Merry Christmas!

We started off our Christmas Eve celebrations this year by baking Christmas cookies with the boys and then letting them go to town with the decorations....they made these stunning beauties especially for Santa...

Then we prepared to welcome some of our friends over for Christmas Eve dinner complete with a giant roast beast....which upon inspection of the final product (although everyone else thought it was delicious) I could not bring myself to eat....I guess baby number three is not a fan of roast beast......

After dinner David helped daddy put the star on top of the tree....

And then we put the children to bed and stayed up talking around the fire.....apparently Santa had already snuck in to eat cookies and drink a glass of milk in this picture :)

On Christmas morning we opened our stockings and I think David might have been excited to find out that Santa brought him Flynn the fire engine....for some reason he liked it more than the brand new pack of underwear....

The biggest hit with Henry was the wind up flashlight.....but the biggest hit with daddy was the remote control train our friends gave the boys.  Chris has officially declared it his, and from now on he will only be purchasing the children toys that he himself wants to play with :)

After finding out what St. Nicholas left us all and eating our fill of chocolate coins, we got dressed and headed off to mass....Flynn the fire engine accompanied us of course.....David was really excited about the transformation of the sanctuary with all of the poinsettias and Christmas trees and was desperate to see the giant nativity once mass was over.  Once we got there he paused for a moment examining baby Jesus and each of the animals then turned to me and said, "there's no reindeer here....that's strange."  I wasn't sure where to go with that so I just agreed that yes, it was strange indeed :)

Once we were home we sat down and opened the rest of our presents.  We all took turns opening one at a time.  Of course when I asked David who should get the first present he thought it should definitely be him!

Oh look, I made it into a picture!  David was kind enough to snap one of mom making tea.  He loves taking pictures now and I always find funny shots from his perspective whenever I download pictures!

I knitted Chris and David matching hats...I still think David's needs a giant pom pom on top of his but Chris disagrees......

Poor Henry didn't get one, but that didn't stop him from commandeering his big brother's...he didn't want to be left out of the hat wearing fun :)

Aunt Courtney sent a giant box-load of art supplies and a beautiful easel for the boys which was immediately a big hit!

Each of the boys got a couple of books, some dress up clothes to share and one main present from us.  David  was delighted to open his gift up and find a school bus, mail car and police car along with road signs and a bunch of roadways I made for him.  He ran around with all three vehicles saying "I like these! I like these!" in the most ridiculous voice you've ever heard :)

Henry got a box full of play kitchen supplies including some carrots, popcorn, peppers, and spaghetti that I made for him, and his favorite part....the salt and pepper shakers Chris and I made out of spice jars and beads.  He's been peppering me several times a day and insisting that I pretend to sneeze :)

Chris got me this super cute roll for my knitting needles!

After the presents were all unwrapped and the paper cleared away, we sat down for some real breakfast and lit the new white candles in our wreath.  Then we spent the rest of the day relaxing together, playing with our new toys and popping over to our friends' house for some delicious leftover food!

And then we wrapped up the day with some "Christmas Milk" a.k.a. eggnog (we had to rename it so that David would give it a try!)  He loved it, especially when I offered to turn it green after we finished reading his new favorite book Green Eggs and Ham!  After we got the boys off to bed, Chris and I settled in and finished off the evening by watching It's a Wonderful Life.....a wonderful ending to a wonderful day!

Merry Christmas!

15 Minutes Outside....

You may have noticed my children are a little rambunctious....In an effort to help expend some of that energy we've been making a concerted effort to get outside every day--no matter how cold I am--because, let's face it, I'm the one who doesn't want to be cold, not the boys!

I took them to our favorite park yesterday and the best thing ever happened--there was a front loader digging up mulch :)

All the kids at the park ran over and watched for a good twenty minutes--it was fantastic!

But the kids don't need front loaders to have a good time at a park--mostly they just need dad to chase them around.....

We've had lot's of red noses, pink cheeks, and fun all around.............

Advent So Far...

We've been having a very fun and stress free Advent so far!  St. Nicholas stopped by on his feast day and left  chocolate coins in the boys shoes and a book for each of them.  David was more than happy to show Henry that the coins had chocolate inside and then help him eat them!  We also had some St. Nicholas cookies for a snack which were a big hit!

That Sunday St. Nicholas stopped by after mass to see all the kids and give out candy canes.  David was thrilled....Henry not so much!

We've been decking our halls here as well.....my favorite part is our Advent wreath.  I think it's the boys' as well--they love the candles!  Well, they love blowing out the candles!  We've been turning off the lights in the kitchen and eating dinner with just the glow of candlelight.  The kids can tell something special is coming and David keeps asking for us to light all four candles so it will be almost Christmas!  This is my first attempt at live greens and so far so good, although we're going to need a Christmas freshen up because it's already getting dry!

We set up the tree on the third Sunday of Advent--Gaudete Sunday (i.e. the one with the pink candle!).  It is always so fun to pull out all of our special ornaments and see the pictures of us from Christmases past.  It's hard to believe how much our family has grown in the past three years!  Don't worry, I realize the top looks a little sad, but the star is waiting safely in the cabinet for Christmas Eve!

Our Christmas books are out and we've been enjoying the old and the new!  Country Angel Christmas is the current favorite here......

Chris didn't agree that we needed a real tree this year, but he didn't mind too much that I brought in some real garland--I just want the evergreen smell in the house!

One of the biggest hits of Advent is this wooden Nativity set we unveiled after Thanksgiving!

And our actual Nativity is up on the shelf awaiting baby Jesus on Christmas morning!

And tomorrow the Christmas baking begins...........

November in a Nutshell

You may have noticed that I have been neglecting the blog for the past month or so, well I promise I had a very good reason!   This little peanut has been draining me of all of my energy.........

That's right!  Baby number three is on the way and scheduled to arrive July 16th (aka our 7th anniversary!).  That's also the week before Chris takes the NC Bar and two weeks before he heads off to a two month JAG school in Rhode Island......so if anyone is free for a couple of weeks or months to help out at the Reintjes house let me know!  

We've had a very busy November, including an entire Reintjes Family Thanksgiving in the Poconos (headcount: 10 adults and 10 children, most of whom were under six!).  Kate was kind enough to do family photo shoots for everyone and we got a few good pictures.  Really we need an hour to ourselves and no distractions to manage more than two pictures with everyone looking at the camera with a pleasant expression on their faces!

This is my personal favorite--I think it really captures what goes on every time we try to take family portraits which is a giant wrestling match :)  

Even with the new baby and family reunions, we still managed to do some projects around the house.  Chris and I made this growth chart for the kids out of some scrap wood and stain we found in the garage.  I think it came out pretty cute!  The boys love to measure themselves on it!  

I also got to spend a weekend with Kate crafting these cute guys!  The boys have really enjoyed them--especially Henry!  Chris thinks I need to make some more because the pirate seems lonely.....maybe after Christmas.......