Post Christmas around here is usually a little lazy and we move from productive mode to recovery mode. If the kids are in their pajamas all day, it’s okay by me. The day after Christmas is a great day. The kids have new toys that entertain and keep their attention all day long.
Hunter locked himself in his room and completed this Star Wars masterpiece. He’s pretty proud of his work.
Bennett also received a lego set, and with a little help from Hallie, he was able to build it. He’s most excited that they’re his legos. Not Hunter’s, they’re Bennett’s.
Bennett received this candy train right before Christmas and I’m pretty sure his first question every morning was asking to eat some of his train.
These kids play the wii only a handful of times during the year. A few times during the summer when they exhausted the swimming pool and during Christmas break. I’m fine with them playing, but the minute there is crying and fighting it gets turned off. Sometimes this is a short amount of time, sometimes it’s longer. This day it was some good time. And Cannon just sits and watches.
Our Boise State Broncos were playing their bowl game in Phoenix and we thought it would be fun to take the kids and Steve’s dad. Unfortunately, the Broncos let us down in a big way. I’m not sure they’ve played that bad all season. It’s never fun to watch your team lose – but the parachuters at the beginning of the game were awesome.
We did a lot of organizing. The kids are some of my best assets when it comes to cleaning and organizing. I gave them a drawer in the kitchen to organize – they dumped everything out on the floor and put everything away that didn’t belong in the drawer. There is nothing like Christmas to really make me realize how much stuff we have. Steve and I looked at the pile of presents under the tree on Christmas eve and we both agreed with that much stuff coming into the home, twice as much needed to leave the home. The day after Christmas we had a truckload for donating – Steve tried on every single item he owned including belts and shoes and purged. And purged some more. It was amazingly gratifying.
We had some visitors come through town. My college roommate, who I adore and hadn’t seen in ten years, came to Arizona to visit family and we were able to spend the afternoon together. Our kids had never met and within two minutes of walking in the door, our kids were running around with walkie talkies and playing games. (We’re missing three kids in this picture).
It was so comfortable to sit down with them and talk life and family and careers. So much has changed since we were last together and we didn’t miss a beat. Great friends are amazing like that. Here’s to hoping our next encounter is much sooner!
Cannon nursed a nice shiner. He was running through the playroom to grab a toy, tripped on the bean bag and fell face first into the train table. In no time it was discolored and swollen. It looked as though he stashed away food in his cheeks! A week later and it’s still quite noticeable.
We talked of taking kids to the snow for the day, but then the headache of having to find and gather snow clothes for all the kids didn’t seem worth it. We promised ourselves we’d take them to snow during spring break. We’re pretty attached to our Christmas weather in Arizona!
