Christmas 2011

WOW! I can't believe another Christmas has come and gone. Christmas shopping is getting a little more complicated. I have to rely on Santa more now than i ever have in the 3 years I have had children. I visited a lady in Airway Heights, WA who was selling lots of things I was getting my kids for Christmas. I took the kids with me thinking i could just hide the stuff I was buying because they would see it and forget. Well, I had only intended on buying specific things but when we got there Corbin found a shopping cart and I knew we would not be leaving that house with out a fight so I bought it. My intention was to give it to him for Christmas but every where I hid it in our home he found it. So I finally had to give it to a friend to hide. He asked about it quite a bit but. So Corbin has always been an early riser so when he came down Christmas morning he had to walk right be the Christmas Tree to get to our bedroom and as soon as he walked by the Christmas Tree he saw his shopping cart. It took A LOT of coaxing but I told him he had to wait until Natalie woke up to play with his toys. So he came and climbed in bed with us but couldn't wait so he woke Natalie up. He was SOOO excited to see his shopping cart. I kept telling him through the weeks before Christmas that Santa was going to bring it to him for Christmas. When I was growing up every year I got a toothbrush for Christmas. So I have carried that onto my family. So the kids were with me when I bought the toothbrushes and they were both excited. Every year Daniel & I also buy the kids the candy canes with the PB Cups in them and they were with Daniel & I when we bought them and again they kept asking for both the chocolate and the toothbrushes. I told them I didn't buy them and Santa was going to bring them. So on Christmas morning when the opened their stockings and found the chocolate and toothbrushes they were excited that "Santa" brought them their candy canes and toothbrushes. Thank you Santa for saving me this Christmas.

Corbin is not quite sure how to use our Christmas stockings.

I have always tried to find a creative way to count down to Christmas and last year I saw a friend who had candy bars for her kids on a stocking. I decided to try it this year. So we got miniature candy bars and applied numbers. It really worked for the kids. They of course really liked the idea. Next year I will use something else other than ribbon and construction paper. The numbers fell off just after I put them on and the chocolate wouldn't stick to the ribbon. Better luck next year.

Every year that we have been up here we go to Lake Coeur d'Alene and look at the lights. It doesn't quite beat SLC Temple Square but the kids enjoyed it. This is us on one of the towers over looking the lights. It was a very cold night but the lights were fun.

Corbin got these "Pleasant Journey" track from Grandma & Grandpa Aikele. He really likes it. The two cars that it came with use up A LOT of battery power and they are still learning to keep the trucks on the track and turn them off when they are done playing. There are a few times they leave them unattended and the trucks will run off the track and keep going. There have been a few times we have had to tear his room apart just to find the trucks.

This is the infamous shopping cart. He LOVES it. Then Natalie got her La La Loopsy doll that she loves. Her loopsy doll came with a "pet cow" that Natalie insists stays with the Loopsy doll. She took it for show n tell at the Hayden Library and I forgot I had put it in her pocket so it wouldn't get lost. She was insistent when she got up to show her doll that we find her cow. She also got this from Grandpa & Grandma Aikele. She also got a VERY cute poodle purse from her cousins that carry ALL the jewelry she got for Christmas also. Needless to say this Christmas was a success.