Christmas 2008

Here are pictures from Christmas Eve and the Christmas morning festivities at our house! This year we started our tradition that we will hold to for as long as our kids are kids, and maybe longer if they so choose. We will sleep in our own snuggly beds and wake up at our own snuggly house, to open presents from Santa and each other. But let me tell you that even though Santa brings stuff to our house, he kind of brings lame things (like socks, toothpaste, toothbrushes and a book). Mom and Dad were the ones who gave the cool stuff and got all the credit!!

We will then proceed to devour an entire pan of cinnamon rolls (yes, just with the four of us alone!)... if we have another child, I may have to make another pan!

The first two pictures are the children in their Christmas Eve attire, Jonah felt very handsome and Aphia kept running to her Daddy to show off her pretty dress and her curled hair!

This was from Christmas Day at Grama Lollie and Grampa Jeff's house.

The three days following Christmas we relaxed blissfully! We played with our toys, we watched movies, we ate cookies, we napped, we had fun together and loved it.

Merry Christmas To All!

Kruger Family Christmas Card- 2008

Quotes

**UPDATED WITH AN APHIA QUOTE TOO!
Jonah has some pretty funny quotes sometimes, that keep me in stitches. He had gone through a little bit of a dry patch, but lately has had some goodies. I'll enlighten you.

*Jonah comes into the room the other day with his pointer finger up (as if to say "I'll have you know!"), and says, "Mom, things that come out of eggs don't have belly buttons. Like birds, and turtles, and dragons." Good to know I guess.

*When Jonah's playing with action figures he frequently dialogues with them, like, "I'm gonna get you!" and stuff like that. Well we have an "action figure Jesus" that my youth group kids gave to me years ago. As Jonah was playing with him, he has Jesus say to the other guy, "You go to heaven right now!"

*Yesterday we were eating Christmas cookies that we had made and Jonah says, "Mom, you just make the best cookies!" (How does a 4 year old know that Words of Affirmation are his Mommy's love language?!?!) I proceed to smile a huge smile, kiss and hug him, and tell him how happy that made me. He sits and thinks about this for a minute and then, like an "Ah Ha Moment" responds with, "Next time you're upset with me, I'll just tell you that you make the best cookies and it will make you happy!"
Sure enough, we were leaving Menards last night and I was letting him know that I was less than thrilled with his behavior on our way out and that I was angry with him. He waits a few a minutes and then says, "But Mommy, you make the best Christmas cookies! Are you happy with me now?" I had to laugh and say yes, even though I wanted to strangle him, just a little.

*Today, Aphia tripped on something, fell down and started to cry a bit. I said, "Oh no, did you fall?" She nodded in affirmation. I said, "Are you going to be ok?" To which she robustly replied, "NO! Died!!"

Thanksgiving in Memphis!

We had our first trip on an airplane as a family this Thanksgiving! The four of us and Auntie Liz, flew down to Memphis to spend Thanksgiving with Grandpa Rob, Grandma Bonnie, Uncle Dave, his girlfriend Bethany (who Jonah developed a MAJOR crush on!), and Auntie Liz.

Jonah's reactions to the take off, while looking out the window were as follows, "Wow! Mom, the people look like little dolls! And the houses look like doll houses! This is AMAZING!! Now can I watch a movie on the mini dvd player?

Aphia did great flying too! She went back and forth from Dad's lap to Mom's and then between Jonah and Mommy to watch the dvd (which she watched in silence because Jonah had the headphones on, but she didn't seem to care!)

Here's Jonah and Aphia with their Turkey Hats on for Thanskgiving!

Below is Grandpa doing, "The Noble Duke of York" with Jonah!

Here is Uncle Dave reading "Early Bird" to the kids

Jonah snuggled up on his new girlfriend Bethany- move over Uncle Dave!!

Here is what we did a lot of the weekend- chilled and relaxed! It was SO GREAT! A true vacation!

Grandma Bonnie reading "Hermie's Bugginings" to the kiddos.

Here is the fam at The Peabody Hotel in Downtown Memphis! We saw the family from the show, "Jon and Kate Plus 8" here!

On Friday night Dave, Liz, Jeremiah and I got to go out for dinner and drinks while Grandma and Grandpa lovingly babysat!!

Jonah's 4th Birthday

With much anicipation the day finally arrived- Jonah turned FOUR! Up until now, I've felt young, thinking I still have "little" kids. However, entering the world of having a 4 year old, just makes me feel old. He's not really a "little" boy anymore, he's a big 4 year old.

We started the day with Mickey Mouse pancakes for breakfast and then bummed around in our jammies- just what Jonah wanted to do. We then headed to Maple Grove for some fun and games at Chuck E. Cheese. He had a great time running from game to game, and Phia was quite the trooper, keeping right up with him.

We had some family and a couple friends over for cake, ice cream, and presents on Friday evening- very fun times.

Then on Saturday we took Jonah and 3 friends to the Maple Maze (like a McDonald's Playplace, but perhaps 3 times as large). They had an absolute blast! We then came back to our house for more cake (Spiderman cupcakes actually) and more gifts.

What a blessed little boy. To have family and friends nearby, who love him dearly, makes this mom smile from ear to ear. He had a wonderful birthday weekend, and now it's time to come down from the adrenaline and sugar high.

Halloween

Here are some pictures from Halloween. Both kids loved dressing up in their outfits to be the Cowboy and Indian. Aphia, amazingly, left her headband on the whole night and it didn't bug her! They both loved going around the neighborhood to get candy (or "nanny" as Phia calls it) and loved to hand it out to the trick-or-treaters that came to our door. Aphia had a death-grip on her bag when we got home and was not about to let it go! I had told them they could each have 2 pieces when we got home, so they each got to pick out what they wanted. Jonah also shared one with Mommy and Daddy (without prompting!)... Phia, not so much. It was a great night!

There's a Mergency Mom!

Jonah's always been pretty good at pronunciation, and I've worked with him on it. So I think it's kind of funny that when he says, "There's a mergency!" instead of E-mergency, I just chuckle and don't really correct him.

Today I was helping get the last of the daycare kids out the door, Jonah had gone out to the car because we were leaving shortly for some errands. He ran back in, as I was talking to the mom that was leaving with her little ones and says, "Mom! There are sirens!" I said, "What kind?" "I don't know, but it's a mergency mom! We need to pray!!" I thought this was really sweet and said, "Ok buddy, I'll be done talking in a second and then we will." Well he was apparently not ok with that because he waited about 3 seconds, then folded his hands, looked at me for another second and then started to pray by himself, outloud, but not loud enough for me to hear. It was REALLY sweet!

Later, I told him how proud I was of him, for praying for the people in the emergency. I asked what he had said to Jesus and he responded with, "I said, 'Thank you Jesus for the day (which is pretty much how he starts every prayer), and for the mergency. Help all the people to be safe and healthy. Amen."

Makes my heart happy as a mom... These are the moments God uses to affirm that I'm doing a good job, which God knows I need :)