Christmas 2013

We had a very low key christmas this year.  Last year we had a party and went all out.  This year we didn't do much but wow I loved it!  We of course went caroling and I made WAY too many treats, we still have about half left.  Oops.  Then on Christmas we woke up opened presents, ate breakfast, took naps, went to  movie, and had one of our friends over.  It was very relaxing and enjoyable.  Now Shawn is back at work and we're all sad its over.  I'm ready for spring now!  We managed to take pictures and Shawn took a slow motion video of the kids coming down the stairs that is hilarious because he sounds so weird.  We didn't send out christmas cards this year, so I'll try and post something here on the blog.  It was our lazy Christmas, sorry guys.  We hope everyone had a great Christmas and we miss our family!

Devin was really cold for some reason. 

He perked up when he opened his present though.

Caroline so excited to have an American Girl doll, even if it is tiny.

Building legos.

And even more legos, it took about 4 hours to build it. 

He was so proud.

Graham even got in on the lego action.  He's definitely still learning though.

Pre Christmas

Christmas kind of snuck up on me this year.  I felt totally unprepared, but it really wasn't a big deal.  We kept a few of our traditions alive this year, or really just making a gingerbread house.  In the past I've made gingerbread and we would build a nice big house.  This year we opted for graham crackers and a few premade kits with some friends.  It was so low key and fun.  I also made some gingerbread men for Devin's christmas party at school, so I'll throw in a few pictures of those as well.

I forgot we went to a christmas party at Vanderbilt.  The kids made lots of crafts that got thrown away the next day but they had a good time so it was a success.

Devin making a snowman.

And telling Santa what they wanted for Christmas.

Devin at his class party, its fun getting to see him in his classroom.

One of the MANY lego sets built in the past month.

And Graham's "gingerbread" house.  Shawn may have helped him a bit.  

And Devin putting his together.

And Graham eating his.

Quick Update and a Recipe

As much as I'd love to leave that last post up for forever so I can constantly be reminded of our trip, its time for a new post.  It hasn't really felt like Christmas yet.  I think that week we were gone threw me off ,and its 60 degrees outside, we're not done Christmas shopping, I haven't done any thing in the form of a Christmas card, and I have done zero baking for Christmas Eve caroling.  Well I lie I did make a really yummy gingerbread cookie yesterday for Devin's class party.  I love this recipe so much its a shame I only make it once a year.  I'll post it at the bottom because I told my friend that I'd put it up here.

Now for an update.
Caroline is great besides the fact she has gotten to be a little too sassy for my taste sometimes but I can't complain much because she is a great kid.
Devin needs constant work and by work I feel like he's way behind Caroline when she was in kindergarten.  We do a reading lesson every night but I feel like I still need to teach him about a million things. Kindergarten is not my favorite.
Graham is has a constant stream of words coming out of his mouth.  He loves to talk so much!  When he was asked by his primary teachers what his favorite thing about primary was he said, "talking." He is Shawn's child for sure!
Shawn and I are counting down the days until his next vacation.  Well I am anyways.  He is on a very busy service and I can't wait to have more family time come Saturday.  He starts his Christmas vacation then and I"m sure it'll be a lot cheerier around here when he's home.

Ok so here's the gingerbread recipe
3 c all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 t cinnamon
3/4 t ginger
1/2 t allspice
1/2 t cloves
1/2 salt
1/4 t freshly ground pepper
8 T butter at room temp
1/4 c vegetable shortening, at room temp
1/2 c light brown sugar
2/3 c unsulfured molasses
1 lg egg

Sift flour, soda, cinnamon, ginger, allspice, cloves, salt, and pepper into medium bowl and set aside.

In a large bowl combing butter and shortening until well combined about 1 min.  Add the brown sugar and beat until te mixture is light in texture and color, about 2 minutes.  Beat in the molasses and egg.  Gradually mix in the flour mixture to make a stiff dough.  Divide dough into two thick disks ane wrap in plastic wrap.  Refrigerate until chill about 3 hours.

Roll out cookies to desired thickness (I like my cookies thick and chewy) on floured surface, cut our shapes and bake at 350 for 8 minutes, for thick cookies.  I don't know how long for thinner cookies, mine are always thick.  If dough gets too soft to work with knead scraps together and chill for about 5 minutes.

Disney Day 4

Friday was our last day full day of vacation.  We didn't even go into the park that day, just hung around the hotel and had TONS of fun.  The first time we walked around our hotel I didn't think it was that cool and then on Friday when we walked around again we discovered way more stuff to do! There were several pools, a water slide, water fall, sand volleyball, basketball courts.  I kind of wish we had discovered all the cool stuff earlier in the week, but to be honest we probably wouldn't have been able to do it all.  It wasn't too exciting which after Graham jumping into the pool the last time boring was a welcome change.  Later the night we went to downtown Disney so we could eat dinner and have the kids pick out a souvenir.  Everything was fine until we waited in line for dinner.  They told us a 35 minute wait and we thought, "Great not bad."  And then we actually waited an hour at subpar, overpriced, food in the loudest environment known to man. with lights that changed color that almost gave me a seizure.  If you're ever in Downtown Disney skip the T-Rex restaurant, trust me on this. We did have a great time picking out the kids gifts though, definitely one of the better moments of the night.

Thankfully they had life jackets so I was less stressed about Graham, that thing never left his body while we were at the pool.

Caroline got some great swimming practice while we were there.

Look at her go!

Nicely done!

Go Caroline!

Devin was really excited about swimming so I tried to teach him a few things while we were there.  He did great!

Nice pool!

These two fight kind of a lot but they were great buddies that day. 

Graham insisted his picture be taken as well.

And Devin warming up.

Shawn and Devin building is light saber.

Can you guess who that is?  It was a long ride home.

Sweet Graham was cold so he put his hands inside the arm cushions on his arms to keep warm.  Funny kid.  I really wish we could take a vacation like that every year, it was amazing, and much needed.  Best vacation EVER!!!

Disney Day 3

Day three had some bumps in the road at the beginning of the day but by the end of the day it was maybe one of my favorite days there.  Shawn started the day at the conference and we went into the park to meet up with Sandra and Phillip.  Devin wasn't too thrilled that he couldn't go on whatever ride he wanted but I reminded him that Shawn would be with us later and that seemed to keep him happy.  We tried going on a few rides by ourselves and I thought it would be lots of fun and it would have been if Devin wouldn't have thrown a huge fit because he had to sit by Caroline.  I was trying to be patient with him but on the second ride when I had to physically put him in the ride and push the bar down to keep him from moving I was done.  We then split up and Sandra and Phillip were saints and took the boys while I took Caroline and Maya to see Rapunzel.  Thankfully Shawn left the conference early and met up with us not long after.  I was so happy to see him I almost cried.  I can't explain how much better our vacation was when Shawn was with us.  The kids were a little more than I could handle on my own at times.  He was constantly cheery and optimistic.  Anyways once we met up with Shawn we hung out with Sandra and Phillip some more then said goodbye to them and headed over to Hollywood Studios for some low key fun.  We started off at the Tower of Terror which was really fun but I held onto Graham's shirt the entire time because I was sure he was going to fly out of his seat.  We took more time walking around finding things to do.  Caroline, Graham, and I watched a short play of Beauty and the Beast play while Shawn and Devin went on a real roller coaster that does flips and  everything.  We later went back to the hotel and ordered dinner from Chili's.  Not fancy but after walking around Disney World and days eating trail mix and beef jerky, Chili's was one of the best dinners I've had in a while.  Enough talk, onto pictures.

Waiting in line for the carousel. 

Devin was only willing to ride this as long as we found a boyish horse. 

Maya and Graham

Caroline and Maya

And Devin on his very masculine horse. 

Caroline and Maya waiting to see Rapunzel and Snow White.  These girls are so cute!

Caroline was very shy and refused to tell her she was Caroline's favorite.

And Snow White, I kind of felt bad for Snow White because come on I don't think kids like her nearly as much as Rapunzel.

I was so tired from walking around so while Shawn took the big kids on Space Mountain Graham and I went on the People Mover.  Sounds lame and little it is but it was really nice to sit down.

Sweet baby Castle. I never heard this kid cry, he was so laid back.  He wasn't too pleased I was watching him while his mom and dad went on a ride.

We actually got a group picture!

Watching a Muppets show together.

Come on, how cute is that?

The kids were so tired and ready to go back to the hotel.  We were smart enough to take a boat straight back to hotel that night.

I'm not sure what the kids are doing here.  Shawn took this one.  Yet another awesome day at Disney.

Disney Day 2

I almost forgot to post about the rest of our trip!  Wednesday we took a break from the park and hung out with Sandra and Phillip at their hotel while Shawn got to listen to people lecture on surgery.  I'm quite confident we got the better end of the deal!   The resort Sandra and Phillip were at was nice!  We went swimming in the heated pool, rode these huge bike things that seat six people, and went on paddle boats, climbed a rock wall and basically had an amazing time.  Later that night when Shawn was done with the conference we walked around Downtown Disney and went to Disney Quest which is basically a huge arcade.  They also had some virtual rides which oddly enough the kids were not tall enough to ride.  Kind of dumb that they could ride the real space mountain but not the pretend version of it.  Anyways, after some dinner we took waited at the bus stop to take us back to the hotel got on a bus, sat for about 30 minutes before realizing we were not on the right bus.  It was less than fun.  Apparently the bus stop had two busses.  One for a single resort that is HUGE and another for 4 other hotels.  It was almost 10 when we figured it out but the bus driver was nice enough to take us dummies back to our hotel.  Anyways on to the pictures!

Devin taking a snack break.

This is from our first day but I forgot to put it in.

Caroline having fun in the pool.

Uncle Phillip teaching Graham the beginnings of how to swim.  Unfortunately Graham took that first swim lesson to mean he could now do laps in the pool, and a few minutes later when the adults were sitting on the  sides of the pool Graham decided he'd go for a swim without parents or a floatie!  I saw him very quickly but that is the scariest thing ever!  He cried and then perked up and said, "At least I didn't get hurt!"  This child is insane!

A view from the balcony of Sandra and Phillip's room.  Their balcony was bigger than our hotel room!  

Caroline with the LEGO friend girl a the LEGO store. 

The kids in front of Buzz and Woody.

And now the Hulk.  All these were made of legos.  It was awesome.  

Graham trying to play a racing game.  He didn't win. :)

Devin playing a Star Wars racer game.  

And Shawn playing the same game.  Shawn and Devin had a ton of one on one time this trip.  It was one of the best things about going.  They had a great time hanging out together.  We had a great second day despite Graham trying to kill himself and us sitting on the wrong bus for half an hour.  I'd still do it again in a heartbeat!  Well I'd be ok if Graham didn't jump in the pool.