McCartan Christmas

We celebrated Christmas with the McCartan side the weekend following the holiday this year. Traditionally, we always got together on Christmas afternoon, but as the family has grown we've decided to pick another date. The usual plethora of food was evident on the island. Never fails, we have enough food to feed a small army at most McCartan gatherings and this year was no different!

Owen was thrilled when he opened another pillow pet. But I think Matt had even more fun playing with the versatile fuzzy creature (and Owen too).

Connor was in 7th heaven with his new plasma TV. I guess he thought it was much better than his 9 inch!

Mason got some new DS games and Loopz - both items from his list!

As usual, there was lots of running up and down steps, playing farm in the basement, games upstairs, a little time on the 4-wheeler outside, and fun times with the cousins!

Our Christmas Traditions

Over the past several years we have created some family traditions at Christmas. Ever since I was pregnant with Connor we have stayed in Cedar Falls on Christmas Eve (because I was something like 10 1/2 months pregnant, or at least felt and looked like it). We begin our tradition by celebrating mass at 4:00 and arriving at church around 3:30 to get a seat! In the past, Ron has gone and reserved a small section of a pew at 3:15, but since there were two masses scheduled for 4:00 this year we thought we could push it back a little. While we found a seat, it was the last one in the very back of church! Guess we'll have to go at 3:15 again next year. This blog will be my reminder!

After mass it's time for an early supper of appetizers, cheeseburger soup, and beer bread. This year we even let the kids drink "kid wine", out of wine glasses no less.

After the dishes are cleared we build our gingerbread house. I had read the directions earlier in the day and they stated the house only needed to stand for 15 minutes before being decorated. Ummmm, not a good idea!

I attempted to use bowls to keep the house from collapsing. Didn't work one bit!

The candy kept falling through the roof lines, almost as if it was being sucked in by a sugar craving monster!

And...it crashed!

Finally, it's present time. We only open the exchange gifts on Christmas Eve and of course the yearly pajamas. The kids had eagerly hit the stores shopping for the perfect gift for their brother. Sometimes I think they actually pick out toys they secretly want!

We can't forget to leave some treats for Santa and his reindeer! This year he got cookie dough truffles (aka the only sweet treat I made this year due to back surgery) and some carrots. I don't have a picture of it, but the boys hurried outside in their new jammies and sprinkled reindeer food in the freshly fallen snow too!

Christmas morning is by far the most exciting time at our house. When the boys spring out of the bedrooms, wide eyed and bushy tailed, they find a mountain of gifts from Santa, all labeled with names, to rip into. We try to have some sort of organization to this adrenaline rush, such as youngest to oldest, but it usually turns into a mad dash of opening presents and is quickly finished in a matter of minutes!

Owen (my only clothed child) had so much fun opening presents and he was especially enamored with his Pillow Pet!

Connor received a much needed orange tractor to add to his enormous collection of farm equipment, Paper Jamz, TC stuff, a UNI football helmet and some rockin' football pads!

Some of Mason's highlights...Gatorade water bottle, Under Armour sweatshirt, Balance bracelet, Twister Hoopla, and more!

We always have a nice Christmas morning breakfast of egg casserole and cinnamon rolls. I was going to try to change the tradition to plain eggs this year since I didn't get the idea the boys even liked egg casserole...might have something to do with turned up noses, "oooh, yuk", "what are the green things in here", pushing the food around the plate, you know what I mean. But, Mason was insistent on having the egg casserole. He did question why I was taking pictures of all of the food though and I kindly explained we wanted memories for years to come. He bought it!

Since I didn't spend enough time in the kitchen preparing for Christmas Eve and Christmas brunch, we needed to have a special Christmas dinner as well! I must have put the camera down by this time because there aren't any pictures, but by the end of the day we were all exhausted from eating, playing with new toys, chillin' out, and enjoying the day! Christmas 2010 turned out to be a great holiday as always!

A little Christmas spirit!

Oops, just realized I never posted this!

We put up a few Christmas decorations this year, but not nearly as many as usual due to my back issues. Of course we have our stockings hung and are eagerly waiting Santa's arrival, the Nativity scene highlighting Jesus' birth, Santa's scattered throughout the house, and our trees. We usually have a tree in each of the boys' bedrooms with their ornaments and themes, a tree in the upstairs living room, and one in the basement. However, this year we didn't get the one up in the basement. Does it count that we leave 3 trees up all year down there (snowman garland and all)? This year we had to put the bow on top of the tree three times, so each kid had a chance...and then I redid it!

Tiger Basketball

Mason is involved in Tiger Basketball this year. This is organized by a few dedicated parents and is helping teach the boys the skills needed to work together as a team, but also play the game with skill and strategy. I can tell he practices hard when he comes home after a 1 1/2 hour practice dripping in sweat!!!! Mason has really enjoyed his time and has had the opportunity to meet some kids from different schools and play in scrimmages and tournaments against 4th graders from other communities. We look forward to more games after the first of the year and as always watch his athletic skills improve.

These photos are from his first tournament in Waverly! I guess I need to get better at taking pictures of the front of him...have a lot of shots with his name!

Panther Pals!

Mason and Connor participated in a Panther Pals basketball day camp a couple of months ago (yes, I'm a little behind) and were fortunate enough to show off their skills at half-time of a UNI men's basketball game. We are so fortunate to have UNI so close!

Obviously, there were a lot of kids there!!!

TC is always popular with the kids!

TC just a hangin' with the McCartan Boys!

Bormann Christmas

The Bormann's haven't all been together for the Christmas holiday for years, usually it's just us girls. This year we got a little closer at least and Jeff and family were able to join us. Our tradition of a soup dinner continued, although the flavors changed to chicken tortilla and potato (courtesy of Joan). Other menu items included olive bread, beer bread, relishes, pie, and cheesecake. What can I say, we're a carbs kind of family...bread, dessert, etc. You might ask why I'm including the menu, but part of the purpose of my blog is to savor some memories for my kids because I'll be the first to admit I'm horrible at baby books! So, bear with me and all the details. Now, back to the holiday celebration!

Owen had received his antler ears the day before and I'm pretty sure he wore them the entire day and even convinced Abby to give him a red nose. Rudolph was pretty cool until he learned the shiny red nose was made from make-up for GIRLS!

Mason, Connor, and Owen had fun opening presents from Grandpa Bill and Grandma Lois. Let's see, it was a t-shirt, book, and magazine subscription for Mason. Sweatshirt (warm and cozy- his favorite), books, and subscription for Connor. Woody gear, books, and subscription for Owen! I'm hoping the magazines will increase some quality read to self at home. I just had to get a little teacher jargon in there!

Who liked Buzz and the Woody gear more, Katie or Owen?

Grandpa Bill and Grandma Lois enjoying their Christmas gifts from the kids. The minute I saw the book covering Iowa's 99 counties I knew Dad would love it. He's already ready for a good read! Mom's gift was a no-brainer...a facial...oh, that sounds good right now!

Julie started a new tradition this year of playing BINGO for presents. I'm not sure if the kids had more fun or the adults! Adults by far had a longer attention span, but once the little ones won a prize all was good! If you were to ask my boys, they would probably pick this as the highlight of the day, or maybe it was playing outside in all the fresh snow!

Thank goodness for the Schuller cousins. They are always such good sports about playing with my kids and I'm so glad they have such a great relationship with all their cousins. Out in the cold they headed and as a bonus, I got to take pictures from INSIDE the house. Let's just say I couldn't go outside because of the risk of falling and injuring my back and freezing my "patooty" off!

Katie, Abby, Courtney, and Ashley!

Finally a few posed photos from the day. The first one cracks me up because we were doing the Owen "pose" Ashley had taught him! I also noticed something else as I was going through photos...Julie, Joan, and I are actually wearing something other than the color black!!! We always seem to match and it's usually black.

A visit with Santa

So, our annual Santa visit proved to be a success. Nobody was scared or cried and I'm pretty sure Santa got an earful with a list a mile long of little boy requests. Cousins, Zach and Lucas were in town for the Bormann Christmas and Ashley's graduation so they were able to join us this year too and make the visit a little more fun.

I don't know why I've never taken pictures of their height before and compare them from year to year, but I guess it's never to late to start. There's a little blur from the flash, but it appears...

Owen is 3 1/2 feet tall...

Connor is a hair over 4 feet...

and Mason is nearing 5 feet!

Waiting to see Santa!

Merry Christmas Santa!

Owen: "All I want for Christmas is a PILLOW PET!"

Connor: "All I want for Christmas is an orange tractor, Lego fire truck, Paper Jamz, and UNI football stuff!"

Mason: "I want Paper Jamz, Legos, Under Armour, a Balance Bracelet, Madden 11, and Donkey Kong for my DS."

Owen gave Santa his list and was off...

for some reindeer antlers! "Check out these cool antlers Santa!"

Ooh, awe, fire!

One of the boys' favorite restaurants is Sakura. They love the tricks provided by the chef and would sit there for hours being fed and entertained. To celebrate Ashley's graduation we enjoyed lunch out. Since Ash lived with us all summer and has been at UNI for a few years the boys are pretty close to her and were excited to help her celebrate!

You'll notice Ash is all pretty and ready to go, while two of my three kids are still in there pajamas. Long story made short, Ash couldn't figure out why she needed to be there so early, but soon figured out graduation was an hour earlier than she thought!

Sakura always begins the meal with a large fire on the open grill and Owen knew it was coming, so he was prepared (to hide under his napkin)!

And there was fire!

Connor attempting to master using chop sticks - not sure about the whole napkin/bib thing going on!

Owen really tried hard, but I think he gave up after a few bites of rice, or should I say grains of rice!

I couldn't resist a close-up of those chubby hands...so cute!

Don't forget the choo-choo train. They do it every time!

An entertaining meal, definitely enjoyed by all!