Merry 22nd of December!

We had a great pre-Christmas Christmas this weekend with our little family.  The boys are at such a fun age!  We did a lot of our own family traditions and it was a fun celebration. 

"Christmas Eve" we did fondue, it was good and cheesy. 

Carter's favorite part was the sharp, blue fondue fork 

(which I was a little hesitant to give him, but he did great).

The boys got to open one present (new jammies and slippers) before we 

continued the festivities. 

We read the story of the birth of Christ and sang Christmas carols, then we watched "How The Grinch Stole Christmas" and got our little peanuts in bed. 

We had a great time playing Santa.  In an effort to be organized, Colby wanted to make sure we remembered which presents were which.  (So the boys didn't open a transformer first and then be disappointed in clothes).  He tried remembering what we had wrapped for the first couple of presents, then he started just writing what was in the present on the tag.  I thought this was hilarious. (I guess there are advantages to having kids who can't read).

Mr. and Mrs. Claus

The boys loved the fleece blankets that I made them.

Ammon was amazed that there were "so many presents."

Our cute little boys with their new transformers.

Ammon trying out the new scooter from Grandma Stewart.

We had a great time, but we can't wait to go to Utah and celebrate Christmas with our families.  I have been a little nervous about the weather, but after watching the local news tonight (where the weatherman claimed that Monday will be such a beautiful day that "Bing Crosby would sing about it") my mind is now at ease.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

We have been getting ready for Christmas at our house.  The boys are having a blast helping with all the holiday preparations and pre-Christmas celebrations.

Carter and Ammon helped me make some Christmas goodies.

And of course Parrot and Cook-da-Book wanted to help too.

For Family Home Evening we decorated a gingerbread train and watched the Polar Express.  The all inclusive kit was great, but the frosting left something to be desired.

The train turned out great!  It didn't look quite like the picture on the box, 

but the boys loved it.

Carter had a Christmas party at preschool that I was able to attend with him.  

They had great snacks.

And decorated their own gingerbread ornaments.

They also played games and sang some Christmas songs.  We can hardly wait for Dec 22nd! (Santa is coming to our house early this year because we will be in Utah on the 25th). We hope you are all enjoying the Christmas season.

A Wintery Blend

Earlier this week I was checking the weather on weather.com when I saw a forecast of 28 degrees and precipitation of a "wintery blend."   "Oh, that sounds nice,"  I thought.  It wasn't nice.  Apparently a "wintery blend"  is code for a hellacious ice storm followed by 3 to 4 inches of snow that will shut down life as you know it.  Storytime and preschool were cancelled.  DMU was closed. The YMCA was closed.  The boys and I pretty much stayed home for 3 days and I cleaned and worked on some sewing projects.  The good new is Colby came home at noon one day and just hung out with us. A couple of days later Ammon said, "Mom, I just keep waiting for a big storm so Daddy can come home and we can all just be home together."  Still, not what I expected from a wintery blend.  This is more what I had in mind:  Here are some pictures of the boys playing outside in the first snow of the season.

All bundled up.

Carter trying to catch a snowflake on his tongue. 

Ammon making a snow angel (or trying, there's not quite enough snow).

Oprah and Obama

Living in Iowa, we have been exposed to politics a lot lately.  Multiple Presidential candidates have come to speak to the students at DMU and Colby has had the opportunity to learn about their agendas (especially their healthcare plans).  Saturday, I braved the cold weather (10 degrees!) to attend a political rally for Barack Obama. Oprah was also here supporting the Obama campaign and we were able to see her speak. 

 I wasn't overly impressed with Obama, he did a lot of Bush bashing and didn't address his own agenda.  We were pretty far away, and the Hyvee center lacked stadium seating, so this is the best picture I could get of Obama. 

This is what the stage looked like from where we were standing without the zoom on my camera.

We met lots of other girls whose husbands also attend DMU. (I have to admit, a lot of us were there mostly to see Oprah).

Thanks to the tall guy in the technicolor sweater who was standing in front of us, most of my Oprah pictures looked like this:

I did get this picture that is pretty dark and grainy, but still proof that I saw Oprah!  Oprah did an excellent job speaking.  I was really impressed with her patriotism.  She spoke a lot about America and what a great country it is, and wasn't too negative about Bush or the other Presidential candidates.

It was exciting to be there with so many other people, to learn more about the caucuses and to discover that Iowa is pretty influential in determining the Presidential candidates.

Hailey, Auprielle, Lisa and I having a great time.  (Saturday with no kids doesn't happen very often!)

Although I had a great time at the rally, and found it interesting, even Oprah couldn't convince me to change the sign that is in our front yard. 

I think that says it all.

Rodent Problems

Lately, we have been having rodent problems at our house.  It seems that a little pack rat has moved in to the boys' bedroom.  The other night when we were getting the kids ready for bed, Colby found this under the bunkbed.

After talking to Ammon, we discovered that he had been storing all his "very special" things in this little nook under the bed.  This includes candy wrappers, leftover valentines, a ziplock bag full of paper scraps (which he claimed was a puzzle) anything that he has colored or brought home from school and anything with a picture of a super hero or transformer on it.  Colby went through these treasures one by one and told Ammon he could save the most special things in a shoe box under the bed.  Everything was the "most special."  When we asked Ammon is he wanted to save something he would say, "Oh, fully yes."  We finally made it through this pile and Colby went to put the shoebox in one of the drawers under the bed.  That's when he discovered this.

Apparently,  Ammon has also been saving newspaper ads of everything that he wants for Christmas. (which is everything that he sees in a newspaper ad).  We laughed and laughed at our silly little boy. We knew he liked to save things, but up until now we thought it was limited to the school projects that he hides behind his pillow like this:

  We hope that by limiting the things he saves to what can fit in his shoe box, we will be able to break him of this habit! We love our little Ammon, he makes our home so much fun!