A Little Peace & Love {Mainly Peace}

I don't know if it's just me, but between the incessant rain and the ensuing cabin fever, my kids have gone pure mad.  And pretty much me too, right along with them.

Isn't this the season of peace and love?  I don't even care about the love anymore, I'll just take some PEACE!  The arguing is about to send me over the edge.  Can't we all just get along?

Do these kids have any clue how lucky they are to have one another?  A built in playmate...more love to go around...oh, do help me talk some sense into them.

Now that my rant is out of the way, shall I move on to a shinier note?  Clearly the past two days have been rough.  Thankfully my Grandma is still here to buffer the madness and bring me back to a state of zen.

With that being said, there actually have been some brighter moments in all the madness.

We've baked cookies with GG, taken her to an indoor kid's play place {which mind you she climbed up into the treehouse and tunnels with the kids},  gone for a family hike on the creek, and most recently visited the Christmas lights at the "garden park", as Lucy like to call it.

I only had my iPhone {had to keep my hands free to break up any brawls among the littles}.  And I didn't even attempt to pull the phone out on the other occasions....it's been that bad folks.

However, the night lights did seem to bring a sense of PEACE {thank you Lord} over all of us.

And just one more tidbit before we head into the poor quality photos...sweet GG thinks this tyrant trio has been angelic.  What?!?!  It's got to be a Grandma thing.  But, I am sure thankful she can see past our faults and love us through it.   Oh looky there, guess we did get a little love...now just to work on the peace.

Now, for our night of lights...

Santa Came!

Despite the tropical temperatures and massive rain fall, Santa made a stop at the Cibula house.  And with that, Christmas morning came.

There is so much truth in that comparison people often make "like a kid on Christmas morning".  I certainly hope I never forget the joy from watching these little ones after Santa's visit.  It is truly magical and I'm not sure anything can compare to the excitement.  The way their little eyes light up and the squeals of delight are worth every minute of Santa's hard work.

I also have to give my children major kudos, as hard as I know it was, they all waited until 8 a.m. to wake Mommy and Daddy up.  {the best Christmas gift ever}.  From there we raced down to the kid's tree to see what was waiting in each of their Santa sacks.

I think it's safe to say, there wasn't a bit of disappointment.

As you can imagine, 90% of Jack's gifts were Lego inspired.  He remains a loyal fan and couldn't have been any happier.  

He did however score a WiiU which he is super excited about.  Now if we could just figure out how to use it.  I've never claimed to be a super tech savvy Mommy and well, Daddy has been a bit busy.  We are hoping we can get it up and running very soon.  In the mean time, Jack has about a dozen Legos to keep him occupied.    

Maggie's Christmas consisted of any and all things girly.  From American Girl accessories to Shopkins to a bundle of Fashion Art activities.  Have I mentioned she is very torn about her future career?  As it stands she either wants to be a teacher or a fashion designer.

Lucy was thrilled with everything she opened.  Literally every present was followed with, "I always wanted {fill in the blank}".  It never got old listening to that...absolute preciousness!

But in truth, this Pop Star Barbie is what she "always wanted".   Good work Santa!

 
Santa did leave a friendly note on Jack's WiiU, hoping that Jack would kindly share his new device with the entire family.  Because in turn, there was something outside that he was hoping Maggie and Lucy would share as well.

As soon as they read that, all three of them were out the door in a flash!

A new playhouse awaited them!  And although, Santa's elves were unable to finish the project due to the days and days of rain, the girl's didn't mind a bit.

Santa promised he'd be back to finish up the deck and painting. In the meantime, several tea parties and Shopkin parties have gone down in the backyard {with all the neighbors invited}.

That's some good girly fun!

After the excitement of Christmas morning settled down, the adults had their round.  Cosby even got suited up for the festive occasion.  Yes, he's still around.  And yes, we still adore him.  He celebrated his 13th Christmas this year and looks just as dapper as ever.

The girls had a ball helping GG open her gifts.  She had arrived after bed time on Christmas Eve.  Between the presents and GG's appearance the kids were in a Christmas utopia.

We topped of our Christmas with our traditional family dinner with the Dumbacher side.  Our house was filled with festive merriment and 17 people.  It was quite a dinner party.  Party being the key word.  Never a dull moment with that crew.

Between the cooking, serving and celebrating, my poor little camera never made an appearance.  But I assure you, good times were had by all.

Now we are looking forward to a few days of GG, playing with Christmas goodies, and having no where and nothing to do!  I can't wait!

Hope Santa was good to you and yours!

Christmas Eve Clean Up

Not only did I manage to get my kitchen cleaned up, I also cleaned up these little gingerbread makers.

We are off to Christmas Eve mass to celebrate the reason for the season.  I can't think of a better purpose to get cleaned up and dressed up.

Merry Christmas family and friends!  I hope Santa is good to you!

And though my littles look mighty adorable in their Christmas garb, I must admit, it wasn't as easy at it looks.

I'm looking forward to another pj day.

Christmas wishes!

Christmas Cuteness In The Kitchen

I can hardly believe the cuteness that has gone down in my kitchen this season.  Oh, pinch me!  Tis the season for baking, decorating, and making a giant mess all over the counters.

Per usual, we started our kitchen cuteness baking up Christmas cookies.  We had everything from stars to stockings to trees to gingerbread boys and girls. 

I still haven't determined if the rolling of the dough or the decorating is their favorite part.   

We finalized the cookie project with our traditional reindeer cookies.  They were just as cute this year, but not quite as tasty.  Daddy's special delivery Christmas present arrived just as the oven was beeping up a storm.  Needless to say the delivery men took precedence and the reindeer cookies ended up as hard as rocks.

Oh well, there is always next year.

Christmas in the kitchen headed right into Christmas Eve with our traditional Gingerbread houses.  This was the first year that Lucy had a house all to her own!

She was beyond excited and made a lululicious mess.

The bigs worked meticulously on their houses.  I couldn't believe how long it took them.  In the end, Maggie was the last one standing.  Still adding the final touches to hers.

And might you note, Jack is wearing orange.  He no longer has an interest in our Christmas Eve jammie tradition...boo hoo!

Nearly two hours later the gingerbread houses were complete.  By that long awaited point, the camera was stowed away and I was on to other Christmas Eve tasks, because I assure you in a house with three kids there are plenty of them.

I am ramping myself up for a Christmas Eve evening at Grandma's house.  Not to mention, I've got to get these little bakers out of their pjs and into church clothes.

Let the Christmas madness begin.  The next 24 hours are going to be a doozie.

Merry Christmas Eve to all!  Santa comes tonight...

Rudolph The Tradition

Some Christmas traditions are worth holding on to and Rudolph seems to be one of them {so far anyway}.

I have to admit I nearly went into shock when my eldest opted out of a basketball clinic {that he had begged to sign up for, mind you} to go to the Rudolph show with Mommy and the sisters.  All because, and I quote, "it's a tradition".

{sigh} He isn't the Grinch after all.  And to my surprise, he enjoyed every single minute of it too.  I can't begin to tell how pleased as punch I was to have him with us.

The kids woke up this morning to Rudolph lollipops at their breakfast table seat.  I couldn't resist these hilarious looking things from the Dollar section at Target.

I did make them eat their breakfast before they tore into them.  Nothing like Red Noses to get us hyped up for the show.

We headed down town and grabbed our very own row in the theatre.  It was packed, so this was a pleasant treat.

The show was just as cute as I remember it.  Except this year, I didn't have any kiddos hiding on the floor when the Bumble Monster made his appearance.  We are making progress folks!  Which sadly means, they are growing up on me.

After the show the kids couldn't wait to head up to the third floor for the puppet making class.  I had a pretty good premintion that we were due for a Herme the Elf puppet.  Keep in mind I've been doing this for 6 years now.  I'm starting to figure out the pattern.

Lucy turned hers into a "girl elf".

Jack just had to give his some unusually large mouth and scathing eyebrows.

And Maggie gets the award for the most details and accessories added to her puppet.  The girl just kept on going...{this isn't even the final product}.

While Maggie continued to accessorize Herme, Jack and Lucy gave the shadow board a whirl.

We ended our visit with a tour around the Puppet Museum.  Lucy was loving the Sesame Street gang.   And you know she couldn't get out of there without insisting I take a picture of her in this thing.   Such a ham!

 We are gearing up for Christmas cookie baking tomorrow. Another favorite tradition.

It's the most WoNdErFuL time of the year!

Grammy Is Coming To Town

If it's too early for Santa, why not Grammy?

We spent an early Christmas weekend with our most beloved Grammy.  She made the trip up from the Florida sunshine to freeze her tail off with us.  That's true love!

We spent a weekend exchanging gifts, playing Yahtzee, snuggling on the couch, and visiting a marvelous presentation of Christmas lights.

Naturally, the girls thought it only appropriate to wear dress up clothes for our present exchange.  They spent the rest of the afternoon playing with their gifts and alternating between pjs and princess gowns.

We topped of our "grammy is coming to town" weekend with a visit to the Christmas lights.  It was our first trip to this location and although it was a whopping $65 a car, it was absolutely breath taking.

The kids got a kick out of all the animations and we were loving the coziness of the 7 mile car ride.

The village at the end of the drive did not disappoint.  Yes, it was chilly, but a super fun way to get out and stretch our legs.

We allowed each kid to choose one ride and one treat before we called it a night.  Jack chose the Tilt-a-Whirl, which he had me ride with him.  Can you just say...vomit?  Because I nearly did.

Lucy chose this baby roller coaster.  My abs were hurting from laughing so hard.  She had a manic grip on the handle and screamed each time she passed us.

I really shouldn't have been laughing, poor thing was thrilled when it was over.  However, it was truly a hoot and an image that may never leave my mind.

Maggie played it safe and chose the Carousel.  As for treats, everyone sipped on hot cocoa while Mags chose a snowcone.  What?!?!  Guess that was her rebel move for the night.

Our trip to the village was a short one considering the chill and how late the evening was getting.  However, it was definitely a Christmas memory worth making!

And with Grammy in town, it was all the better!