The Many Adventures of the Aichele Monsters: Holiday Sheenigans

This week has been very cold, so that could only mean one thing, Christmas is near! (Well it could mean many more, but thinking positive!) Gentry has been singing all the new Christmas songs she is learning at school and I completely LOVE it! She sings "Ring the Bells" and on the 3rd line she mumbles something that sounds like "A seemacheena eberywhere that Christmas time is here".♥ her so much:) Luke and I purposely don't correct her because we love the way she sings or says things a little different.
On Wednesday we spent the whole day with Grandma Betty. It was so nice to spend all day with her. We dont get to see her all that often and I really enjoyed catching up with her. I think we need to start doing this more. We got G from school and went to lunch at The Deli afterwards. It was so good and we haven't been there for a while. Betty and I relaxed while the beans napped. Then we trimmed and curled her hair and headed back to take her home. We had dinner with Whitney, Josh and Chloe at Pizza Hut that evening before they headed to Haiti for their honeymoon.
Thursday morning, we decided to skip the Y and go out for doughnuts and Wal-mart shopping instead. Makes a lot of sense, huh? We usually stick to a schedule because I like that, but sometimes it is fun to mix things up a bit. We went to Walmart so G could pick out a few things she was wanting for Christmas. Stupid Idea! (Don't say that!G always gets after me if I say stupid) I told her Nana wanted a few ideas for Christmas and she just thought she was getting it all right then and there. "I will take one of these and yea the Dora house too...." Sorry G:/
    Friday evening we went to "Winter Wonderland". It is a small building where they have a train and lots of lights and music. When we got there, G's friend, Becca and her family were there as well. I rode the train with the beans and Daddy got a few snapshots and then went inside, because he was cold, pshhh! :) Ace sat on my lap and just smiled the whole time and seemed so amazed at all the lights. It is so awesome to see the wonder and amazement through a child's eyes. Sounds cliche, but it is true!
   Saturday Maci and I took the beans and Chloe to see Santa and then to the Olivia Christmas movie at the theater. (Daddy went to see his favorite team, Ohio State, play KU in Lawrence.) We were the only people at the movie, I mean literally us and the one guy working the front counter! They did pretty good, minus the few Taridactal squaks my son makes. Speaking of those, he has been waking up every morning around 5:30am and squaking like a dinosaur! It is cray cray and not a good start to the day. Back to Saturday, after the movie we ate lunch with Maci and then went home for naps. We went back to Nana and Papa's, our 2nd home, and hung out until close to bedtime. Chloe spent the night with us that night. All I can say after having all 3 kiddos, is I am SO glad we only have 2 babies! I would go to the nut house with 3 kids. How my mom did it with 6, is beyond me! Super Woman right there!
     Today we went to church and afterwards I took some "Me" time and went to Wal-mart all by myself and thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it! After lunch, G and I made Red Velvet cake mix cookies for her babysitters, our neighbors and the wife of one of Luke's clients. (He passed away earlier this year. G went with Daddy to the nursing home a few times while Luke cut his hair and G called him "Fritzy baby". His name was Fritz.) We drove around and looked at lights for a while after that. We went by the house in town that has the light set up to the radio music. The beans loved it! Once again, watching the kids faces just made me so happy. They seem in awe over it.
This last week our Advents have been: 5) Take food to the food bank. 6) Bake treats for neighbors. 7)Watch a Christmas movie. 8)Listen to Christmas songs. (Thanks to Whit we have the new Bieber Christmas and it plays on repeat in the van!) 9)Read the Christmas Story. 10)Make treats for Jenny. (The homeless girl in town) 11) Drive around and look at Christmas lights. Little Miss ChipLeigh has been rather ornery as well, eating a whole chocolate bar and getting a belly ache, playing Chutes and Ladders, hiding in G's bag so she can go to Pre-school with her, wearing a jacket and chilling in the fridge, literally! Every night G says "I wonder what ChipLeigh will be doing in the morning. That crazy girl!" One night she didn't move though, because G was especially naughty the day before. On an exciting note, Ace has been trying to say "Thank you". Very cute!