Christmas Eve 2012

We were lucky to have Uncle Dane (Jason's brother) join us for Christmas this year. He was fun to have around - the kids love him, and it allowed us to actually cook dinner some nights. :)

On Christmas Eve Eve, the guys put together some awesome presents from some grandparent Santas - a wooden dollhouse (I did not want something pink and plastic) - 

 - and scooters to add to their wheeled vehicle collection!

On Christmas Eve morning, we made salt dough ornaments with them.

Abby loves her egg beater.

Zoey sitting at our awesome new diner table that we found at an antique shop.

My parents' neighbor made aprons for the kids - they loved them and wore them most of the day.

Meme, Hat-Dad, and Uncle Peter came over to help with the salt dough ornaments.

Abby taking a break to look at the snow.

 For Christmas Eve dinner we made cheese fondue (a Locke tradition), with bread, broccoli, apples, and meatballs. Yum!

After dinner we played a rousing game of Candyland. They have no idea how to play it the real way but they have fun dealing cards to each other and moving their "guys" around the board.

After the kids went to bed we finally got to put their presents under the tree. It was so much fun to set everything up!

My old cabbage patch dolls, with some of my old doll blankets and wooden crib, and some new blankets that I've been knitting all fall.

Milk, cookies, and carrots

Our elf, Jolly Penguin, hanging out in their new doll house.

I had trouble falling asleep because I was so excited. You've already seen videos from Christmas morning - next up, pictures!

Talking about Santa

 

A two-and-a-half year old's perspective on Santa.....

Winter Photo Session

A few weeks ago we had a photo session with my friend Christy, of  Christy McKee Photography, (http://www.christymckeephotography.com/). Even though it was freezing cold we had a fun time running around in a park. Hopefully she had a fun time running around after us! Here are some of the best shots...

She made a Christmas card for us too! It was a small order, so some people will be getting this card, and some will be getting a different card. Luckily, you can view them both on the blog. :)

Photo Card

Picture Joy Christmas

Shop Shutterfly's collection of Christmas photo cards.

View the entire collection of cards.

don't mind me...just trying to get a $10 credit at Shutterfly...

Pictures with Santa

We attempted a picture with Santa this year. Last year we did a breakfast with Santa and they were too terrified to get close to him. This year we thought they were ready, but we were a little bit wrong. The coffee shop in my parents' neighborhood does a Santa pictures event, so we went there. It was nice and low-key - familiar location, no line, friendly people. The kids were still scared to see Santa in person though, so Jason and I got to be in the pic too. Oh, and did I mention that everyone refused to wear holiday outfits that morning? Note the rain boots, UVA hoodie, etc.

I think the final product turned out pretty good, all things considered...

Party #2

We went to party #2 tonight. Once again, the kids did pretty well, but it was a bit more tiring for us to keep track of them. It was a house we hadn't been to before, so they were clingy, and yet they wanted to explore. We had to make sure we knew where all the bathrooms and the food were, and we had to keep them from eating all the cookies on the trays that were scattered about at kid level.

As we were trying to get them ready, this is what they wanted to wear:

This is what we managed to get them to wear. Ironically, when we got there, there were several older girls wearing cute tu-tus and other frilly things, so our kids would have fit right in with their leotards, tu-tus, and fairy costumes. Oh well.

We had to drag them out after they kept trying to un-decorate the Christmas tree and had eaten about a million cookies (and barely any dinner) and were taking out every toy in the house. This is Abby's tantrum in the car when we made her leave the party:

We realized that each of us thought the other one had made sure that Abby had eaten dinner. Turns out she had only eaten a few bites of cookie. No wonder she was a mess!

I guess since Jason and I each managed to eat and drink a little we should consider the party a success. Plus everyone stayed dry in their undies (even Lucas!) and nobody broke anything or stuck their hands in a burning candle. That's about the best we could ask for, I suppose.

Party #1

Last Sunday we went to a holiday party at a friend's house. We were able to convince the kids to dress up in nice outfits, which takes quite a bit of clever maneuvering and offering of "choices" these days.

The kids at yummy food, primarily by reaching up on the table to get it. Here's Lucas practicing the "balancing a plate while eating" party trick.

The kids helped decorate gingerbread houses with the other children there. They did a great job! Maybe they didn't realize the candy was edible, but they didn't try to eat anything, and they really focused on putting the decorations on the houses. 

So we'd call the first party of the season a success! Only a few more to go...

Christmas Tree Farm

Last Saturday we drove up to the farm where we went last year to get our Christmas tree. It's a bit of a drive, but Jason knows one of the owners, and they have bunnies and chickens and hot cider and cookies and walking trails. Here are a few photos to document the holiday adventure (minus the run-in with a policeman - let's just say our Xmas tree was a little more expensive than usual, and Greene County's Sheriff Department is a little richer):

Starting out to look for the best tree

Taking a break

Trying to convince mom & dad to get some chickens for the yard at home

We found one!

Is this gonna fit in the front door?

Zoey, giving her dad a break from pulling the tree

Lucas..., supervising

Chatting with the African Tortoise about what he wants for Christmas

 Break #2

Holding baby bunnies

Checking out the 'cuckoo' nest

Let's see how many acorns we can fit in our pockets guys!

Our resident photographer, Zoey, documents the raising of the tree 

Wow, so many ornaments!

Uh, did we realize the tree was this big when we cut it down? Guess we're gonna have to look into getting some more lights. Happy holidays everyone.