Merry Christmas from Xavier

"I can't wait to get my hands on what Santa brought!"

Merry Christmas from Clare

"This is what I ALWAYS wanted!"

Merry Christmas from Will

"This was the best Christmas EVER!"

Merry Christmas

I hope everyone has a great Christmas.
At our house, we are too caught up in the present aspect of Christmas. Clare is like a Christmas crack addict. She just sits by the tree twitching to open up presents. There is hardly anything under the tree but she can't stand it! I have been such a crab the past couple days. I am trying to take into account their excitement but they are more than I can handle lately! Between the fighting, hitting, biting and constant sassy talk I've been a terrible mother with my lack of patience! I vow to be better next year!!!! I swear :)
My present under the tree to my family will be a better mom!
As I said, the kids are so excited. They have watched the Polar Express about 1000 times and we made cookies last night for Santa! So, that combined with the reindeer dust Clare made at school, we should be all set! I am a bit afraid that nobody will sleep tonight but hopefully with a family dinner and Mass, they will be out like a light.
Well, enjoy your family and friends this Christmas. I am imagining Christmas through my childrens eyes and it's a pretty exciting time.

The Christmas Shiner!

It's a good thing that you are around family & friends at Christmas time, otherwise DCFS might be a knockin'. Will did this this morning. He tripped over....his own feet, and landed on the side of our coffee table. So, it's nice and fresh for Christmas mass and all Christmas photos! Oh well, it just proves he is all boy! I guess we've been blessed in that this is the worst fall he has had since 9/1/06! He cried for about a half hour or so, then took a nap (no, he didn't have a concussion!) Then, was all better~thankfully! It helped that Auntie Em was here and she had brought Christmas presents! Great diversion!

Auntie Em brought over her new friend Paul and they were so much fun! The kids had such a great time playing "magic carpet" and tons of imaginary play! Thankfully Auntie Em is good at that because I am TERRIBLE at making things up. The kids always enjoy someone sleeping downstairs to wake up in the morning! I always feel bad for that person because my kids idea of sleeping in usually is until about 8 or so! So, nobody sleeps past 8:30 at our house.

We are excited for Christmas and our lazy days leading up to it! We are just hanging out and wrapping presents the next couple days! Santa will be bringing Wills bed, hopefully tomorrow or Tuesday and we will be putting that together after they go to sleep Wed. night. It's getting so exciting since they BELIEVE. It will break my heart when they stop :(

The playgroup kids are coming over for a Christmas party on Wednesday! We are going to do Krispy Kreme donuts and exchanging gifts! The kids picked a name, so it will be a trial to see how things go! My parents and sister & brother in law are coming for Christmas Eve and mass. Christmas morning will be spent opening Santas gifts then we head to Grandma & Grandpa's for the family presents! It will be great, and hopefully everyone will be well! I love how excited the kids are for the opportunity to give their presents to other people.

Talk later....

Received some packages in the mail today....

Xavier could not have said it better. Packing peanuts EVERYWHERE. Whoever invented them didn't have kids or is a hippy who thinks playing with them is "creative play" then their nanny picks them up! Anyway, the kids had a good time. It took me about two hours to finally pick them ALL up, but it finally worked. You might also note the tattoos they have all over them. They received "Happy Birthday Jesus" swag from Clare's preschool party! They were kind enough to send home a bag for Will. Since Clares Christmas program was cancelled due to this "Ice storm of the Century" I decided to just roll with the punches this afternoon.
We have been hanging out most of the week. I am helping out a friend and babysitting their kids while their babysitter is on "maternity leave." This is all fine and good, but I've decided that I can never work for someone else. I am just a real witch at the end of the day and I guess I need to find a calling in life where I am not working for someone. Otherwise, I am in trouble. I guess I am stuck going back into the cubicle world where you don't know who you are working for and you just pick up a paycheck. I guess I had better keep popping out kids :)
Well, are you ready for Christmas? We are, I suppose! I just feel like there's all this business-the the real day comes and come the 26th, it's over. Done, then you rev up for what?? I am not ready for Christmas to be over yet--I don't think the kids are prepared for the "what's next." I think I am going to start making up holidays inbetween Christmas and Valentines Day!!!
Well, I should probably make dinner and I smell something that probably needs taken care of~
Talk soon.

The Vogels Visit Santa

And what a trainwreck it was....

OK, not as bad as I anticipated but it was still fun! (sarcasm!) We went to Bromenn Hospital where Michael works and we've done this the past two years. They place a Santa RIGHT NEXT TO the escalators. So, Will was hellbent on doing that the entire time. Then he yelled at Santa that he wanted a John Deere Tractor. It was funny! Thank God everyone else finds him cute! Clare was shy at first but quickly went over and told him what he wanted. Then she warmed up bigtime!! She kept going back with different things that she wanted! Xavier had to be woken up but he took it in stride! He still had his bib on (oops!) but it said baby's first christmas so oh well!

We then ate dinner in the cafeteria. To most people this would suck, but the kids acted like it was as good as going to Chilis or something (fyi: chili's is Clares and Mommys favorite place!) They were a bit wound up so it worked out nicely that we were one of maybe 3 people in the entire cafeteria!

Well, check that off the to-do list! Happy viewing!

Xaviers Baptism Photo, With his proud parents!

Ugly Christmas Sweater Party

Although I am an idiot and did not take a picture, I wanted to let everyone know how much fun we had at the party Saturday. Not only was it nice to get out (thanks to Carrie & Eric for the babysitting) but it was HILARIOUS to see people dressed up. There were troll elves, like the old school trolls with the crazy hair and stirrup pants (spell?) as well as a nice 1980's cardigan full of Christmas junk. A few puffy paint sweaters and some Christmas bears. Too funny! I am so revving up for next year. I am going to hit the after Christmas sales and get a few turtlenecks (one for me, one for Michael!) and be ready for next year. I am looking for those stupid jingle bell earrings, so if you see them, hook a sister up :)
Thanks for everyones interest!

Another long one...

Well, Thanksgiving was great! We had a great trip to KC. Kids were perfect in the car, nobody too sick to function, etc! Xaviers Baptism went well. No crying fits (0ther than Wills terrible 2 nonsense, but that is to be expected!) So, all in all, a good trip! I just finished the laundry from the trip/coming back/being a lazy mom, etc~
I got the Christmas cards all ready and realized I didn't have my address book. I can't even remember the last time I needed it (probably for X's announcements) so it may have been lost awhile....oops!
We've done some Christmas shopping. We bought Will his new big boy bed and we have construction theme sheets that Santa will deliver! Clare is getting--dresses! She has to wear one everyday and I guess I underestimated how much we would wear them so I am loading up! Xavier isn't getting too much. He has a TON of stuff new and of Wills so he is set until he's in 18 mo!
Well, Will is demanding my attention so I will post more later! Enjoy this crappy day!