Tuesday, December 29, 2020

More Christmas Break

The kids are having a great time playing with their Christmas gifts.  I helped Esme make play-doh teeth and she enjoyed being the dentist.
It's been staying pretty mild which allows us to play outside every day.
We've been doing some driveway sledding and will get back out to the sledding hill once it's packed a bit more.
Jimmy's sister's family stopped by on Saturday for a visit and to drop off presents.  The kids got adorable matching pajamas and some really fun new toys.
Bop It and the fart gun are getting a lot of use already.  The fart gun even has a little water canister to mist out from the end.
Esme loves her new Peppa Pig castle and didn't seem to mind her bottom getting cold.
We enjoyed playing and being silly the rest of the weekend.  We made a worms and dirt kit that Grandpa and Grandma Herrmann gave us a while back.  Esme loved the pudding and cookie crumbs, but didn't want the gummy bugs and snails.
We love displaying our Christmas cards in a fun way and are blessed with so many.  It will be sad taking them down next week.
How cute are these new jammies!  Esme is obsessed with matching at the moment and loves matching with Parker.

Saturday, December 26, 2020

We'll Be Home for Christmas

Welcome to most pictured day of the year.  I took even more pictures that normal since we were filling our day with activities.  Typically, we'd head to my parents pretty early and mostly chill out all day.  Both kiddos climbed in our bed, which was a fun way to wake up.  Esme wished Parker a "Happy Christmas" in her adorable little voice.
They both asked to open presents right away, so we let them.  Esme got a BB8 foldout play set and Parker for another swing for the basement (hopefully they won't fight now.). They also got a new play doh dentist toy that was for both of them.
I had already installed our new swing mounts, so it was ready to go up. Esme's toy didn't come with any figures, but we gathers some up and Daddy Pig was immediately cornered by a "storm pooper."
Later in the morning my parents stopped by with presents.  We each got our traditional Santa bag that we got to open right away.
Each of the kids got a small toy and a bunch of snacks.  They would typically get gift cards in these as well, but they got those in their Advent calendar.
Jimmy and I each got some K-cups (for the free Keurig I managed to snag last week), chocolates and gift cards.

Esme proceeded to immediately try out all of the new play doh colors she got.
We had a pretty simple noon meal.  I was able to heat up the other half of our Thanksgiving sides and made baked potatoes and pineapple ham.  We've had so many cookies and other sweets lately that I didn't even make a special dessert.
We headed outside for some playtime before the Vikings game.
The football game was a bit disappointing.  They needed a win to stay alive in the playoff hunt, but didn't get it.
We opened presents with my parents at halftime over Zoom.  The kids each got a new pair of crocs, a bike helmet, a sweatshirt, and a book.  It was cute how quickly they figured out going over to the iPad to show my parents.

I did the good ole fashioned box gift card wrapped in packing tape in a box, inside a box, inside another box trick for my nephew.
Esme was obviously a fan of her presents and wore all of them the rest of the night.  My dad proved he is a good listener by getting us a bottle opener to attach to our deck.  I think this stemmed from a conversation during our cider taste test.
We finished out evening by continuing our Pixar tradition.  Theaters aren't open, but we did get to enjoy Soul from the comfort of our living room along with some homemade caramel corn.
Merry Christmas friends!