Christmas Preparations, Part 1

Well it's that time of year again.  The time of year where our time is filled with preparations for the Christmas holiday.  So many things to do and it always seems like such little time to finish it all.  This year is no different than any other.  We have the house to decorate, shopping, putting the tree up and decorating that, holiday parties, shopping, Santa visits, Christmas baking, shopping, cookie decorating, Secret Santa at work, holiday volunteering.  And did I mention shopping?

The shopping part of the season never seemed all that bad, but add a few kids in there and it gets a little more difficult, especially when a good portion of the shopping is for them.  It wasn't a big deal when they were babies.  You could take them shopping with you and they were never the wiser to what was going on.  But tack on a few years and suddenly they know EVERYTHING that is going on.  Now I know some of you don't agree with Black Friday shopping or even understand why people shop on Black Friday.  Well the last couple years I've been one of those people who are out at 3am on Black Friday.  Yes, the deals are great and I usually go with a very good friend of mine.  So spending time with her is also an added bonus.  But I didn't realize until this year how important Black Friday shopping is to our family.  I did NOT go Black Friday shopping this year.  It just didn't seem important.  Until now.  We still have not gotten any of our shopping done and there are only 11 days until Christmas.  And if you know me, you know that I'm freaking out just a little because I hate leaving things until last minute.  So my anxiety is just slightly elevated right now knowing I don't have my shopping done.  So there is the reason I go Black Friday shopping....because I can get all my shopping done in the wee hours of the night when all my children are sleeping and the only time of year when stores are open that late/early.
Ok, but still keeping in perspective what is really important this time of year.  And here are a few of those things.....


Giving.
And teaching our boys the importance of helping those in need.  This year we participated with our church to do Operation Christmas Child.  We packed up 3 boxes, each boy of ours chose if they wanted to pack their box for a boy or a girl.  Of course, they all chose a boy.  We let the boys come shopping with us to pick out the items they wanted to pack in their boxes to be sent to a child in another country who does not have the resources to get gifts for Christmas or even their basic needs met.

Some of those items included bath towels, washcloths, soap, toothbrush, crayons, coloring books, cups, play doh, and a stuffed animal.   

The boys had fun helping to pack the boxes

And very proud of their work ;)

Then it was time to drop the boxes off at the church so they could be shipped over seas.  This is what the drop off area looked like a few days before they were shipped.  930 boxes shipped, just from our church alone!  Unbelievable!!  

We also participate in Adopt-A-Family each year and have done so for numerous years now.  This is a program in our county where people can volunteer to buy gifts for individuals or families who are less fortunate or who have disabilities and may not have family to be with during the holiday season.  Being a social worker in Olmsted County I get to see first hand the impact these gifts have on people they are gifted to.  Most people who sign up to receive gifts make a wish list of items that you and I take for granted.  For example, it's not uncommon to have a wish list that looks like this:

bath towels

sheets

socks

soap

clothes

coat

mittens.....

You get the idea.  It's such a fun program to be a part of and knowing you are making a difference in someone's life.  We always wrap up some fun stuff to go along with the necessities too.  This year we were able to help 2 individuals get the Christmas they wanted. 

Spending time with those you love.

We have so much family to spend time with need to space out our Christmas'.  We have one Christmas this weeked, Christmas in Harmony on Christmas Eve, Christmas in Byron Christmas day, Christmas the Saturday after Christmas and still one Christmas to schedule.  Uffda, that's a lot of Christmas celebrations!

Decorating for Christmas.

But seriously, spending time with those you love definitely goes along well with decorating our house for Christmas.  We certainly didn't go all out like we normally do.  Let's be honest....most of what we put up with be taken down within seconds by 3 rambunctious hooligans that we endearingly call our beloved sons.  So here ya have it.  

Decorating the tree

I guess we can tell which branch is Charlie's!!

A full mantle :)

Family Pictures

We were able to sneek in a little photo shoot a few weeks ago while hanging out at Oxbow Park.  I feel for the photographer who took on the challenge of capturing our 3 hooligans.  They never sit still and they refuse to look at the camera.  But......here's what we ended up with :)

Best buds

Hmmm.....

Mama's boy

The only smile we got from him all morning!

Such a beautiful day for pictures and time to be with our little family!  Love how the pictures turned out.  

Halloween 2014

The boys were so excited for this Halloween.  Earlier in the week we carved pumpkins.  They chose the faces for their pumpkins with a few choices for eyes, nose and mouth.  And of course mom and dad did the carving.  They weren't too thrilled with the pumpkin guts though!

Dad helping Easton

Mom & Charlie cleaning out the guts

So proud of his pumpkin

Our serious Christian with his masterpiece

Showing costumes to Gma & Grandpa!

Don't smile Christian!

Buzz Lightyear and his pumpkin

So excited they wanted to go trick or treating the same night!

They only had to wait a night or two to go and thankfully it was on a Friday night this year.

We went up and down our street before a few of their cousins joined us to trick or treat around the block.  The boys got to stay up a little later and had tons of fun with their cousins!

Like I said...Another MN Halloween includes winter hats and coats!!

Luckily Mom made their costumes big enough to fit over their coats!!

We hope you all had a safe and happy Halloween!!

A Week in Review

Since I haven't written in awhile I thought I'd save up a whole week's worth of activities to share all at once.  Overwhelming? Maybe.  But then, maybe not.  Perhaps it will be a picture overload though!

September 6th
We were invited by one of my co-workers and good friend to stop out at their small hobby farm to visit all the animals and pick apples.  They have several apple trees and have an abundance of apples this year.  We love to make homemade applesauce and bake with the apples so we though, why not!?

We had so much fun.  The boys loved seeing all the animals; donkeys, miniature horse, ducks, chickens, kitties, etc).

Christian with the donkeys, Elsa and Ann

Charlie with Olaf, the miniature horse

It was a beautiful, sunny, fall morning!!

Charlie directing Easton on which apples to pick

And of course we had to sample some of the apples along the way!

And sample more....

And sample yet some more!

It was funny to watch the boys pick apples.  They were so excited when they would find one.  And then about every 3rd apple they found they had to stop and eat it :)

All the boys LOVED to pick apples!

I think we were successful!!

Thank you Kolhoffs for inviting us out to your home!  We all had so much fun!

September 8th

Charlie has OT (occupational therapy) each monday afternoon.  This week we had some errands to run in Rochester before OT.  It was a busy day and Christian and Charlie both decided to take a small snooze while driving around.  Since Easton was wide awake and we still had awhile before OT started, we stopped at a small park so Easton could get out and run around. 

And it wasn't long before the boys woke up to realize they were missing out on some real fun 

Charlie couldn't decide if he wanted his shoes on or off.  He was having a very indecisive kind of day.

Thank goodness for OT!

I am lucky that Charlie's OT allows me to bring his brothers along.  They get to try out all the fun toys and therapy tools too.  

Here Charlie is playing in a sensory bin while listening to music therapy and wearing special compression clothing from Spio.  He is in heaven here.  Completely loves it!!

And of course, when you play hard, you crash hard :)

September 10th

Have I told you how much the boys love tractors?  Well it doesn't matter what type of tractor it is....and to them, this is a tractor too...

Tyler was able to borrow our neighbor's riding mower to mow the lawn quickly and to give the boys a ride.  

Who's having more fun here?

September 14th

We spent the majority of another beautiful fall day outside.  We decided to take the boys to Quarry Hill's Fall Festival where they have tons of kid and family activities while enjoying their beautiful park.

But wait!  What's this??!  Yes, we finally have the right combination of car seats to be able to fit all the boys in the car!!

 Quarry Hill is a local park where there is an old Rock Quarry, caves, ponds and tons of walking trails and woods.  They have a nature center where they have lots of small animals (snakes, fish, owls, turtles, etc.) on display with other educational materials for the kids to interact with.  

Here Charlie is being a turtle!

There were lots of activities at the Fall Festival including cookie decorating!

The boys painted plaster foot prints of various animals.  Charlie had an otter foot print, Easton a beaver and Christian a 

Pumpkin decorating was a hit!

Such a fun beautiful day to be outside enjoying nature!

This week will prove to be another busy week for us.  Monday is another busy day with the boys, filled with Early Intervention, shoe shopping, OT, and meeting a new cousin!  The boys will be starting a new daycare in Rochester on Tuesday so wish them luck.  Tuesday Easton also has pre-school screening where he will wow everyone with his smarts and good looks ;)

Thursday Tyler and I start a group at our Church that goes on each week for 2 months.  And although we love our boys dearly, Tyler and I are excited for a weekend to ourselves to reconnect when the boys will be spending the weekend with their Great Auntie Kari!!