Christmas in Des Moines

We headed down to Des Moines the day after Christmas for a long weekend with the Birnbaum clan. Things definitely get more boisterous each year as the four grandkids get older, busier, and louder! A few picture highlights of the time we had together....

Bryce was my most cooperative photo subject for the weekend, as you will see. Love the drool here. 

Hi, Jack!

More baubles for this babe

Trying to be patient while awaiting present-opening.

Uncle D and his boys

All aboard!

For real.

Grandad taking in the action

A sink bath photo shoot with a pretty sweet baby

Matt was a good boy and got out on some runs. He took advantage of the 50 degree weather!

Aunt Mal's nail party

Accessory queen

Jillian got one of those great "wet brushes" that easily detangles hair--even crazy, tangled curls like hers. She spent a LONG time primping for her repeat Christmas concert performance.

Oh dear. I see images of the teenage years.

Cookie decorating

Or as Adrienne preferred, frosting eating.

Aunt Mal learned the hard way that toys CAN cause injury

Cousins at lunch

Christmas For Four

We had the chance to stay home for Christmas as a family of four once again, and we jumped on it. It is so nice to be able to build our own traditions and enjoy time together without the regular activities and schedule.
On Christmas Eve, we all went to a mid-afternoon service at "the best church ever" together. I think you can tell a lot about a church by their Christmas Eve service, and as much as I have really started to feel good about this church, I was nervous for the service. I was blown away by how great it was, and thought it was just right for the whole family. The service really felt like a celebration of Jesus' birth, not a sermon geared to condemn all the people who only go to church on Christmas. They had a children's choir, children's message, video clips, beautiful music, a skit, and a short sermon on Mary's role in the Christmas story (yes, she gave birth to Jesus, but the point of the sermon was that she said "yes" to God). The service ended with the candlelit singing of Silent Night, which always feels special to me and makes me think of being a little girl in my grandparents' church on Christmas Eve. Jillian was so grown up and intent on her job of holding the candle (with my help). Adrienne was wiggly and everywhere (dancing in the aisles), but so were other kids near us. No one acted bothered by any of this, and this always helps a mom feel OK. It started snowing on the short drive home, and continued to shower a beautiful and peaceful coating of snow the rest of the evening. The girls received the obligatory Christmas jammies after we ate dinner, and they also exchanged the gifts they had selected for each other. This was precious to watch, both of them really picked out perfect gifts for the other. Jillian selected a toy camera for Adrienne and a baby who pees on the potty (because she knows we are trying to get Adrienne re-trained), and Adrienne picked out a Rapunzel hair styling doll (because Jillian has been trying to do her own hair lately and will style the hair of her stuffed animals, dolls, etc).  It was a sweet moment.

I tried to get a good picture of the girls in front of the tree....

As is typical, A is wearing Minnie Ears and her amulet. This is real life, people.

Testing out the Swedish slipper socks that go with the jammies

Ready for the Christmas story before bed

I gave into my desire to purchase the beloved Hanna Anderson Christmas jammies. My heart is goo.

How I found Jillian when I went to check on the girls before I hit the hay.

On Christmas morning, no one stirred until 7:30! Matt managed to convince Jillian that she had to stay in her room until 7 or she might scare Santa away, and it worked. We opened stockings while our pancakes baked (I tried a new recipe for pancake squares and it was GREAT. Recipe is on the food blog), and then we fueled up before opening the rest of the gifts upstairs. The girls really surprised us this year in that they wanted to pause and play with toys before continuing to unwrap. We really expected them to tear through everything quickly, but we managed to drag out the process in a leisurely pace that took us most of the morning. It was a fun and relaxing time for all of us, and we enjoyed the sight of more snow falling softly. This is my kind of snow--on a holiday with no place to go!!

"Santa" found these funny boxers for Matt--covered in pictures of cheeseburgers, the meat he (we!)  just can't wait to eat on New Year's after a year "meat fast"

Matt told the girls that it was their job to fill my stocking, so he took them shopping and said they picked every single thing out with great care. Very sweet. 

Pancake face

Aunt Angela sent a silly sock monkey santa hat

Santa heard Adrienne and brought her a fun Bubble Guppies book

Ruby Slippers!

The Wizard of Oz nut was elated to be Dorothy. 

A pause in the action for a little Bubble Guppies puzzle

A has her own goggles now "Yike Jee-yan's", so she is set for Hawaii

Santa left a note on the tree that sent us on a hunt to find one last gift. The dollhouse was ready and waiting in the playroom.

"Santa" is hoping for hours and hours and hours and hours of play with this one.

We spent a lazy afternoon watching a movie, enjoying our gifts, and dining on appetizers and the ice cream cake we made for Jesus' birthday. Matt and I stayed up late packing for Des Moines and then played a couple games together (quickly becoming a great way for us to spend an evening together). It was a wonderful Christmas and I feel so, so blessed.

Holiday Happenings

Here's a little rundown of what we've been up to this holiday season.....

Grandpa, Debbie, and Great Grandma Helen came to our house for Thanksgiving. Grandma Helen taught Matt and I some fun new card games, and she even got the chance to help Jillian learn to play Go Fish.

I cooked for two days straight, so literally, this is my only picture from their visit.  So it goes.

We hit the mall for a visit to our beloved Rochester Santa--real hair, real beard, same guy every year. It's pretty cool. I was relieved that we didn't have a repeat of last year.

Adrienne excitedly ran up to Santa

When he asked them what they wanted, Jillian said, "It's a secret. I'll write you a letter!" and Adrienne said, "Bubble Guppies stuff".

A still looks a bit unsure. J looks SO tall to me here.

Jillian has discovered the joy of wrapping presents. She literally spent 2/3 of a day standing in one spot at the table wrapping some of our old toys "for kids who don't have toys". I didn't have the heart to tell her that we can't donate used, wrapped presents, so I am working on a way to have her help me load them up in a bag so that I can unwrap (without her knowledge) and donate some day she is at school She has such a big heart.

I highly recommend present-wrapping as an activity for a busy 5 year old. Best entertainer EVER. I didn't even mind that she used FOUR rolls of tape that day.

After the present wrapping she wanted to make a necklace and requested some beads. I didn't have any beads, so she did what any resourceful kid would do--she made some. From paper.

Paper beads with a wrapping paper string. Resourceful, indeed.

Matt and I have had a couple of really fun nights out. First, we attended a Cloud Cult concert at the Rochester Art Center. Cloud Cult is a local-ish band that we were unfamiliar with, but went to this concert as a benefit for a man Matt works with who was recently diagnosed with ALS. Cloud Cult is unique in that in addition to musicians, they have 2 artists on stage who create paintings during the performance and then auction them off (proceeds to the family with ALS on this night). The music was amazing--acoustic and tight harmonies (total heaven for me), and the paintings were really cool. A fun night that we will remember for a long time.

Painting one

Painting 2. I wanted this one for our basement. Unfortunately, so did our friends. Matt didn't want to bid against his colleague's wife, so we let it go....

Just a short 3 days later, we headed to a friend's house for a Martin Zellar house concert. If you are unfamiliar, Martin Zellar is head of the Gear Daddies, and they originated down the road in Austin, MN. They are quite popular with the local crowd, and while once again we were not very in tune with the music beforehand, we were nicely surprised with a super great night. Martin was an awesome storyteller, had great lyrics to his songs, and did an fantastic cover of "Little Red Corvette". Pretty cool to have such an intimate, acoustic concert. He opened up the mic for anyone who wanted to play his guitar and sing afterwards, but despite my best nudging, Matt refused to play in front of anyone (even if I offered to do the singing!).

Martin Zellar tuning up

On Monday, we had Jillian's big school Christmas program. She prepared for months, and was so excited to sing all 6 songs at the top of her lungs, have cookies with friends after, and attend pajama day the following day. Unfortunately, the night ended with Jillian (literally) getting sick during song number 5.  Despite being devastated for missing the last song, the cookies, and the subsequent day of pajama-wearing at school, she was young enough to not be embarrassed, and for that we are thankful. The story of it all deserves its own post, and of course some video of the earlier songs, but I've yet to upload anything. For now, enjoy a pic of our beauties pre-performance.

About one hour pre-vomit...Adrienne wanted to wear her Christmas dress, too

Daddy and A, pre-show. I love this pic for so many reasons, most of which is the classic 2 year old fingers-in-nose pose. 

When I Was A Little Girl.....

Sometimes it's easy to think that Adrienne doesn't catch everything that goes on in our conversations, mostly because she is really into "being a baby" and proclaiming "I can't!" to everything I ask her to do, or just running around like a wild woman while the rest of us chat. But, she has proved me wrong many times this week as she spouts off some hilarious verbiage that indicates she tunes into everything. A couple examples that make me smile....

-She and I were driving in the car yesterday and we drove past a Wendy's restaurant. I do not frequent Wendy's (Oh, but a frosty sounds pretty good!), nor have I ever taken my children to Wendy's. Adrienne said, "What's dat over dare, Mama?" I told her it was a restaurant named Wendy's, to which she replied, "Oh yeah, I went dare when I was a wittle girl". And this morning, as she descended the stairs with Jillian (who was holding her Dorothy doll). "Hey, Jee-yan! Is dat yo Dorfy doll?" Jillian affirmed that it was in fact, her Dorothy doll, and then Adrienne said, "I had one of doze when I was a wittle girl!" I guess she has been paying attention to all the conversations Jillian and I have been having about the things I did, toys I had, movies I saw, and places I went as a little girl.

-Matt came home from work to find Adrienne (as usual) dressed in her Sleeping Beauty (aka Pwincess Auwowa) dress. He really made over the outfit and told her how lovely she looked, and what a beautiful dress she was wearing. Her response: "Thanks! I made it." Clearly she has been listening to Jillian showcase all the inventions, crafts, and pictures that she makes.