Christmas 2014

The kids were jumping on our bed at 6:30!  I actually heard them up before that, but they were nice enough to wait a little longer to wake us up.  I feel like this was the first year they were all very excited about Christmas and it made it so much more fun.

We opened stockings on our bed.

Alison finally got her longed for fake glasses...apparently it's all the rage in 2nd grade.

Eli's excitement over every little thing was worth getting up before the sun.

 

We finally woke Colin up so he didn't miss all the fun.  He was not ready to be awake, but he perked up once he started opening his stocking.

 

Then we headed downstairs for tea pasteries and presents...and most importantly, coffee!  We hadn't put out a single present, so the kids were excited to see everything under the tree.

 

The Boomer's handed down a Cinderella castle to us, complete with a pony pulling carriage and several princess barbies.  I kept it hidden until Christmas morning and found it to be the best Christmas idea.  Having a toy already set up and ready to play with gave the kids something to immediately do while we got food and coffee ready.  It also gave them something to do while others were opening presents and while we were getting other toys set up. 

Alison and Eli asked for "shot guns".  They really meant nerf guns, so we got all the kids a different gun and thought it would be fun to have "fights".  Well, these little guns were a big lesson for these parents.  Ben opened Colin's and playfully shot him in the tummy...little did we know these suckers are much stronger than we anticipated!  Ok, no shooting people.  He got out Eli's and shot it into the kitchen and it nearly flew through the house!  Ok, no shooting in the house.  We took Alison's outside and spent the rest of the day searching through the neighbors yards looking for the bullets.  Finally, we set up a target for them and let them take turns shooting toward the front door.  However, now Colin walks around saying, "I shoot you!".  I'm praying he doesn't say this around anyone else!

We spent the rest of the day playing :)

Ben helping Alison make a bracelet

 

Boys playing with fireman playdough

 

And watched a Mickey Christmas movie.

 

"I upside down"

 Ben spoiled me this year.  He got me winter running clothes and a suspension training system.  I have really been wanting this to have at home so I can workout even in the midst of homeschool and kids sickness, but it can be very pricey.  Ben found a great deal and set it up for me in our sitting room.  I was so excited; I felt like a kid again on Christmas.  Alison was pretty jazzed too, maybe because I was so excited.  She spent quite a bit of time that day trying to figure out the exercises.  I think this Christmas really set me up for some great discipline techniques.  Disobey in our house and I'll shoot you with a nerf gun and make you do some exercises until you say your sorry.

Ben and I took turns going for a run and then cooked dinner.

I caught Eli playing with the Barbie house while we were cooking.  Don't worry, I think he was planning on the transformers invading the castle soon.

 

Alison colored while she waited.

 

 Best Christmas present!

No holiday is complete in this house without some amazing food.  We had prime rib, yorkshire pudding, braised white beans and greenbean casserole.  Aren't you sad you weren't here?

For dessert we had apple pie and homemade vanilla bean ice cream, which was beyond amazing.

 

We had a great Christmas and I think presents were spot on this year.  The kids have continued to play with their new things and really enjoyed them.  Now if just had some ice cream left, everything would be perfect.

Christmas Eve we...

Finished the Christmas puzzle.

Made a plan for the day...Alison LOVES plans.

Decorated sugar cookies.

 Watched a man assemble a playground in the neighbors backyard all.day.long in the pouring rain.  It was the saddest thing ever and even sadder that we still haven't seen anyone out there to play.

 Colored Christmas pictures.

Eli's picture

Ate lots of cookies and watched 'Muppet Christmas Carol'.

ate pigs-in-a-blanket wreath for an early dinner.

Got ready for Christmas Eve service.

Survived an hour in St. Luke's church with a tornado.

Had ham and potatoes after church and the kids had a crazy hard time falling asleep.

Break Time

I have zero pictures to share.  I'm hoping that means that I've been living in the moment and too busy to snap a picture.  Or else it means I've been too busy and completely forgot.  Either way, there were some things I wanted to remember, even without a picture.

We hosted a Christmas party for our small group last week.  We cooked dinner and a couple friends brought dessert.  As we sat around our dinning room table, I realized how sweet it was to have everyone there.  I've prayed over our small group for years and it was cool to sit back and see where we've come over time.

Alison's last day of school was Friday.  She said that Ms. Lyons (her 1st grade teacher) called her out of class to say goodbye and asked if she would continue to write to her.  Alison immediately wrote a note and asked to mail it.  Her current teacher, however, only told her to clean out her desk.  I wrote him a letter, but never received a response, so I'm supposing we've offended him by pulling Alison out.  Even if he is offended, I would hope he could be mature enough to give her a proper goodbye.  I set up a little party for Alison when she got home and we had "mud pie" (i.e. chocolate pudding with crushed up oreos and gummy worms).  Our neighbor came over for the party and the girls had fun playing.

Ben and I celebrated 11 years of marriage on Saturday!  We went to Vintage Tavern for dinner, for the 3rd straight year.  But this year was different.  Same place, even the same table, but this year Ben made me a bracelet with all the kids names and birthdays engraved on it.  In 11 years, this is the first anniversary present!  After dinner we bought stocking stuffers for the kids and quickly felt pathetic walking through Walmart on our date.

Story behind the bracelet: I always mix up the boys birthdays and 99% of the time I write it down wrong at the doctor's office.  I've heard countless times, "No Mrs. Shear, that is not your son's birthday".  It's so bad that Ben had to put a reminder in my phone for Colin's birthday.  It's embarrassing, to say the least.  One day I was so fed up with getting it wrong and afraid that I would teach them their own birthday's wrong or even worse, completely forget it.  I decided that I was just going to have to get it tattooed on my wrist.  I'm not a tattoo person, but I was just going to have to buck up and get it done, so I would just have to look down at my wrist when someone asked me one of the boys' birthdays.  Thus, the bracelet is Ben's beautiful way of giving me a reminder without permanent ink.

Christmas Eve is tomorrow and I don't have a single gift wrapped!

Christmas Baking

I had grandiose plans for our Christmas baking this year.  I had a long list of goodies to make and planned on giving out baskets of treats to our friends.  But I've learned that as soon as I plan something, it's pretty much guaranteed to never happen.

We started with some chex mix.  Easy to make, kid friendly and makes the house smell amazing.

Then we made chocolate covered pretzels.  Eli had been asking for some in the store for weeks so I thought he would be excited about making them.

 

And then I turned my back for one minute and Colin started licking the bowl.

So much for keeping the treats germ free.

Then I pulled out the fun stuff; "gingerbread houses" out of rice crispy treats.

Eli actually did the best at decorating and constructing his house.  Alison had to shed some tears that the candy wouldn't stick and Colin continued to lick anything he could.

I thought these would be so cute to put in our baskets and quickly became stressed about them licking their fingers and constantly asking to eat the candy.  Then Ben reminded me that I just set a giant plate of candy in front of them, candy they have never had before, and told them just to neatly decorate.

I went to bed that night feeling pretty terrible that I had spent so much time yelling at them instead of having fun making treats together.  That's not the Christmas memories I want them to have and I definitely want them to want to bake with me next year...so I said "Forget it!" to the baskets and let the kids eat their houses and the chocolate pretzels for breakfast.  They thought it was fun, breakfast was taken care of and hopefully it erases the memory of me saying "stop licking all the candy!"

p.s. the Thomas pj's Colin is wearing in the above picture...he asks to wear them everyday.  PJ wearing obsessions must be a developmental stage in Shear boys.

Keepin busy

 I learned a big lesson this past week:

 If someone asks you if you want hand-me-downs, ask them how many bags they are giving you.

14 bags of hand-me-downs ended up in our garage.  14!

Thankful? Yes.

Overwhelmed? BIG yes.

Second lesson learned: don't switch kids' closets right before Christmas.  

Alison was in heaven.  One evening, I let her go crazy and look through all the clothes and put crazy outfits together.

A friend came over a few days later and helped me finish sorting and took a giant bag of clothes for her 4 girls.  This was our living room for several days.

It took me all week to get all of the kids clothes set and our attic now is completely stocked for upcoming sizes.  All the work was worth it, but it was definitely overwhelming.  

We were also busy keeping our cookie jar stocked.  Sorting clothes is way more fun when you can eat cookies while you work.

I helped chaperone Alison's Girl Scout troop to a "Think like a scientist" event at the Living Museum.  This is her troop:

The girl in the pink shirt next to Alison is her best friend Jensen.  They've been in the same class since Kindergarten (both transferring schools in 1st grade).

One night at dinner, Alison decided that we need to have a "last day of school" party on Friday.  She got out a piece of paper and started writing out all the details of the event.  In my head I was thinking "No way are we adding to our list of activities and to-do lists this week!" but I let her dream up a plan.

We went to the Smithfield Christmas parade last weekend.  It was a monumental day for our family...a) we did it and b)no one cried!

 

Ben and I went for a run and then walked the kids to Main Street from the Y.

We ended up getting a pretty good spot, right next to some friends.

Family selfie:

As soon as the kids realized that candy was being thrown, they went out on the street to wave to all the floats.  Ben and I were in shock.  These are the kids who a few years ago were too scared to even be by the parade because it was too loud.

 

Hanging out with our friends Wesley and Bailey

Colin is always good at keeping us busy.  Every morning he hunts Ben down at breakfast to eat his cereal.  It's his favorite thing to finish his bowl.