Around Christmas time there is a slew of activities that we find ourselves wrapped up in.
Since I was finishing out my TERM and my INTERNSHIP I was pretty bogged down with school. Still, we were able to go to Mitchel's concert where he plays in the concert and jazz bands. Brayden was finishing out his basketball season, and August had a lot of fun school things too.
I love the chaos of the holidays.
NOT the shopping...but the endless strands of lights, snow on the ground, and anticipation from the kids.
One of the coolest activities was caroling with August. Each grade had taken time learning several songs and at different times throughout the day they went around the entire school caroling to each grade. In Kindergarten we made these fun Rudolph hats to wear while caroling.
Brent was able to attend which is always a treat. We had a great time singing with all the kindergartners, and when we were finished we had milk and cookies in the gym.
This will be the third Christmas in our house, but each year we have spent it in Portland in a hotel. This year we decided come what may, we WILL be spending Christmas at our home!
We were so excited to be even considering actually being at home...
With each decoration and opening of the advent calendar windows we were anticipating being home.
Getting from Portland to home while appeasing all of our obligations required some fancy maneuvering...Brent and I were responsible for bringing his parents to town, so we weren't able to drive together like usual. I am trying to not get frustrated by this, but when juggling the kids and our plans it gets pretty hard. This is one of those moments where a lesson in selflessness and humility are learned.The roads were horrible as usual, and we had to drive two separate cars to town in order to celebrate with my family. They were trying to accommodate us wanting to be home Christmas morning, so they moved our family celebration up. But, Brent had to leave me in Portland and go back to get his parents, his dad had made a doctor's appointment during the week of Christmas. Again I was fairly frustrated by this, but reminded myself it is important to do for others, even if it is not the cheapest or most convenient thing. I think I was mostly bummed because Brent had 11 days off of work and it would have been nice for him to be able to spend it with us...
Still, he finally made it back to Portland in time to celebrate with his family and then head back home.
We did a lot of the fun activities Portland has to offer, but I did not tote the camera around...I decided to live in the moment instead of document it visually. Being pregnant and maneuvering around jungle gyms isn't as easy as it was in my 20's!
It was fun spending time with my sisters and Dad.
The kids adore their cousins and always have a blast everywhere we went.
The day before we left for Portland Brent's dad played Santa at a local thrift store. We popped in to see him and get the boys pictures...
Papa is always happy to see his guys!
We have some great photos taken each year of the boys with Santa and I think it is special that the last several years Santa is their Papa. It will make the display all that more meaningful when they are adults.
--------In Portland--------
First up Christmas celebration was at my sister's house. We all decided we did NOT want another full turkey dinner, so we decided on a taco bar.
We exchanged gifts, played games, and enjoyed some tacos & burritos.
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| Brent and I made a special stop at El Tapatio in SE Portland to get the best salsa ever! |
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| Jen got us all these crackers...it was nice having a sister who worked at the world market. |
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| Jen got Brent and I tea cups...and each of the boys a special one. |
A lot of the things we did I did not bring my camera with...well it was there, but I was just too involved to be taking pictures as I mentioned. I did pull it out when we went to Jay's house for the Christmas festivities. Jay's celebration was on Christmas Eve, so directly from here we were leaving to head over the mountain. It was snowing pretty heavy on the mountain so we were anxious to get going...
This year at Jay's it felt a lot like a Baertlein family Christmas since most of the other relatives did not show up...Even with the sparseness the boys had fun playing and wrestling.
August tries to get in on the action...I had to remove him.
The upside to letting your kids pretend to be photographers: they feel empowered and passionate about something.
The downside: your camera settings get a little jumbled and messed up.
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| Randomly placed picture...I found them like this one night during our vacation! Poor Bray...brother hugs can sometimes smother us. |
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| Found pictures Bray took on the horrible camera phone. |
We arrived home pretty late...
August and Brent went outside and spread the reindeer food all over the lawn. They also set out some cookies and milk for Santa.
We got the boys in bed and then started setting up for Christmas morning.
As the boys get older, especially the teenage years, it seems harder and harder to pull off a Christmas miracle. Each of our kids usually get one gift from Santa and two from us...plus stocking stuff. This year we had also taken the boys out to pick out something for each other. It was an exciting thing for me, because when I was a kid this is what we used to do and I can remember some of my favorite presents were the ones that my sisters had picked out for me. Brent really enjoyed this as well. The boys know each other so well that they really did a good job picking something that the other went ecstatic over.
*While Brent came home to get his parents and left me in Portland, he surprised me by painting our bedroom and getting it all ready for the baby. Instead of planning on the baby bunking with his bros, I'm being realistic and putting the crib in our room. Needless to say I was pretty excited to see how much thought and work he put into it.
We woke early Christmas morning...well the big kids woke us up! It was snowing and we have the white Christmas at home that we wanted.
We had the big boys go wake up August so that we could get started...
Daddy got all snuggled up while Bray started passing out the presents...
In their stockings Brent got them these skeleton face mask things...
Plus some battery operated toothbrushes. He wants to see how they do with those before he invests in the real thing for each of us.
The stockings are always one of my favorite parts.
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| The boys chose a giant remote control dinosaur for August |
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| Pawpaw (Matt) each made us each necklaces with special pieces of stone/gems he picked out. |
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| Grandpa Tony got Mitch a new baseball bat, gloves, and brought his old bat bag from the 70's. I love it. I remember when I was a kid and played in my Dad's bat bag, and now it's Mitchel's. So precious |
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| Bray took this picture...not very flattering! Still, I made it in ONE of the pics from Christmas morning! |
The boys blew up their giant squishy ball.
And after Christmas was over we took down all the decorations in record time!
It was great to have Brent home and not have to work...
We had so much fun binge watching our newly gifted set of Harry Potter. I am NOT a lounger (as previously mentioned) but for Brent I would do anything...even sit on a couch for two days straight watching Harry Potter. We had some fun activities with the kids and some dance parties...
We found the blacklight!
Bringing in the new year was ONE of my favorite shows...giving us a teaser Christmas special.
Looking down...
We brought the new year in by sipping sparkling cider and reminiscing over the last 14 years...
We talked a lot about our new baby boy that will be joining us and are getting ready to bear down and embrace all of the wonderful changes that are about to hit us!
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