Christmas in Olathe - after submitting grades on Monday morning, we headed up to Olathe for our first Christmas celebration with Will's parents, Grammy and Gramps. The kids were also thrilled to spend time with their cousins Christina and Abby. We kicked off the celebration with the traditional cookie-decorating time!
Daniel decorated one of each type of cookie before deciding that he was done.
Annika and the girls lasted much longer.
A sampling of some of the finished products.
Christina and the kids had a marvelous time drawing together. They all loved the huge sheets of paper and the space on the floor to spread out.
I also noticed that Will's senior portrait is on display...and since Will has lost so much weight, he actually looks a lot like his Senior High self now. Of course, Daniel's comment was, "Dad, you have Elfin Ears!!"
Will and I could not convince anyone to join us for a walk outside, which was probably wise...I think it was 9 degrees with the windchill much colder.
Present Opening!
The kids were SO SUPER EXCITED for these Lego Ninjago sets, which were at the top of their Christmas lists. Thank you, Grammy and Gramps!!
Post gift-opening chaos.
The kids went next door to deliver cookies to a very helpful neighbor, but alas, no one was home. They went back and sang to everyone at our house instead. :)
Christmas in DeSoto - we stayed in DeSoto on Monday night and celebrated with Nonnie and Pa on Tuesday. The kids were up bright-eyed and bushy-tailed to start working on their Lego kits.
Present opening...thanks for the cat umbrella, Nonnie and Pa!
These socks are adorable.
We then headed out to Chick-Fil-A for lunch, followed by a Christmas Eve Candlelight service. This is one of my very favorite traditions for Christmas, but we are never in Manhattan for our own church's service. Thankfully, our old church when we lived in Kansas City (COR) had a multitude of services, including an "intergenerational" one at 1:00 p.m. We were thrilled that Nonnie could come with us, too!
Inside the sanctuary - I believe this seats over 3,000 people. (Not surprisingly, COR is the largest United Methodist church). This is the same sanctuary where Annika was baptized as a baby; they had just finished the new building and opened it a couple of months before she was baptized.
After the service, what more traditional Christmas Eve event to do than to stop at Baskin Robbins for some ice cream?
That evening, all of the DeSoto relatives came up for the traditional Christmas Eve celebration. It was wonderful to see everyone and it still blows my mind how grown up all of the "kids" are now.
Meanwhile, Annika and Daniel had set up shop in Nonnie and Pa's bedroom doing what else, but....building with Legos.
Some of the whole gang.
Annika got the dragon part finished on her Four Headed Lego Dragon and was very excited to show everyone.
Christmas in Manhattan - we drove back to Manhattan from Olathe and got home around 10:30 p.m. Of course, it was Christmas the next morning and none of Santa's gifts had been wrapped. Because Will is the Best Husband Ever, he told me to go to sleep and he would wrap everything. He took this picture after 2:30 a.m., when everything was finally wrapped and waiting under the tree. I think he gets the Santa's Gold Star Helper Award.
Daniel was the first one up on Christmas morning at 7:30 a.m., and discovered this helpful note left from Saint Nick - red presents were for Daniel and blue presents were for Annika.
The best part of Christmas morning...our Matching Dragon Pajama shirts from Thread were ready!! Thanks to Julie for picking them up from Thread for us the day before. This was the kids' idea and I am so glad that we implemented it. It looks like this is going to become a new Annual Tradition and the kids are already planning the dragon design for next year.
Awesome circuit kit from Aunt Denise!
More Legos!
Blue Razor Scooter, also at the top of Daniel's list.
New paints!
After the Christmas Bomb had gone off.
Daniel was very excited to dress up as a Ninja. He decided that the mask was uncomfortable, but that the nunchucks were awesome.
One of Annika's favorite presents were some blank canvases. She used her new paints to whip up this freehand painting of a cat. I cannot believe that this was her first time painting on canvas!
Christmas in Derby - we drove from Manhattan down to Derby around lunch for my extended family's Christmas at my Aunt Elaine and Uncle Warren's house. It was the first time in forever that all eight of us cousins were able to be there. We now have nine children between us, including three babies born just this year! My mom and Aunt Carolyn are below.
Aunt Elaine and Mom (aka Grandma).
Will holding Baby Owen, this newest member of the Rock Clan.
Cake pops!
Natalie with Eli and Baby Noah, born just a few months ago!
Christmas in Wichita - we headed back to my parents' (Grandma and Grandpa) house on Christmas evening. The kids got to open presents from Grandma and Grandpa and the Thorntons. They were thrilled to receive more Legos, including open-ended building sets. Thank you!!
Toddler Greg received books. Lots and lots of books. I think his favorite was this songbook below.
Star Wars Legos!
Painting with Cats!
The kids were in 7th Heaven with all of the Legos, and this is pretty much all that they did for the rest of our time here.
Reading Corduroy together.
On Thursday, we headed out for lunch at Spangles. This was Aunt Julie's old stomping ground - she worked the drive-in here when she was in high school.
This morning, we capped off our time in Wichita with our traditional McDonald's breakfast with the fam!
We hope that everyone had a very Merry Christmas and that your holidays were blessed! What did you do to celebrate?
1 comment:
Loved the update....and incredibly jealous that your Christmas morning didn't start until 7:30?!?!?! Collin was lobbying to be up for good starting at 5:40 a.m. at our house.....
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