After three straight days of celebration, gifts, lots of food, and lots of people we are thankful for some restful days on the horizon! Here’s what we’ve been up to for Christmas:
-Ben and I went on a date night of happy hour appetizers and then watched “The Adventures of Tintin” in 3D. It was a blast and a wonderful movie that we’d highly recommend. It was our first time leaving the boys for a night date with a babysitter (not family). Allie is our fourteen year old next door neighbor whom the boys adore. And we couldn’t we ask for a better set-up: her parents are next door (actually the boys go to her house most of the time when she watches them). And we don’t have to ferry her back and forth. It’s so perfect and we’re looking forward to more night dates in the future.
-We spent Christmas Eve celebrating with Diane’s side of the family in the Portland area. Seth and Sam really bonded with their cousin Jessica (who’s 20) and played and played and played with her. Sammy got a huge laugh from the whole family when he walked up to Uncle Bob, poked him in the stomach and asked, “What’s dat?” To which Bob chuckled and replied, “My belly.” I don’t know who was more embarrassed: me or Bob. Oh, the things kids say.
-All of Ben’s family spent Christmas Eve at our house, which gave us some good visiting and game time. Then we all headed out to Estacada on Christmas morning to celebrate with Jeff’s side of the family. There are always lots of family at these occasions and now tons of great grandkids. I believe at one point we had 10 kids under 7, with two more in the oven. Seth and Sam both got to go out on a tractor ride with their aunt Tani and see a bunch of farm animals, which was pretty special. A highlight for me was having Seth fall asleep in my arms as I was getting him to nap. This happens so rarely now that it was a cherished moment! That evening we put pj’s on the boys and then packed up the car to drive to Dufur.
Me and cousin Judah (he’s a year a day younger than the boys…I think they’ll be great buddies, just like his mom and I!)
Levi, Nate, Holly, and Sam
During the family gift exchanged we initially opened two headlights, which the boys thought were pretty cool (aunt Tani heartlessly stole them from the boys, ha ha). We ended up a laser level.
-The next morning we were so excited to finally be in Dufur with just “us.” Here’s the traditional “kids in front of the Christmas tree” picture. I’m so thankful that Diane does this picture yearly! This is my seventh year celebrating with them—boy does time fly! Sam was insistent on sitting on Uncle Cayub’s lap.
I don’t know who was more excited for Seth and Sam to open these gifts: Ben and I, or the boys. We bought them really cool Jordan basketball shoes and couldn’t wait to see their reaction. And we were not disappointed! They immediately wanted to put them on, and started running around and jumping giving quite a show. They haven’t taken them off much since and have been talking a lot about “my basketball shoes.”
We bought Levi a remote control helicopter and everyone got hours of fun from it. Levi quickly learned how to fly it. Seth and Sam would laugh as it “chased” them. You would never know when the helicopter might come hover over your head. The above picture was taken right as Levi was learning how to fly the helicopter…and it was coming at him.
-Our crazy Christmas ended perfectly for Ben and I: we were able to leave Seth and Sam with the grandparents and spend a night away at a hotel! As we were explaining to the boys where we were going and giving goodbye hugs, the only thing Sam was concerned about was whether or not Uncle Caleb and Uncle Levi were sticking around. I guess that’s a good thing, right? We headed to Hood River and stayed at a wonderful little room at Columbia Cliff Villas. We had an amazing meal and even got a rare picture of Ben and I dressed up in front of the gigantic Skamania Lodge Christmas tree. I’m thankful we have a picture to help us remember what a wonderful date night we had!
Cute pics Jame! Looks like it was a good time (PS--cute boots!).
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