A party 7 years in the waiting...

Andy's birthday came and went over the Christmas break. I never got around to planning anything to celebrate his birthday until after the break. He and Ellie have always had a combined party in early December (except for last year when neither of them had a party at all). He was always too young to care. This year I was able to convince Ellie to just take a few friends to the movies and pizza and we would let Andy have a party of his own for the first time ever. What a great big sister.

So almost a whole month after his actual birthday, we had Andy's birthday party. I kinda feel really quilty that he never had his own party so I stressed out a great deal and kinda went overboard with the decor but I didn't mind any minute of it. I loved it!

Since he is such an avid train lover and it is technically still "winter" time we decided on a Polar Express theme for the party. Andy invited his classmates and Cub Scout buddies and they took in the movie "Polar Express" while snacking on popcorn and hot chocolate. I think their favorite part was the 15-20 minutes at the end of the party when I had nothing else planned and they all ran upstairs and made a GINORMOUS mess with the Nerf guns and Barbies, etc.

Here is how it went:

 

Decorating train cookies

time for presents

I think it was a great party. I will definitely do more "movie" parties in the future. The kids were SOOO quiet through most of the movie. It was AWESOME!

Christmas Day 2012

It all began with some cookies. We spent Christmas Eve visiting IKEA and stopping by the embassy to pick up some last minute boxes that had arrived. Since we didn't get home until 2pm-ish and I didn't plan ahead, (and Christmas Eve Mass started at 4:30) the cookies for Santa were not even baked and ready for decorating until after 8pm. Decorating ended roughly at 9pm and we set everything out and sent everyone to bed.

Apples for the reindeer.

Our "Magic Key" for Santa.

Then there was the 4:30am wake-up call when Ellie came into my room saying she couldn't sleep. I asked what she wanted me to do and her reply was "Can I sleep with you?". Ben and I are not small people and we only have a queen sized bed so I let her take my spot and went to the guest room since I knew the air conditioner would not disappoint in there! (Ours decides to stop blowing cold air in the middle of the night). From this bed I can see the stairs and anyone who tries to go down.

About 10 minutes later, I caught Danny trying to sneak downstairs. I informed him of the time and insisted he go back to bed. Some 20 minutes after that I noticed Benny trying to head downstairs so I yelled at him to get back in bed. As he was making his way back to his room, Danny whizzed by heading back to his bed. A few more minutes passed and I see Andy carrying his giant new Lego train box from Santa into his bedroom. At this point I loose it! He says he just wanted to show everyone what he got from Santa. I make him take it back down stairs to the tree and when I get down there, Ellie is laying in front of the tree with her pillow and blanket, waiting on everyone else.
SOOOO, we end up doing our Christmas at about 6am!

New sewing machine for Mommy!!!

THE BEST PRESENT!!!
I wrapped this particular present in about 7 different sized boxes/wrappings.
I love the reactions we got after each new package was revealed. It was the smallest present but in the largest box of all. Check out the sequence...

box number 1

number 2

number 3

number 4

number 5

number 6. "IT'S AN iPOD!"

O.K. so it was only 6, but it was still fun!

You know you are in a foreign country...

...when the movie theaters have soda seats in them and it only costs less than $1 more than the other seats. We only spent about $15 for the 2 of us to see a movie, including popcorn and a drink.
One pic is of the sofa we got but it's really dark. I couldn't get a decent pic. The other is the sample seats they have out by the box office to advertise.