Christmas Part 1

On Christmas Eve Danny and I looked at each other and asked, “Whatcha want to do tomorrow?”  I know that it sounds strange.  Shouldn’t there be a long list of traditions that we have? Well, we have almost ALWAYS traveled for Christmas, so staying home with the family is not something we are used to.  We had to make a list of the things that we wanted to do and then make sure we fit them in… with that said we still almost forgot to open the stockings! 

So… here is what we did on Christmas day…. a great day of celebration and family. It was priceless! It was simple! It was relaxing!  It was special! It was what we were hoping for!

We started the morning with reading the Christmas story…right from the Bible… as the kids acted it out with the Fisher Price Nativity Set that we have. 

Then we took a little break to eat cinnamon rolls…a Chase family tradition! YUMMY!  Grace had THREE rolls… its Christmas so that is ok!  :)

I made the kids pose for a few pictures before they dove into their first gift!  We just can’t describe how much we love them and how blessed we feel to have them in our lives… all four of them! Four little gifts that keep on giving to us everyday!

On the move

Caleb's crawling!  I. AM. IN. TROUBLE.

Re-baby-proofing...HERE. I. COME.

Uncle Taties and Auntie Amy

It is no secret that the kids LOVE to spend time with Danny’s brother and sister in law…. who wouldn’t?  They are fun, love to read stories with funny voices, are good snugglers and love spending time with the kids as well!  We got together with them right before Christmas when they were in eastern Iowa visiting Amy’s dad.  Our plans were delayed a little because of a snow storm, but we still had a great time together… and then we went to a hotel to sleep and go swimming!  What could be better than all of that? 

Thanks, Kenny and Amy, for fitting us into your schedule! And Thank you, Chuck, for letting us invade your house!! 

A White Christmas

On the Wednesday before Christmas we got a big snow storm!  Our family was delighted because that meant that Daddy didn’t go to work on Thursday, there was time to play in the snow, we got to drink hot chocolate and we would have a WHITE CHRISTMAS!! YEAH!  All around it was a good thing.  The kids enjoyed helping Daddy shovel the 12+ inches from the deck and then crawling, jumping, and playing in the snow.  Here are some of the pictures of the fun….

Josiah….. Hannah…..  Grace

She is NOT DEAD… this is a snow angel!

Playing snow puppies… are you surprised?

SNOW BUDDIES

And to keep the tradition alive, there was hot chocolate and cookies when they came inside… and boy, did they NEED it!  :)

Time to make the Baby Food

Caleb is already at the stage where he is rapidly consuming baby food!  Yeah!  It is hard to believe that… he just jumped right in and has really gotten it!  So far I have made squash, carrots, peas and green beans.  I need to make sweet potatoes and regular potatoes then I will start making some fruits!  He is going to LOVE banana and apple sauce!    (And by the way, I got a WONDERFUL new food processor for Christmas… it is perfect for all of the baby food that I make! Thanks, Danny!)

If you have never made baby food, DO NOT BE INTIMIDATED!! It is really easy.  I just buy frozen veggies and cook them on the stove (I boil them.)  Then drain the water off of them… but reserve some for the baby food.  Put the veggies in the food processor or blender with a little of the water that you saved.  Then whip them until they are smooth… the consistency that you like.  You may need to add more water if it is a little stiff.  Then take the veggies and spoon them into ice cube trays and put them in the freezer.  Once they have hardened, put them in a labeled bag in the freezer.  When you are ready to use them, take out the number of cubes that you need (2-3) and heat in the microwave.  Make sure they are not too hot before giving them to baby and mix with cereal if you like…. EASY AND SO MUCH CHEAPER!!

Christmas cookies…

Here are the pictures from the adventures in making cookies with the kids….

Does this face say “trouble”?  It should…

We made these cookies for our friend Sarah and her family. She is a leader in Cubbies and has a birthday two days after mine.  We brought them to Cubbies for the kids to eat and the extras came home for us to enjoy!  :)

A little seamstress

One activity that we did while Vick was in town was going to the toy store to show her some toys that the kids would like for Christmas.  One of the items that Grace and I picked out was a kid’s sewing machine.  She has always been fascinated by mine, but I thought she was still too young to try mine.  MomMom got Grace it for Christmas.  She was THRILLED!

One day in the week before Christmas, I was trying to think of an easy project to do with Grace using her machine.  SO.. the kids and I went to Hobby Lobby to get Dallas Cowboys fabric.  We measured how big Danny’s pillow was and cut the fabric to size, sewed three straight lines and made…. A PILLOW CASE!! She was beaming the whole time. We wrapped it up and put it under the tree as a Christmas gift for Daddy… we also made him and our friend Julie scarves using the leftover pieces – Grace cut fringe for each one!    I am sure that there will be MANY more activities using this machine…. it worked well and she did GREAT!