Merry Christmas!
We celebrated Christmas rounds three and four today. First, Bob, the kids and I celebrated Christmas morning together at home. Bailey was very excited to see if Santa came overnight.
Bentley had no idea what was happening but was in a good mood nonetheless!
We skipped breakfast and went straight downstairs to see if Santa visited us. He sure did!
The funniest thing was that neither kid really noticed (or cared) about the unwrapped presents Santa left out for them. In fact, Bentley literally crawled over his train set - more than once - to get to another toy!
They both had a great time opening presents and then spent the next few hours playing with everything - including some of Bailey's birthday presents that we finally opened and assembled!
The basketball hoop that Bailey got for her birthday was a big hit with both kids today! Bailey was pretty much a pro immediately (if I do say so myself):
Bentley obviously couldn't reach the hoop but he loved for Bob to pick him up so he could drop the ball in.
He kept going to get the ball and bringing it back to Bob, "asking" to do it again. Pretty cute!
After lunch and naps today, we headed to Grandma and Papa Kerste's for our final Christmas celebration. Of course Aunt Becky was there too! We had a lovely dinner and then exchanged gifts. I think the kids are going to be in present-opening withdrawal tomorrow after being showered with so many thoughtful gifts the past few days!
We are so very blessed to have shared this special holiday with all our loved ones. We're looking forward to settling back in to our normal routines now that we survived all the birthdays and holidays for a while. I'm especially anxious to get our house back in order. My head is currently spinning, given the state of disaster surrounding me. It's too overwhelming (and I'm too tired) to tackle it now, though, so I imagine I'll slowly start getting organized in the next couple days (or weeks!).
We are lucky enough to have four Christmas celebrations this year! This weekend we went to Ozark and celebrated twice with Bob's family. We spent Sunday with Grandma Bilyeu. We arrived mid-afternoon and quickly put the kids down for nap because neither had slept in the car. It worked out really well because they both napped and woke up just in time for Aunt Lesli, Uncle Gene, and cousins Alex and Matthew to arrive. And then the fun began! The kids loved playing with everyone and everything. Bailey was pretty wound up, and spent the evening bouncing from a movie to crayons to games, etc. Of course, unwrapping presents was also a big hit!
We spent Sunday night with Grandma Bilyeu but were up bright and early this morning (thank you, Bailey, for waking up at 5:30am!) so we could go celebrate with Granny and Grandpa Buck. It was a special Christmas gathering this year because, for the first time in at least a few years, everyone was together - including the Grinder's and the Allen's. Bailey was excited to spend time playing with her cousin Garrin. Meanwhile, Bentley was oh so happy to play while his sister was distracted and therefore not taking anything away from him!
Strangely, Bailey was more interested in eating pretzels and popcorn than in opening presents. See what I mean?
Silly girl! Don't get me wrong, she did open her presents eventually and she was excited about all her new fun stuff. But mostly it seemed that she enjoyed playing with her cousin and spending time with loved ones. She may not fully understand it yet but it's nice to see her embrace the spirit of the season!
Here's a funny little thing about one of Bentley's gifts today. Deni and Kate gave Bentley a soft stuffed bear ("Louie" the St. Louis Blues mascot) and Bentley loves to roll around on it. It's the funniest thing! He's like a cat with a catnip-toy! We had never seen him react like that to a stuffed animal before. He did it again at home tonight, too, so I'm interested to see if it becomes his lovie.
We headed home this afternoon and both kids fell asleep in the car almost immediately. It was dark when we got home but that didn't stop Bailey and Bob from putting "reindeer food" in the yard. Bailey made it at preschool last week (oats and glitter) and was excited to use it. We spent the rest of our evening unpacking and settling in. Bailey got to pick a Christmas movie to watch on DVR. As I expected, she chose the Calliou Holiday movie. Both kids had baths and wore their Santa pj's to bed. We put Bentley down first and then let Bailey help set out milk and cookies for Santa.
She was pretty emotional by that point tonight so we were quick to read our special book, Twas the Night Before Christmas, and put her down for bed.
I assume she was just overtired and overwhelmed from so much excitement this weekend. Hopefully she gets a good night's sleep and is ready for two more Christmas celebrations tomorrow!
Bailey was very excited this morning when I told her that it snowed overnight. I hurriedly got her dressed so that she could scurry to the kitchen to peek out the windows at the fluffy white stuff covering the ground. She immediately asked to go outside to, and I quote, "sled", make "snow angels" and "snowballs". What?! First of all, it was 8am - still too early, too windy and too cold. Secondly, brother wasn't even awake yet! Interestingly, I have no idea why she was talking about those specific snow-related things because we've never done any of them. Ah, the things she learns on TV.
I was able to keep her inside until about 11:30. At that point, I caved in and started bundling them up. I think they each had about three layers of clothing. I knew we wouldn't be outside long but I wasn't about to let them get cold.
Given that Bentley was such a little guy last winter - and that we had such an unseasonably warm and mild "winter" last year - this was his first time in the snow. He liked it! I was really surprised because I distinctly remember that Bailey did not like snow her first few times out in it. This year, however, she loved it!
We weren't out long and, despite my best efforts to prevent her meltdown (e.g., establishing expectations and giving warnings), Bailey threw a huge fit when we had to come inside. By that time, Bentley was done with the snow and was tired of being bundled up so he quickly melted down too. Good screaming times in the Buck household! It's so frustrating, as a parent, to feel so good about seeing your children's joy one minute (playing in the snow) but then dealing with mass hysteria and tantrums the next when it's over. You can't help but wonder if it's worth it . . . but then I look at these pictures I took of the kids in the snow today and I realize yah, it was totally worth it!
