December Instagram

Another busy month, lots of iPhone pics to prove it!

~Wyatt and I playing a graphing game~Grant had hat hair~Wyatt did a Nativity number puzzle~

~Levi threw the boys in the air when there was a TOUCHDOWN~We made gingerbread ornaments~We opened our Christmas Pockets~

~We had a few dustings of snow~Wyatt did LOTS of art projects~Levi and I went to our squadron Christmas Party!~

~Wyatt fell asleep looking at lights~The boys "dug" for crystals~Wyatt played my iPod at speech~

~Grant added things to my Christmas decorations~

~The Christmas sky and clubhouse~We made chocolate chip cookies~Grant prepared a stocking for Cuddles~ 

~Levi bought my a retro looking Santa~We had ice and more ice~

~Levi and I on Christmas Day~Present time at Mimi and PawPaw's house~Cosmic Bowling with Sara and Eric~

~Grant and Wyatt playing in the snow at Mimi's~The Cousins!!!~

Smreker Christmas

One of my favorite Christmas traditions is getting together with my mom's side of the family. Growing up, we always gathered with them on Christmas Eve. Running around with my cousins and hearing my mom, aunt, and Grandma cackle as they opened their gifts. It was just a magical time. And while our traditions may have changed, our time with them being magical has not! 

We all managed to meet a few days after Christmas at my sisters house. All my cousins and their significant others, my aunts and uncles, and my grandpa all came out. And to add a little more magic to this year- we all wore tacky Christmas sweaters!! It was a fun twist on our already fun get together! Of course, most of our get together revolves around food and based in the kitchen, but we did take some time to do family pictures before our traditional Ornament Exchange!

 The whole Smreker family, including Toby, the dog!

 My family!

 The Bade families (my cousin Ryan on the left and my cousin Courtney on the right)

 The Cook and Smreker families. (my cousin Chris on the right) Funny story- my Grandpa "won" our tacky sweater party! He took his rattiest hoodie, and added red glittery ribbon to the waist, curling ribbon to the elbows, and his hat even had a sparkly poinsettia clip! It was hilarious!!

 My adorable Mom and Dad. I'm so lucky to have them!

And our little family! 

After we ate every crumb of snacks, we started our ornament exchange. 23 ornaments in all!! We ended up with the Creepy Baby ornament (which I must get a picture of!) which meant that we got the surprise gift! Which just so happened to be a beautiful box of vintage inspired ornaments! Lucky us- well, Grant picked Creepy Baby!

While my Grandma will always be missed at our gatherings, I know she was smiling down from Heaven, seeing us all enjoying each others company and keeping the magic of our family gatherings alive! These people make me look forward to the day we move back to Kansas City, whenever that may be!

Isenburg Christmas

My mom does the most AMAZING Christmas! Her house is something out of the North Pole for sure! It's breathtaking to walk in her front door and see the magic! Everywhere you look, there is something Christmasy, from her amazing Christmas tree, all the way down to the nighlights in our bedroom! I look forward to seeing her display every year!

See what I mean?!? Magical!

These four kiddos were so excited to see each other!!!

Almost immediately after walking in the door, the cousins came over and the presents got opened!! We knew that once the kiddos opened their presents, they would run off and play and give us grown ups a chance to sit back and relax and enjoy each others company! The boys tediously sorted each and every gift- and there were ALOT of gifts- until we each had our own mountain of gifts!

 The boys took turns opening their gifts. They were all so cute seeing their surprises! I'm pretty sure Grant hugged everything he opened because he just loved it all!! It was a very "gamey" Christmas! Lots of games for all the boys! Lots of cute books, puzzles, Tony Hawk shirts! :) They ran off to the basement only to come up to much on chocolate from their stockings and to grab more toys! So it was time for the grown ups turns! I always love watching my mom open presents! Her and Grant are probably my two most favorite people to shop for because they just love everything!! Whittling down what I want to buy them is hard! So when I found the most perfect gift for my mom, I couldn't wait to see her face! For my dad, I had a coozie made to saw PawPaw and put an Amazon gift card in it! The picture of my mom on the top right is her reaction to seeing that my sister bought her tickets to the Dinner Theater! She's only slightly dramatic! hehe! And then she opened my gift- a Coach purse- and her reaction was spot on!

 We had a wonderful rest of the day eating, drinking, eating, and playing games, and eating! The rest of the weekend was filled with more eating, lots of cousin play time (two sleepovers to be exact!), lots of chit chat and games!! I love my family and I love every minute we spend together!!!

Broeckelman Christmas

I think we've got a pretty good system going for Christmas. It's always hard once you get married and join families and have to be two places at once, especially since our two places we need to be (my parents and Levi's parents) are 5 hours apart from each other. But I think the past 7 years have always worked out great and its like Christmas no matter what day we actually celebrate!

This year, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day was spent out west with the Broeckelman's. We got there the evening of the 23rd. On Christmas Eve, we lounged around for most of the afternoon and then headed over to Zach and Bre's for dinner. Wyatt unfortunately hadn't recovered from staying up "as late as he wanted" on the night we celebrated our Christmas at home, so he was wiped out by 6:30. But that was alright, because the next day, on Christmas, all the Broeckelman's gathered together to celebrate! 

The morning started by the boys opening a new Christmas book and singing Happy Birthday to Jesus! Grandma even had the same plates and napkins as they did from their school party! That thought that was pretty cool!

And after a few very impatient hours, the rest of the family showed up! We started off with family pictures, because if we don't do it first, we don't do it at all!! 

And then it was time to open stockings and ONE present! After that little taste of presents, it was time to eat a delicious feast! Its no wonder I gain at least 5 pounds each Christmas vacation! After stuffing our faces and bellies, it was time to unwrap the gifts! The kids went first, taking turns one by one. They loved seeing what each other got! All the kids oohed and aahed over each of their presents! They were truly joyous!! After they opened and ran off to play, it was the grown ups turn to open gifts! (no pictures, too busy opening and chatting!)

Collins seemed to spend most of the day trying to take a nap, so she wasn't around for much of the present opening! But I did manage to snap this shot before they headed home of Grant holding her, while Wyatt holds her hand. They just adore their baby cousin...who will be celebrating her first birthday soon! My goodness! 

After all the presents, it was time for round two of eating!! We headed out bright and early on the 26th to travel to my parents house! So while it was a short visit, it's always a great time when we spend it all together!

Christmas on the 21st

Before we left for Kansas, we had our own little family Christmas right here at our house! Since never actually spend Christmas Day at our own house, we make Christmas Day come a little early! I emailed Santa and Shed must have delivered a message as well, because Santa said he would come visit our house on December 20th! That would give us two whole days to play with all the new stuff before heading to Kansas! 

Our house was all decorated, inside and out. We'd made lots of Chritmas crafts, chocolate chip cookies, and Levi and the boys made snickerdoodles, so all that was left was leaving the (chocolate) milk and cookies (and carrots for the reindeer and chocolate chips for Shed!), and Kleenex in case Santa got a runny nose from all the cold weather (I love Grant's ideas!) and go to sleep!

And when we woke up, we saw this:

 Well, actually it looked a little more like this....so Christmas cozy!

I always love seeing the boys' faces when they come down and see their goodies! Wyatt had been crying about something prior, probably because he wanted to see me and I wouldn't let them come out yet. But I love this moment of them holding hands, Cuddles in the other of course...

 Santa brought Wyatt his "remote control train that doesn't go on tracks" and he brought Grant two science kits. They each also got a Hexbug Aquabot!

 And the next present they opened was the one they picked out for each other, which ended with this wonderfully awesome brother hug!! They truly loved picking out a gift for each other and watching the other open it! It was so amazing to see the true spirit of giving and love come alive in that moment! (Grant picked out a take-a-part car for Wyatt and Wyatt picked out a zhu-zhu pet and vehicle for Grant)

 Wyatt loved every thing he opened, he'd fall over with excitement. He sure was fun to watch! Grant would open a tiny corner of his present and as soon as he figured out what it was, he would tear through that paper like the tasmanian devil! He would shrill with excitment! This year, shopping for him was SOOOO easy because he is into so much! I literally just had to close my eyes when going in to stores so I wouldn't see anything else I wanted to buy for him!! But I think its safe to say I was successful with both of them!! 

We spent the rest of the morning playing, playing, and playing! We did have to brave the icy, snowy day to do some shoe shopping, must to Grant's dismay- he didn't want to leave the house for anything!! It was a wonderful day filled with fun, presents, playing, and most of all- LOVE!!!

Bye Shed!

We had another super fun season with Shed, our little elf! The boys would always look for him first thing when walking out of their room in the mornings! They'd always giggle about what silly thing he was doing! They were sad to see him go, but they know he can still see them from the North Pole! Here are Shed's last adventures of the season:

December 16: Shed wanted to check out all our Christmas cards we'd received!

 December 17: What better view of the boys playing than from the ceiling fan, smack dab in the middle of the room!

 December 18: Shed brought back some yummy chocolate from the North Pole!

 December 19: All that traveling to and from the North Pole tuckered this little elf out! He was all snuggled up with one of Grant's teeny stuffed animals.

 December 20: Hanging by the fireplace, waiting for Santa to come down the chimney and bring him home to the North Pole! Santa came to our house early, so Shed headed back with him!

Bye Shed!! See you next season!!

Happy Birthday, Jesus!!

Another year of preschool brings another Birthday Party for Jesus! I loved their party last year, so we all were excited to celebrate another Christmas at Oakwood! I stayed the whole time, so I got to watch and help out a lot! It takes many many grown up hands to throw a party for 31 preschoolers!

They started their day with the people from Horn of Plenty coming to pick up all the food donations the kids had collected over the month of December, and it was ALOT of food! And isn't their Big Room set up just the cutest and most festive!?

Then we went into the big church to listen to some of the church ministers rehearse some Christmas songs for church on Sunday. They all loved listening to them sing "White Christmas!" After that, it was time for a restroom break and to head to sanctuary time. Ms. Terry has the best way of reciting Bible stories that makes them all so exciting for little ears. They reenacted the Christmas story! Grant and Wyatt were chosen to be part of the multitude of angels. Aren't they adorable?! They make the cutest angels ;) And I love sweet Cooper's face in the background as Joseph!

 All the kids got to come up and see Baby Jesus lying in the manger and sing, "Oh come let us adore Him, Christ the Lord!" Precious!

 This little guy sure was full of smiles! He was even the helper of the day and got to help lead a few songs! I don't remember which one he was singing here, but it apparently had hand motions..

After sanctuary time, the kiddos got to pick a special Christmas hat or antlers to wear as they caroled around the church offices, jingling all the way. Grant seemed less enthused about this than I expected, but Wyatt sang loud and proud for all to hear!

After caroling, the kids separated into groups and went to all three classrooms. In Ms. Terry's room, they played the Christmas version of "What's Missing?" and Christmas Bingo. In Ms. Olivia's room, they made a Christmas tree hand puppet. And in Ms. Aimee's room, they played Hot Present!

 Grant takes his Bingo very seriously...his art projects, he does not...

Wyatt takes it all seriously!

Grant's group playing "What's Missing?"

And Wyatt's group playing Hot Present!

And then it was time for what the kids all had been waiting for- the cupcakes- and singing Happy Birthday to Jesus!!!

 After cupcakes, it was time to go home! They took home all their festive artwork (hopefully a post coming on that soon!). Their teachers gave them each a new book- Grant picked one with Christmas Mice and he was beyond thrilled!!! It was another wonderful celebration! Sad to know it will most likely be our last at Oakwood! But at least we another half a school year to go!!

Angel Mommy Moments

I've been doing better trying to make notes of the funny things the boys say. And boy, were there some cute ones this month!

- Wyatt: When I get bigger I'm going to marry you and then there will be two dads...well, wait.....(I think he finally realized why Grant keeps telling him that he can't marry me!)

- Wyatt: Did you know Ms. Terry (his teacher) has a house and its NOT at school? I didn't know that!

- Wyatt: Will boys always be boys? Me: Yes. Wyatt: Well, what if they have long hair?

- Wyatt: (He was using my bathroom while I was getting ready for the day) Mom, do you pee out of your butt? Me: No I don't. Wyatt: Well, then how do mom's pee, I don't get it? (I told him he'd learn about that when he was older!)

- Wyatt: Do you know what peace on earth means?  It means that Jesus is a piece of our earth. And do you know what adore means? It means to love something, so I adore you!

- Grant: (When asking the boys if they wanted to get Levi something for Christmas) Well, dad only likes tools and Christmas lights and has already has a lot of both.

- Wyatt: Do you know two things I don't like? The devil and snakes. And the devil sometimes is a snake.

- Wyatt: (Running out to the living room at 6:30am, with Grant trailing behind) Mom, Bubba just saw a multitude of angels! Grant:  Yeah, God must have something special in store for me!

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And speaking of angels, Grant has been saying that he's seen angels in his room a few times. One time was about two weeks ago, one morning before it was time to get up. Levi went and laid in their room with them til their clock turned green. Grant said he could see an angel up by his smoke detector. Levi said that it was just the light on it. Grant insisted that he truly saw one and was in tears that Levi didn't believe him. So we told him that he must have been chosen by God to see such a special thing, since Levi and I had never seen an angel in real life. Grant told me that it must have been Gigi (my grandma) and that she earned her wings! He has said about three or four more times that he has seen either one angel or a multitude of angels (obviously hearing that from their Bible story at school).  I truly believe that kids have this extra sense that adults eventually lose. They are so aware for little things that most adults pass over. So in my heart, I believe Grant and I do believe that God has something special in store for him!

And on the way to school one morning, the sky looked like this...

and Wyatt casually said, "Look Mom, an angel hole!" 

Little blessings!!

Gingerbread Party!!!

One of our favorite traditions- well, we've done it the past two years- is to make a Gingerbread house! In 2011, we did it from a kit. Last year, we made houses from graham crackers. But this year, our wonderful friends asked us to come over for a Gingerbread House Party! It just so happened to fall on the date that I put our "Make A Gingerbread House" activity card in our Christmas pocket! The boys looked forward to it all day, because I only told them that morning because I knew they would incessantly ask me all week when it was time to go! They were practically bouncing off the car windows the whole way there!!

Once we got there, the kids played for a bit before getting busy!! They were so cute when they saw all the goodies Lori had prepared for us! Each of the 4 kids really got into it in their own way! There was lots of cheerful chatter and sneaking snacks and smiles galore!

 Wyatt enjoyed spreading his frosting and liked using the peanut M&M's and Sixlets the best!

 Grant really got into it and used a variety of candy! He even made a chimney with his licorice! He's such a symmetrical builder that you could pick his house out pretty easy if you had to!

 Luke really just like eating the candy he decorated his tree with! By the end of the afternoon, I think his house was empty! :)

 Gracie worked so hard covering every square cm of her house with frosting! She made a wreath with cherry balls!

 Aren't they so cute?! Such festive fun!!!

 Wyatt's gingerbread house!

 Grant's house!

The Gingerbread neighborhood!

The icing on the cake...er, gingerbread house....was that I had to go to a meeting and the boys got to stay there for what they call a "no parents night." I'm pretty sure they smiled for the ENTIRE afternoon! These four friends just adore each other! And I adore their friendship!! They are the sweetest friends with the sweetest mommy! Needless to say, it was a joyous and festive activity for all of us and we are so happy we got to partake in one of our favorite traditions with some of our favorite people!!! :)