Terry's parents came to Indy on Christmas night and stayed through the weekend to celebrate the Moritz Christmas. The kids, of course, love to be together non-stop! We went downtown to the Spaghetti Factory for our "Christmas Dinner" the day after Christmas.
The kids {big ones included} got in plenty of time playing the Wii, eating a ton of great food, a bunch of relaxing and even a nap or two!
The boys love to come home from church on Christmas Eve to find jammies under their pillows {the only "matching" outfits daddy thinks are cool!}. This year they were pumped to have sock monkey jammies. Funny.
We had a super day on Christmas Eve. . .celebrating with the yummiest brunch at my mom and dad's house as well as little gift opening. Star Wars seemed to be quite the theme this year, at least for the youngest 2; Luke chimed in on the shirts, though. After church we headed to Bravo for a great dinner, thanks to a client who sent us a gift card!!
Santa stopped by for some milk and cookies and left a few things for the boys. The favorite stocking stuffer were the spinning toothbrushes!!
We headed to Champaign for the day to celebrate with Terry's extended family. Cole got to reuinte with Ellie. . .she was the spark that led us to Wrigley. And so the beat goes on. . .daily do I hear our boys say "Wriggy, I lov
e you." and hug and kiss the dog. He is the light in their lives and has found a special place in, yes, all of our hearts. We celebrated one year with Wrigs by watching the video of last Christmas when Santa brought us the tiny pup!
All the boys had their Christmas parties at school today. . .last night it looked like there might not be school today due to a big ice storm coming our way. Unlike most times there is a chance that school might be cancelled or even delayed, they were hoping for school!! Their wish came true, we ended up with lots of rain. I got to join in the fun at both Luke and Grant's parties. Luke's class has been together for a year and a half because his teacher looped. It has been SO fun to watch these kids grow and develop as well as build some really strong friendships. 
Not only was today special in Kindergarten because of the party, but it was also Miss Weither's last day of school in Grant's class. She is a student teacher from Butler and has been with the kids since the first day of school. . .they don't know what Kindergarten is like without her. The kids just love her {of course!!} and will have to adjust come January. Grant, although he would not want to admit it, is NOT happy she is leaving. I am sure Miss Weither will be back a time or two to visit!
Luke turned 8 today! The day he was born seems like yesterday. . . it was a super cold day with a snow storm outside. It was also the day George W. Bush was finally declared President almost one and a half months after the election.
Eight years later Luke has turned into a great kid that we are SO proud of. He is a self-motivated guy who is eager to please. God gave him to us first. . .to be a great big brother who is also a responsible rule follower!
Luke chose to celebrate his birthday with friends by having a Wii Party at home last night.
He was joined by a goofy group of friends and family. . .the kids held a Wii Bowling Tournament and made homemade personal pizzas.
The cake was a huge hit. . .a great big thanks to uncle Brett for making this wii remote control cake. Isn't it amazing?
For Luke's birthday today, we had somewhat of a normal day because of the activities we had planned. . .a Christmas breakfast at church and a basketball game this afternoon (a super birthday game for luke--scoring 16 points!). Tonight we headed to grandpa & grandma's to celebrate with a McDonald's dinner and scotcharoos at Luke's request!
This is it. The last pre-school Christmas program we will ever attend. We have had 5 straight years of programs at Castleview, sometimes because we had 2 kids in preschool at the same time we would see multiple programs. It is always fun to watch kids this age, some with much timidness and others with no fear at all!
Cole was a Magi this year as well as an angel in the "Ten Little Angels" song. He did a super job!
After the program we all enjoyed cookies and punch back in the classroom. A special time when we received gifts from Cole and got to socialize a bit with others from the class.
Of course, what would a post about preschool be without a picture of Cole and his VERY best BUDDY, Derek! These two have such a special friendship, they enjoy carpooling to school together, many play dates and love "bossing" each other around at school!
Every December the boys can't wait to spend an afternoon with grandma (and sometime Uncle Brett, as was the case this year) making gingerbread houses. Luke and Grant had a half day of school today, so it was the perfect day to head to grandma's house for a candy-filled afternoon.
I was pretty impressed with the thought that went into their houses this year and the ability for them to do a lot of it on their own. Each year their houses become more "of their own." Luke made a dog house for Wrigley in his gingerbread backyard and Grant added a garage to his house!
Luke went with his class to visit Conner Prairie on a field trip to see all of the gingerbread houses and learn about how Christmas was celebrated in the 1800's. Later in the week all of the parents were invited to come make gingerbread houses with their child. We had fun using LOTS of frosting to make all of our candy stick!
Afterward, the second grade had their caroling Christmas program. Luke had a speaking part, he memorized it and did perfect.
Each class got to "play" the carol they sang on the xylophones!
