Alright, I haven't posted in forever, but I wanted to record the festivities at the Nadolski house this year. It was quite the exciting several days. Starting before anyone even arrived. On Monday night mr. Cole took a face plant and split his lips open, bruised his gums and knocked several teeth loose. Poor baby. Then he wound up with a cold. It made things a challenge for him. Especially eating.
Things started off on Tuesday when mom and dad got here, earlier than we expected. Which meant that, unfortunately for them, they got to help with the final cleanup. On Wednesday morning we went to Alex's play (more later). Brian got to the house in time for dinner and Marcella and Cole got here later that night. Then deanna got here on Thursday. Once everyone got here the fun started.
On Thursday Cole and Dylan had their own band going on. Guitar, piano, and vocals. They were singing up a storm on all of the Christmas songs they could think of. It was very loud and fun.
On Thursday Cole and Dylan had their own band going on. Guitar, piano, and vocals. They were singing up a storm on all of the Christmas songs they could think of. It was very loud and fun.
Then we dug into decorating gingerbread houses. I bought a village set from Target. That way there was a house for everyone. We used hot glue to put them together. Yes, hot glue. It made things much easier and the houses much sturdier.
Everybody had fun frosting and glueing. Although I don't think I'll use the pre done set again. Not enough frosting and I think it limited creativity. Alex and Dylan spent way too much time trying to do things just like the pictures and designs on the houses.
After they dried we put them in village form on the back of the piano, and no I didn't take any pictures of the finished projects. Oh well.
It looked really cool. Take my word for it.
Then of course the important part of our Christmas time, church. This year Alex was a shepherd in our church's live nativity. The best part was that he had a cup and stuffed sheep. He, and all the other shepherds, kept stuffing the nose of the sheep into the cup. Some of the boys nearly got the whole sheep in. It was pretty funny to watch.
You really can't see from the pictures, but we even have a real baby Jesus, this year he was a she and was 4 weeks old and slept through the
whole thing. What a cutie.
Alex also got to sing and play the metalaphone with his choir. He's gonna be just like mom, very involved in service whenever possible. And he loves it. Oh, and the pictures are very bad because our church is not condusive to getting good pictures. Oh well.
Cole loved checking out the nativity at the front of the church.
And we got a great family picture at the front of the church after worship. After that service at 3:00, I also had a service at 6:00 and 11:00. The 6:00 one was with the Celebration band. Something new I'm enjoying. And then the late service was a quiet service with communion.
As always, the whole family went to 3:00, and then mom and dad came to 11:00 and sang in the choir.
The only bad thing about my schedule was that I missed the annual reading of Twas the night before Christmas with grandma and putting out the cookies and milk for Santa. The boys all even wrote a note to santa and left him a cute ornament.
Then on Christmas morning everybody had a note from Santa. Lots of fun! In our family we've now started the tradition of reading the Christmas story and having baby Jesus under the tree. After the story all of the boys had a baby Jesus to put in the different nativity sets around the house. Then the opening could begin.
Cole got a cool new remote control car.
Dylan only got 2 lego sets this year. He also got some bakugans and games for his DS.
Alex got an ipod nano and Dylan got an ipod shuffle. Making both boys extremely happy.
This year Alex didn't get a single lego set. He got DS games and ipod accessories. Also a bunch of great spy gear. His favorite was the remote control car with camera. He loved driving it around and spying on everyone.
The boys also got several new board games. They also both had to accept that this year they didn't get as much because they got ipods and those are expensive. So, fewer presents.
This year we didn't get a good picture of the 3 boys. Alex just couldn't seem to relax. All of the pictures show him sitting all stiff.
Cole got a cool new Cars book with all of the boys names in. So, Christmas opening had to stop so they could read the book.
Oh, and that's my Aunt Deanna in the antlers.
Cole was also very excited to get a new grinch stuffed animal.
After opening about half the presents we took a break for our traditional breakfast. Egg casserole, frozen fruit, and Hawaiian bread. It's been the same breakfast since I was 3 or 4. We always look forward to it every year.
After all the presents were opened the boys ran off to play with their new stuff and grandpa settled down to read. He got really far in his book, can't you tell.
At lest Marcella was honest about it. Laying down with Kayla to take a nap. I also curled up on the couch and slept for quite a while that afternoon, but nobody took a picture of me. What a shame.
The boys, big and small went sledding on the hill in our front yard. Yes, that's Brian.
After a full day of excitement it was time to hunt for the pickle. Very challenging considering how thick our christmas tree was. Dylan got very upset and frustrated because the tree was "too sticky", as in prickly.
Uncle Brian found the pickle and came away with scratches all over his arm and $20 for Cole.
I think it was the first time in a while that a grownup has found the pickle. Usually it's one of my kids. They are both good hunters when money is on the line.
Brian and Marcella battling it out in a game of Battleship. One of Alex's new games.
I hope all of you had as merry of a christmas as we had.
