Fun weekend

I thought I'd add some fun pictures from this weekend.  CK made the kids reindeer pancakes yesterday:

 Emily discovered the orange chair and loves that she can sit in it all by herself.  Note that she carries the remote for the TV with her wherever she goes...

 Just relaxing in the tunnel reading my Disney book

 Am I safe from my siblings in here?

 Emily is going to be upset when we finally put the drawers in the bottom of the mudroom lockers and she can't climb under there anymore

 And a rare moment of sibling love...

We've had some houseguests the last few nights as Jen's furnace gave out and she has to wait a few days for parts.  The kids enjoyed movie night last night with their cousins (Lindsey and Tanner), Auntie and Grandma Jan.  Not sure the houseguests enjoy the 6a (or earlier) wake-up call at our house...

Christmas 2013

We had a great Christmas Eve (Disney themed, of course) and the kids were so exhausted we were all in bed early.  Christmas morning was quiet with just CK and I and the kids.  It was nice to have our first real Christmas morning as a family, although we did miss the usual hub bub of the big family Christmas morning.
This was the scene after Santa delivered the presents but before the kids woke up

 I tried to stay up for an entire run of the Christmas Story but it just didn't happen

 The milk and cookies Reese and Asher left out for Santa.  Reese decided he needed one piece of caramel corn, too (for the reindeer?)

 Christmas morning pictures...
Asher loves new hats and mittens

 Notice a theme in the next two photos?

 Reese showing off some of her new clothes.  I'm pretty sure she was in 5 different outfits before lunch.

 Asher with his new sweater from Great Nana and Granddad

 How Emily likes to show off her new clothes

 Reese trying out her new wheels...probably the only time she'll ever be allowed to ride it around the living room if Daddy has any say about it ;)

We spent the rest of the day with Craig, Jan, Jen, Val and their families- eating way too much, taking the kids on 4-wheeler rides, watching movies and playing cards.  As any good Christmas should be.  Hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas, too!

The Disney World Trip Reveal

The big reveal to the kids of the Disney World Trip in January happened on Christmas Eve.  Jen gets most of the credit for planning and executing the scavenger hunt and the big group surprise.  She's worked really hard on it for months and the kids loved it.

 At one point, Asher decided to get on his new bike (he got it for his birthday from Jen) and ride around the room checking everyone (and everything) out.

 Emily liked the balloons the best

 Reese, ready to go to WDW, with the princesses, her Disney necklace, her autograph book and her luggage tags

My only real contribution to the Disney theme were these cookies.  Jen pretty much did the rest (with help from Jan, Errolyn and Val).

30 days until Disney!

December fun

Reese had her first holiday concert on Friday.  

Some video from the event (not great quality but not terrible either for a short, 9-mths pregnant lady using an iphone :):

Reese Holiday Concert 2013 from CK LaFond on Vimeo.

 Reese and Asher have been in swimming lessons at the YMCA for the last 2 weeks.  It's amazing how much more comfortable they both were from the lessons they took last winter.

 Asher even jumped in on his own a few times

 Reese actually got so comfortable that she started jumping in and trying to swim when she wasn't being watched.  So we got to discuss water safety and confidence and drowning.  All great topics ;)

 This is Emily's version of helping with the Christmas cookie baking

 Emily loves the bath.  She gets very upset when we take her out.  Unfortunately, she also loves to splash like a madwoman so she's not the only one who ends up taking a bath...

 Grandma and Emily...and Minnie, of course

Decorating for Christmas

We decided to get a live tree this year from our property.  CK and kids scouted one out last weekend on the fourwheeler.  CK even made this very fancy custom tree stand (that might weigh more than the tree!) for it:

 Cutting the tree down was no problem; getting it through the front door was a bit of a challenge but CK and Jan managed to make it happen, despite it being the coldest day of the year so far.

 Asher and CK making some adjustments to the stand

 The initial result; the tree is about 12 feet tall

 Grandma and the kids stringing popcorn garland for the tree

 Emily participating by playing on the floor

 The pros of a live tree: it looks nice, it's free (at least for us!), it smells great.
The cons: it's very, very messy.  On top of the needles everywhere when you bring a tree inside from negative temperatures it tends to "weep" sap everywhere.  Thus, the sheet to protect the floor and the baby gate to keep us and the sap separated.  Don't judge us if this is our last "live tree" year as we have a very nice sap and needle-free tree sitting in our basement :)

 Another reason for the baby gate around the tree

 CK has been hard at work putting in our mudroom lockers and they look great.

 They just need drawers (one each) in the bottom), some door pulls and some baskets on top and we're good to go.  Oh yeah, and I guess we need to choose a baby name so we can put up the last letter...