Swenson family Christmas

Christmas at the Swenson house occurred over the last weekend in December. Working around several schedules, we decided to open presents later afternoon on Saturday, which slightly complicated Santa's visit--how do presents magically appear in the middle of the day? Happily, when you're almost 4 and still take a nap, it's totally plausible that you might wake up from your nap and "catch" Santa leaving presents behind. 

The above photo is not Thomas being scared. It's Thomas feeling so excited that he's squeezing me. He can't believe Santa is here, in Grammy and Buppa's house!

Jojo, on the other hand, is not so sure about this guy. 

James is pretty ambivalent, even when presented with a fire truck.

Once again, I get to be in the photo with Santa. It's too bad Buppa was at the store during Santa's visit.

By now, Jojo is an old pro at stockings!

As of course is TJ.

TJ's first doll: Aaron Rodgers! Aaron took a lot of abuse (from me and Ed) during the Packers' playoff loss. Eventually, he just had to turn away from the tv because the game got so ugly.

Love this photo with the tree in the background!

Because we're gluttons for punishment, we tried one more cute pj photo. No luck. 

The best photo I have of the two boys in their "Christmas best."

Three cousins in Santa hats.

So sweet.

Our Christmas tradition is to do Maggiano's family-style some time over the holidays (never on actual Christmas!). The idea of taking three kids under 4 to a multi-course dinner sounded like a BAD idea. So we recreated our Maggiano's favorites at home. Brilliant!

And much like our traditional all-you-can-eat meal, we had way too much food.

Ridiculously sized garlic bread. Yum.

Snowy Fun

I'm noticing a theme to my January and February photos. They are mostly outside in the snow and because of that, they are mostly from my iPhone! 

We had a few great snowstorms during the first two months of the year and spent as much time as possible outside. Which is actually impressive when you consider that it takes as long to get suited up as  their attention span lasts in the cold! We have a great sledding hill in our yard and took full advantage of it. Ed and I even went out two different nights after the kids went to bed--so much fun!

TJ sliding down the hill

The boys and their buddy Rowan, ready to sled.

At the top of the hill. Look at those gorgeous trees, coated in snow!

Rowan having fun!

Thomas hoping for a ride up the hill.

He loves sledding!

Josiah was hot and cold on sledding at our house. It depended on how recently he'd gotten a face full of snow (mostly self-inflicted from tripping, but occasionally from a powdery trip down the hill).

He sure looked cute though! And the dirtier snow behind him is actually the road--we've learned that our neighborhood doesn't usually get plowed the day it snows. Ed and I sledded down the road at night a few times--a longer hill!

I think I was having more fun than Jojo was here!

After a few false starts, TJ realized the only way up the hill was to walk himself.

Jojo liked to just sit in the snow.

Cute boys

Just some random cute photos from January.

 Thomas still loves his superhero cape that Aunt MaryBeth made him 2 years ago (is it really 2 years ago?!?!). Jojo wears a red bandana as a cape but would love his own come August (ahem, hint, hint, MB!) They do laps around our house like this. I am so grateful for the open floor plan of the first floor, with so much room for running, especially in the winter!

 No idea what they were looking at, but a cute picture regardless!

No costume is complete without a hat!

Or two hats...

Ruble family Christmas 2012 part 2

This post is all the Christmas-related photos. 

Alice wanted to make decorated sugar cookies with the kids. Her method was brilliant--rather than trying to wrangle all the kids at once, she let each kid work with her to roll out and cut cookies. 

After baking them, all the kids (who were interested...not so much Jakin and Corban) decorated the cookies.

Alli and Micah, with a sneak peek of Baby J.

Ed and Aidan sporting the argyle

Grandma and Grandpa with all the grandkids. What's amazing is that pretty much everyone is actually looking at the camera!

The Miller family

Our family. Not TJ's best effort. :)

We went to Christmas Eve Mass at 5:30. TJ, who was starting to not take naps anymore, fell asleep before we even got in the car. True evidence of having way too much fun with his cousins all day long! 

Our traditional Christmas Even dinner is a Hungarian specialty called paprikash. Ed's contribution to the meal is helping to beat the dumpling batter into form.

The 3 girls spooning the dumplings

Another Christmas Eve tradition: Grandpa reading 'Twas the Night Before Christmas. Next year there will be two more babies in this photo! The couch is getting crowded...

A photo looking down at the tree and stockings Christmas morning. This is the peace and quiet before the kids are let up. You'll notice Jojo in the photo--he had to come up from the basement (where the kids' bunk room is) for a diaper change and was NOT happy that I left him to take this photo. Jojo was having some mommy issues on this trip is still having some mommy issues. Often times nobody else will do.

The kids are patiently waiting to come up to see the tree and open stockings and presents. Each year the adults torture them by needing to make coffee, brush teeth, etc., etc., dragging out the suspense.

Often repeated: who needs actual gifts when the boxes gifts come in are so fun? This vacuum box (which actually housed two golf bags) became entertainment for at least 4 boys.

I made the girls duffle bags for gifts.

Thomas gets a sewing bug every once in a while. In December, while I was busily finishing up gifts, he decided he needed to make a quilt for his cousins. He picked out these fabrics and helped me sew them together. Voila! His first quilt. He now has a long list of recipients that he wants to make quilts for.

MaryBeth made Thomas and Josiah an alphabet photo book--full of great memories!

Ruble family Christmas 2012 part I

It seems strange to begin a Christmas post with photos of everyone outside on a 50+ degree day, but it's also strange to be posting about Christmas in March...I am catching up!

So, back to December. Once again we did the Grand Christmas Tour, starting out with a trip to NC for the actual Christmas holiday. There were 15 of us this year, a number that will grow to 17 by next Christmas. Because we live so far apart, our time together is usually short and far between, so we really enjoy these holiday days together!

The guys helped Tom with a project--assembling a new platform for the dock. It was a sunny and pretty beautiful 50ish degree day right before Christmas, so we happily spent it outside.

See how far out the lake is? In the spring/summer the dock actually floats. 

The smaller kids made a pirate ship out of sticks. They loved running around in the dirt/mud.

The kids grilled hotdogs outside for lunch. We did s'mores too!

Never underestimate the fun of playing in a gravel driveway.

What the bigger kids do, the little ones need to copy!

Playing pool is so much better with a boost!

Many intense foosball games. Corban and Jakin are much better than most of the rest of us.

We went to Cooks, the local BBQ joint, one night for dinner. This was the kids' end of the table. It's perfect that some of the kids are old enough to help the others (though I was sitting next to Jojo) so that we can have a kids' end of the table!

The two smallest in their seats, eating pancakes!

These two are inseparable. Annie has always been "Princess Annie" and she has now dubbed Thomas "Prince Thomas." Thomas calls Annie is best friend and rumor has it there are plans in the works for a marriage. I'm sure that idea will fizzle out before we actually need to put a stop to it!

Grandpa's big chair is the place to be. You can usually find at least two kids and a dog in it. 

Decorating themselves with stickers

Possibly the cutest picture of the holidays. Two boys, both looking at the camera, both smiling, and not even posed!