Christmas 2008

Can I just say I am happy its over? There was just too much excitement for my boys today and they ended up cranky and mom and dad ended up cranky. I think they really enjoyed the day though. I have several favorite moments of the day that I am going to list in no order just as I remember them.

1. Nathan, who was very excited about his telescope, looking through all the opened and the few unopened gifts looking for his drum set that he was so sure he was going to get.

2. Noah making a nose dive through gift wrap, presents, and other people looking for the dragon game.

3. Noah frantically opening gifts just enough to see if there were anymore telescopes as he decides he really wants one too after seeing Nathan's.

4. Noah getting very upset after opening 2 present that contain clothes and no toys. On the third gift, after unwrapping and seeing another box, he throws it aside and starts crying about how there were no toys just clothes.

5. Zachary just being Zachary.

Merry Christmas everyone!

12/21/08

Yesterday the twins turned 4. What a journey it has been! While I feel extremely blessed to have known the joy of having twins I have to say I would never wish them on anyone. I thought twins would just be twice the work while I was pregnant with them but honestly twins are like four times the work. It's been hard not to devote the one on one time that Nathan received with the twins. Nathan missed out on so much by not having his mother available the way she would have been if she only had one baby at a time to care for. I still get very frustrated with my parenting of the twins. I can't explain it but you can not parent twins the same way you parent a singleton.

I spent most the day yesterday reflecting on the day of their birth. I remember all the small details and had fun announcing throughout the day what happened at that time 4 years ago. I certainly hadn't planned on having the twins when I did as they weren't due for another month so I don't remember everything in great detail like I do with Nathan. Sadly I completely forgot to take a picture of each of them at the exact time they were born. I've done that every other year but it slipped my mind yesterday. Tomorrow they have their well child check and I look forward to seeing how much my little (okay not so little anymore) monkeys have grown.

12/19/08

Again its been awhile since I wrote something. I'm becoming lazy as the year goes on. We've been quite busy here in our house. I've been making little Christmas treats for us to snack on through the month. Last week was the twins birthday party although they don't turn 4 until tomorrow. As usual my attempt at a party stinks but lucky for me my kids are easy to please.

I've been doing the twelve days of Christmas to the kids. After they go to bed I deliver a package to the front door for them to discover in the morning. It's been a huge hit and is making the wait for Christmas go much faster. Here is what I've done or will be doing:

First day of Christmas: Delivered a package of homemade fudge.

Second day of Christmas: Had pancake mix that I mixed up and some syrup that I canned in a pan. Once everyone was awake I made pancakes.

Third day of Christmas: Movie and homemade cookies.

Fourth day of Christmas: Homemade lollipops

Fifth day of Christmas: We took food to the local food bank.

Sixth day of Christmas: Special ornaments delivered for each person.

Seventh day of Christmas: Flavored popcorn

Eighth day of Christmas: A new Christmas book and navajo tacos for dinner.

Ninth day of Christmas: Donuts.

Tenth day of Christmas: Supplies for making reindeer dust to feed Santa's reindeer.

Eleventh day of Christmas: Hot cocoa.

Twelfth day of Christmas: New game to play and pj's to wear to bed.

12/03/08

Yesterday we visited South America in history. The lesson plan was sort of boring so I jazzed it up a bit. We made one wall in our basement playroom the rain forest jungle. We made a huge kapok tree and then drew all the animals that live in the rain forest. We placed the animals that live in the canopy of the rain forest in the canopy and the animals that live in the understory in the rain forest in the understory. Then all three boys took turns acting out the book, The Kapok Tree. Overall the lesson was fun and the boys are still talking about it.