I'll start with Halloween, which was fun. We had a princess, the Incredible Hulk and an adorable pumpkin. All of which aquired much too much candy. We still have a grocery bag today. I'm eating out of it right now. Brem took the other bag to work, thank goodness.
Then Thanksgiving happened. We went to my parent's home for the big lunch and ate, at least Brem and I did. The kids ate next to nothing because they wanted to play with all of their cousins instead, which is great, except that when we were leaving they decided that they were starving. They had to wait until we got to Brem's parent's home where we ate, again. It was great! I like food, a little too much as a matter of fact.
Then we had Christmas. This was a lot of fun as well. Our Christmas morning happened twice. Once on Christmas Eve, since that is when we had Lexi, and then again on the actual day, for Gavin. Ryan celebrated on both days, still not really understanding what was happening except that she gets to rip paper which is really cool. Gavin did not get presents the first time Santa came because he decided that even if he wasn't good, Santa would still bring him a Thomas train. So, he tested this theory. I don't know how many times over at least the whole week before Christmas I had to tell him that Santa wouldn't come if he wasn't good and didn't obey but because I said it he had to test it. He did the opposite of everything I said, at least that is how it felt for a whole week. I have no idea how many time he went to time out. I even lost count of how many times I went to time out so that he could live for another day. On Christmas eve after he found no presents for him, just a card and presents for Lexi and Ryan he turned into the little angel I know he can be, it was great! Merry Christmas to me. It about broke our hearts trying to decide if with holding Christmas presents from our 3 year old could be called cruel and unusual punishment, but after he was so good we decided it definately was not cruel, just a little unusual. Anyway, it all turned out well for everyone and we all had a merry Christmas.
We also had a special visit from the big guy at the Schramm family Christmas party. It was a lot of fun.
Next was New Year's eve which we spent at my brother's house with his and my sister's families. It was fun. We ate a bunch of junk food and played video games all night long. You know you are getting old though, when the kids want to stay up playing and you are way more than ready for bed, and it isn't even midnight yet.
And finally, we had Gavin's birthday party. It was utter chaos, but I think all of the kids had fun. I don't know what I was thinking, 14 children under the age of six is completely insane. I didn't think I invited that many, but that is how many came. It was a Spongebob party so the kids were in the sea (decorated by Karen) with Spongebob's house (built by Brem). Next year we will be having a party somewhere else, or no party at all.
