All grown up!

She saved the day again!  Dec. 26 Aunt Shanna drove over two hours to take Lexi to Oak Park Mall (along with apparently 98% of the population of Johnson County!) to get her ears pierced!  Shanna documented the process and Lexi's fear of pain is quite evident!  She's absolutely in love with her earrings, though, and looks so grown up!

Scared . . .

Terrified . . .

Still in shock . . .

In love with her earrings!

 Shanna stayed for two days to help Mom!  We put together seven puzzles, watched a movie, and Shanna even took all three kids (two of which were in Halloween costumes!) to Wal-Mart!  She'll be back for New Year's and we can't wait!

The gifts that rocked!

Every year I seem to have that one gift (or two) that I absolutely can't wait to give!  I imagine the looks on their faces and try not to be disappointed if they don't go over like I'd hoped.  This year, they rocked!

We gave Frankie a coloring book-style X-Men jacket and washable markers.  He can color it (his favorite activity) then have it washed and start over.  He worked on it for almost three hours this afternoon, even ignoring the Superhero movie on TV!

Not a great picture but he's so proud of it!

Lexi's gift was three-fold: cotton balls opened first, a personalized tackle box, and finally earrings.  She tried to guess the gift after each and finally said, "Are these EARRINGS?"  We'd told her she had to wait until she was 13 to get her ears pierced so this was a big shock!  Aunt Shanna's taking her to Claire's tomorrow since I can't navigate the mall on crutches!  I videoed the whole thing but, of course, I keep getting an error when I try to upload.  You'll just have to take my word for it!

A Christmas of Sorts - Kansas City

Daddy was too sick to attend Christmas Eve at Aunt Cindy's so Mom took the kids (driving for the first time since surgery!).  Lexi started feeling puny pretty quickly, though, so we packed back up after dinner and headed home.

In the spirit of Christmas giving, the stomach flu was passed on to Mom that night.  She was able to make it to the living room sofa Christmas morning and even capture a few pictures between bouts.  It didn't feel like Christmas to some but the kids didn't seem to notice the lack of enthusiasm!

Santa brought us an Elf on the Shelf (named Crystal) and a Spy Kit for Lexi.  Frankie got the Spiderman MegaRacer he'd asked for and Henry got all the Dora things Mom won't buy for him (as a 3 year old boy!).  Thanks, Santa!

The kids had each chosen beautiful necklaces for Mom and their school's "store" and Henry was so proud of the gift he chose for Dad he blurted out, "It's a coffee mug!" when he handed him the package.

We had Grandma and Papa here to help celebrate and assemble everything with Mom and Dad out for the count.  They've put in quite the hours these last two weeks!

We can truly say we'll never forget Christmas 2012!

Computer from Christmas Eve

Sprite in her stocking!

Chatting up Papa

Reading despite the chaos

Daddy's Periodic Table of Beer Styles

Santa brought Henry Dora pjs!

A Christmas of sorts - Wichita

Christmas in Wichita started Friday afternoon after a bearable drive down with Mom in the back propping her foot.  Aunt Casey and family were there (with dogs - the kids' favorites!) and, of course, Nana had tons of great food!

The kids played with their gifts, including water guns in the unseasonable 55 degree weather.

Saturday night, close to midnight, Henry picked up where Frankie had left off on Wednesday and Vomit-Fest 2012 continued!  Henry took Saturday night into Sunday then tagged Lexi for Sunday afternoon.  She, then, tagged Daddy on Monday morning.  It was a Christmas that will go down in history!

Needless to say, family avoided us like the plague we were!

Lego gun building

Henry with Baby Layne

Lovin' on Aunt Casey

Opening Mom's birthday gifts

Cousin time!

Water guns in December

He's actually smiling!

Checking out Henry's post-vomit dry cereal attempt

Riding the vomit wave

Advent Week Three

Dec. 13 - Even though she can't walk, Mom can still read!  We snuggled in bed and read a huge stack of Christmas books!  Who knew Llama, Llama has Holiday Drama!

Dec. 14 - Layers of flour, sugar, baking soda, and M & M's . . . it can only mean layered cookie mix!

Dec. 15 - Sweet, sweet Aunt Shanna!  Not only did she come to cheer me up on Saturday, she didn't bat an eye when I asked her to help the kids make pinecone bird feeders!  She's one-of-a-kind!  (Note, please don't eat the chunky peanut butter in our pantry!  Rumor is, it now contains a bit of bird seed!)

Dec. 16 - Frank took the kids to our church program.  I'd helped plan it but missed the last meeting with the surgery and I guess it contained some 'pertinent information'!  So I sent Frank at the time the adult choir program started and, after over an hour and a picture of Spiderman drawn in a Bible, Frank drug the disappointed kids home.  Apparently the children's events started later in the evening.  Next year I'll go to all of the planning meetings!

Dec. 17 - We all know Santa gets hungry on that infamously-long night but what about his reindeer?  Carrots are so 1995!  We packaged our secret recipe of Magic Reindeer Food to deliver to the neighbors!  Sprinkle it on the yard on Christmas Eve and the moonlight will make it glow - guiding the reindeer to your house!

Dec. 18 - Family movie night!  It's so much fun now that the "big kids" can watch actual movies!  Four Wonkas watched Batman Begins.  One Wonka watched Dora in the Lego Room - can you guess who?

Dec. 19 - Indoor picnic (complete with juice boxes!)

"Mom, indoor picnics are lame"

Jar cookies ready for delivery!

There's no better "aunt" than Shanna!

Reindeer food assembly

Snow!

"When it snows you have two choices: shovel or make snow angels."

Usually I'd shovel and the kids would play.  Today, I balanced with my crutches in the garage while they enjoyed the snow.  I would've much rather been building a snow fort with my angels but I'll take what I can get!

Making snow balls

Snow Angels

Well worth the pain!

Monday started a bit dicey:

• Mom's first trip out of the house after surgery (including navigating the garage steps!)
• "Crutching" (yes, it's a word!) from the parking lot to the doctor's office
• All but passing out in the doctor's office (I'm telling you, I don't do narcotics well!) - the doctor caught me mid-fall
• Sitting, again nauseous and light-headed, for 35 minutes waiting for the boys' preschool Christmas program to start

But . . .

I would've "crutched" through fire for this program!  Both boys were super nervous until they spotted Grandma and me in the audience.  Henry stopped singing to wave and say, "My mama came!"  Worth every painful second!

I'll spare you the videos but their singing was adorable!

The nervous innkeeper ready to deliver his line.

If that's not the cutest sheep, I don't know what is!

Advent Round 2

It's week two of Advent around the Wonka house!

Dec. 8 - Paint glass ornaments to give to teachers at preschool and church.  We got smart this time and used paint shirts!

Dec. 9 - Turns out 300 piece puzzles are tricky!  The boys fizzled out after putting the border together and Lexi didn't hang in much longer.  Frank & I took one for the team and finished the puzzle in just under three hours!

Dec. 10 - My first card-making idea was an epic failure but Lexi really liked Plan B - painters tape designs!  

Dec. 11 - Everyone's favorite activity . . . gingerbread house!  Whoever decided to sell pre-assembled houses is my new hero!

Dec. 12 - Hot chocolate (yes, I know it's lame, but Mom was alternating crying in pain and vomiting from pain medicine following ankle surgery - work with me here!)

Right before the kids called it quits!

Look for our thank you notes to arrive in these beauties!

Could any more candy possibly fit on this house?!

Advent Days 1-6

Most kids count down until Christmas, Lexi counted down until the first day of Advent!  Once again, we have 24 activities hanging on our Christmas tree and the kids race each day to see what fun is in store!  Some are repeats of last year but some are new!

Dec. 1 - Open Personalized Ornaments - Lexi got a Brownie Scout, Frankie's is an open book that says "Learning to Read on My Own", and I made Henry a picture frame of puzzle pieces to represent his favorite pastime!

Dec. 2 - Make Jingle Bell wreaths

Dec. 3 - Sugar cone Christmas trees (notice the green icing in Frankie's hair!)
Dec. 4 - Paint wooden ornaments

Dec. 5 - Make letter-shaped crayons

Dec. 6 - Set up the Nativity scene (strictly a "Lexi" activity - the boys watched X-Men instead!)