A Tame Party, But Still a Party

When you have kids, New Year's Eve is a little different than before kids.  Meghan and I used to go to Lawrence or Manhattan overnight to celebrate, but these days our NYEs are a little more toned down.  For dinner tonight, Meghan made us a bevy of tasty appetizers, some of which we'd had before, and some which were new.  We had raspberry lemonade bars for dessert, as well as a "bubbly" non-alcoholic beverage we could all enjoy.  We also broke out the party hats and blowers (noisemakers?).  While the evening wasn't wild in the traditional sense, it was a little more wild than an average evening at our house.  The kids loved the blowers, especially Joshua, so there was plenty of noise as well as kids jumping and crawling everywhere.  But then again, I guess that really is a pretty average evening around here.  Anyway, it has still been a fun night.  Soon the kids went to bed, and Meghan and I are now watching some House Hunters on HGTV as we wait for midnight to arrive.

Culinary Adventures

 Joshua really loves helping me cook and I try to include him even though he touches EVERYTHING. It's really cute because as soon as he sees me chopping he gets his little toy wooden knife so he can chop with me. Today we made corn pancakes with eggs and ranchera salsa. We started out making the salsa, which had some jalapeños in it. I was cutting them and he wanted to try one. He is happy to try and eat most things if we are chopping them, even if he doesn't really like it generally. Something about making it himself makes him more willing to eat it. I told him it was very spicy and I didn't think he would like it. He wanted to try it anyhow so I said he could, but as you can see, he didn't really like it. At first he said, "It little bit spicy."  Then, a few seconds later, "It lots spicy."  And then "Joshua don't like it."  

Later we had dessert. I saw a recipe for gingerbread floats on Pinterest, and I made them tonight. Hannah got to drink it out of a big-girl cup. Despite her terrible glare in this picture on her first sip (probably the flavor was different than what she's used to), she really liked her beverage and drank the whole thing. Joshua liked it so much he asked for seconds and seemed disappointed to learn we don't get seconds of dessert. Clara also liked it, but of course only drank a few sips. But then again, ice cream isn't the best thing for her so it's probably better that way.

Cocktail Sauce, Chili's, Child Labor, Christmas, 'Cats, and Competition

Today was a busy day.  This morning I took Joshua to soccer. On the way home we needed to pick up some cocktail sauce for the appetizer we needed for tonight.  Joshua enjoyed carrying it through the store.  He also enjoyed me foolishly letting him hold it in his car seat while we drove to our next stop.  It was closed and sealed, so I thought it would be fine.  But soon I smelled the pungent scent of cocktail sauce, and I knew I had a problem on my hands.  Well, not so much on my hands, but all over his car seat, which through the cleaning process ended up being on my hands I suppose.  We then went home, and since Clara and Hannah were still with Mom and Ron, Meghan and Joshua and I went to lunch at Chili's.  Joshua chowed down on some mac 'n cheese.

We still have some ice on our driveway, and since the weather was a little warmer today, I wanted to try to get rid of some of it while it was easier to scrape away before it refroze.  I used my snow shovel, and I invited Joshua out to use his new snow shovel that he got for Christmas.  He immediately went for the remaining snow pile in front of our house and went to work transferring snow randomly around the pile.

In the evening we went to Julie and Andrew's for Christmas with my Dad and Deb, my siblings, and our families.  Here Dad spends some quality time with the girls.


We had a really fun evening.  We had great food, and we all somehow managed to cram around a single table without feeling cramped.  Meghan then had to take the kids home to get them in bed, but I stayed to continue the festivities.  K-State's played in the Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl tonight, though it had a really late start.  Thanks to some technological workarounds, we were able to watch it on the TV, even though Julie and Andrew don't have cable.  K-State beat Michigan handily, capping a season that started poorly but ended quite well.  During and after that we played games, including a baseball trivia game and a fun game called TriBond.  We don't get to see Dad and Deb all that often, so it was really great to get to spend time with them, and it was all-around a really fun day.

A Blingy Date Day with Hannah

Today Ron and Peg watched the kids since Wednesday was Christmas and both I and our nanny are on vacation this week, but Jason and I took Hannah out with us. I love the look of earrings on little girls and really considered doing it with both Clara and Hannah. I didn't because though it's common in certain circles, it is kind of controversial and not common around here. But I really had been regretting it and I was worried it was too late because I was concerned she was too old to leave her ears alone, but too young to understand. However, one of our friends at church did it with her baby at 8 months so I decided we should go for it. We went to Mike at Piercing Pagoda since she recommended him. It went super well. We had a fun date day with Hannah where we took her to get her ears pierced, followed up lunch, followed by Costco. One kid is so relaxing and portable that we can basically go anywhere with no stress so it was fun for all of us. Hannah did very well with the actual procedure, though she started crying when he swabbed her ears with alcohol because she DOES NOT like being messed with. But the actual ear piercing was quick and she stopped crying as soon as she had her sucker in hand. We love the way it looks and we had a fun afternoon with our sweet not-such-a-baby girl. It went so well that I imagine we will go get Clara's done in the new year since we got a coupon on our next purchase. She has asked multiple times for earrings since seeing Hannah's. Of course, so has Joshua. Maybe once he is older he will decide he really does want his ears pierced and that's fine with me, but I don't think I will be taking him as a young child to get them done.

Merry Christmas!

 Today we had a nice Christmas morning at home. We woke up and ate breakfast and then opened presents.

I tried to keep things very reasonable this year and did two toys per kid, plus a book and Christmas ornament and then stockings (which are candy and then things I would buy them anyway like new crayons and toothbrushes so not really super gifty). It sounded very manageable, but it was so much stuff when combined with the gifts we got from others. Maybe next year we'll go to one toy each. Especially since at some point they will have their own wants and I imagine the price of the toy might go up. I thought this year might be that year for Joshua and we'd have to make a big decision about whether to do Santa or not and he would be excited about gifts. But he really wasn't. He was really excited about candy and he enjoyed his toys and unwrapping, but he doesn't know you can ask for things and he doesn't get the concept that if other people have a toy that he likes, he could have one of his own or anything like that. He has recently figured out that sometimes we can get treats in the checkout aisle, but he still totally accepts it if I say it's not ours and we can't have it. I am sure that won't last. I expect that next year he will be more demanding as well as Clara because she is very advanced when it comes to understanding these types of things. Which is totally normal, so I understand it, but I will be a bit saddened as well when our days of being super excited about a handful of m&ms will be over.

In addition to their normal gifts, I also make them something each year. My original plan was hats for Joshua because he loves hats and capes and berets for the girls. I stuck with the capes and berets for the girls, which are super cute, though I would change the way I did the berets if I were to make them again. And then for Joshua I switched to a new blanket. He really loved the minky blanket I made for Clara for her birthday so I made one for him for Christmas in grey. He seemed happy and repeatedly said, "Only for Joshua, not for Clara" when he opened it. 

We had a really nice day and then after naps we had a yummy dinner of sauerbraten (pot roast with a vinegary type gravy).

Happy Christmas Eve

Today is Christmas Eve and we had a nice day and evening. We just hung out in the early part of the day. Then we had an early dinner before church. I normally like having seafood on Christmas Eve and this year we had cioppino (an Italian seafood stew or soup) with garlic and herb bread, which was really yummy. Then we got dressed and ready to go.

We attended Candlelight Christmas Eve service at Church of the Resurrection as we normally do. This year, the Fouts family and Peg and Ron were able to attend with us. Though I really look forward to the day where all my kids can attend Christmas Eve service with us, we aren't there yet. So the kids went to the nursery and Joshua at least had a blast and they all seemed like it was reasonably fun. It was a really special service and was a great sermon that Jason and I both got a lot out of.

Though Clara has grown a ton in the past year (Finally. Her height is actually sort of on the chart now.), she wore her same coat from last year, although I think the arms were just a bit short. Also like last year, she loved running around the roomy atrium after service. Joshua also was very active.

We had such a special time at a very meaningful service with our family. Then we went home and immediately put the kids to bed since they were super tired and wrapped presents in preparation for tomorrow. Though as a child I certainly loved Christmas the most, as an adult Christmas Eve may be my favorite. I love everything about it and this year was no exception.

I See Christmas Everywhere!

This year our trip out to look at lights was a little colder than in years past.  With temperatures near 0 degrees, we were happy that this is an activity that involves staying in a heated car the entire time.  We bundled up the kids and headed out.  We don't necessarily have a definite plan, but we usually try to see Christmas Card Lane and then randomly drive around looking for neighborhoods that seem to have a lot of lights.  We also stopped by Deanna Rose, as they had a light show that coordinated with the music on a specified dedicated station on the radio.

This year Joshua is much more aware of Christmas things than he was last year, and although we're certainly working with him on what Christmas means, he's still a little hazy on the details.  For him, anything Christmas-related falls under the category and term of "Christmas".  This includes Christmas trees and Christmas lights.  He's also very excitable, and is particularly excited by both lights and Christmas.  So when he would see lights out his window, he'd excitedly shout "I see Christmas!", and then as he saw more lights, "I see more Christmas!" and then after more lights "I see Christmas everywhere!!!".  He did this for much of the drive tonight.  It was really cute.  Clara's focus was on snowmen.  She saw one inflated snowman and then demanded that we find more snowmen, which was a challenge.  Fortunately we found a couple on our street as we headed to our house.  Hannah, as usual, was completely silent in the back seat except for a few giggles when Joshua was being silly with her, so it's hard to know what she thought or if she was even looking at the lights.  All three kids stayed awake the whole time, even though we didn't get home until well after their bedtime, and they did really well, so I think it was a successful evening.

Merry Nicholl Christmas

Today we celebrated Christmas with my mom's side of the family.  Meghan had picked out great outfits for the kids.  Unfortunately, I'm apparently out of touch with girls' fashion, as I totally botched their shawls when I was taking the kids' picture while Meghan finished getting ready.  Once we got to Mom and Ron's house, we got things corrected, and I snapped a quick picture of the grandparents/grandkids while Nick was taking his.  This was a notable picture, as Benjamin has joined the party this year.

We decided to try a picture of the grandkids/cousins by themselves.  This quickly went from not too bad to, well, bad.

Hannah still fancies herself to be a baby sometimes, and she saw Benjamin's baby swing and desperately wanted to get in it.  She happily swung for quite awhile in it.

Clara seemed to have an especially fun time this year.  She got to spend time with various relatives and even got to hone her photography skills when Nick, who is fantastic with the kids, let her take a picture with his camera and then view the results, which delighted her.

We then enjoyed an excellent Christmas meal.  It was one of those meals where literally everything is good.  We had such a large crowd that we broke into two full tables.  Thankfully with Mom and Ron's new house, you never feel separated from anyone else, as all the living spaces flow together on the main floor.  This was one of the reasons they moved, and I think it definitely paid off.

Later we did presents.  The four cousins all received quite a few things, but that didn't stop Joshua from immediately eyeing Clara's loot to see if it was something he wanted to take for himself.

Meghan took the kids home so they could nap, and I stayed for a little longer to play games and to eat shrimp cocktail and more of Grandma's Christmas cookies (this year cooked by Guest Chef Uncle Brent).  It was a super fun day.  I am looking forward to next year's Christmas being less of a reunion than it normally is, as we are expecting and hoping that the parties traveling from Iowa and Texas decrease and the parties coming from within the state of Kansas increase.  Having more of our family closer is always a good thing!  Merry Christmas!

Home Builders and Home Wreckers

As we did last year, this year we decided to make a gingerbread house as a family. Except this time our gingerbread house was actually a gingerbread house and not a gingerbread train.  The first phase of the project was the decorating.  The house itself came already assembled, which was nice.  It included the candy, the icing, and the fondant.  I started off decorating it like a gingerbread house, but I realized one of the main purposes is for the kids to be able to decorate it, so I changed my strategy to just create as much icing surface area as possible to give plenty of places to stick on the candy.  It went fairly well, but the small candy balls were hard to handle, and the dogs were the beneficiaries.

Here is the finished version of the house.  I didn't have a great place to use the red and green fondant, so I put some stripes on the roof and made a small chimney and a green door.  But I just slapped the green on the front of it, as everyone was anxious for phase 2 of the project.

We then wasted no time in beginning the destruction of the house we just built.  One plan could have been to break it into small pieces and then eat the pieces, but I decided a better plan was for all of us to just dig in and bite chunks off of it.  Hannah was too small to do this, and Meghan seemed to think this wasn't the best approach, so they each ate their portions in the more traditional manner.  It was another fun time, and I look forward to next year when Hannah can join in the decorating process.