End of Break!

Our Christmas break was three weeks long.  

I missed the middle of it, spending a week in Anchorage, but that last week we squeezed in a ton of fun.  They got these blow up balls from my grandma, huge hit!

We took lots of fun baths, complete with shaving cream & play razors.

But mostly we just played.

Slowly we started noticing more daylight.  Very much a happy change.

And last but not least, we had family movie night.  

Boys. Pizza. Nemo. Awesome.

I am so grateful that our last week was fun and that I was home and well enough to enjoy it.

***

Outside

Our Christmas break was three weeks long, so anything we did out of the ordinary we made into an adventure.

One day we bundled the boys up,

warmed up the truck, which needs warming up even though it is always plugged in (We drive the school's truck when we need it to run errands to the post office or co op),

and we drove to the dump to get rid of our Christmas trash.

The dump is just up the road from us, and often when it burns we can smell it.  (... not so lovely)

There are humongous ravens that call the dump "home", and I swear when I watch them take off, I can't believe they can get into the skies.  They are plump like well-fed house cats, and watching them lift into the air is amazing.

This little one is always happy to be out of the house.  It's strange to have a picture of him with no glasses.  But when they wear a scarf to help with the cold, it causes their glasses to fog up instantly, which frustrates them to no end. So I tend to leave their glasses at home.

This Christmas, he was wishing for his two front teeth.  

In fact, he's still wishing for them.  

I love getting out of the house because I love a change of scenery.

Tundra as far as the eye can see.

This is the Russian Orthodox church downtown.  I love the steeple.

The sunset is so stunning.  I only wish it wasn't so early! This was probably around 3pm.

I feel so blessed to live in a place where natural beauty abounds.  Where a quick stop at the post office turns into some insane photographs of the wild Yukon River.  

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve we always follow the same tradition:

Open new jammies (thanks, mom!), put said jammies on, 

then watch a movie while enjoying some of daddy's homemade pizza.

After that lovely little tradition, we do bedtime as usual.

I love these pictures.  Everyday of our lives, this is what life looks like at 6:30pm.  

It's sacred time, I tell you.

***

Once those boys were tucked in cozy, prayers said and hugs given,

Josh and I hustled downstairs to prep for Christmas morning.

I stuffed stockings, wrapped gifts & sorted the gifts into piles to make the morning a little easier.

The boys helped me wrap some of the gifts.
Love how Jack wrote "Mome" on this one.

And "Dadddy" on this one.
Precious.

Meanwhile Josh was working his tail off putting together piece after piece of lego creations for those boys of ours.

Luckily he said he enjoys the process.

And we knew the look on the boys' faces in the morning would be well worth it.

Christmas Feast

The morning after the Christmas recital, the boys and I headed over to the school for an assembly and community feed.

We had been up late the night before (two hours past the boys' strict 7:00pm bedtime) so Wyatt was really difficult during the assembly.

Finally he said he wanted Josh, and Josh was done with his part of the assembly, so he held him, and lo and behold that little buddy fell asleep.

The twins were enamored with the idea that Wyatt fell asleep like a baby.

They kept saying, "Isn't he just so cute? Wyatt is soo cute!"

So Josh sat with him in the gym as the twins and I headed into the cafeteria to chow down.

We waited in line,

and Josh held that sweet boy & visited with Isaac and Peter.

Seeing him hold that boy made me swoon.

He's such an amazing father.

And it was nice for the twins to have my undivided attention.  We enjoyed every bite of our Christmas feast and shortly after the twins finished, Wyatt woke up so he and Josh joined us.

That afternoon everyone flew out to go "home for the holidays", and we excitedly began our three-week vacation with Josh home.