{ christensen family christmas }

After a fun three days at the Kruegers, we packed up yet again and hit the road to head to the Lodge in Cumberland. For this three hour drive, we were blessed with two sleeping toddlers for a solid 1.5 hours.

Stella & Oliver were very tempted by a tree stocked with presents underneath but they had to wait until their cousins arrived the next day. Although it was cold outside swinging on the "big" swing was the perfect distraction, as was some entertaining by Grandpa.

The next day when their cousins arrived it was "Christmas", which included exchanging gifts. Unlike last year, they were actually able to open things themselves and were excited by the prospect of finding out what was inside.

Highlights included ice skates.

The American Girl "McKenna" doll for Anna and Lydia (look at the excitement when they realized what it was!).

The American Girl "Itty Bitty" twin dolls for Oliver and Stella, now named Emma and Kyle.

Dress-up clothes.

Gopher/Badger decanters.

And topped off with a tool bench and shopping cart/car the next morning.

Grandpa planned a fun outdoor activity for the kids in the form of a scavenger hunt. Oliver and Stella were a little young to understand what was going on, but everyone took part in finding the 5 hidden clues around the property.

The final clue lead them to a prize. Lollipops!

It really is the simple things in life that make kids happy.

Oliver insisted on being carried around during the entire scavenger hunt instead of walking with the rest of the gang. Upon realizing that Anna and Lydia had discovered a bag of lollipops with one for each of them, he flung himself out of Chop's arms and could barely contain his excitement to get his hands on one.

And then to top off the sugar rush we headed inside for hot chocolate......or mainly just marshmallows for Oliver and Stella.

To embrace more of the winter weather and conditions, we headed out to the "ice rink" on Little Sand Lake. It ended up being about 30 minutes of prep and dressing for about 5 minutes of "skating".

 It was a wonderful few days at the Lodge, even managing to sneak in some relaxing in the hot tub.

So many fun memories from all of our holiday travels but after a week of traveling, it will feel good to settle back in at home!

{ krueger family christmas }

A few hours after the bounce house reveal on Christmas morning, we loaded up and hit the road, heading to Plover, WI to celebrate Christmas with the Kruegers. Uncle Jeff and Aunt Sheri opened up their home to everyone for the celebration.

I used most of my camera battery trying to get picture of 34 Kruegers. That task looked a little something like this.

But in the end, we got a keeper!

Though not professional quality, not bad for my rookie skills and a non-tripod camera sitting on top of two boxes sitting on a sofa.

A lot easier when you only have 6 siblings and parents in the photo.

Opening gifts takes a long time with this many people but Oliver and Stella were well entertained during all of it playing with their cousins (and eating cookies). 

And they LOVED the gifts they received. Oliver was in heaven with his remote control train.

And Stella was thrilled with her Peppa Pig car and picnic set. We found her numerous times hiding in a side room playing with it.

And no Krueger Christmas would be complete without a visit from Santa and Mrs. Claus. Both Oliver AND Stella sat on his lap.

And were sad to see him go.

Merry Christmas to all!

{ jump around }

Santa was hungry and thirsty when he made his stop at the Krueger house.

Stella woke first just after 6:00am and it was obvious there was no way we were getting her to wait for Oliver to wake up before heading downstairs. She was excited to take a look at what her stocking was filled with.

As predicted, she was most excited about her Cinderella doll, Peppa Pig figurines, and socks but immediately asked to open her lollipop (which was a requested item from both from Santa).

Oliver woke just a little while later and it was the same scenario.......loved his Toy Story Buzz Light and Woody (an addition to the Santa request a few days before Christmas) but wanted his lollipop right away.

Can you say 6:30am sugar high?!

Meanwhile, they had no idea what awaited them downstairs in the basement.

For months they had been saying that they wanted a "jumpy" and when asked by Santa, or anyone else, what kind of jumpy they would say "big jumpy". Well, Santa delivered.

 

Yup, a giant bounce house in our basement. Should come in handy during the long winter months when they need to burn off some energy. Friends and family - you are welcome anytime for bounce house play dates!

{ twas the night before christmas }

We made the decision this year to be at our house for Christmas Eve and Christmas morning. O and S are getting older and it just seemed like a good time to start our own traditions and be able to wake up in our own house, finding Santa's gifts and stocking fillers.

Grandma C came early to help us bake sugar cookies for Santa.
We quickly discovered Oliver has a serious sweet tooth and quickly discovered how good cookie dough is.

They were good cutters and we ended up with some interesting shapes and designs from them helping place them on the cookie sheets.

Though I don't have any pictures of it, we headed out on Christmas Eve morning to burn a little energy and went swimming at the Y. We hadn't been there since last winter/spring and O and S LOVED it. They are able to do so much more walking and playing in the water now and had a blast.

We came home for naps and upon waking, the Christensen family came over for pre-church appetizers and gift opening.

The cousins exchanged gifts and the princess and CARS pajamas that they received were a big hit.

We walked just a few blocks to Knox church for a nice Christmas Eve church service. The trick was just getting Oliver and Stella to stay relatively still and quiet for the 45 minutes. Stella did awesome and Oliver, well Grandpa C took him out to play for part of the service.

My favorite, and theirs too, part of the service is the candlelight singing of Silent Night. A beautiful reminder of all the blessings in our life.

We headed back to our house for some hot soup and a few more gift openings. And, of course, preparing cookies and milk for Santa. After getting them to bed for the night we starting wondering what the clock would start with the next morning when they woke up! More on that in the next post.......