Some of out finished products, which ones should we leave out for Santa?When we put the kids to bed on Christmas Eve we told them that they couldn't wake up until 7. But at 6 on Christmas morning Adam woke up to go potty and Jacob got up with him. I sent them both back to bed, but after hearing my mom and my brother get up to use the bathroom Randy and I decided that since everyone was awake we should just get up. So at 6:15 I went down stairs to get Jacob. When I opened the door he was in bed under the covers, but when he sat up I saw that he was fully dressed. I guess he was too excited to just go back to bed.
We had a fun time opening presents. The kids got some fun games and toys. Randy and I didn't get much for each other because we just bought a membership to the Rec Center that will be opening up behind our house. It was kind of expensive and so we decided that should be our Christmas to each other. He did surprise me with a wad of cash in my stocking for me to buy clothes. Santa also brought our family a big gift, a red Wii with several games. After opening presents we had a yummy Christmas morning breakfast. We had a Sausage and Egg Strata and a Blueberry French Toast Casserole with blueberry syrup. Natalie loved it!
Later in the day we met most of Randy's family at his brothers church building for a family dinner. We decided to do it at a church because there are just so many of us Wardles. Randy is one of six and between them we have 20 children. We were afraid that with all of those excited children Grandma's house would seem to small, and the church was a great place for them to run around.
Can you tell this is a girl with brothers? She goes for the monster truck instead of the doll.Jacob, of course, had the week off of school, and Randy took the week off of work. We had some fun days with Grandma Gina and Grandpa Sam going shopping, playing games, and playing with new toys. Grandma gave the boys these fun blocks. They built a tower almost to the ceiling.
While my parents were here we also did one of our other favorite holiday traditions, make tamales. I didn't take any pictures, but they turned out so good this year. Between the tamales and all the holiday treats I think I gained about 5 pounds. I guess my New Years Resolution will be to loose that.
The best thing about getting a Wii for Christmas is that it is a great bargaining tool for Jacob. He will do just about anything if he can play the Wii after. Jacob has a little problem with shoes. He slips his feet in and out of them without undoing them and smashes the backs. And, he won't leave his shoes on, even at school. His kindergarten teacher was okay with it, but it is not so good in 1st grade. He also wears his shoes out really fast, probably because he smashes the backs. I decided to buy him some nice shoes for Christmas, no more Payless special. I also decided to go with tie laces instead of velcro in the hopes that he will leave them on if they are tied tightly to his feet. But, I told him that the condition for getting these nice new shoes is that he had to learn to tie them before he goes back to school. To motivate him to learn we told him he couldn't play the wii until he could do it. After a morning of learning how Randy let him play Super Mario Bros. but every time he died he had to tie his shoes again. It turned into great practice. He still needs some practice, but he is getting it.
We have had such a fun time together as a family. I am kind of sad that tomorrow Jacob and Nathan go back to school and Randy has to go back to work. I love my family and I love spending all my time with them. It will be nice to get back into a routine thought and maybe tackle some News Years Resolutions.
