Christmas Time with the Nikolai's

Traveling 7 hours in a car....

Isn't he cute? hehe 

Sleeping babe

A goofy daddy

A not so good self photo

Grandma & Papa's House!

A Christmas village

A Christmas Tree

Sonya with Aunt Kelly

Christmas Eve-
We went to a nice service in a barn at a farm where my mother-in-law volunteers. The horses even got to join in as they were lined up in their stalls while we all sat on bales of hay. There were Christmas carols and the true Christmas story -- a babe born in a dirty, smelly, and noisy stable. We celebrated with hot chocolate and cider with cookies and other desserts.

Playing Candy Land

Who is going to win?

Staring contest with Papa

Stockings hung all in a row

Presents under the tree

Reading the "Night Before Christmas"

The kids love books

It's a long story :-)

Christmas Day-

Santa ate his cookie and drank the milk all gone

Opening presents

What does Sonya have in her stocking?

He got duct tape from Aunt Kelly

Sonya's Elmo Hat

Love her hat!

Observing

Rock 'em Sock'em Robots from Aunt Sam and Uncle Rob

Notice the purse on Sonya's shoulder... she LOVED it!

Finding the fun stuff that was inside the purse

Toy Story and other fun stuff from Grandma and Papa

Opening his gift from the kids

It's a Packer shirt!
(Funny story: He said he had one "just like it" when really it was the one that we accidentally
took when we saw them at Thanksgiving. So we wrapped it up. hehe)

Reading the certificate

We bought a brick at Camp Bird in memory of his dad who passed away this year

Sporting her new headband

Talking on the phone -- can you tell she's a girl?

He didn't know I was taking a picture of him 

It's a..... 

Remote controlled helicopter!

Horse cookie cutters

What is it?

Her old car alternator that was just replaced a few days earlier! lol

Grandma opening up her "Grandma's Brag Book" photo book

New rain boots!

ELMO!!!

The Buzz Lightyear gun

A gift from Aunt Sam and Uncle Rob

More photos to come in the next post!

Oh, prepare ye the way

Christmas is a Feeling

Christmas is a feeling filling the air,

It's love and joy and laughter

Of people everywhere;

Christmas is a feeling bringing good cheer,

It reaches out to touch you

As the holiday draws near.

It's mistletoe and falling snow

And candles burning bright;

It's a baby in a manger 

On a cold winter night;

It's glad noels and chiming bells

And presents by the tree;

It's the spirit of giving 

In you and in me,

For Christmas is a feeling filling the air,

It's love and joy and laughter

Of people everywhere;

But if Christmas is a feeling bringing good cheer, 

Then why, O why don't you and I

Try to make it last all year?

Why can't it last all year?

-Natalie Sleeth

There once was a man.

His name was Jesus.

He was born in a manger in Bethlehem.

He is my Savior.

Oh, prepare ye the way.

Sing "Hosannah! Alleluia!"

He was born in a manger in Bethlehem.

He is my Savior.

Christmas Poses :-)

Not super excited

There's that smiling girl

Caleb and Sonya

They're just too cute

Sonya loves the little hat

Modeling the red dress

Cheese!

Modeling the black & white dress

She wanted to put the red one back on

At least I got a few good photos :-)

Singing and doing something goofy with her hands

AH haha!

Another "cheese" photo :-)

Sibling Love!

Sitting by the little Christmas tree

HUGS!

Merry Christmas!

Piggy Tails

Sonya finally let me put her hair up in pig tails! It didn't last long, but we had fun playing with her hair.

Aren't these the cutest things EVER?

Isn't she sweet?

I LOVE all the clips in her hair!

Cookies and Candy

Baking is so therapeutic. I love to let Caleb and Sonya help me mix up cookie dough or other treats. This year, my mom and I split up the cookie baking. I did the cut-outs while she did the chocolate crinkle cookies and the peanut butter blossoms. It was fun to decorate cookies with the kids and my sister too!

Some of the 4 batches of cut-outs the kids helped me make

Caleb got to play with leftover scraps of cookie dough

Decorating cut-outs

Lots of pretty cookies!

There were probably around 100 of them

Grandma Pauly came over and made some
Chocolate Crinkle Cookies and Peanut Butter Blossoms

Last year, I had eyed up a recipe for chocolate truffles. It looked so easy so this year, I made them. They were so simple to make and turned out beautifully.

Dipping the chocolate truffles

They turned out pretty good!

They're taste just as beautiful they are :-)

I also made some homemade caramels. They're really good too! 

Now... onto the chocolate covered pretzels.

A Busy Day!

Today has been insanely busy, but I feel like I've accomplished a lot and it isn't even noon yet!

Made a short birthday video of the kids singing Happy Birthday for a friend and posted it on facebook for her. Then we ate breakfast and walked Caleb over to school. I was able to fold a load of laundry and put all the clothes away. Then I started sorting through some of my clothes and put a few in the bag to go to St. Vinnie's. Of course I was multi-tasking and called my friend to wish her a Happy Birthday via phone and we ended up chatting for a little bit. Sonya was following me around the house and helping a little. I made a few lists of stuff I needed to get done and then Sonya and I headed out to run a few errands.

First stop was the library where I picked up a book that I had reserved. Sonya said she needed to go potty so I sat her down there and she tried to go. Then we dropped off some clothes and toys at St. Vinnie's. I also found a gift for someone there. :-) After that, we drove over to Shopko in Grafton so that I could return something. We did a little browsing there too! Next, we redeemed my free birthday drink at Starbucks. I also bought an apple fritter to share with Sonya since I still had a little money on a gift card. Sonya claimed she had to go potty again so we did a quick pit stop at Target. She didn't end up going so we just browsed and went to look at the Elmo's in the toy section. Then we picked up some baking supplies at Aldi before we headed on home. Sonya crashed during the ride home. Poor girl was so tired!

Now I'm off to finish a few more things on my list! Hope everyone is having a good day!