A Few Shots from Christmas Cookie Day

A Few Holiday Moments

Christmas Past!

2008

Christmas is now past. This was a very different year for us. We had the most laid back Christmas ever. I was not feeling very well leading up to Christmas and we were all very worried that Joel would have to stay in Michigan due to bad weather. But Joel made it safely to Wisconsin on Christmas Eve. It turns out we moved to Wisconsin just in time to experience the highest snow fall EVER in December for our lovely new state.

We missed being with family and friends, but we did make some new friends here in our neighborhood. But, our family was together, and what could be better than celebrating our Lord's Birth?

The Christmas presents were wrapped and unwrapped. Santa clause found our house alright and we have the reindeer's footprints on our roof to prove it! The reindeer were actually here a few times to check and see if the kids were being good! That is Alyssa's version of the footprints. The rest of us do not have the heart to tell her they are squirrel footprints!

We spent Christmas Day in our pajamas and had our traditional Christmas morning breakfast. Joel and the boys worked together and made fresh squeezed orange juice and we had creme brulee french toast.

Alyssa got two new dolls for Christmas and has turned the sun room into her own little house. Alyssa's house is a mess! Daniel is loving his new I Pod and is constantly sticking an ear bud in my ear and telling me to 'just listen to this, Mom!' Of course it is the same music that he used to listen to on CD's and I've heard all the music before. But you know maybe it's better on an I Pod! Isaac is loving his tools and bird feeders. He has put the food out for the birds. Last year he made us pay attention and write down what birds we saw at the different bird feeders. This year there's only one bird feeder! :-) And in case you were wondering there are all kinds of things you can do with a pair of pliers. Nicko is very happy with his Christmas presents, but he brought home seven books from the school library and he is trying to get them read before he has to return them. The boy has priorities.

Joel is in Michigan, but he will be back for New Year's Eve. We have invited a few neighbors over for brunch on New Year's Day and that will pretty much wrap up our holiday season. For New Year's Eve, we are letting the kids stay up until 10 or 10:30. Then they have to go to bed, so we can too! Somehow, karaoke has become our traditional New Year's Eve family entertainment. The kids love hearing Joel try to sing those big hair band rock songs. Can you imagine "Welcome to the Jungle" being belted out by a sick camel? I can! Every year!!! But we wind up laughing so hard, we can't hear too much of him anyway. Joel is such a good sport. Every year Alyssa sings "How Great is our God" about 17 times and nothing else. Daniel wants to sing every single song and Nicko will probably want to go to his room and read!

This is a pretty wordy entry. I'll open another post for some pictures of our holiday.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
The Boiten Family

Isaac-isms!

Every once in awhile, Isaac says something in complete seriousness that just amuses me. It seems lately that a few of his thoughts have been either thought provoking or humorous.

* "Mom, is potassium sorbate good for you?"
"I don't think so, it's a preservative. Why?"
"It's in a lot of the candy that we eat. Maybe I should just stick to bananas, they have the regular kind of potassium."

* As we were decorating cookies for Santa, the kids were having a ball. Someone wistfully wished for more cookies to decorate. Isaac instantly giggled and announced they should just flip the cookies over when they were dry and decorate the other side. He was so tickled that no one else thought of that. Truthfully, I didn't think of it either.

* Isaac's science class has been studying natural disasters in school. He was so excited to get to watch a film about earthquakes. When he came home, he looked so sad. I asked him how school went and he just shook his head. He told me that they watched the film in school that day. I asked him how he liked it. His reply was as follows:
"Mom, they took something so exciting and made it boring! How do they expect kids to get excited about learning if they can't even get excited about it? It makes no sense to me."

* Setting: The dining room at 6:15p.m.
"Uh, Mom? Tomorrow I have to take a Secret Santa present to school for a kid named Liam, and I was wondering if you could get something really creative that no one else would think of. Don't like get candy or something typical."
"Isaac, when did you find out that you were giving Secret Santa gifts at school?"
" Well, awhile ago, but I couldn't think of what I wanted you to get. But I never thought of anything, do you think you can try to be creative?"
"Do you think you could let me know about this stuff a little sooner?"
"Oh, yeah. Good point, Mom."

5 Most Surprising Things to Learn When You Get a Wii!

5. Suddenly, all the chores are getting done quickly to make time to play Wii.

4. Talent in a sport does not mean you will win the corresponding Wii game.

3. Not reading the directions is a trait that can start very early in some males!

2. When it sounds like your husband is moving furniture at midnight, he's playing baseball!

1. Your daughter may be the best boxer in the house!

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas!

Decorating for Christmas is a big deal at our house.
It usually takes a week to get everything set up.
We decorate inside and out and it is so fun to see
the kids get into the spirit of the season. Here are
a few of our favorite transformations!