Christmas Day Joy!

Okay...so before we hit the New Year, I'll round out my blog with the promised photos of Christmas Day. We sure had a ball and it was so much fun seeing the kids go crazy with excitement. This is the first Christmas where Kaitlyn understood what was happening. She had SO much fun and it was neat to see her as "one of the big kids". In some ways I can't believe she will no longer be the "baby" of the family...but when I see her so grown up I know she will do great as a big sister. As for favorite gifts this year... Mine was a card I received from Toomas and the handcrafted gifts from the kids. Krista's favorite gift was the Wii and the Disney edition of Monopoly, for Erik it was his prized "Torterra Ex" Pokemon card and albums, Kaitlyn's was her Princess Pop-Up Castle and Toomas' was his new snazzy GPS. I took a ZILLION photos (as always) but never know which ones to put up on the blog. I remember really resisting the digital era of photography, but I know that I have many many more moments captured now that we are digital. Looking back (although just one week ago) it warms my heart to see the joy in these photos.

Christmas Eve

(Click to enlarge...You have to see these sweet faces up close!)

Did Christmas really come and go just like that? I'm afraid so...but it sure was a great one for the kids who were thoroughly satisfied with Santa's passage this year. I have to admit that they were just plain wonderful over the last year, and were adequately rewarded :) You just can't help buying an extra gift or two when you are so excited to make the little ones happy!!! Kaitlyn was VERY easy to please this year and was more than satisfied with her pop-up castle tent and set of Disney Princess dolls. Erik was HUGELY into pokemon this year, so Santa found almost all of the rare cards he was longing for---complete with a few albums to put them in. Krista asked mainly for scrapbook supplies, photos and books which Santa easily managed. She has made some fabulous pages over the last few days! I have nearly no time for scrapbooking lately, so I"m happy to pass along this task to Krista! She is so creative and has such an eye for design. I'm always truly impressed with her pages. The big gift this year (for the older 2) was the Nintentdo Wii game station. I'm NOT a fan of kids sitting in front of video games, but I was so happy to see Nintendo come up with this sporty/interactive video game concept. It is really neat to say the least. The kids work up a sweat playing tennis or boxing and then there is the Wii Fitness board for me! :)

Unfortunately my Mom went back home yesterday...We were so sad to see her leave. We all really miss having her around! It really did make Christmas special for us to have her here. I'm so glad she could share in on the excitement of Christmas with our family! She's now arrived safe and sound (sans baggage which is still unfortunately in Paris) and will have a week to rest up before her return back to work. THANKS so much for coming Mom!!!!

In other updates...the kids (and adults) DID have the stomach flu spread out over this past week which was no fun. Fortunately EVERYONE was healthy on Christmas Day, but Kaitlyn was up a good portion of Christmas eve night. Thankfully we are now over the hump and won't be catching it again anytime soon :)

So here are a few photos of the festivities. Krista had a role in the Mass on Christmas Eve, but those photos are on a different camera...It was a cute little play before the Mass begain. I'll try to post those later. For now here are a few fun shots of Christmas Eve. I'll get to the Christmas Day photos very soon!!! PROMISE!

Christmas Season Update!

Well, things have been crazy here lately (but since when aren't things crazy around here?). I guess crazier than usual would sum things up pretty well. I always find this to be SUCH a tiring and busy time of year in general, but that coupled with being 8+ months pregnant...and well, it is pretty darn demanding! It seems there are a million and one things to do in the day and I'm always inevitably a few hours short of time!!! Today was the first offical day of school vacation so things are calming down a bit now that the carpooling, Christmas parties and various kid-related activities are winding down. I have to say I'm finally able to see the Christmas-tree lights at the end of the tunnel :)

The great news is that my Mom is here! She arrived a week and a half ago and the time is going so fast! We are so happy to have here here to share the Christmas holiday with her. The kids are tiring her out I'm sure, but she is a trooper and seeming to love every minute of their company! She brought 2 full suitcases of Christmas activities, crafts and toys so they are being very spoiled indeed!!!!!!!

So where to start? I have SO many things to report, but not enough time to blog it all. Lets see..some of the highlights for us lately included Krista's final Rhythmic Gymnastics competition for the season (and Grandma got to go to that which was AWESOME timing!). It was a VERY CLOSE one for Krista. She was literally an INCH away from competiting in the Nationals. She was ONE place behind where she needed to be to advance! They took the first 9 girls and she was 10th (out of 30 girls). All in all it was still a huge success for her first season competing individually. I'm secretly happy that it didn't work out because the timing for the National competition is only a week or so after my due date! That would have been tough on me...but now the decision is made! :) She also had her end of the year Christmas party for gymnastics this weekend and Grandma got to go to that as well! Krista performed 3 times during the show and I enjoyed EVERY single moment of that stress-free show! It was just pure fun to watch! She still has a few practices this week, but next week she will have the ENTIRE week off for vacation. She will then need to start training intensively for her duo routine. She and her teamate will compete again in the 10 year old Federal level. It will be tough, but a great experience for them!

Erik had a tennis party at the end of last week which was great fun for him. He also got his report card on Friday and had a STELLAR semester. His teacher said he was "an adorable little boy who is very focused and applies himself very well". He landed all "A's" or "TB's" in French ---Tres Bien!! On Saturday he ended up coming down with the stomach flu which was NO fun. It was a quick one though---lasting less than 24 hours thankfully, but still was no fun for him (or for Toomas and myself, who stayed up with him all night and had the washing maching running all day Sunday).

Krista also received a great report card this term. She had NEARLY all A's--42 of them to be precise... and just 4 B's. All in all I think this was a great semester for her. Her teacher praised and even congratulated her as being "a very wonderful student, who is diligent and very motivated" I'm very proud of them both for their hard work this year!

In Kaitlyn news...She is sure enjoying her time with Grandma! She has started to talk a LOT more now, probabally because she knows that Grandma won't understand her communication otherwise. She has been so great about me leaving her alone with Grandma. I scheduled a lot of my doctor's appointments this past week so Mom could babysit. I thought Kaitlyn might be fussy about me leaving, but this wasn't the case at all! She and grandma have been having way too much fun! It has been SO much easier for me doing all of my errands minus the little 2 year old in tow! WOW, what a difference it makes for me! THANKS GRANDMA!!!

Earlier in the week was a COOKIE BAKING marathon! I think I made over 200 cookies this year! It became QUITE tedious at the end when it came down to frosting and decorating them all, but the end product is always so enjoyed that it is well worth the effort! We always give a nice plate of cookies many of our friends, kids' teachers and coaches for everything they do.

All of the finishing touches on the house were done early this week. Both the outside and inside look like they are straight from the North Pole! We're really all decked out this year. The tree that Toomas found is GORGEOUS! It is definately one of our prettiest trees yet. Kaitlyn has suprisingly been super about keeping all of the decorations on the tree and all of the gifts WRAPPED and in their place under the tree! What a difference a year can make! This time last year she was so tempted by all of the glittering globes and wrapped presents under the tree.

So, I know I"m missing out on a LOT of news. So much has been going on that it is difficult to keep up...too much to even recall, but those are the very general highlights. Tomorrow will be Toomas LAST day of work for 2008! Amazing that this year is coming to a close already. My pregnancy has just FLOWN and has definately made the year fly by. I'll be updating Forforme soon so stay tuned for any news on the baby front :)

I will try to update this blog again before Christmas (with photos of the Christmas Eve Mass). Krista had a rehearsal today and will have one more on Wednesday morning. Her First Communion Preparation Group will have a role in the Mass. I'm excited to see what they have in store for us... and so very glad that Grandma will be here to enjoy this special holiday together with us!