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Russell turned 3 on January 25th, 2008. He had a couple requests...1. that we go to Chuck E. Cheese's, which is a great way to do a birthday party since there is no mess to clean up and $30 buys enough tokens for the boys and all their local cousins to squander freely...and 2. he wanted a superman, batman, batmobile, spiderman and mean spiderman cake. Luckily, Jeremy built some cabinets for a desert shop in town and they asked to pay us a portion of their bill in cakes. The owner of the desert shop laughed when she received the order and said she wasn't making any promises about how it would look, but it turned out really cute and was delicious! Best of all, it took no effort on my part and didn't really cost us anything.
Russ was happy with his cake but only took the time to eat the frosting batman. He was completely uninterested in opening his presents. He was ecstatic to be at Chuck E. Cheese's and all that birthday stuff was kind of a nuisance. He was sprinting from game to game, took an occasional ride and climbed all over the playland. His favorite game was the one where you shoot crocodiles; at least that's what he thinks he was doing. He enjoyed referring to himself as the "birthday boy" all day and his favorite gift (once we left the party) was a dollar store motorcycle from a cousin, which he made great sound effects for. (Thanks Teresa!)
I think this Christmas was the best we've ever had in the 7 1/2 years Jeremy and I have been married! Our kids were old enough to really get into it and since we were home we were able to follow and form some of our own family traditions. Last year Jeremy and I felt like we spoiled the kids too much on Christmas morning. They were kind of overstimulated and unappreciative. This year we decided to make a "reasonable" list before we went shopping and we stuck to it pretty well. Don't get me wrong, the kids were still sufficiently spoiled, but they were also happy and excited (that is an understatement) the whole day and have played with all their toys a ton since then! Their improved attitudes may just be the difference in age from last year to this year, but I think we will stick with the "list method" from now on.Most of the Haws family was out of town so we had a really quiet Christmas Eve with Grandma and Grandpa Haws, Aunt Kelli and Great Grandma Jackie at Jay and Vicky's house. It was different not to be with a HUGE crowd of people on Christmas Eve, but it was really nice. It was a perfect year for me to have a small Christmas because big crowds tend to make me a little irritable when I am pregnant : ). We ate the Haws' traditional "Christmas Enchiladas" for dinner, watched the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas Concert on DVD, and Taylor recited "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" by Dr. Seuss, which was the highlight of the whole night and one of my favorite new family traditions. He learned it last year when he was obsessed with the Grinch and brushed up on it pretty easily this year.
On Christmas morning Jay, Vicky and Kelli came over to watch the kids open their presents. We had a little drama when Russell first woke up and realized Santa had come and gone and was not still there to open presents with us. His sadness diminished quickly when we started opening presents, however. I wish I could have bottled up some of the boys' reactions so I could enjoy them over and over again. We did take some pictures and got some of it on video, but you never can catch the best moments since you don't know when they are coming! Taylor, wide eyed, fingers spread, hands up in the air yelled, "He remembered! Santa remembered that's what I wanted most of all!!" (I think that was the SmartCycle.) Russell thought a couple of his toys were so neat he just held them out in front of him, staring in stunned silence with his mouth wide open in the shape of an "O". Jeremy and I agreed not to spend too much on each other this year, but of course he spoiled me beyond the "limit" we set...not that I'm complaining. I love the jewelry he and the boys picked out for me and will never turn down a gift certificated for Massage Envy!
When we were done with the presents, we had a huge and delicious brunch of cinnebiscuits, eggs, fresh fruit, baked brie, summer sausage, smoked gouda, bacon, juice and hot cocoa. Then we listened to a sweet account of the Christmas story told by Taylor's 4 year old friend on CD. We spent most of the day relaxing at home and playing with our new toys and spent a little time at Grandma and Grandpa's house, too. It was really a fun day!
This year we had Thanksgiving at Grandma Challis' house. It was kind of a special time, knowing it would be the last big family gathering there. Grandma just moved to an assisted living condo and the family is making preparations to sell her house. We had a nice big crowd with lots of extended family and all the fun family traditions. We had a turkey bowl, football on T.V., the kids made candy turkeys, we played Turkey Bingo, the men (and some girls) went to the church house to play basketball, we had a nice devotional and ate and ate and ate! The food was great. Each family that came contributed to the meal so nobody had the stress of cooking an entire Thanksgiving feast. I made some really yummy orange-cranberry sauce and Jeremy fried a turkey in our turkey fryer. It turned out really delicious...we had three turkeys and I think the fried one was the first to go.
