The Jarrells: December 2008

We prepare and anticipate, think about gifts for loved ones, food for the occasion and all that fun and enjoyable things this special season brings and then it seems to be over so quickly. Maybe it's just me, but I am always hoping for more Christmas; more time, more fun, more conversations, more play, ... Yet it was very nice and I didn't want it to end. No, not yet!!! And once again, nobody listened!

Daddy says I'm cute

It was a great to hear Luke this morning shouting: Daddy, Daddy, Santa has been here already! By the time Luke had seen the gifts (which was right as he walked from his bed to our bedroom) Lani had already walked past them numerous times. Interesting how oblivious 2 year olds can still be. Once discovered, it didn't take long for them to start opening. Christmas is so much fun with little kids. There were lots of: "Cool", "Awesome" and "Oh, wows". I think everything was a hit!!

In the late morning family and friends came over. After some visiting, we had some delicious food. As you can imagine, everybody was stuffed and there was tons of food leftover but I am looking forward to not having to cook for days (even though I enjoy the cooking and baking so much).

This was one of our crafts. We had a blast - needless to say, they went straight in the tub.

We will have pumpkins growing on our patio next year. This one was still leftover from Halloween and we all thought it was time to get rid of it. Looks like Luke and Lani understood destroy instead of remove or get rid of - I need to get their hearing checked.

Alrighty, it's been a while again. I just hope that I'll be able to get my life organized again someday. I never quite realized what people were talking about, this being the hectic time of year. Having made sure to get the shopping done early and being somewhat organized, it still has been really really busy the past two weeks. Christmas party here, there and everywhere. Oh, don't think I'm complaining. They were all fun and as you probably know, I love a party, no matter where or when. Nevertheless, I haven't gotten things done, this blog being one of them.

Here a little summary of the different parties. On December 6th was Nikolaustag. That's always that date and this year it was a saturday. There you have it, a weekend and a reason, all that's necessary for a party. We got our german community and some american friends together, everybody brought some goodies, we had organized a nice clubhouse and most important a german Nikolaus. Well, the german part isn't essential, but it was great, since most of the kids speak german and it is a german holiday. Luke said a little Christmas rhyme and Lani sang Twinkle, Twinkle little star for Nikolaus. Otherwise they wouldn't have gotten any gifts from him. That's the rule and of course I told my kids about that rule (it's not mean, is it?).

Last week we had the Christmas parties at school. It is so incredible and exciting to see how much Lani has changed during the first half of the school year. She has grown up a lot and has become much more confident around other people. She can still be clingy and shy, yet nothing compared to before. And..if I haven't told you already...she is everything BUT shy and calm at home. Lanis party was fun, but unfortunately they didn't have a little show this year. We all enjoyed each other though. Luke's party was a lot of fun. Since they are a little older, they had quite a show and he was one of the biggest participants. He loves to sing (why wouldn't he, he loves to talk all day long, so why not sing too, right?!) and dance. That boy's got some rhythm too. Jay and I are really proud of our two kiddos.

Most of the pictures below (and the one above) are from Santa's Village. We went there last week. It's in Huntsvilles constitution village and it's all decked out for christmas and kids. They had a maze, cookie decorating, reindeer, snow machine, Santa, Mrs. Santa, choir music, sleigh,.... The kids had a blast and therefore we did too.