New Year's Eve 12/31/10

We decided many years that we would rather spend a quiet night in with the kids rather than a night out without the kids for New Year's Eve. We usually just spend the day playing, eating, playing some more, and eating some more as a family. Marc got a Snoopy sno-cone maker for Christmas that we decided to try out.Daddy Marc decided he wanted to pull out his ice cream maker and make home made ice cream. So we made a basic vanilla base and stirred in "treats" to make different flavors. One of the flavors we made had bits of candy cane mixed in. The kids had fun helping me smash the candy canes to bits.
We had an extra bottle of sparkling grape juice left over from Christmas so we thought, what better time to use it up than New Year's Eve?! We gave Samantha her own glass of it. After each drink she took, she said "whoot!"
Every Christmas we usually open what are called Christmas crackers. They are a British thing. They look like big pieces candy, kinda like a toilet paper tube wrapped in paper to look like a piece of candy. You hold each end and pull them apart. With a "pop!", they break open and there is a little trinket, a joke, and a paper crown. The toys are usually kinda "junky", but they are really fun to do!
At a dollar store several months ago, we found a confetti shooter. So, after we made a mess on the floor with the crackers, we decided, what the heck! We let the kids (all 4 of us) shoot confetti all over the living room floor.

Every time we shot the confetti, Samantha said "Happy New Year!"

This is just a snipit of what the floor looked like. {I told Marc it was a pretty sneaky way to get me to vacuum the floor. ;-) }
We had the kids take late naps, and since we did that, we ALL made it until midnight!!! At 12:05 we all got ready and went to bed! ;-) We have so much fun doing various things and snacking a lot of New Year's Eve as a family!

Meijer Gradens 12/28/10

Every year the Meijer Botanical Gardens has a display of Christmas trees from around the world. The tree are decorated they would be in that country. There is also a sign with a write-up that describes some of their holiday traditions. What a fun way to learn about all the different countries! We try to make it to see them every year, but don't always make it. We decided that since we were on our way home from the hotel after "Night at Your Museum" the night before, that we would stop and look at the trees. I love this sleigh they always have outside the entrance. Great photo op!! I told Marc I wanted him to, as we were looking at them all, to think about which ones he liked the best because when we were done looking at them all, I wanted to know which one was him favorite an why. This Brazil tree was my favorite. I loved all the bright fun colors on it. The kids liked that one of the Brazil traditions was for the kids to leave their shoes under the tree and when they woke up Christmas morning, they would be filled with nuts an candy.
We decided that there were lots of fun, good photo ops, so we walked around snapping pictures of the kids. (They can all be seen at pictures.stoufer.com) A nice lay offered to take a picture of the family. Usually when someone else takes our picture, they never turn out. This one actually turned out pretty well!
Samantha looks so stinking cute in the picture! I like the trees, greenery, an waterfall are in the background behind them.
It was a fun trip to the Meijer Gardens. We usually do most of our visits there during the summer and we can go to the Children's Garden. It was fun to go during the winter and see the Christmas trees.

Night at Your Museum 12/27/10

Last year we went to an event at the Grand Rapids Public Museum called "Night at Your Museum". It is a fund raising event that is a take off from the movie "Night at the Museum" where all the exhibits come alive. We had some much fun last year, we went again this year.When we first get there we have dinner. There was pizza, lasagna, bread, and salad. It was actually pretty good food for food that had to be cooked by the hundreds. As we eat dinner there are "exhibits" walking around. A Pharaoh actually are bread off the plate of a girl sitting at our table! A Queen actually came over an talked to Samantha. The Queen asked Samantha if she was a Princess. I said "Of course!". Samantha even had a pair of jeans on that night that said "Princess" on them. :-)
After dinner we just walked around the 3 floors of exhibits to see who we could run into. As we found people, it was Marc's job to ask them their name and what year it was. Everyone there did a great job of staying in character. At one point we walked up to a paleontologist, asked him what his name is, what he did, and what year it was. Just as he was answering a bunch of other characters walked by and they all started arguing about what year it was. It was pretty comical! When Marc got the camera out, the Queen in red said "I learned tonight that if you say 'cheese', that thing in his hand will flash an take a 'picture' of you." SO much fun to see them people really getting into their characters. Many of the actors were the same ones as last year.
The museum has a carousel in it. Usually you have to pay something like $2 each to ride, but it was open for free, so we decided to ride. We actually ha a group of about 5 Civil War soldiers riding the carousel with us!
We spent about 3 hours there and the tickets cost $20 each. I think we well got our money's worth! It is so much fun! We even used some of our Marriott points to book a room at the JW Marriott hotel right across the bridge! So when we left, all we had to do was walk across the bridge to our nice, warm, hotel room. Fun, family night!

December Cuteness Part 2

Back in a previous post, called "December Cuteness Part 1", I told you that I would be posting some more December cuteness. Well, here it is! ;-)

The kids in their "winter" pj's

Marc's class ended their Mexico until with a Mexican fiesta. They did the Mexican hat dance, at tacos, and hit a pinata.

The kids with our childcare provider Michelle Smith. She absolutely loves my precious kiddos! She bought both of the kids a Christmas present. She is the sweetest lady ever!

My sweet kids eating some sweets, or candy canes.

While we were in the hotel after "Night at Your Museum", Samantha decided she needed to peek at me though the glass table.

Samantha peeking at me from behind the curtains in the hotel.

Check out my little man chillin' and relaxing in the hotel, playing his Nintendo DS.

Marc helped me blow out my birthday candles.

I love how Marc takes care of and looks out for Samantha. I was in the kitchen making lunch when she asked to have a book read to her. I couldn't o it, so big brother to the rescue!

I posted earlier about how the kids sang at church before Christmas. Well, one night Daddy an I were doing something (I don't remember what) in the kitchen. So both kids climbed up on the step stool an practice Marc's songs.

I truly do have great kids!!!

Merry Christmas 12/25/10

We have a tradition that we spend Christmas Day at home. We tell all of our family that they are welcome to come to our house if they want. This year we told Marc that if he woke up any time after 6:00am he could come wake us up. He woke up at 6:20!Samantha was still sleeping so we came down with Marc and he opened his stocking.After he looked through his stocking and did a little playing he had some of our traditional pineapple coffee cake (thanks Mom!!). After we ate breakfast we got dressed and made ourselves "presentable". ;-) This was about the time that Samantha woke up. So, not it was her turn to look through her stocking.
We let the kids play with their stocking goodies as long as they want. They both got those paddle ball thingys. Where there is a paddle and a ball attached to a piece of elastic. It was very entertaining watching the kids play!
It has become a rule in our house that on Christmas morning people are not allowed to come to our house until 10:00. This gives us time to spend together as a family, an having the kids open the presents from us. We let the kids open a present and then play with it for as long as they want to before moving onto the next one. We know that once everyone else gets here it gets pretty chaotic and they don't really get to play with anything until after everything is opened.
The first present we had Samantha open was her "Little Mommy" doll. I LOVE the look on her face!!!!
When we were down in AR over Thanksgiving, we went to Chuck E Cheese for Marc's birthday. They had a very large version of Operation as one of their games. Marc thought that was really fun, so we got him the "old fashion" version for Christmas.
My Mom got Samantha a nursery set (with a baby) to go with her "Little Mommy" Mom doll. I fin it very interesting that Samantha knew exactly how to feed that baby doll. She has not been around other girls feeding dolls before. Must be there really is a "Mommy" gene in little girls. :-)
My Grandma gave each of the kids one of the new Hallmark recordable books. What a great idea! Now, every year they can listen to Great Grandma reading them a story. :-)
This is Samantha with all of her new toys.
And all of her new clothes.
Marc with all of his new toys.
An Marc with all of his new clothes.
I look at the pictures just above an think to myself, "Man, my kids are spoiled!!" Then I think back to when people told me I was spoiled when I was younger and I said, "Nope, just well loved!". I was just joking around back in the day, but how true is what I was saying and not even realizing it???? My kids are very loved and are very special. It was a great Christmas spent with great family!