Snapshots

My weekly snapshots of the kids while Ben is gone has not happened.  To my credit, we get to Facetime everyday, so it's not the same as last time.  We are fortunate that Ben gets to see the kids grow and change each day, albeit over the phone, so pictures have been neglected.  Finally one day, we put a little extra effort into getting ready and I threw my comforter over some chairs in our living room and viola, pictures!  I had the kids sit down and started snapping away.

Then Maya walked over, plopped herself down next to the kids.  We all started cracking up at how she was photobombing our pictures and I ended up getting the best pictures with her in them.

Some individuals:

What's an Alison picture without a pose?

I think Eli looks the most different since Ben left:

 

 

But Ben is convinced Colin looks bigger:

 

Alison requested pictures outside.  This was her arrangement:

 

Christmas Day!

My kids were up around 6:15 to open stockings, unfortunately I didn't get a single picture because we were Facetiming Ben the whole time.  We also opened a few presents just the 4 of us so Ben could see them open the presents he sent.

After breakfast and picking Nathan up from the airport, we were ready for the big Christmas extravaganza.  

The kids opening their sacks from grandma and grandpa (a Yoder tradition)

The boys giving grandpa the gift they made

The afternoon was full of playing.  Eli built one of his FOUR Lego sets, while Grandpa and Uncle Nathan worked on a puzzle.

The boys all got Ninja Turtle Pj's and painted their faces to really take on the role.  Then they thought it was hilarious to be riding bikes in their pj's.

Katherine and Alison

Maggie and Alison

Grandpa wins an award for patience with playing games with kids.

Christmas dinner was Alison's request: ham, potatoes and creamed corn.  My mom even made gravy out of the ham drippings which turned out really good.  We also had Eli's request for dessert: cheesecake with fresh raspberries.

Our house has been full and the kids have had a blast with their cousins, which is one of the best presents they could receive.

Christmas Eve

My parents flew in the 23rd and we had a day with just them.

We started a puzzle (by the way, Nonny, all of my family is in love with this board.  It was especially perfect for this week).

My dad taught the kids how to play Crazy 8's.

We braved Toys R Us to go bike shopping for the boys.  It actually was not as crazy as I thought it would be and we had plenty of time and space to test out bikes.  My dad is the bike whisperer and said he would take care of getting the boys all set with the right bike and learning how to ride.  It was certainly a day I know they will never forget.

Notice the rainboots and jacket?  It's rained here several days this week!

We also went to Walmart, which was an entirely different story.  My dad wanted to see what options we had before purchasing bikes and when we got to the bike aisle, it was completely empty (insert shocked face).  So we rushed back to Toys R Us before our good options got snatched up.  Apparently bikes for Christmas is all the rage in Yuma.

Things have been breaking at just the right time and our back door handle snapped off just hours before my parents got here.  My dad fixed it for me and Eli got to help him.

My mom planned some meals and also braved Walmart on Christmas Eve for groceries.  I do believe she had the hardest job of us all.

The rained cleared in the afternoon and left perfect weather to learn how to ride a bike.

Grandma telling him how proud she was of him

I sat outside and watched the whole learning process, which was only about 15 minutes. It was the best things I've ever seen. Once he decided he could ride, it was all over.  He immediately started riding like he always knew how...in true Shear fashion.

My sister and her kids arrived Christmas Eve!

This is a classic picture to me.  Oh, the memories I have as a child sitting on a couch and seeing my dad like this.

The kids hit it off right away and jumped into playing non-stop.  It was hard getting them to bed that night!

This and that

Colin has continued to fall asleep on the red chair several times a week.  One day, Alison scooped him up to wake him up and he just kept sleeping on her.

I told the kids that we would eat out once a week while Ben was deployed; it would be our fun thing to try new places and explore the city together.  I have failed and we went out for the first time this week in 3 months.  

Eli asked to get these sticker gingerbread houses.  I thought it would be much easier than real gingerbread, but I was sorely wrong.  These suckers were frustrating!  Somehow we survived and I will never be making one again.  I'd rather be frustrated with real gingerbread and be able to eat the not pretty results.

 

 We have been trying to get our fill of Christmas movies.  

Only Colin sips hot cocoa through a straw while snuggling with his dog.

 

The kids are all growing and changing and I wish they would just stop.  I snapped this picture of Alison because it shows how she's changing; sitting down for breakfast, her usual fried egg over easy, with her hair in a pony tail and reading the next Narnia book.  Ben usually reads the Narnia books with her and I always try to put her hair up and it showed me that the little things we do, really do make a difference.

 

We decorated cookies with friends:

 

My friend made butter roll out cookies instead of sugar cookies and I thought they worked/tasted so much better.  With real cream cheese frosting, even the adults were gobbling these up.  Noted for next year.  Did you notice how Colin is wearing a church shirt with "work" glasses?  Never a dull moment.

A perk of having a deployed spouse on your anniversary:

I got flowers and jewelry!  Happy 13 years to us!

Eli finished our next puzzle.  He sat at dinner for 2 hours working on it and munching his food.

 

It rained for a good 12 hours!  It was also in the 50's making it feel a little like winter.  Poor Maya couldn't handle it.  I found her sitting on the chair outside because the concrete was too cold for her little diva paws.

 

My parents come today!

I was just asking the kids what's so exciting about Christmas Eve.  Really, we don't do anything on Christmas Eve, especially this year with no church service to go to.  Eli said, "We get to play with Grandpa, of course!"

Eliot James

He is one sweet boy.

He is a creativity leader in this house.  At the parade, he saw some kids wearing horses made out of boxes.  The kids have been wanting a horse costume and I just don't want to buy it for various reasons.  A few days ago, Eli pulled some boxes out of the garage and went to work on making his own box horse.  He did it all himself, even measuring his waist to cut the hole the right size.  The funny part was, he cut it just the right size and couldn't squeeze the box on with his shorts on...so he took them off.  Pantsless horseman coming through!

He attached rubber bands to the box as his reigns, which kept making the head fall off.  There were boxes and tape and markers everywhere, but it is so fun watching his imagination at work.

Yesterday, was a bummer day; we woke up to a dead fish.  Alison fish, Skye, was not looking good the past few days and she cleaned the tank and was doing everything she could to take care of it.  How in the world we killed a betta is beyond me, but somehow we managed it.  We had a little funeral for it and picked up some donuts to try and lighten the mood, but it bummed me out.  Our plants are dying, the fish is dead...I thought for a moment about taking Maya to the vet just to make sure she's okay.  Nothing else can die!  Anyway, I guess Eli could sense my mood because he was extra sweet to me.  First, he asked me "What kind of rocks start a fire?" and was out in the yard collecting rocks.  When I asked him why he was trying to start a fire in the yard (hello! nothing else can die!) he said that he was trying to make a fire pit because he knows how much I love roasting marshmallows.  When I told him absolutely no fires will be happening, he started making a potion with herbs/not ripe oranges from the yard.  And when I wouldn't drink it, he resulted in making me a peanut butter and honey sandwich.  This was the first time he's made a sandwich all on his own.

 

 It actually was just what I needed.  Man cannot live on donuts alone.  We sat outside and had lunch and attempted our first game of scrabble.

 

Ben and I have been playing 'words with friends' together and the kids want to play too,   It was a great lesson in spelling, that's for sure!

A fun, busy weekend

I can't say it enough; our church family has been a HUGE blessing to us this deployment.  Alison even said the other day that she felt this deployment was much easier than last time and felt like having so much time with friends really helped.

We were invited to a girls night at the Nutcracker.  The boys stayed home with a sitter and we met our friends for dinner before the show. 

  It was a great show and Alison has requested this become a new Christmas tradition.

Saturday morning, we walked into the Y for our normal workout routine and found we had crashed "cookies with Santa".  Eli really wanted his picture taken with him, Alison played along to be nice and Colin wanted nothing to do with the situation.  

 

Looking back, I'm pretty sure we ruined the situation for everyone around us.  I tried to not make a big deal about it.  It's like getting a picture with a character at Disney for our family, but Eli did explain to Colin that St. Nicholas is dead and this is just a guy dressed up.  Yep, you read that right.  Alison actually had the story of St. Nicholas in her history lesson (not planned by me, just coincidentally timed right), Eli overheard the lesson and now tells everyone that Santa is dead.

This is Colin's "Are we done with this yet?" face and Eli's current "Cheese" face.

 

Oh yea, and P.S. everyone else was dressed up!  We really did not fit into the situation.

That evening, we went with some friends to the Light Parade.  When we got downtown, we found that pretty much our whole church was there.  

 

It was a whole lotta waiting for not the most spectacular show. 

 

Eli loved it, but I'm not sure we'll go again next year.

 

I have found that there a ton of little events around town.  We could be way busier if I wanted to be, but not all events are worth the effort.  Taco festival...worth it.  Light parade...not.