Merry Christmas

 Our Christmas was a little bit odd this year. While we were opening presents with Gramma and Grampa on Christmas Eve, I got a phone call from my family (who were supposed to be on a plane here) with some bad news. Mom had fainted while they were taxiing out of the terminal. She didn't know why exactly but the pilot said that she couldn't fly and would need medical clearance to be able to try again tomorrow. As you could imagine we were all pretty bumbed. So we decided that we would wait until they arrived to have Christmas. After an ER visit it was determined that Mom in fact had a bad case of the flu and that she wouldn't be able to fly at all. My family would not be joining us for Christmas after all. 

So at 4:00 a.m. Santa decided that he would come to our house. It was actually kind of fun getting everything together while the house slumbered. I was so excited for Ethnie to wake up to presents that I could hardly sleep.

 Her facial expression as she came down the stairs was priceless. I love the magic of Christmas.

 She was so excited once she spotted her slide! She gave me the cheesiest smile. 

 Her little legs just couldn't get there fast enough.

 Pure joy! She would go down, then she would grab Ellie and Elmo and say "Elmo urn" "I urn" (Elmo turn, my turn) and she would push them down with squeals of delight. 

 Duke Manfred was so excited he could hardly keep his clothes on. Alright, this may be a 9 month outfit that he is busting out of. Such a chunk. 

He really enjoyed playing with the crinkly wrapping paper. 

 Ethnie was so involved with her slide she really wasn't interested in opening any other presents. I would ask her if she wanted to open one and she would look at me and say "No" all nonchalantly and continue playing. It was actually nice to open presents slowly.

 Daddy spoiled me with a fancy tablet with all of the features that I wanted. I was very excited!! 

Daddy got a few treasuers inculding some reloading gear. He was pretty stoked to try things out. Once everything was all said and done I was looking at his pile of gifts and I couldn't help but think that something was missing. About 20 minutes later I realized that some of his gifts were still upstairs. (more like 5 of his gifts). Santa gets sloppy at 4:00 a.m. ;)

 Ethnie was spoiled with books, puzzles, clothing and toys. I don't think she could have been happier. 

 Duke finally got some toys to call his own. Lots of times E would notice him playing with something that was "hers." Yes she needs to share obviously but now he has his own toys too and I think everyone likes that. 

 E was pretty insistant that we put every last piece of paper in the garbage bag as we opened presents so we didn't really have a glorious mess at the end. She did love playing with Daddy's massive box and using it as a slide (even though she got a slide for Christmas.) Such a silly girl. Why do kids love boxes so much?

 Another Christmas surprise. Duke rolled over from his back to his tummy. He is now mobile and prefers being on his stomach so he can look around. 

 Gosh this boy is cute!! We spent the afternoon Skyping home to Canada, and lounging around in our PJ's. It was actually really nice to simply relax and play.

 We headed over to Mom & Dad's in the evening for some turkey sandwiches and soup. My mouth is watering just typing about it. Jakob then challeneged us to a game of scrabble. Peanut liked to help. 

 Jakob won of course. It was a wonderful Christmas. Not the one we were expecting but still magical non the less. I hope you and yours had a Merry Christmas as well. I am rather sad that the holidays are now behind us. This is my favorite time of the year.

Christmas Eve

 Since my family was coming down for Christmas day we spent Christmas Eve with Gramma and Grampa and just pretended it was Christmas. We're all about not celebrating holidays on the actual day, first Thanksgiving now Christmas, we'll see what happens for Easter. :)

 We started our day off by having Gramma and Grampa come down for breakfast. Mom made omelets and they were delicious. Grampa and Ethnie drummed outside with Ethnie's toy buckets and shovels. They were too cute! 

 We then headed over to Tivolli Square to ride the train & of course stop in at Charming Charlie. Buy one get one free clearance! Merry Christmas to me! We then stopped in to see Santa, from a distance of course, Ethnie has made up her mind about him. I think the picture above has got to be one of my top ten favorites. You just can't fake a smile like that.

  

Time to ride the train!! I swear Ethnie was having a good time. She was just trying to get the door open. 

 

E climbed out of the car and then tried to hand her tickets to the driver rubbing her chest (her sign for please) and said "Moa" (More). She was a bit disappointed that her tickets were only good for one ride. Thank you for finding a train Grampa! E sure had fun!

Duke Manfred had a good time too! 

 We then returned to Mom & Dad's and put the little ones down. Ahh silence, time to break out the Graham Cracker Houses!

 The candy just happened to be two years old, but that didn't stop Dad!

 The final products. Dad Tobler rocking a fabulous temple.

 Mom Tobler breaking away from her traditional house with a beautiful manger scene. It even had sheep poop. :)

 Aren't they just spiritual.

We were a little more random. 

 Not exactly sure what I was going for. My vision wasn't working.

 Jakob with an igloo?? He was rather funny nibbling his pieces down to size.

 Once the little people woke up it was time to play by the tree...

 ... and nap by the tree. Ethnie was kind enough to share her Ellie and Silky with Grampa while he napped.

 Sampling some whipping cream while watching Chevy Chase.

 Mr. Duke enjoying his first Christmas.

 Turkey dinner with all the fixings!!! YUM!

Ethnie was picking out all of the M&M's. It was too precious for me to tell her to stop. 

 We then gathered around the tree to open presents. It was a perfect day full of festive activities.

The best part though, was spending the day with these two. They are the best Christmas present of all!

Duke's First Christmas

 Since it is Duke Manfred's first Christmas I had to do a little photo shoot with his Santa hat on. Cutest little man EVER!

Ethnie wanted to be in a few pictures too. It's so rare that I can get them both to look at me at the same time. 

 

This right here is what it's all about. I am to thankful for my darling children and for how they bless our lives. They are my greatest Christmas present of all!

OCD

 One evening while I was fixing supper, Jakob called me into the living room to watch Peanut. Here was little Ethnie lining up all of her little blocks in a row. 

 She was very precise, patient and thorough. She would only line up the yellow ones & they had to be perfectly straight, if they weren't she'd start all over again.

 A few times jakob would bump one or put a blue one in and E would look at it with her eye brows furrowed, sigh and start again. It was both, sad, adorable and scary. I admit I'm OCD, but that is not something I want for my children. Dedicated yes, detailed yes but obsessive no. It is always cuter when she does obsessive things though.

 Checking over her work....

... and starting again because it was bent in the middle. She went on like this for 20 minutes or more. In the end it was precious. She pays very close attention to detail and that will help her in the future. I sure do love our little Peanut. She always makes me smile.

The Best Nights...

...are the ones where we don't do anything but sit on the floor and play with our little people. What is more fun than fighting with wrapping paper rolls?

 Ethnie threw the roll at Daddy like a spear. 

 I was attempting to do a size comparison but neither of my children would sit still long enough for me to get a good picture. At just shy of five months old Duke is already up to Ethnie's shoulders. 

 Such a handsome fellow. Gosh I love that boy!

Here's looking at you. I love nights like these! I think that is going to be my number one goal come the new year... enjoy.