Christmas Cheer: Part 3

This is the blog post where I will try to cram everything else in that we did to celebrate this magnificent Christmas season...along with a lot of pictures.

We tagged along with my mom and brother when they went to go get a real Christmas tree. Even though we have a fake tree, I still love the tradition of going to cut our own down. It was really cold and we weren't there for long but it was still a great memory!

Give this boy a stick and he'll love you forever!

For Family Night we decided to make snowflakes to add to our festive decor. We made a whole bunch! 

After making the snowflakes I remembered doing this same thing at my Grandma's house and decorating the playroom. She told me that it would always snow the next day.....and look what happened this time!

It wasn't much snow, and it melted by noon but it was enough to play a bit and make a weak little snowman!

Charlie pushed the snowman over...that Bully!

Then came one of our favorite family Christmas traditions. The progressive eating day...on the bus.
Every year, all of our family on my mom's side gets together and we ride a bus (driven by my mom) around to each family members house where we eat a food and have an activity.It's an all day event and it was extra special this year because almost everybody was in town. My wonderful cousin Kim and her husband even came from Maryland.

Even though this was an all day affair, I'm glad Charlie found the bus soothing and took a nap in my arms.
 

This year we also stopped by the cemetary where my aunt is buried, she passed away earlier this year at the age of 44. Max and I missed the funeral because we were on our way to California so it was nice to visit the cemetery  leave a wreath, and sing silent night. The progressive dinner was one of her favorite family traditions. 

We also got to spend a lot more time with this little beauty. Gwenevere rode with us for a lot of the bus ride. She is such a great cousin.

I didn't take very many pictures but it was a blast and lasted nearly 12 hours!

Christmas Eve we always go spend with my Green Grandma. She always spoils us with a delicious dinner and gifts for every child, grandchild, and great grandchild. And the family keeps growing. We liked spending some time with our cousins.

Carolyn serenaded us with some Christmas Carols. 

Gwenevere got a chance to try the violin

I've apparently been bad at taking pictures, I wish I got some more family members and Grandma.

We then came home late and put Charlie to bed and did a little Christmas morning preparation. we threw breakfast in the crockpot, filled the stockings, and called it a night.  

We set a low budget for Christmas gifts this year, we stayed under budget and still felt spoiled beyond belief.

Charlie opened his presents very delicately

We had a fun morning together as a family, later that evening we went to my red Grandma's house for Turkey dinner. Yum!

 The next day we went Roller Skating. There was a great family in our ward when we were growing up that has 13 kids. every year on New Years they rent out a roller skating rink from 1am-3am. Now that most of their family has their own kids, they decided to do a daytime roller skating party (in addition to their 1 am party) We had so much fun, and it was great to see a bunch of our old high school friends.

We figured Charlie might prefer skating over walking.

We was pretty good. 

But he mostly rolled in the stroller while we skated...and yes, this is an awkward pose :)

After the skating, we heading over to Uncle Jay's house for Max's family Christmas get together. We arrived just as they were cleaning up the wrapping paper and getting ready for dinner. Just a little late...whoops!

Max and his siblings with Santa/Dad

Charlie spent some time on Santa/Grandpa's lap.

We definitely were able to spend a lot of time with family and it was great. The season is wonderful and we love seeing how everyone becomes a little more Christlike.

Merry Christmas!

Checklist

So, I have been absent from the computer for a bit these days. Partly because I'm enjoying this time of year in full force...but mostly it is because Max is cramming to finish his blasted Math class that has 3 degrees resting on it and since April we have been sharing one computer.

So here is one of my typical checklists that is mainly to remind me of what I would blog about if I have time...and to throw some intrigue out there!

• Christmas cheer part x-Christmas tree farm, snowflakes, snow, snowman, progressive dinner, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Day after, Roller skating
• My new job
• Charlie's Walking attempts
• My husband is finally within reach of getting his diploma

That's all I can think of now! Intrigued?

The things we laugh at!

Speaking of being childish...there have been a handful of times within the last year when I have thought to myself "are we mature enough to raise a child?" I know we're doing just fine but then there are occasions like this, and I wonder...

I know I will probably regret putting the following pictures on our blog but this is an aspect of our life and it should be documented. This is also a hot date idea when you can't leave the house...

Max likes to imagine life with hair. Luckily he has me, who has more than enough to share...

And look at all the hairstyles we can make while siting in front of the bathroom mirror laughing our heads off. 

I think he looks beautiful just the way he is...however, this was hours of fun!
and I'm pretty sure no one will find this as amusing as us...that's all.

Christmas Cheer Part II

It's really fun to get into the season and we don't have to feel guilty or weird about doing childish activities because now we have a child (let's face it, we never felt guilty about being childish before) So yes, our house is now decorated with a countdown to Christmas paper chain, some homemade ornaments, and it will soon have paper snowflakes adorning the walls. Most of these activities have been while Charlie was strapped into his high chair or in bed...so Max and I are really the ones having all the fun. We have also been reading a scripture about Christmas every night with Charlie. 

In response to the comments of the previous post...here is a "grown man" under a tree.

My boys are just too precious

We found a "make your own stained glass ornament kit" and that turned out to be our Family Home Evening on Monday. Charlie couldn't stay up until they were done but he had fun watching from his high chair when we got started.

There was so much anticipation...we had to sit at the oven and watch the beads melt. 

Aren't they beautiful

Anyway, those are some of our Christmas activities. We love this time of year and the time we get together as a family!!

Christmas Cheer!

I love decorating for Christmas, we still don't have as many decorations as I would like but we are slowly accumulating them. We actually decorated 2 weeks ago so this is a bit late but it still as true today as it was two weeks ago. 

The day I wanted to decoraste, our living room was still full of tons of boxes. Instead of unpacking we just moved all our boxes to the extra room.

Anyway, we cranked up the Christmas music, heated some spiced cider on the stove and got down to business.

I love having a baby that gets excited about all the new things around him. 

Charlie was a bit startled by the lights at first.  

But then they grew on him :)

And yes, we still believe it is blasphemous to be full Oregonian with a fake tree. I love the experience of going  to cut down our own tree but this tree was half the price of a real tree and we've already used it for three years.

 Our home is becoming a lot more homey!! I love it!

And Charlie Boy...1 year difference

2011

2012

That's all for now!

House update: Part 2

As I mentioned a post ago, we came home to a freshly painted house and it was probably the best surprise ever as it saved as a lot of work and a lot of camping out time. We felt like we had been camping because we only brought the bare minimum when we moved in. We didn't want big bulky furniture to get in the way of all the painting. It took forever to get to the painting because of a lot of other much needed prep work such as insulation, patching the holes, electrical work etc. SO we had been camping out, what seemed to us, a long time. Here are a couple before/after pictures to show the beauty.

Living room BEFORE

Living room AFTER

Living room BEFORE

Living room AFTER

Dining room BEFORE

Dining room AFTER

Office/Spare room BEFORE

Office/Spare room AFTER

Master bedroom BEFORE

Master Bedroom AFTER

I didn't clean up any messes before taking pictures because shortly thereafter we brought in the rest of our junk and made an even bigger mess. Now, pretty much all of our stuff is here except for my piano.
We can now install our light fixtures, put up pictures, baby proof a bit more, and install blinds/curtains.
We still have a little bit of camping ahead of us because we don't have bars in our closets to hang anything and we are still not able to use our kitchen cabinets and drawers until we finish the prep and painting on those. However, we feel so blessed that we have come this far with this project and are getting all settled in for the Christmas season.