The twins started out our week of Christmas celebrations with their Christmas program the day before they got out of school. It was so cute and they all did a great job. Bennett even stepped out of his comfort zone and had a little part where he sang with a couple other kids. Quite the change from his preschool program.
The next day was the last day of school. Ellie was off with her friend gifts and Lincoln and the twins had their parties. They were at the same time, so I was only able to go to the twins. They had a Polar Express party for the whole second grade. They had different activities in different rooms, so I helped out with crafts in one of the rooms. The kids had fun roaming around to the different rooms.
Lincoln had ballgames the next day in Schuyler. Ellie and Jackson got to spend the day helping my parents out around the house since they were running a little behind with everything going on. Ellie became quite the wrapper. We got to celebrate my birthday the next day. Andrew and I actually went out to eat at Pear Tree a couple nights before to celebrate early. I spent most of the day cooking and baking and then we had dinner and red velvet cake at my parents on my actual birthday. Mark and Cheryl were in town, so they joined us too.
The next day I let the kids do their sibling gift exchange and they were all happy with the end result. Jackson gave Miles an Avengers Lego set. Ellie gave Jackson some socks and pull up resistance bands. Lincoln gave Ellie a bluetooth speaker and snow cone syrup. Miles gave Bennett the same Avengers Lego set, and Bennett gave Lincoln the talking Monopoly game. Then they got to open up their pjs. I did totally matching sets this year. Then we headed over to my parents house since some of my siblings were getting into that day.
We had some nice weather for Christmas Eve, so we took the kids to the YMCA playground for a bit. The wind was blowing though, so it was a tad chilly. The kids were able to run off some energy though. They all got to play together and then we went home for a bit to get ready for our church service. Our service was pretty simple, but also special. I'm glad we were able to go. Then we went to my parents house for dinner and Santa came to visit. Sadie and Emmie were pretty funny because they kept giving Santa hugs hoping they would get more candy. Emmie even changed outfits. And they already looked pretty funny to begin with because they had just put on tons of makeup. Then it was home to change into pjs, put out reindeer food, the special Santa key and milk and cookies for Santa. The kids were so excited and kept negotiating an early time they were allowed to come downstairs. We finally settled on 6:45. Since it was an off year, we didn't go to Midnight Mass. While I love going, it is also nice to have Andrew help me with presents and get to bed at a decent time. This year we gave all the kids mattresses, so he helped me build our tree of mattresses in the basement.
The kids were up early the next day, but we stuck to the 6:45. It is fun hearing them all talk and giggle waiting at the top of the steps until we tell them they can come down. Then they run down the stairs and head to the presents. Some of the favorites this year were for Jackson-a dropper post for his bike, ear buds and a phone. For Ellie-phone, basketball and sequin pillow with a picture of her and Andrew. And for the three younger boys, they all really liked their wireless Switch controllers and Nerf guns. Lincoln's was huge. We were able to get things picked up and let the kids enjoy their gifts for a bit before we made our way over to my parents to open presents there. They tried to control the chaos a little bit by not allowing the kids to get any of the presents and handing them all out. It helped, but there is definitely going to be chaos with 20 kids opening presents. They all love it though. Then we enjoyed brunch before we headed back to our house. The kids played with their presents and we moved their new mattresses upstairs so they could still setting up while they did a sleepover at my parents that night. We put all of their old mattresses out in the driveway and posted them for free on swap shop. I got tons of messages and they were all gone when we got home that night. That night we had dinner at my parents. My Grandpa Mike, Karen, Janet and Tom were all there. And then we did the cousin and sibling gift exchange after dinner. The twins and Ellie stayed the night, but Lincoln came home with us. He wasn't feeling well and ended up with a ear ache in the middle of the night. My dad checked his ear the next day and he did have an ear infection, which is no fun.
Sara and her family came in the next day and the fun continued. The next evening we went out to Andrew's parents for Christmas. We had dinner out there and opened gifts. Andrew's parents got a Polaris, so they also had fun taking that out for a ride. We missed Annie, Brad and their kids.
I started getting sick that day and was sick the rest of the break. No fun at all. They had a dinner at Colton's a couple days later for all the people that work and help at the ranch, but I skipped out while Andrew took the kids. I think the kids enjoyed me not feeling that great as they got to play a lot of video games. Andrew did put them to work every now and then to help clean up the house. Thankfully we didn't have a whole lot going on besides basketball practices and a few games. Besides getting sick and the anxiousness surrounding Kaitlin's situation, we had a very nice Christmas and a wonderful time spent with family.
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