Sloothaak Christmas 2011

We celebrated Christmas with the Sloothaak side on Tuesday.  It was a little bit strange for us this year not having either of our family parties until after Christmas, but it allowed us to have a quiet Christmas weekend to celebrate with just our little family, and that was nice too.

We couldn't believe how easy it was to get this picture this year!  The joys of kids getting older!!

Our family by the tree.

After pictures, the kids decorated Christmas cookies.  This has become a bit of a tradition here, and the kids all look forward to Grandma's yummy frosted sugar cookies!

The kids played their games after all of the cookies were decorated.  John's mom had planned several games this year - a candy cane ring toss, penny toss, a cranberry balance game, and bucket bonanza.  We all had fun watching the kids and cheering them on.  Each one had a bag that they decorated to keep their prizes in.  Rowan carried hers like a purse, which is just so typical for her.  I had to snap a picture because it was just too cute!

After games it was time for the Christmas program!  This tradition started with the Westrate family parties many years ago, and still continues today!  Brooke helped organize it, and the kids sang some fun Christmas songs for us!  Here they are singing "Jingle Bells".

Rowan would ride out in this car after every song so that we knew when it was time to clap for the performers!  We got such a kick out of this!

"Merry Christmas everyone!"

After dinner, we headed back downstairs for our game of Concentration and the adult trivia game.  Trey made the match for the clue "Ali and Frasier" and thought it was soooo funny when he opened up a pair of boxers as his gift!

After the games were done, it was finally time for presents!  We love watching everyone open their gifts!  Our kids got so many of the things they were hoping for.  Here are a few of the treasures they came home with.

Rowan got this cute pair of Dora ballet slippers from Brooke, Riley, and Maddie.

Uncle Scott and Aunt Gina got Riley and Trey matching gifts of Michigan t-shirts and these fun Detroit Tigers flashlights.  They had fun looking for their Old English D on the ceiling!

Rowan also got this fun snap doll with clothes from her cousins.

Trey LOVES this Michigan football helmet and uniform that he got from Grandpa and Grandma!

There might not be a more perfect gift for him right now!

Rowan and Trey each got a tennis racket to use next summer.  We love having tennis courts right behind our house!

Rowan has been hoping for this pillow pet piggie for months now!  She loves it!!!

And Trey got the one he had been hoping for too - the Michigan wolverine! (Even though Rowan is convinced it's a bear...)

A new, super girly, princess bike for our princess!  

It even has a seat in the back that is just perfect for her new BFF, Piggie!  Thanks, Grandpa and Grandma!

Rowan and Trey opened a shared gift of a Boz the Bear movie (this momma loves Boz the Bear!), and a new game - Hullabaloo!  That game is F-U-N!  The kids (and I!) love it!

It was such a fun party, and the kids (and John and I) were completely spoiled!  We are so thankful for these fun times to make memories as a family!

Stockings

Another one of our Christmas traditions is opening one stocking gift per day leading up to Christmas.  This year, the kids' stockings had five gifts each, so we started opening one gift each day beginning on Tuesday.  We skipped Christmas Eve since we opened our family gifts that day, and saved the last gift for Christmas morning instead.

I love shopping for stocking stuffers.  I don't buy anything big or expensive -- just little trinkets that make me think of the kids.  These are usually the gifts I have purchased way ahead of time.  I just pick them up throughout the year when I see something that I think they will like.

I always try to get a picture of the kids together with their stockings before we open the first gifts.  This year, I wasn't lucky (or skilled) enough to get a great smiling photo of them both, but I thought these were still sweet.

The first gift Rowan chose to open was this princess sticker book.  She loves anything purple, pink, or sparkly, and she looooves stickers.

Trey's first gift was a Mater pez dispenser.  He was always commenting about pez dispensers when we saw them in the store, so I knew that this would be a winner with him!

Night #2 brought legos for Trey (The small ones!  He'd never had those before.) and a monkey notepad for Rowan.

It was way past bedtime, but he wanted to try making the loader right away!  Those little legos are definitely good for building fine-motor skills!

Hee hee.  Notice his pj pants here?  He put them on and I checked the size - 3T!  He is almost five!  No wonder they were a tad too short. :)  One of our Christmas Break projects was sorting through his drawers and getting rid of his too-small clothes.  These rocket ship pants found their way into a storage bin!

Rowan (and sometimes Trey too) loves to play "Blues Clues" on her own.  She'll walk around the house looking for imaginary clues and drawing in a little notebook.  I knew that this sweet little monkey would be perfect for her to draw all of her clues in.

Night #3 we actually let the kids open two gifts since we had missed a night due to our extended Sloothaak family party.  I love the pictures I got of Trey and Rowan watching each other open their gifts because that is how they were all Christmas....always watching with excitement and anticipation as the other one opened their gifts.

Rowan opened this adorable flower hair clip.

And Trey got a Michigan football ornament for the small tree in his bedroom.

Rowan also opened sour patch kids -- this girl has SUCH a sweet tooth!!!

And Trey got some design-your-own-car stickers.

And one last gift for Christmas morning.  Rowan got some cute beaded bracelets.  She loves jewelry and accessorizing!

(Is it just me, or does she look WAY too old in this photo???)

Not sure why these photos are dark on one side, but Trey got two packs of football cards.  John got him all set up with a binder and pages to keep his cards in, so this gift kept both of them busy for quite a long time!

I love how these inexpensive gifts can make the kids just as excited as anything big that they receive.  Yet another great thing about the kids being the ages they are this year!

Our family Christmas 2011

Our family Christmas was so much fun this year.  I just LOVE the ages that our kids are at.  I feel like we have really been able to enjoy so many of our Christmas traditions with both kids this year - they both appreciate them, and can keep up!  So fun! 

We went to church at 12:30 on Christmas Eve so that we could get the kids down for naps since it would be a late evening.  The Lions played at 4:00, so John and Trey (yes, Trey actually cares about these games and watches them very intently!) wanted to be able to watch that.  We picked up Chinese take-out and ate dinner during half time.  When football was done, it was time to open gifts!

Growing up, I always remember opening gifts on Christmas Eve and waking up Christmas morning to play with all of my new treasures!  It's a fun tradition that we've continued with our kids.  We've also added in the tradition of our Christmas Eve movie and sleepover.  The kids love this!

Here are the kids, ready to open gifts!

We always begin by reading the Christmas story.  This year we read it out of our children's Bible.  Trey was especially interested in the part about the wise men, seeing as he played a wise man in the Imagination Station Christmas program this year.  As much fun as it is to open gifts, the greatest gift we could ever receive is that sweet baby boy that was born on the very first Christmas.  We celebrate because of Him!

The kids wanted to start with their gifts from Uncle Mark, Auntie Abby, Nolan, Heath, and Brooks.  They opened a gift-filled package from them a few weeks ago, and these gifts had been under our tree the longest.  They couldn't wait to see what was inside!

Rowan loves her new "diva boots"!!  She wanted to wear them right away and has worn them out and about several times since.  (She's even gotten a few compliments on them, Abbs!)  They are an ultra-girly statement piece!  

Trey opened a fun dodge ball game with little velcro vests that you wear and the balls stick to.  This should be very entertaining for John and Trey during our long winter indoors!  Thanks for the fun gifts, Jansens!!

Both John and I felt that we (actually, I) went a little bit overboard last year with gifts for the kids.  We decided to keep it much more simple this year.  We got one big gift and three small gifts for each child.  We also always do a family game as a gift.  It was so enjoyable to open gifts this year!  We would open a gift, then spend some time playing with it before moving on.  So relaxed and very fun!

Rowan is a very meticulous gift-opener!  She really takes her time, but it's so fun that she can do it all on her own and get excited about each gift.

The first gift she opened were these adorable magnetic dolls.  I love Melissa and Doug toys, and these dolls are just the perfect size for Rowan's little fingers right now.  She can mix and match dresses and tights and make her own outfits.

To be honest, Trey likes playing with them too.  There's nothing wrong with a boy with a good sense of style!

Trey saw me wrapping gifts one day and chose this Clifford paper for one of his gifts.  It's not Christmas paper, I know, but it's okay!

His first piece of Detroit Lions gear! And, to be honest, this is the first year in a very long time that he would be able to wear this proudly, but he has loved cheering on the Lions this year, and really loves getting team apparel as gifts!

 Rowan's turn!

A new camera!  She is fascinated by my camera, so I knew that she would love one of her own.

She's having a little bit of trouble figuring out how to look through the view finder and snap a photo at the same time, but she's pretty adorable trying to figure it out!

John thought that it was time for Trey to have one of these...

I'm pretty sure that Trey would agree!  He calls it his "shooter gun".

One last gift for Rowan to unwrap.

She'll need these dolls for her next gift!

Trey was eager to see what was in his last box!

A Tigers hat!

The kids worked together to open our family game - Blokus!  Trey and I have spent many hours playing this game at the clinic.  We don't really play it the right way yet, we just make designs with the colored tiles on the game board, but I see many family game nights in our future!

Finally it was time for the big gifts.  Rowan had been asking for a dollhouse for the last couple of weeks.  She loves playing with Maddie's dollhouse when she is at her house on Thursdays, and at our DeWitt party last week, she found a big dollhouse at my cousin Mike's house that she loved.

She is so excited to have one of her very own!!

Trey was next.  He took it very seriously and did not want to see before it was time!

This was his reaction!

A new hockey net and sticks for the driveway! (Or for the basement for the next few days.)

Take a peek at the kids' reactions! 

Rowan has already spent hours playing with this dollhouse.  She loves it, and is so happy in her own little world as she plays!

We pretty much have to clear the basement out when he grabs these sticks.  Look out!  Definitely an outdoor toy!

Our family Christmas was sooooo fun. We ended the night with The Polar Express, popcorn, and sleeping in the basement to the glow of the kids' Christmas trees.  A perfect evening as a family, and lots of wonderful memories made!  Merry Christmas 2011!