What did Santa bring?

Since it was Christmas morning the kids thought the cats should come up and see the Christmas tree and open their presents (that the kids had got them). The cats enjoyed their kitty snacks and their new balls. Stella seemed most amazed by all the gifts under the tree and that it was a great "cover" for hiding from a certain little 5-year old that likes to "love" a lot on cats. It was pretty sweet to see her face among the presents. 12.25.10

Christmas morning 2010

I always love the sleepy look on the kids faces on Christmas morning. However, this year you will notice that they really don't look that sleepy. The only faces in the living room looking sleepy this year were the parents who went to bed at 1:30am and were woke up by a daughter at around 6:00am and a son at 6:30am--this was after they stayed up past 10pm! Oh the excitement of Christmas morning. This picture was taken at about 7:30am when we finally gave up trying to sleep and let them open their stockings. The funniest part of the early rising is that the kids both knew before bed that since they had been fighting with eachother so much this month they were not allowed to open any presents before church (church is at 10am) so they woke up that early only to look at the presents under the tree and open their stockings! But we had a great peaceful morning discussing the true meaning of Christmas and focusing our hearts on the birth of our Savior. Christmas is not about what we receive but about how we reflect Christ in our day to day lives and how much we love our neighbor as our self. Maybe next year the kids will get to open up a few gifts before Mass? I sure hope so. Here are some sleep faces from years before: 2007, 2008, 2009. 12.25.10

"Jeffrey Kyle's Christmas for Kids"

This is the third year for "Jeffrey Kyle's Christmas for Kids" and the second year that we have gone on Christmas Eve to help out my brother in his cause. He serves a meal and provides gifts for many families. All of this is done with donations from the community and from friends and family. It is quite an effort that takes a huge amount of planning and organizing. Which they only do with the grace of God! To learn more about their story and about why they do it click here. They have a great website with lots of info and more pictures. The kids love helping out and serving kids that are in need. Isabella was so excited about helping out this year that she spent many days dressed up in her "elf" outfit. I love when the kids get the spirit of giving. This year Traci had a friend do face painting for all the kids (both volunteers and the guests) so both kids were thrilled to get their faces painted. Dominic chose Superman, of course and Isabella had snowflakes on her cheeks and a princess-looking painting on the front with a jewel to complete it! This year they also had live music and of course Santa came to visit all the kids. Dominic, Isabella and their cousin Trista got to hand out goodie bags after the kids visited Santa. It was so cute to watch the kids race over to hand out treats to eat kid. Another great Christmas Eve reminding us that there are many families that have nothing if we don't find it in our hearts to share when we have plenty. 12.24.10

Christmas Cookie Fun

What Christmas season would be complete without decorated sugar cookies? This is the second year that we have decorated our sugar cookies after helping out at my brother's restaurant on Christmas Eve. That is why Dominic has his face painted in one of the pictures 12.24.10

We three kings or Orient are....

Dominic was one of the Kings in the Nativity play. He did a great job bearing his gifts for the Christ child. 12.19.10

Behold I bring you tidings of great joy....

Isabella was the proclamation angel in the homeschool nativity play. She did a great job proclaiming the good news to the shepherds. 12.19.10

Sew Cute

Isabella was given a kids sewing machine by a friend and she finally was able to use it to sew. Dominic was so fascinated that he insisted that he get a chance to try it out. What could be more fun? 12.17.10

Holiday Visit to see Great Grandma

We were up for brunch at my parent's church and we got a chance to stop by and see my Grandparents. It was so good to get a chance to visit since we haven't been up in awhile. The kids were able to knock out a puzzle with Grandpa while we were there. 12.16.10

Feast of St. Lucia

I have a special fondness in my heart for the Feast of St. Lucia, since I studied abroad in Sweden. The Swedish have a huge celebration in honor of the Italian saint. We try to make the most of the feast day by doing some of the traditions I learned about in Sweden. The eldest daughter dresses up like Lucia and wakes up the family to serve them breakfast, which includes yummy Lucia buns which we make the night before. We had a special treat this year because my mom came down and helped us make Lucia buns and stayed the night so she could be awakened by St. Lucia. (Isabella takes her job very seriously! I was sent back to bed since she wasn't ready for me to wake up....fine with me. I do love to sleep!) Look how our little Lucia has grown: here are some pictures from previous years. 12.13.10

Trip to see Santa

My mom's work brings in Santa each year for the kids and grandkids of the employees and this year we were able to stop by and the kids got to see a Santa up close. Neither one wanted to sit on his lap but they were fine with saying "hi" and putting in a few requests. 12.12.10

Visit to Santa

Feast of St. Nicholas

December 6th is the day we remember a great Saint, Nicholas. The kids put their shoes out the night before and they found candy, coins and a letter from St. Nicholas. Here are some pictures of the feast day from previous years: 2007 12.6.10

First Piano Recital

Isabella has been taking piano lessons for a year now and this December she had her first piano recital. She did so great playing her two songs "faraway" and "Aura Lee" The picture was taken after her recital with her teacher Ms. Valerie. 12.5.10

Time to decorate for Christmas

Warm cinnamon rolls, cold milk, Christmas music and the fresh smell of evergreen in the air. Nothing more special than putting up ornaments on the tree to make the Christmas season feel real. 2007 12.4.10

Stringing Popcorn for the tree

The kids love the tradition of making popcorn strings for the tree. It makes a horrible mess of my floor but their smiles make it worth while. Here is a picture from last year's popcorn strings:2009. 12.4.10

Just hanging out with the Super Friends

Dominic can spend many hours playing with his Super Heroes. This Thanksgiving he got the special treat of getting all of his dad's old Super Friends action heroes--which his parents found when cleaning out some old boxes. I found Dominic laying on the floor with all the Super Friends stuck in the couch cushions, playing some kind of game. Maybe they are all pretending to be Spiderman? I thought it was funny but he seemed to think this was completely normal fun for a super hero fanatic. 12.3.10

Cobweb Christmas: the legend of tinsel

Every year we do a unit study for Advent called the Christmas Mosaic. The kids have a blast getting to reread the same Christmas favorites and do different crafts every year. There are several stories about the legend of Christmas tinsel and how spiders decorate the trees with sparkly webs. We start Advent off every year by making yummy chocolate spiders and reading all the books about their role in making Christmas special. Here are some pictures from the past years: 2009, 2008 --so crazy to see how the kids have grown over the past few years. 12.3.10

Happy Thanksgiving Day 2010

Every year we head to Springfield IL to celebrate Thanksgiving with Michael's family. The Thanksgiving meal is always such a labor of love. Here are some pictures of the family feast. 11.25.10

Turkey Heads

Just in time for Thanksgiving...the arrival of the "turkey heads" bearing pumpkins. The kids had a blast making these turkeys at the library story time. 11.22.10

Thanksgiving crafts

Here is the beautiful turkey that Dominic made in his art class at Co-op. He was very proud of his creation. 11.2010

An explosive 5th Birthday Party

Dominic had a hard time deciding what kind of birthday cake to have this year. He really likes Superman and he really likes Iron Man. So I said what if we did a volcano cake and had Superman and Iron Man flying around the volcano? This was a huge hit since he has been very fascinated with volcanoes for awhile now. I mean what boy doesn't like molten lava and fire? So here is the end result. If you look closely you can see War Machine (Iron Man's side kick) at the bottom of the volcano. You too could make this cake: 3 cake mixes, over a pound of chocolate, heavy cream, lots of time and of course fire and molten lava. The end result "the coolest birthday cake EVER!" according to my son. Totally worth it. 11.14.10

Fall Photo Shoot

I get the kids pictures taken at Target twice a year--Even though I could take them myself using our new digital SLR. This year I finally made it a priority and did it. Here are a few of the shots. I hope to get some more uploaded soon.
I had a lot of fun....I am thinking I will make sure to take them a bit more frequently. Outdoor photos are sooo much better than indoor ones and a lot more fun to take! 11.10.10

Happy Fall Everyone

Thought this was the perfect fall photo for the blog. We took it at the pumpkin patch a few weeks ago. 10.10.10