Merry Christmas!

This year we celebrated Christmas a week early at our house. Justin is working on the actual Christmas morning and, understandably, he didn't want to miss seeing the faces of our kids when they realized that Santa came (because, let's face it, that's the best part). We've been telling our kids all month that we were going to celebrate early and that we'd spoken to Santa and he was perfectly happy to come a week early if it meant that we got to spend the day with Justin. Noah's big concern this year was how Santa was going to get into our house. I told him he'd come down the chimney and Noah started freaking out. "He'll get fired! He'll get fired!" I assured him that we would NOT leave a fire on in the fireplace and then he was fine.

On Christmas Eve, we went to the College Football Hall of Fame (I'll post on that a different day) but I will say that it was AWESOME! We'll go back for sure. We ended our day opening Christmas Eve gifts. It's a Smith tradition to get an ornament on Christmas Eve and a Peterson tradition to get pajamas. This year my mom sent each of the kids their p.j.'s and they loved them. For ornaments, Clayton and Noah got nutcrackers, Josie got a nesting doll ornament, I got an ornaments that commemorates my first half marathon, and Justin got an ornament with scenes of Vermont on it. We also made cookies and wrote letters to leave to Santa and his reindeer thanking them so much for coming early.
Here are a few scenes from Christmas Eve (before the Christmas Day destruction):
Santa responded to their letters!
Josie's Santa loot.
Clayton (right) and Noah (left).
I love how everything looks on Christmas Eve!
On our Christmas Day the boys didn't wake up as early as I'd thought they would. I thought for sure that they would wake up before 6 for sure. Nope. They came into our room at 6:30 whispering 'Meeeeryyyyyyy Chrissssssssssstmaaaaaaaaassssssssssss!" I made them snuggle in bed with us for about an hour while we waited for everyone else to wake up. While we were snuggling we talked, once again, about the story of Jesus' birth. My boys are so sweet when we discuss this story. On Christmas morning Clayton made the connection that Jesus wasn't born with all the luxuries and posessions that he was. He commented that "Jesus must really love us to be born with sheep". It brought a tear to my eye that he made that connection. While he was pretty present hungry the rest of the day, it feels good knowing that he does understand the true meaning of Christmas. After about an hour we woke Josie up and headed downstairs to see the loot. No one was disappointed!

She liked all her gifts, but she LOVED the fact that there were cookies out for breakfast!

The boys were each given money to buy gifts for each other. Without knowing what their brother was getting them, they each chose a pillow pet. They've been talking about pillow pets for months. Justin and I laughed a bit when we realized what they'd done. It made for two very happy boys on Christmas morning!
Noah sometimes thinks that Stinky is a ride on toy. He needs frequent reminders that this is not the case.
Josie got her first dollhouse from Grammy and Grandpa. It's a big hit.
The boys each got light sabers. I was worried about them hurting each other, but it's mostly just funny watching them play 'Star Wars'. Plus, Justin got in on the light saber action too.
Josie got so many lovies this year!
Grammy and Grandpa got each of the boys scooters. They love riding them down in the basement. Clayton can't wait to ride his outside this spring.

Chase and Missy sent us matching shirts for Christmas. Missy and Chase - we DIED laughing when we opened them. Well played team. Well played.
The kids played pretty much all day. We basically just hung out and enjoyed our loot and our time together. Our holiday ended with a delicious ham dinner (no one cooks like Justin does). All in all it was a very successful Christmas. It's weird to me that the actual Christmas hasn't happened yet. We are going to celebrate on the actual Christmas Day with a traditional breakfast and dinner with friends, but our private Christmas was perfect and the best part of it all was spending the whole day together! Merry Christmas!

Sledding

Yesterday was the first year resident retreat. That's when all the first year residents take a little break from work to talk, unwind, and have a little fun. They ended up retreating to a cabin on a lake in Michigan. At lunchtime, the families were invited to come and join the group for lunch and afternoon snow fun!

The boys had been really looking forward to 'retreating'. They had no idea what it was but it meant a half day of school for Clayton and a mysterious adventure so they were super excited. When we got there, they played in the cabin while we waited for lunch. They had foosball, ping pong, toys, board games, and snacks! For lunch the interns (a.k.a. - first year residents) made us pizza! It was actually really good. Some of those guys may have missed their callings...

After lunch, we had s'mores and then it was time for the main event...SLEDDING! The boys were really excited to sled. I knew that Noah would love it for sure, but I was worried about Clayton. He had a bad experience sledding about 3 years ago and that has kept him from sledding since. He'll watch, but never particiaptes. This year was different though! He got so into it! He and Noah crashed once and still they got back up and kept sledding. Clayton even tried the super fast purple sled and ended up going farther than the designated hill. Justin and several other people had to chase him down past the barrier to get him. I thought for sure that was going to be the end for him, but he just decided that he was done with the purple sled and kept sledding on the slower orange sleds. I was pretty proud of him!
Noah is such a daredevil. He would go down the hill backward, forward, and upsidedown.
I love that they would haul their own sleds back up the hill. They would bring their sleds back up to the top and immediately go back down. The weather was PERFECT for sledding - not too cold.
I had also worried about how Josie would like it. I shouldn't have worried. She loved it just as much as the rest of us did!
She loved going down the sled with Daddy. Every time she had to wait at the top of the hill, she would sneak into an empty sled and try to go down the hill. It was pretty cute. At one point, Justin did send her down alone. It made my heart stop for a minute, but she did great! She didn't fall out or cry or anything!
Having Daddy drag you back up the hill after your run is all part of the fun!
Let's not forget the brave (or, if you prefer, crazy) residents. They would 'snowboard' down the hill on the sleds, try to hit one another with snowballs as they were sledding or returning, pack as many people on one little sled as possible, etc. They were making me laugh for sure! It was very entertaining.
It was a pretty perfect afternoon. We could have done this all day! Clayton and Noah have both decided that 'retreating' is awesome. I couldn't agree more!

Making Me Smile...

Some things lately that are making me happy:
Clayton's school has a pretty strict uniform policy, but one thing they're lenient on is assessories. The kids have to wear belts, but they can wear whatever belts they want. We found this one recently that belonged to Justin when he was Clayton's age. Clayton LOVES it and feels so special that he gets to wear it.

In Disco news, I've officially turned into my mother. Yes, Disco is wearing a vest. I never thought I'd put my dog in clothes, but in my defence, it gets REALLY cold here and since he's not allowed to go to the bathroom inside, I took pity. So he now owns a vest. I think he looks handsome!
Our house is decorated for Christmas! It actually has been for a few weeks now, but I love having my decorations out. They all work so well in the new house. It's lovely!
This room used to be orange. It's blue now and I love it!

The banister is one of my favorite parts!


My little bookworm.

I got these socks in the mail and Josie claimed them. Pretty funny stuff.
Josie's hair is getting so long. I love fixing it. It's hard to get her to keep still, but so worth it in the end!

These kids playing outside. Josie doesn't like to keep her mittens on so she doesn't always last very long, but they love to play outside together!
It's been a super busy month, but full of moments that make me smile!

Just Get Dancy!

I did a little post a while ago about Noah's jam. Well, we've found a new jam in our house (also by Pink - don't judge). Everytime we hear it we all just get our groove on. The kids are usually even more animated, but they got a little distracted by the camera. It's long (almost 2 minutes), and if you're not really invested in my kids, you might want to skip it, however, it's funny. My favorite moments include Clayton's jumping jacks, Noah's hyper chugging, and Josie's crazy head movements. I laugh every time I see it! My kids know how to get down! You're welcome!

4...The Celebration!

Noah had a great birthday. He woke up early asking if it was his birthday (he'd been doing this for weeks). He was so happy that it was finally his day!

We started off with our traditional birthday breakfast of muffins and eggs (I'm not much of a gourmet in the morning, so muffins and eggs is about all I'm up for). Noah got to eat off the special birthday plate and have candles in his muffins - what could be better!?!

Then he got his new birthday shirt! The night before Noah's birthday, before the boys went to bed, Clayton asked me if I was going to make Noah a birthday shirt. I said, 'I don't know. Maybe.' Clayton got really upset, he said, 'You HAVE to make a birthday shirt! Everyone gets a birthday shirt on their birthday!' I love that he's apparently into the tradition thing as much as I am. So, not to disappoint, I made Noah his birthday shirt. It's my favorite one so far. Noah loved it!
He got to open one present right before school (some Toy Story clothes - Thanks Aunt Missy and Uncle Jared). At school, they made quite a big deal over him (gotta love preschool). He got to wear a birthday crown and be the calander person and Josie and I brought cupcakes to his class for a special treat!
Josie loved going to Noah's preschool. She played dress up, kitchen, and baby dolls. She didn't want to leave!
My favorite thing about this picture is Noah's friend's face. They're waiting for the cupcakes.

After school we took Josie home for a nap (Justin was home sleeping after doing a night shift) and Noah and I went out for lunch. I let him pick where he wanted to go and he chose Culvers!
At Culvers he got to open another present. Toy Story 3! After that, lunch was pretty much over. He just really wanted to get home to watch his movie.
When we got home we watched Toy Story 3 (if you haven't seen it yet...tear jerker! I officially never want the kids to throw their toys away!) After the movie it was time to pick Clayton up from school. When we got home the boys played until dinner time. Dinner was chosen by the birthday boy - Macaroni and Cheese and hot dogs! Yum! After dinner we made our traditional birthday trip to Toys R Us so that the birthday boy could pick out his present (I love this tradition). All the kids loved it, but none more so than Noah!
He ended up choosing a little train set that was perfect because it went with some trains that we'd gotten him for his birthday! While Justin was paying Noah wanted to ride this Elmo toy. We usually don't do those, but since it was his birthday I caved and let Noah ride it. He was kind enough to share his ride with Josie.
After Toys R Us, it was time for presents and cake! Noah got two trains (that went with his train set - phew), some little Toy Story characters (Thanks cousin Abby), and a Batman disc shooter (Thank you Landon). He loved everything he got!
He loved blowing the candles out on his cake. He'd been looking forward to having a birthday cake all month. I love how it was the simple pleasures that made his day!
Yum! Cake!
After cake the boys got to play for a while with Noah's new toys. I have to say, I was really impressed with how willing he was to share. Then it was time for bath and bed. As I was tucking Noah in, he asked me if it would be his birthday again tomorrow. I'm glad that he had a great day. It was full of fun, it was full of presents, and it was all about Noah! Just how a birthday should be!
I love you Noah! Happy birthday!