This was a great Christmas. I feel like we still have more "Christmas" to anticipate as my parents are still here, Abbie is still in town, Doug will be taking some time off and our friends from Australia will be visiting for over a week starting tomorrow night. I'm glad the excitement didn't all end at midnight last night. I love stretching this season out - the snow, the lights, the love, the giving...such a wonderful, reflective time to be so grateful for all the blessings God has given us.
Our first Christmas present arrived in that Gramma & Grampa came to stay with us last Tuesday through the holiday. They, as always, have been a huge help entertaining the kids amidst the winter doldrums. They also helped us prepare for our impromptu Christmas Eve party with some neighbors and friends. Here's Tavin doing his part...
Gramma & Grampa got in on the cookie-making as well.
Grampa is really enjoying building his repore with Tavin and is willing to do just about anything to spend time with him, including crawling around with him on the floor. Grampa is such a good sport!
Grampa and Gramma have also had a lot of active playtime with the boys. Koen has developed a new game he enjoys playing with Gramma in the playroom where they "go to work." They sit in the window and wait until they see a bus go by on the street below. When it does, Koen rushes them into his bedroom where they pretend to ride the bus to work. They work at the zoo, by the way. After they work, they get on the bus in Tavin's room (it goes the opposite direction on the way home, so they can't use his room again). Then they take a brief rest on the floor with pillows and blankets (Gramma's favorite part), but that only lasts for an instant and Koen springs to life and they are back in the window waiting for the bus to take them to work again. So cute! Gramma is a trooper and enjoys watching Koen's imagination run wild.
We had a nice few days leading up to Christmas with G&G and then Christmas Eve was special just preparing for the party, making cookies with Koen, going to the lovely Christmas Eve service at Northway Oakland and then home to celebrate with friends and family.
Christmas morning I got up a little before 7am. To my delight, we had a fresh covering of snow! A White Christmas!!!!!
I love being up before everyone on Christmas: lighting the candles, turning on Christmas music, setting up breakfast. It was the perfect start to the day.
Tavin slept in well that morning and after I got him up, he and Doug and I went up to wake up Koen.
Due to the party the night before, Koen had gone to bed about an hour late. He had only just woken up around 8am and was still quite sleepy when we got to him. We brought in his stocking to him and he seemed quite passive about the idea of getting to open a gift in bed. =) The gifts by the way were really lame. Two things Doug had won at a White Elephant gift exchange a few weeks ago. Koen thought they were fun though and perked up as he opened the gifts and the realization that it really was Christmas hit him.
We all headed down to breakfast and slowly the rest of the family got up and ready to come down too.
So one of the little stocking gifts was an expandable toys (where you put it in water and it gets bigger). So we threw this Abonimable Snowman (the character from the classic Rudolph movie) in a bowl of water. Nothing happened. I look at the package. It says, "can take up to 10 days to grow to full size." We totally burst out laughing. So much for that fun distraction. Koen was a good sport and now we have a pitcher of water with a slowly growing snowman inside. Hilarious! I'll have to let you all know how the growing goes after a few days. =)
Soon after breakfast we settled into opening presents. My family is a slow present opening family. We like to linger in the giving. Doug enjoys a faster process, but after 10 Christmases, he has gotten used to our glacial pace and does pretty well. Koen also dealt pretty well with everyone taking turns opening presents, helping us pass out presents, helping everyone open their presents, etc. He was very into presents this year, but we've been trying to help him understand that presents are just a way to celebrate what Christmas is really about. So to start the morning we read a sweet book called, "Santa's Favorite Story." Koen was into the storytime and it was fun to all focus on the real meaning of Christmas before we all dove in.
Koen did resume to "I want to open a present, no, one with a toy in it" eventually. We had to just remind ourselves he's 3 and just move on. Like I said though, he did very well. We didn't really do too much with getting new toys, but he did get some ebay train parts to add to his hand-me-down trains and he got some new trains for them too.
He also got a trash truck he was really into.
It was so cute when he would open up something he was excited about. He would say, "oh my goodness!" He really enjoyed getting a snuggly blanket from my mom.
Tavin got one too.
Tavin did really well Christmas morning as well. He basically just entertained himself and "opened" a few presents with Koen's help.
Later he took a nap and missed the rest of the present opening. It was crazy for me to think about the fact that last year at Christmas Tavin was a week old and this year he was crawling and pulling himself up on things. What an amazing change in one year! Check it out...
We had a nice light lunch of fun snacks. Then Koen played a little more until he went up to nap. In the afternoon Dad and Doug put up a new porch light which was my big surprise Christmas gift. It is beautiful. I'm so excited about it! The rest of the afternoon we relaxed and put things away, cleaned up, etc. Doug prepared a delicious meal for all of us and after the boys woke up we all enjoyed it. Tavin especially, he is just amazing. He is consistently out-pacing Koen now in most of his meals. The kid can eat! Here's a cute picture of him in the last present that he opened after his nap (he had missed getting to open it in the morning because of naptime).
Later we got the boys to bed and then really could relax. We hung out and played Apples to Apples (a new game we got from my parents...so fun!). Such a wonderful day with family. Again, I have to say, I love Christmas!
Mo also enjoyed watching the Elephants. We stayed in the Elephant house for awhile. The baby is so cute!
We all had a nice family time just strolling through the zoo.
Koen was a little overtired today as he didn't really nap yesterday. It is crazy to me that with 12 hours of sleep a night he is still tired and needs that afternoon nap, but I'm going to enjoy it as long as I can! Tavin slept through most of the zoo trip. He took and hour and a half nap in the stroller! He did get some babyBjorn time after that which I forgot to catch on camera. With how big he's getting and how many layers he is in due to the chill, he looks pretty stuffed into that thing now. Here's a picture of the cute man having his real fun of the day reorganizing the pantry.
Koen was very brave and climbed up this "spider web" in the Garage Workshop room. He got stuck halfway up and Doug had to talk him through it. Finally he made it up to the top, but he was pretty shaken up. Douglas is a great Dad though and got him settled in just a few minutes of reassurance.
Koen always love the "Garage Workshop" room. There is usually a Mini Cooper there to play in. Today it was an exciting suprise that they had replaced it with a Smart Car! Koen quickly hopped into line to work on the vehicle and pretend to drive it.
Tavin was a trooper as usual. It was so loud and chaotic at the museum that he didn't get a chance to fall asleep for his morning nap. He spent quite a bit of time hanging out in the stroller with his blanket though resting. The rest of the time he was pleasant and enjoyed exploring the Baby Floor they have there. 
The older boys absolutely loved the water room. This was probably a favorite for both of them. There aren't many pictures of the boys playing together because they each found favorites along the way throughout the museum to stop at and explore, but in the water room we all met up, had some fun and then headed on to the cafe area for our packed lunch (thank you, Douglas, it was great!). Another great morning for our family and as friends. So much fun having this little break from our normal routine to share time with these dear friends. 
Last night V and I went out to go winter clothes shopping for their son, Mo, and we left Doug and Nic with all the boys at dinner time. They actually did great as you can see with Tavin's look during his meal. He ate so much food, Doug was amazed! Happy little eater!
After a rough night for Mo and his parents, Nic & V suggested a DVD for the boys. Koen was more than thrilled to join in on that action. The boys got snuggly under a blanket and enjoyed an episode of Chuggington.
Mo got his first sledding experience today. Doug, Nic & Mo spent hours shopping for boots for Mo, finally after 9 stores they had success. They celebrated by going to Frick Park for a first-time sled ride. Mo was a big fan (although Nic said the first run was a little messy and he sprayed Mo in the face with the snow).
Tavin got some Daddy time tonight as I finished dinner preparations. As you can see, he loves his time with his Dad. Doug missed the boys after his errand day out, it was cute to see how excited Tavin was to spend some time with Douglas.
Koen has been enjoying the random extra tracks Doug got off of ebay for his Christmas present. The trains have been a great play option when Koen needs some downtime from entertaining guests. In general, the boys are doing awesome learning to play together and sharing with one another. It's fun to see the kids develop a relationship with a friend from across the world!
Grampa is really enjoying building his repore with Tavin and is willing to do just about anything to spend time with him, including crawling around with him on the floor. Grampa is such a good sport!
Grampa and Gramma have also had a lot of active playtime with the boys. Koen has developed a new game he enjoys playing with Gramma in the playroom where they "go to work." They sit in the window and wait until they see a bus go by on the street below. When it does, Koen rushes them into his bedroom where they pretend to ride the bus to work. They work at the zoo, by the way. After they work, they get on the bus in Tavin's room (it goes the opposite direction on the way home, so they can't use his room again). Then they take a brief rest on the floor with pillows and blankets (Gramma's favorite part), but that only lasts for an instant and Koen springs to life and they are back in the window waiting for the bus to take them to work again. So cute! Gramma is a trooper and enjoys watching Koen's imagination run wild.
So one of the little stocking gifts was an expandable toys (where you put it in water and it gets bigger). So we threw this Abonimable Snowman (the character from the classic Rudolph movie) in a bowl of water. Nothing happened. I look at the package. It says, "can take up to 10 days to grow to full size." We totally burst out laughing. So much for that fun distraction. Koen was a good sport and now we have a pitcher of water with a slowly growing snowman inside. Hilarious! I'll have to let you all know how the growing goes after a few days. =)
Soon after breakfast we settled into opening presents. My family is a slow present opening family. We like to linger in the giving. Doug enjoys a faster process, but after 10 Christmases, he has gotten used to our glacial pace and does pretty well. Koen also dealt pretty well with everyone taking turns opening presents, helping us pass out presents, helping everyone open their presents, etc. He was very into presents this year, but we've been trying to help him understand that presents are just a way to celebrate what Christmas is really about. So to start the morning we read a sweet book called, "Santa's Favorite Story." Koen was into the storytime and it was fun to all focus on the real meaning of Christmas before we all dove in.
Koen did resume to "I want to open a present, no, one with a toy in it" eventually. We had to just remind ourselves he's 3 and just move on. Like I said though, he did very well. We didn't really do too much with getting new toys, but he did get some ebay train parts to add to his hand-me-down trains and he got some new trains for them too. 
We had a nice light lunch of fun snacks. Then Koen played a little more until he went up to nap. In the afternoon Dad and Doug put up a new porch light which was my big surprise Christmas gift. It is beautiful. I'm so excited about it! The rest of the afternoon we relaxed and put things away, cleaned up, etc. Doug prepared a delicious meal for all of us and after the boys woke up we all enjoyed it. Tavin especially, he is just amazing. He is consistently out-pacing Koen now in most of his meals. The kid can eat! Here's a cute picture of him in the last present that he opened after his nap (he had missed getting to open it in the morning because of naptime).
Later we got the boys to bed and then really could relax. We hung out and played Apples to Apples (a new game we got from my parents...so fun!). Such a wonderful day with family. Again, I have to say, I love Christmas!
After all of that they had me suit up so that I could accompany him to the OR and then be with him as they put him under. I was not mentally prepared for what that is like. I've been through it before, but I've never watched it occur. It was really sad and scary to me. Koen screamed into the mask where they administered the "gas" and due to the large breaths he was taking he fell asleep really quickly. It is disturbing to watch your child go unconscious. I really hope I don't have to do it again. After he fell asleep, the doctor took the mask off and told me I could give him a kiss. I held myself together, but I was really actually crying. 
He did very well, but was definitely overly emotional and fragile due to the lack of sleep and the anesthesia.
