Christmas 2012

As usual, the Christmas season was full of activity and my quest for one good Christmas picture continued.  

 



Checking out their Star Wars coloring books.

After a few rounds of pleading and puppy eyes, we let Henry and Walter open one present a few days before Christmas.

The next day (Sunday) we got to together with Nate's extended family to celebrate.  The boys enjoyed playing with some of the cousins they don't get to see as often.  Grandma A was sick, but Aunt Betsy filled in to get a few activities going... 

Musical Chairs

After getting eliminated, Henry spent some time with cousins Megan and Charlotte.

Onto Foosball with cousins Preston and Lilah.

 

 After cleaning up the church kitchen we said goodbye to everybody, drove home, unpacked the food from party #1, threw in the suitcases, presents and food for party #2, and hit the road.  We spent the night at Gramps' and Grams' house and left for Grandma Bakkels' the next morning.

 

We grabbed a quick meal at the McD's Drive-Thru (which has become an annual event, it seems) as we left town with Mimi Megan.  H & W were pretty content watching The Muppets' Christmas Carole (Henry's new favorite) in the back seat with Mimi...so content, in fact, that they held hands.

 

We made it to Grandma Bakkel's in the afternoon.  The boys had been looking forward to seeing everybody.  Unfortunately, sickness prevented some of our family from coming, which was disappointing.  We'll have to use it as an excuse to get together sometime soon. 

 

Walter and Henry were more than willimg to open a few gifts early.

Transformer Star Wars toys were a big hit...

...and a great challenge for four adults!

 

With Mama Bakkel - smiles...

 

...And more serious looks.

 

Reading Luke 2

 

 Listening with Mimi Megan

 

They were thrilled with these Lego Star Wars Dictionaries from Mama Bakkel.

They have spent hours looking through these.

Emotions were running high for Henry - it was the year of Lego Star Wars gifts.



 

They've created lots of pool parties in the tub with this...

 



 

And Walter's long-awaited cap gun. 

Super cute Angry Birds hats

 

Everybody enjoyed the fabulous head "massager"...



 

...including Gus.

Grandma opening presents.

Now he just needs some guitar lessons and he'll be able to play along at the 80's dance parties we have every night in our family room. 

 



Protecting Mimi Erin with his pistol.

 

We were able to spend some time with Mama Bakkel on Christmas Day before hoping in the car and driving back to Gramps' and Gram's.

 

We unpacked the cars and then Grandma put on an amazing waffle Christmas dinner. 

Once again it was present time.

 

The Mimis must have heard him asking for this every time we went to Target!

No one will mess with him now that he has a pistol and a dual light saber.  Honestly, this thing is twice his height!

 



More Star Wars fun!



 

Comfy Twins sweatshirts

 

Bobba Fett alarm clocks:  The buttons must be irresistible because occasionally we hear, "beep beep beep beep" at 2 a.m.!

A special treat - Peppermint Bark

 



Now we can start a band...

 

The night was more eventful than we hoped for - after opening up Christmas stockings and eating some candy we put the boys to bed...Henry was up coughing most of the night and when he finally fell asleep, Walter threw up in bed.  We finally got the kids back in bed around 3:30 a.m.  I'm guessing that each Christmas I will probably remember sleeping on the bathroom floor with Walter in 2012.  Thankfully, the boys were better the next morning, so we were able to drive home...where they opened their gifts.  We skipped doing our own family dinner because we were all exhausted!

 

These last two pictures pretty much confirm that my quest for a good Christmas picture will continue another year. If you don't believe me, just wait and see the pictures I took when we celebrated with Nate's family!  :) 

 

In all seriousness, the gifts and delicious food are fun, but each Christmas we remember the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ and the gift of Salvation we can receive through Him. 

Loose Tooth

On Christmas Eve we were driving to Grandma Bakkel's house when Henry announced that he had his first loose tooth!  For some reason it made me get teary - just another piece of evidence that time is flying by! 

 

A number of weeks earlier, we got a picture of a friend, showing her first tooth was out.  "How did she do that?"  Henry wondered.  Since then he's been asking when he was going to lose a tooth...

 

And then Walter went to work trying to find a wiggly one!

Christmas Visitors

We enjoyed a visit from our friends, the T. Family, the Saturday before Christmas.  They were driving to South Dakota to celebrate with family and stopped to spend a few hours with us.  Henry and Walter had anxiously awaited their arrival all week ("Is today the day?")  and minutes after they got to our house, a chase was on.  First one little boy with a gun came down the kitchen stairs and ran out to the stairway in the front entryway.  He was followed by three other boys, one after the other, each carrying a gun...and possibly a light saber.  They were trying to escape from Ryan, who came down the steps last and followed the same path.  As soon as he disappeared out the kitchen door, the others started emerging from the stairway again.  Around and around they went until they needed a break.

After lunch, they set up a high jump...

\Kristi and Melanie taking in all the action from a safe distance.

Noah. Walter and Nate discussing something fun to do.

And of course, Star Wars play was bound to happen at some point.  Enacting a major battle between 2  Darth Vaders, Bobba Fett and a gun slinger from the Old West.

Parker

The time went much too quickly and before we knew it, we were eating supper so they could get back on the road again.  While the parents enjoyed dinner, we heard fits of laughter coming from the kitchen and a few moments later the girls came to join us - there was too much "boy humor" going on in the kitchen...I guess burping etc. is the ultimate in funny with the right group of friends!  

From left to right:  Melanie, Ryan, Walter, Parker, Noah

Henry and Brooke

We always enjoy our time with the T. Family and hope we get to spend some more time with them soon.

Church Christmas Program

This is the one and only picture we have of the boys at our church Christmas program because somebody (that would be me) forgot to empty the SD card....oops!  But at least the picture got Henry singing and Walter doing the actions for "Away in a Manger."  Their class walked down the center aisle to the front of the sanctuary where they sang, "Happy Birthday," "Away in a Manger," and "Come on Ring those Bells."

In Walter's mind, walking down the aisle seemed very similar to the scene from Star Wars when Han Solo and Luke Skywalker receive their medals.  Naturally, he used his sweet, loud voice as he took his place up front to announce, "This is just like Han Solo and Chewbacca!" 

Letters from Henry

Henry and Walter have discovered a joy in letter-writing...especially the part the involves envelopes and stamps. 

They think it's fun to look through my stack of mismatched cards and envelopes, write a note or draw a picture, put it in an envelope, discreetly drop it behind me or Nate and then run away and watch us open it from a hiding spot. 

While I was getting a meal together last week, the boys sat at the kitchen table coloring and writing,

when Henry asked me how to spell, "are." 

 It went like this:

"Mom, how do you spell 'are' ?"

Mom: "Do you mean like, 'We are funny?'"

Henry:  "Yes."

Mom:  "A-R-..."

Henry:  "No Mom, like R."

Mom:  "Oh, you mean, how do you write the letter 'R'?" 

On my way over to the table, he said, "Never mind - I remember."

When I looked down to see his work,  I wasn't expecting to see this:

(Dear George, I love you.)

I was stunned - blown away, that my 5-year-old could write a note to his cousin all by himself! 

I send my many thanks to his teacher,  Mrs. V.O.!

A few days later, when Nate and I told the boys they couldn't do something that they wanted to do, Henry wrote the following  note, tucked it inside a "Happy Birthday" card, and delivered it to our bedroom.

 Dear Dad,

I am Mad.

Happy and Frown faces included.

I love that he tried it out a few times, starting at the top...

DI = Dad I'm

DIM = Dad I'm Mad

 D D D = Dear DaD

i A M D = i Am MaD or i'm MAD (just a little out of order)

Sorry, that was the teacher in me coming out, but I think it's amazing!  Their minds are such sponges!

Nate's Birthday

We celebrated Nate's birthday after enjoying a day of snow fun. 

We were happy to have him home again.

He's a gift to our family and we're so thankfull for him!

Snow Storm

Nate ended up cutting his hunting trip short so that he wouldn't have to drive home in a snowstorm.  He got home Saturday evening and by the time we woke up Sunday morning we had over a foot of snow.  Henry is beside himself with happiness.  He wants to go outside (even if the temp is below zero) and warm up with a hot cup of cocoa - we even hear him praying, "Dear Jesus, please let the snow stay here forever!"

For whatever reason, this picture insists on going this direction no matter what I do!

Our house

Looking down our street.

The favorite climbing tree.

They had so much fun burrowing into the snow and making snow angels. 
Walter loved sticking his head in the deep snow, which seemed a little chilly to me but he think it's the best!