December Leftovers

It may be mid-January at this point, so I think its safe to say that I need to wrap up my December posts! It was such a fun month filled with so many special times, festive memories, and spirited moments!! So here is what's left of December...

-Wyatt turned himself into Santa- Wyatt found his festive friends- Walking to the Library

-Wyatt had long crazy hair- We got Secret Santad at Target- Rudolph was a BIG hit

-"Snowy" Sight Word practice- Grant and Collins- Grant did the announcements at school 

-Grant finished gymnastics- Wyatt was an Elf on the Shelf- It Snowed!!

-Wyatt finished gymnastics- Stripe Boys- Thumb sucker

-Grant left me a "christmas card" on my bed- Wyatt got a trim- Lots of coloring!

Enjoying Daddy

Levi was home for 13 days, and in those 13 days, we did ALOT of enjoying him!! After the first few days of scurrying around to Wyatt's school program, Wyatt's gymnastics, and Grant's school party and Christmas break officially started, we were excited to settle in and be a family! Grant had been waiting for oh, about 6 months for Levi to bring home the Star Wars movies so they could have a movie marathon! (Levi took all our DVD's to Bahrain and it was right after he left that the Star Wars infatuation began). So I think the first few days of break were spent eating out, trying to get a fire going in the fireplace, and watching all 6 Star Wars movies! 

Then the Broeckelman family came in town, so we spent alot of time at home, just relaxing! We also did alot of running around and more eating out the few days before Christmas. We went to Costco a few times, Target a few times, Home Depot a few times, Five Guys a few times. And then we enjoyed our Christmas Eve and Christmas morning as a family of four! We spent Christmas afternoon with my family. And the few days after that were spent doing more shopping, eating out, playing, wrestling (shirtless is the boys fave!), snuggling, and movie watching (I'm pretty sure Levi and I knocked out 5 movies from Redbox!)!!

 Once at the airport, we had to measure the boys so we would know how much they've grown when Levi gets back. One more snuggle time, and t.hen we had to say goodbye.  It was such a wonderful 13 days and it was over in the blink of an eye! But we made sure to cherish every second of it and we are so thankful we got that time together! The holidays definitely wouldn't have been the same without him!! Now we are counting down til the final homecoming!!

 

After Levi left, we treated ourselves to Peachwave (for the boys) and Bo Lings (for me). And Grant arranged his bed just perfectly, and then after he showed me, he got Wyatt all tucked in with his Daddy pillow. They truly are amazing boys, and I don't know how I would get through this time without them!!

We love you Levi!

Christmas Morning

Merry Christmas!!!!

Christmas as a parent just might be better than Christmas as a child! I've been shopping and keeping Christmas secrets since October, so I was more than ready and beyond excited to see their faces when they saw all their goodies! I had so much fun shopping this year- I scored some totally amazing deals! Some used, some new, but good deals all around! Have I mentioned I love shopping, especially for my kiddos?!?

Christmas morning, the boys slept til 7:15 and Levi kept them upstairs so I could get downstairs and situated by the presents so I could see their sweet little excited faces! It's always such a joyous sight!!

Santa brought them exactly what they asked for- Wyatt got the Imaginext Alpha Explorer and Grant got Star Wars Commands. They also each got a baseball and glove! They were so excited to get "exactly what we wanted!" They opened all their stocking goodies and then it was time for the stack of presents. Wyatt started first and he tore through each present as fast as he could with all his might. And then he'd stop with a shocked look on his face and say, "Thaaaaaank Youuuuuuu!" He was so cute, so funny!! 

Wyatt received a new Busyton game, a pogo jumper, Imaginext firetruck, Imaginext Sea Serpant, Little People Noahs Ark (from Grant), an opposites puzzle, geometric coloring book, and geoboard.

Grant said before he opened his gifts that he just knew he was going to have a Star Wars Christmas, and he was so right!! I think 90% of his gifts were Star Wars related!!! 

Grant got a few Star Wars books, a Star Wars Lego set, a KU sweatshirt, a Star Wars game, an Imaginext Ocean boat, and Star Wars soap (from Wyatt). He kept saying "Thank you, Thank you" in between gifts, or as he perused his already opened gifts. I think he was in a little bit of shock to see some of his most sought after items there before his very eyes!

They each picked out a special gift for each other sometime throughout the season. Wyatt saw his gift for Grant (a set of Star Wars soaps) about a month before Christmas at Walmart, and he said, "Oh I wish we could get that for bub." I asked if he wanted to give him that for Christmas and he said, "Yes Yes YES!" And he never let the secret slip!! Grant picked out what he wanted for Wyatt on Amazon (the LP Noah's Ark) and when I found one at Once Upon a Child, I told Grant about it and he said, "He'll freak out when he sees it!" I just love how enthusiastic they were about buying each other a gift!! And after they opened their gifts from each other, here is what happened...

Hugs each time!! I love them!!!! And I love how they love each other!!

Then they got to their combined gift- this was their big gift- and I'd been sitting on it since October so I could NOT wait to see their faces!!!! I made them open them together so no one would spoil the surprise....

 Their faces, especially Grant's, are PRICELESS!!!!

 They got two boxes full of miscellanious Star Wars vehicles and close to 100 action figures!!! I'd say they were pretty darn excited!!

Levi and I exchanged gifts as well, although no pictures of those moments were taken. I got him his annual photo desk calendar and he got me a beautiful aquamarine pendant necklace. He didn't even know that was the boys' birthstone!! I love it so much!!!

We spent the rest of the morning playing, picking up trash, and getting ready for Christmas with my side of the family! 

By the looks of this picture, I'd say it was a perfect Christmas morning!!!!

Shed Fun, Part IV

December 18- Shed literally sat on the shelf and had pulled out our gingerbread house we bought back in November. It was a good thing he reminded us of that!

December 19- Shed was hinting for us to make some chocolate chip cookies, and oh my goodness, they were delicious!!! Gone in two days!! Excellent idea Shed!!

December 20- Shed made his own countdown chain!

December 21- Shed set out four hershey kisses- one for Grant, Wyatt, Haylie, and Piper. Funny story though- in the morning when the boys found him, there were only 3 kisses there. I was stumped as to what happened with the other one! Come to find out- we had a mouse problem. I was moving furniture yesterday (dec 30) and found an entire hershey kiss wrapper under the couch, all chewed up from the top. Those sneaky little Christmas mice! Or maybe it was Santa Mouse....

 December 22- Shed finally found the school games and chose to work on Wyatt's favorite- Christmas light patterns!  

 December 23- Shed hung from the bow on the Christmas quilt, with a little sign that read, "I hid 2 surprises for each of you, but you have to look for them! Love, Shed." Grant got a candy cane full of Sprees and Wyatt got one full of chocolate sports balls.

 December 24- Shed was all prepared for his trip back to the North Pole. He left the boys a hershey kiss elf hat and a nice letter! We sure miss Shed already! Not a day has passed yet when Wyatt hasn't said that he misses seeing Shed each day! He's such a good litte elf!

 See ya next year Shed!!

Christmas Eve

We started our Christmas Eve off by picking the boys up from Mimi and PawPaw's house. Levi and I got to go on a date the night before to see The Hunger Games at Fork and Screen. So after we scooped the boys up bright and early, we headed to Chick Fil A for breakfast. Unconventional, yes. But the boys had been wanting that for breakfast for quite a while, and I think Levi did too!! And since we were right by Target and Academy Sports, we did a pass through there as well. We just like to shop as a family :) We came home for a bit and then got dressed for church. And since we haven't had a family picture since June, I set up the tripod to get some family pics. They turned out a little something like this....not professional quality, but they will tide me over for 7 more months!

 We enjoyed a beautiful candlelight Christmas service at church. Oh, how good it felt to be at church as a family. I always feel a little alone at church, even though I always have Wyatt by my side, having Levi on the other side just felt right! The boys enjoyed the service as well, especially the candlelight part! It was such a joyous, peaceful, moving service! Made my heart happy!

After church, we decided to see if Minsky's was open, and to Levi's luck, it was!!! We pretty much had the whole restaurant to ourselves and had such a fun meal! Family meals are just the best!

Then we came home and put our jammies on, and headed out to Longview Lake to look at the lights. Levi had never been before, so we were really wanting to go out there, but apparently so was the rest of Johnson County because the line was long long long LONG- like waiting in line for over an hour to see 7 minutes worth of lights. But I kept telling them, "Didn't we want some family togetherness?" They weren't amused by my positivity!

After we finally made it home, it was time to get ready for Santa! The boys carefully picked out Santa's food- homemade cookies, a snowman donut, carrots for the reindeer, and chocolate chips for Shed, plus a cup of milk! We also scattered some reindeer food outside! And then it was time to put our little elves to bed! 

And just a few hours later, Santa came!!!!  

All we had to do now was wait til Christmas morning....

Christmas Cookie Time

It really can't be Christmas without the Christmas cookies!! We usually make chocolate chip cookies for Santa, because apparently those are his favorites. But we made those a few days earlier and they were all gone before Christmas came, so we had to make some more! But this time, we went with sugar cookies and snickerdoodles- of course Santa really likes all cookies!!

So we got to mixing, rolling, cookie cuttering, sprinkling, and baking! And then of course, came the tasting!! And then the delivering! (I really wish I had taken more pictures!!!)

I have to tell this story- Our neighbor across the street, Clyde, who is probably in his early to mid-70's, lost his wife about a week or so before Christmas. She had been in failing health for quite some time, but the timing of it was just tragic. So we thought we'd bring Clyde a sympathy card, as well as some Christmas cookies. So we plated some up, the boys put their Santa hats on and we went to deliver them. He wasn't home, so we just set them on his front doorstep. Well, about two days go (today being Jan. 2), our doorbell rang about 6:45 at night, and it was Clyde. He handed me a grocery sack with chocolate donuts and chocolate milk, and said, "Thanks for the Christmas cookies, they just made me smile. So I thought these would make Grant and Wyatt smile." It was such a true moment of kindness that choked me up inside! It was just a sweet reminder at how a small act of kindness can go a long way!

It makes me think about how precious these traditions are and what special meaning they hold, not only to us, but to those we spread our Christmas cheer to!

A Broeckelman Christmas

A few days after Levi came home for Christmas, all the Broeckelman family came in for a Christmas visit! It was nice for them to all come here so we didn't have to do any traveling!! With our new house, we have plenty of room to house everyone, so no hotels were necessary and it was so fun!! We've never all been together for more than a few hours at a time. So it was nice to enjoy all our meals together and let the kids play together all weekend long!  

We did our Christmas celebration on Saturday, December 20th. We let the kids do all their presents first and they each took turns opening all their gifts. They loved watching each other open everything! Grant and Wyatt loved watching their cousins open the gifts they helped pick out! They all had a very fabulous Christmas and got many wonderful gifts!

 Out of the 13 pictures I took, this is as good as it gets when you have six kids ages 6 and under!!

The Handsome Broeckelman Boys 

 The Beautiful Broeckelman and Harris Girls

 After we got the kiddos to bed, the grown ups did their gift exchange. We did a traditional gift exchange instead of buying gifts for each adult. It was a fun and feisty round of exchanging! 

The rest of the weekend was spent watching sports, chatting, playing, and eating!! The kids loved being with each other all weekend. Sure, they had their arguments and disagreements but they just enjoyed all of each others company!! 

 Sunday afternoon, after Summer and the girls left, the rest of us headed to Oak Park Mall. We wanted to show Haylie the Lego Store! We enjoyed some lunch at Panera, walked around the mall for a bit, and then it was off to the big surprise! My boys love a good trip to Chuck E Cheese and Haylie had never been before but had been asking for quite some time! So we surprised them with an afternoon trip there! It wasn't crowded one bit, the just played and played!!! It was a great time!

 And I just had to throw this picture of Layton in here because he's just so darn adorable! It was fun having a sweet baby in the house all weekend!

It was so nice having all the family under one roof for a whole weekend! We don't get to spend as much time together as we all would like to, so moments like these were very cherished! Although, we did miss you Cooper!! And I did not take pictures like I should've either- we missed out on another group shot!! Oh well, maybe next year!!