The Plothows

Monday, December 26, 2016

The day after Christmas

We spent the day relaxing and playing with some of our new toys. It's nice to have some downtime before returning to work and school and the daily grind.

I think she would sleep in this if she could!

This scavenger hunt game was so much fun!

Putting together the sweet shop gears building set

The girls lost interest, but Daddy finished it off

Avery loves stickers

Once it was all done, they loved it

Puzzle teamwork (with a little help from the purple starfish)

We had a minor issue with one of the bike tires, so Papa to the rescue. He came over and fixed it right up. The girls had fun playing with the wrenches and pretending to fix the tire themselves.

And just a funny little story about this... while my dad was fixing the tire, our neighbor stopped by with gifts for the girls and us. The girls came running to the door, both with wrenches in their hands. Our neighbor laughed and said, "are they playing with wrenches?!?" I'm sure it looked kind of funny, as that is not a typical toy for a 4-year old.

Reading books with Daddy

Playing cashier - fyi, things are really expensive at their store!

Christmas Day

We had such a fun Christmas Day and Santa was really good to all of us! Every present the girls opened was "amazing" and "awesome". We probably could have wrapped rocks and they would have been excited! Maybe not. ;)

Some of the girls favorites this year... anything PJ Masks. They watch that show during breakfast in the morning before school. They pretend play that they are Owlette, Gecko and Catboy or Luna Girl and Night Ninja. They run through the shows scenarios and solve crimes! Another favorite are their roller skates. We are letting them get used to the roller skates on the padded floor in the basement for a while. They are pretty shaky on them! The girls also got bikes with training wheels for Christmas. And since we had some unseasonably warm weather, they've already had a chance to ride them outside.

We had brunch at my sister's house and then went to church. After nap time, everyone came over to our house to open our family presents. It was loud and crazy and fun! Matt had smoked pork overnight, so we had pulled pork and leftovers from Christmas Eve. The cousins had so much fun playing together. I really love that they are all so close in age. The little boys (Beckett and Hunter) try to keep up, but I think by next year, they will right in the mix of it all!

Morgan picks out her own clothes these days... it is NOT her birthday! :)

This video is just a peek at the craziness that is the holidays around here. The kids sort of a make a large track around the house and Mama chases them (yep, get them all riled up, why don't ya!) I'm really surprised there aren't more injuries!

The purple starfish

About a week before Christmas, the girls got to visit with Santa at school. We asked them what they had asked Santa for. Avery said she wanted a purple starfish stuffed animal. We asked her where she had seen one and she said "at the bowling alley". They have one of those giant claw games there and the purple starfish was one of the prizes you could aim for.

Then, Avery told everyone that asked her that she wanted a purple starfish for Christmas. So, Matt and I looked everywhere for one! We almost went to the bowling alley to try to "win" it or bribe them to let us buy it from them. But, I decided I could make it myself. So, off we went to Joann Fabric and got all the things we would need. This was December 23rd.

Now, I don't own a sewing machine, so I had to do this by hand. I didn't have a pattern either, so I used a ruler and tried to get a reasonably symmetrical star to use as a guide. Using my 8th grade home economics skills, I stitched together a purple starfish stuffed animal for Avery during nap times and at night when she was in bed. It's totally not symmetrical and the mouth is crooked, but it's purple and soft... and Avery adores it! :) She has carried it everywhere and slept with it at nap and nighttime since Christmas morning.

Christmas Eve

We hosted Christmas Eve dinner at our house again this year. It gets crazier every year to get this group together! The girls love playing with their cousins. Avery and Morgan call the Wilken kids "the noise". It started one time that we had everyone over and after the Wilkens' left, Avery said "the noise has left!" Now, we just say "the noise is coming over" or "the noise is leaving"... and we all know what that means! :)

We had a special visitor on Christmas Eve at our house... Santa (aka my uncle Scott)! This year, there was no crying and most of the kids were not too scared of Santa. Avery still refuses to sit on his lap, but at least will talk to him and get a little closer. Morgan is SO into Santa, it's hilarious. She wanted to talk to him from the second he walked in the door. She asked him if he had brought Rudolph with him... and why he wasn't wearing his gloves (he had actually forgotten them)... and how he had cut his hand (he had a small scratch on his hand - ha!) The kids kept pulling his beard down by accident and I thought for sure she was going to ask about that, but she didn't. Santa gave each of the kids a small gift and then had to head on his way. He had a busy night ahead of him, of course! ;) When he left, Morgan said "I heard the reindeer on the roof, Mama!" to my mom. So adorable!

I love this picture! This just shows a little glimpse into the craziness that was Santa's visit! I'm thinking Santa was exhausted after all of it!

I'm not sure how this "game" got started, but it was a cousin favorite. They all got to take turns being "first". All the adults were laughing, because we really couldn't figure out why you would want to be "first". Unfortunately, we had to put an end to this game because of a few injuries.