Christmas 2017

This was the first year, that Dominic actually wrote his letter to Santa without hardly any help. He was so excited. And then he threw me a curve ball by asking things, I had no idea he wanted- like for example, an inside out music box....or a big remote control car.
Like most years, I decided to stock up on toys throughout the year. It just makes it easier on the budget. Target usually has a big July clearance for toys, and usually in January, Amazon does the same. But this year, I didn't hoard as much as the year before. I snatched a really neat cash register, coloring books, reading books, play doh accesories, and even an ipad on sale...all before november came. And then on Black Friday, while on vacation to visit family and Thanksgiving, I bought a couple of lego boxes at Walmart. This by far, has been the best investment. The kids now have a total of 3 huge lego creative boxes (normally $90) and since there are no "sets"...it's all up to them as to what to build that day. It has been amazing to see how their imagination works....no batteries, no tv....just them and some blocks. I try to find mini figures on sale throughout the year, since the boxes don't include any. If all else fails, Amazon sells off brand mini figures super cheap. This year, I was introduced to a website where everything ships from China (so expect it to get here anywhere from 4-10 weeks) and found some character minifigures.

Goofy ones

Dominic LOVES this.

My parents gave the kids play doh and some accessories, so now we have a HUGE box full of accessories they can use. For now, it is staying in the dining room. I cannot handle having play doh all over the carpet. The kids love it- they have a sandwich making kit, a pasta making kit, a waffle making kit, along with several cookie cutters. Is there anything better for a 3 and 6 year old? They serioulsy play anywhere from 30min-1hr every day.
Spencer's parents gave the kids magnetic tiles (with wheels and a Ferris wheel) and what a neat STEM toy. The kids love them! I may end up getting an extra set to have more pieces to build with in the near future. Ethan likes the fact that they have alphabet stickers, and Dom likes the fact that they stick together...like legos.

Spencer and I agreed to keep it small, since last year we bought a big tv. This year, I only got him a couple of shirts, some sunglasses and a couple of other things....you know....few items. But he....once again...does not follow the rules. At the 11th hour, he went out and got me extra presents....necessities, but none the less, way out of the budget we had discussed. But truth be told, I love them. I think he does it, because he knows that I will never spend that kind of money on myself. He got a me a huge colander (because the one I currently have is from the dollar tree and the handle is broken...haha). He also managed to get me some pans (seriously...I get pans every year from someone...haha) and the big ticket item was a really nice stainless steel trash can that closes on its own....yeah I know...so exciting haha. But it is super nice to see that, instead of the little white trash thing we had for about 10 years....that was pitiful. We also did ugly Christmas sweaters this year. I actually bought some kits for like $2 at Target last year, and have been saving them since. Well worth the wait!

we also got a huge lego storage brick you can see in the corner.
It fit all three massive sets we have. We got lucky!

This year, we tried to really do the 12 days of Christmas by reading books and watching a movie. We dont' actually have 12 Christmas movies...haha...but you can always find them on you tube and project them on the tv. The movie thing didn't work out....they were just too long for the kids...so we probably only watched like 5. But the book thing did really well. Dominic has really learned to read these past weeks, and read most of these books on his own. Some of them were about the nativity, and some were quirky Christmas books- like home alone, Santa duck, olive the other reindeer, pig the elf,  and how the Grinch stole Christmas (which is actually a long one). Dominic had fun reading one (or more) every night next to the tree. I think we will keep doing it for years to come. I know people try to recreate the nativity with their families...but our family has the attention span of flies, so we have not even tried to do it yet. But we try to tell them the Christmas story by using the little people nativity. It was nice to hear Ethan say..."it's Jesus birthday today". Someday, we'll get to Luke 2. There's a lot of hard words in there haha.

our book shelf for the month of December

Ethan loved this thing! But then he found the magnet tiles...haha

Dom..once again...got too many legos

Favorite present EVER 

We usually do a small treat for our neighbors and church friends, but because I was so caught up and stressed from parties, and planning and whatever, I just went to the Mexican store and got a bunch of Mexican conchas and EVERYONE got conchas and Mexican hot chocolate for Christmas, instead of Christmas sugar cookies or fudge...haha. In the end, I think it was the best decision I made. Everyone is so sick of getting fudge and cookies...at least I know I was. My neighbor across the street gave us like 3 dozen sugar cookies....it was so MUCH...plus whatever else friends had dropped off. It was just too much of the same. I liked the Mexican bread idea, because it's just different (in the end, yes, it is all sugar...but it's a different taste).  Everyone loved it! I was a bit scared, people were gonna look at me funny, haha, but it turned out so well. Everyone really enjoyed the hot chocolate and bread idea.It may be something I do from now on.

We got to eat tamales with my family on the night of the 24th. My family has always celebrated Dec 24th and then on Christmas Day is leftover day and you get to enjoy your presents. I think I like this better, than slaving away right after presents to make a nice dinner. The missionaries joined us and shared a small message. It was so nice to spend it with close family. And it's so sad to think that this may be the last Christmas we spent in this house....we did 3 Christmases here. This is the only house Ethan remembers. But I'll tell you all about that in the next post.......

Tamales...yum yum

He's asking for his own camera right now

Merry Christmas!