Crazy week

I'll do a real post as soon as things calm down, but wanted to share the big news. Go here for some info.

Song time

Cross Point held its Christmas service last Sunday. The kids came up and did a little song for us. I love mini concerts!

A week of Christmas

The boys have been counting down until Christmas for a while now. We threw a wrench in the counting by having 4 different celebrations. I don't think they minded though. We've had a great time being with family and are looking forward to the biggest present arriving on Tuesday!

Paps church:

I'm not sure how much longer Jon will let me get away with dressing them alike.

Reading The Night Before Christmas

Matched

If you haven't been called, seen FB, or read our other blog....you should check it out! Unfortunately, things are now a bit crazy over here so everyone will have to wait for more details, but we will post them as soon as we can. Merry Christmas.

Presents

We headed to my parents house over the weekend and did our Christmas with them. We tortured the boys by making them sit and have some snacks before opening presents. When it looked like they couldn't take it anymore, we let them start passing out some gifts. They were excellent helpers, but all Ben could focus on was tearing off wrapping paper. They got a lot of fun stuff. We had to open a few things over there in order to avoid their heads exploding from all the excitement! As usual, my parents spoiled the kids. As usual, the boys loved it.

Sam got a puppy that says his name. He looked freaked out for a half a second the first time he heard it, but it makes him smile now.

They love their trains:

Ben got a real digital camera that he hasn't been able to put down. We now have pictures of all his church friends, the floor, ceiling, the back of everyones head and some random people with no heads!

Ben also got a computer (toy) that Sam borrowed while Ben was busy with other things. Both boys think its awesome that they have a lap top just like mom and dad.

Ben has turned into a rock star!

Thank you momo and papa for the food and gifts. We all had a great night.

Cookies

Each year, the Purdum women get together during the Christmas season to bake a crazy amount of cookies. Unfortunately, we weren't able to coordinate a date this year, so Corrie and I had a mini cookie day yesterday. We limited ourselves to chocolate chip and sugar cookies. Ben loved every part of it. He poured in all the ingredients, mixed the dough, rolled it out and made shapes. He also had the brilliant idea to put sprinkles on the chocolate chip cookies. After a while, the music pulled him away from the cookies and dancing took over. Sam took over sprinkle duty, although I think most of his sprinkles missed the cookies and landed on the tray (and in his mouth).

After the cooking, our entertainment went down for naps and Corrie and I got to work on frosting. I did the base coats, while Corrie used her expert crafty skills for decorating. They taste even better than they look!

Thanks for baking with us Corrie. We all had a great time.

(not so) Wordless Wednesday: Precious

Ben walked out of school yesterday with a present just for me. However, he informed me if dad wasn't at work, it would be a present just for him. This was the card. He told me he wrote the e's backwards just because he is silly.
This was the present. Its an angel for the top of the tree.

Hey Purdums, does the phrase, "I'm a little angel" come to mind?

Little bakers

Lindsey hosted play group last week and let the kids do some baking. She supervised some cookie making and they had a blast. They each got to dump in an ingredient and use the mixer. They worked the dough through their little hands and got it ready for Lindsey to cook.They built up quite an appetite (most of them) and patiently sat for a group picture before enjoying the finished product. They were delicious!

Sneeze germs bake out in the oven right???

Hello snow

Ben has been wanting to go outside and build a snowman since the first time we had the slightest hint of a flurry. We found out that Gram and Pap had a crazy amount of snow in Ravenna so we decided to head out there and build a snowman. Today just happened to be the day they were going to put up their Christmas tree. We met them at a tree farm where you go out and pick your own tree. The snow went to the boys thighs and they loved it! We made snow angels, ate snow and checked out a few tractors. We also left with a great tree.

We headed back to Grams house and decorated the tree. The boys thought it was awesome that they got to stand on a ladder to put on ornaments.

After lunch, we finally headed outside to work on a snowman. The boys had a blast rolling the snow and pelting dad and Meg with snowballs.

Action shot of Zeke catching snowballs in his mouth:

Jon had a great idea to play some snow baseball:

Unfortunately, Ben forgot to swing and took a snowball to the face. He was tough though.

The finished product:

Sam and dad taking a moment out to be silly:

Reindeer run

Last Saturday, I ran in the last 5k of the year with Corrie and our new running buddy, Sean. It was cold, but it was actually dry. The three of us stayed together and enjoyed seeing everyone in their costumes. I still don't understand why anyone would want to run in full mascot gear and some of the other outfits we saw, but it made for good conversation. Corrie ended with her best time ever and no one looked like they were going to fall over when it was done!

Pre race:

We did it:

Showing off our t shirts:

Next up, relay and full marathon training. 26.2---piece of cake!

Wordless Wednesday: Part 2

Thanksgiving was so good this year, we did it twice!

Santa

We took the kids to see Santa Friday night. I've mentioned many times the street in Strongsville that goes crazy with the Christmas lights. A couple nights a month, they also have Santa. They request a donation for charity, but its not required and you get to spend a decent amount of time on his lap and take all the pictures you like. Ben was all talk last year about getting up on Santas lap, but after warming up to him for a couple minutes, this year, he was happy to hop up for a picture. Sam was intrigued, but didn't really want anything to do with him, until he heard Ben say the word candy. Sam gave Santa a high 5 in exchange for a candy cane. Maybe next year.

It took a lot of effort for Sam to get this close to Santa.

Ben and Santa in deep conversation about reindeer and presents.

We like Santa now!

The kid will do almost anything for candy!

Tree time

The boys are in love with the Christmas tree. Ben makes sure the lights are on from the minute he gets up until bed time. They sit and stare at it while eating breakfast. They take the ornaments off and play with them. They spend hours playing with the Lego train Jon put around the bottom. I'm not looking forward to the day we tell them it has to come down.

25 days...

The boys have been counting down the days until we could put up our Christmas tree. We always put it up the day after Thanksgiving so we had a lot to look forward to in 2 days! After fighting the crowds in the morning (which actually weren't too bad) we were ready to have some family time at home. We had a snack spread for dinner of cheese/crackers, apples, grapes, home made chex mix and cookies for dessert. Ben did a great job of putting up ornaments and helping Sam put his on the tree. We listened to Christmas music and had a great night. Ben and Sam each picked out a new ornament for the tree and have made sure everyone that has stopped over has seen them. Unfortunately, we are now being asked at least 5 times a day if today is Christmas. It could be a long month!

Bens new robot ornament:

Sams new rocket is on the left:

Sam the dancing machine:

Ben wanted in on the dancing action: