Pomerleau Family Blog: Christmas in Corvallis 2014!

Christmas cookie decoration fun on December 23

So much fun decorating cookies

We went down to Corvallis Tuesday December 23rd. Rachel arrived the day before and Tory arrived the Saturday before. We got to Corvallis and the kids immediately got to help decorate Christmas cookies. It was so much fun although Olivia seemed to eat more of the frosting than the cookies. They also seemed to really enjoy eating the sprinkles out of the container. But all the cookies got decorated and tasted really yummy which is important since we love having them for our Christmas Eve dinner under the Christmas tree and they have to be good for Santa Claus of course!

Brandon developed a really special relationship with his Auntie Rachel. By the end of Christmas they were calling each other their Christmas Best Friends. Brandon was a big helper all of Christmas. He was eager to help decorate the Christmas cookies, decorate the Christmas tree at my parents' house, and put out the Snow Village. Him and Rachel had a lot of fun having tea parties and playing with his new toys, especially his board games.

Having tea with Auntie Rachel on the 23rd

Cheers!

Watching something on Daddy's iPhone together in their matching Christmas Dog PJs

Brandon and Olivia got to share a room together over Christmas (something that we have not attempted until now). I was surprised at how well they did together. Brandon seemed comforted to have Olivia in his room (he was not as scared and did not demand having his normal light on all night). They both slept surprisingly well through the night although Olivia woke up between 5:45 AM (on Christmas day) and 6:30 AM every day, which was exhausting since I went to bed somewhat late each night because I wanted to stay up and visit with my family and my sisters.

We took Olivia and Brandon to Avery Park on Christmas Eve to get some exercise and to get them out of the house. It was a clear and cold day and the two of them had a lot of fun playing on the train and on the dino bones. Olivia also had a lot of fun on the swings and insisted on swinging in the big kid swing (and hung on) instead of the baby swing.

Olivia Christmas Eve Avery Park

So much fun swinging!

Brandon and Olivia playing in a "tip pee fort" they found at Avery Park

On Christmas Eve. We had our annual Christmas Eve dinner with sandwiches and Chinese Soup from King Tin under the Christmas tree. Olivia and Brandon loved the tradition and the sandwiches! My Uncle Carl was able to make it this year for Christmas Eve and Christmas, which made it especially special. It was so fun watching the traditions unfold through my kids' eyes. It is something that they will carry down to their kids.

Olivia Christmas Eve

Brandon Christmas Eve

Hanging up the Advent Ornament for the final day that my sister Rachel made my mom for her birthday

Olivia and her Auntie Tory

Looking at the ornaments with Auntie Tory

She always tries to take those bows out of her hair

Olivia and her CiCi on Christmas Eve

Auntie Tory and Olivia on Christmas Eve

Olivia and Brandon both loved the dip-we had to hide it!

Christmas Eve under the Christmas tree

Olivia and her CiCi

Yummy Christmas sugar cookies

Olivia and her Baba on Christmas Eve

Our Christmas Eve baby-Olivia

Olivia and Brandon and their Auntie Tory

Picking out a cookie

Yummy cookie

A mouthful of cookie

Brandon and Sean on Christmas Eve

Playing with her Aunties

The kids got to take a fun bath in my parent's big bath tub. My dad read the Night Before Christmas. We hung our stockings and Brandon was excited to put out Christmas cookies and milk for Santa. Brandon and Olivia also got to open up the present they got for each other. Brandon gave Olivia a cute Night time Elmo that sings a lullaby and Olivia gave Brandon a Bumble Bee Hero Mashers transformer. Brandon did not nap at all so he went right down surprisingly. Both were asleep by 8:00 PM which was nice.

Christmas Eve bath fun with all the bubbles!

Bubble fun!

Looking awfully sleepy on Christmas Eve while Baba read the Night Before Christmas

Olivia opening up her present from Brandon

My mom and our newest addition Pumpkin on Christmas Eve

Olivia woke up on Christmas Day bright and early at 5:45 AM. She did not seem to want to go back to sleep unfortunately so we were up for the day. Brandon got up at a much more manageable time at 7:15 AM. He was super excited for Christmas and raced up the stairs to see if Santa had eaten his cookie (which luckily he had eaten part of it). Sean made a yummy Christmas breakfast with a egg omelet scramble, bacon, and our usual cinnamon rolls. We ate our breakfast and then opened up the stockings and then it was present time!

Brandon looking for the lucky pickle ornament

Present pile Christmas 2014

Brandon checking out the cookie to make sure Santa at some

Opening up stockings with Daddy

Brandon checking out the cookie and his stocking

Stocking fun

Brandon looking at all the presents

Yummy-gummy fish!

Brandon and Daddy on Christmas Day

Olivia Christmas day

Brandon loved opening up his presents on Christmas day and could not wait until it was his turn to open up his present. He loved getting his toy presents and was less excited for books and his non-toy presents although he loved them later on. Brandon got batman rain boots, A Wizard of Oz movie called Return to Oz, Rescue Planes book with figures, play dough picnic basket, several books, a Doc McStuffins Operations Game. His big present from us was Optimus Prime Rescue Trailer that can hold his Transformer Rescue Bots and he got an Electronic Grimlock dinosaur from Santa. The kids together got a lot of kitchen accessories like pots and pans for their play kitchen and some really neat and realistic play food. Olivia got rain boots, a baby panda bear, a shopping cart that has a spot to put her doll, a Little People Musical Preschool, and a Fisher Price tea set that sings. I gave Sean the new console, the Xbox One which we have both enjoyed playing. I got a nice coffee travel mug from Starbucks from Sean as well as a nice cold beverage holder with a straw from Starbucks and lots of clothes and shoes from my parents. We also got a really nice little bluetooth Bose speaker so we could listen to some more music from my parents and a rain fly tent cover which will be really handy this summer as we plan to camp a lot with our new tent.