Post Christmas Markham fun

Jesse's brother Luke, and his wife Lauren came for Christmas this year, so we ended up spending quite a bit of time with the Markhams in the days after Christmas.
The rest of our Christmas was nice. We spent some time at the "homestead" (Grammy and Grandad's house) after Church, and we had some pumpkin pancakes for lunch. The kids were able to open some of their presents from Grammy and Grandad. Which included a second wheel for the wii, as well as 2 more controllers. Since it was Christmas, I allowed them to break the no wii on Sunday rule, and they had fun playing each other in Mario Kart.

After that, we headed over to Seth and Heather's for dinner, and family presents. The kids did really well, and everyone had a great time. One of my favorite presents that I got this year was a quilt rack. Right now, the picture is on my phone, but one day I'll show it to all of you! (I know, waiting on the edge of your seat!)

The next day we came back to Purcellville. We started by doing some "treasure hunting" by looking for some local geocaches. The kids all had fun despite the fact that it was about 15* with 100 mph winds!

After geocaching, we went back to Seth and Heather's house for a lunch of leftovers, and then we made the annual pilgrimage to REI.

On Tuesday we actually were able to stay home for most of the day, first time since Friday. The boys played the wii quite a bit, and in general made even more of a mess than there was before. That evening we went back to Leesburg to take some family pictures. The last Markham family photo was taken when Graham was 3 weeks old. Unfortunately Jesse's older brother and younger brother never make it out at the same time, so it's impossible to get a real family photo with everyone in it, but we make due.

Wednesday we stayed home for most of the day again, but headed down to Seth and Heathers for a final dinner and campfire before Luke and Lauren left. I made up some cakepops from my new cakepop maker, and they were a hit.

But now Luke and Lauren have left, and we have just a few more days of Winter vacation. Nate goes back to school on Tuesday. Right now the goal is to pack up Christmas, and then to just keep on going, and pack up all of the things that we don't use very often, so start getting ready for a move. Who knows where to, but I just know that I have to get out of the place we're living in!

Christmas Morning

This year, since Christmas was on a Sunday, it was a very busy morning for us. We had plans to spend the day with Jesse's family, and were going to meet them at 10am to attend church with them. This actually allowed us to leave later than if we attended our own ward at 9am! So Jesse and I ended up getting up at 6am to get a start on our presents. At about 6:30 we heard noises upstairs, and went to find the boys. Nate was surprised when he was allowed downstairs, and said, it's still night time! It was difficult to stop them from having a free for all, but since we were in a bit of a hurry, we didn't slow them down too much.
They were especially happy about their Finn and Francesco. Nate got a box of costumes- Optimus Prime, and Bumblebee, as well as Wolverine and the Green Lantern. He loves them, and has spent quite a bit of time in them over the past few days.

Olivia woke up at about 7, and came downstairs to open her few presents.

Everyone got lots of presents that were on their list, and we were very blessed to have been able to have a lovely Christmas morning.

Christmas Eve

This year we spent Christmas Eve at my mom's house. We got there at about 11 and hung out for a little while. The boys were very good about playing and not asking when we were going to open presents. We had a turkey dinner in the early afternoon after Matt and Melissa joined us. After things were a little bit cleaned up, we got to open some presents. It was difficult for the boys to let Grandma open presents too, and Graham especially was looking for the next present. But this year Grandma gave us a Wii, which the boys were very excited about, and have already logged hundreds of hours on!

Graham waited semi-patiently for Jesse to set things up so that he could play.

This was the best present he's ever gotten!

Nate even got a turn! (And yes, Graham wore his pajamas all day!)

In the evening, we came home, and had baths and got on our new jammies that Grandma made for us.

We then let the kids open their first present. Each of them got a pillow pet/blanket combo.

The boys were not too bad going to bed that night, well, no worse than any other night this past month, so Jesse and I hung out for a little while before Santa came. And it should be noted that for the first time this year, Jesse was not wrapping any presents on Christmas Eve night! It was nice to be able to relax with him, because everything was ready in advance.

Our Christmas best!

My mom made a beautiful dress this year for my beautiful little girl. I then made matching ties out of the same material for the boys. Then we got a tie for Jesse, and then I just cried since I had nothing to match the rest of them. But with all of the boys wearing their suits, we were a nice looking little family!

Happy Christmas

There's magic in the air this evening, magic in the air! 'Tis the season to be jolly and joyous! With a burst of pleasure we feel it arrive. There's something in the wind today, that's good for everyone. Yes, faith is in our hearts today, we're shining like the sun. And everyone can feel it, the feeling's running deep. After all, there's only one more sleep till Christmas!

Gingerbread houses

My friend had a gingerbread making playgroup earlier this week. Nate was a school, so Graham and Olivia and I headed over. Everyone brought candies and stuff, and we all had a great time decorating things. It was interesting to note that those who had girls had a great time with their daughters decorating their houses. Those with boys ended up decorating on their own while the boys played with toys in the other room.

The boys ate for a day or two, and then I tossed the whole thing. I think that gingerbread houses are always better in theory than in real life!

The Minivan Express

So the kids have been into the Polar Express this week. Nate had a Polar Express party at school on Thursday, where they all wore pajamas to school and watched the movie. We borrowed the movie from my mom this week, and the book that we have came with a CD audio version, which they have been listening to at night. So I saw this idea on Pinterest last week, and I knew that it was up their alley. Although, I'm not really one of those "creative" type moms, but I thought that this would be worth it. Sometimes I put a lot of effort into things, and then the boys complain through it all, so I was worried about that, but this time, they were very excited and way into it.
We started with everyone getting a ticket, and changing into pajamas. We then piled into the minivan. Both Jesse and I pretended to punch tickets, and the kids thought that was really funny.

We then drove around and looked at Christmas lights. The kids got a little bored when there were several houses in a row that were not decorated, but they always love driving at night and seeing the lights, so this was exciting for them.

When we got home I had some bells that I gave them.

Olivia carried hers around for the rest of the night.

And then we had hot cocoa. This year Nate is into hot cocoa, or rather, warm cocoa.

Graham is still not so much into it. But he likes to pretend. He just drinks water in a mug.

So this was a successful Christmas evening. The kids thought this was the coolest thing, and we all enjoyed it. We may do it again next year.