  All the donations come directly from people from the community.  This ministry has been going on for years, and our swim coach has been a part of supporting it for ages.  About 20 kids from the team stuffed donated socks with all sorts of toiletries for the patrons of the soup kitchen.  The idea is that the homeless need to carry all their belongings with them at all times, and to have a sock filled with small trial sized toiletries is an easy thing for them to carry and to enjoy.  The kids also worked on Christmas cards to hand out while they were eating lunch.  It was a good time, and the kids really enjoyed it.  Josie even got into the spirit, and she loved stuffing socks, but she was a Very Tired Girl so we all headed home after stuffing socks.

Back home, Josie took a rest, the kids did their usual Wii-playing, and Mac went back to work on the closet doors.  We bought bifold doors to fit a 48" opening, but our opening was "just shy" and so...  Mac decided to Make It Fit.  He eventually did, after several days, and it is nice to finally have closet doors in our bedroom, but the project took over 3 weeks to complete... 

Also, on Christmas Eve, we made gingerbread cookies.  This was a big thing.  I had to get out the rolling pin and the cookie cutters and get to work.  I have never made gingerbread cookies, and I have never rolled out cookie dough and cut cookies with the kids before either. The kids had fun cutting their cookies out, and decorating them.  It made me remember making cookies with Great Grandma, of course!  The cookies were delicious, and it's a good thing we made them right before Santa came, otherwise I think he would've missed out entirely. 

Josie loved making gingerbread girls (or gingerbread gels as she pronounces it-- gels with a hard g, not to be confused with the stuff you put in Steven's hair to try to make it flat.

Isabel really loves baking!  And she was very careful about which cookie cutters to use.  And which decorations to use.  And how many cookies to make.  She's a cautious girl.

Luke did manage to get some cookie decorations on the actual cookies, even though it looks like the baking sheet got most of the sprinkles!  (Note to self:  use parchment paper.)  He made a good variety of gingerbread people- a whole village worth, in fact.

Steven was mostly interested in eating his cookies, but he did a great job decorating them as well...

Yummy!  You can see the different decorating styles of Luke and Josie.

So proud of her darlings!  She spent so much time making her cookies just perfect.

Christmas Eve was very busy.  At one point in the day, Mac remembered that he needed to go shopping.  So he took the kids out to Walmart (ugh) to buy a Christmas gift for me.  I may have finally convinced him that next year, if he wants to hit a home run in the gift department (or even if he wants to make a bunt) he should go to a store I actually will shop at.  I have no problem with Walmart necessarily, but I just can't stand the layout there and am always underwhelmed by the quality of stuff.  I am a Target girl.  What can I say...

We ended the day by putting out the gingerbread cookies for Santa...

Oops!  She forgot to sign her plate...

That's better.  And with a Sharpie, no less.  Perfect.

Since I can barely read this, I'm guessing most other people can not.  My ever humble Steven wrote:  "A cookie for Santa, From Steven the great." 

And here are the girls, under our amazing tree (amazingly puny!), imagining how thrilled Santa will be when he sees all those cookies!!  And Luke also left Santa a hand-crafted gift.  Santa appreciated that gesture, and left Luke a nice little thank-you note.

What else did Santa leave the kids?  Well, even though Kate did NOT leave Santa a cookie (she did deign to eat several of them), he did leave her a gift along with the gifts for her siblings.  Here is what they all got from Santa:

Josie:   Lollaloopsie dolls

Isabel:  a book called "The Double Dare Book for Girls"

Luke:  a Jedi costume

Steven:  a Large squishy Mariners ball-pillow thing

Kate:  a gift card to Charlotte Russe

Since we didn't have any plans for Christmas day, and had no where we needed to rush off to, we stayed in for the rest of the day.  Mac and I let the kids enjoy their Santa Gifts for a while...  Then came the time to open The Rest of the Presents...