Christmas

We were very busy this December in the Roldan house, but still we managed to do fun little Christmas projects throughout the month.  I made a list of the things I wanted to do with the kids, and except for making Santa faces using cottonballs for the beard,  I succeeded in getting all the others done! 

First we made Advent Calendars.  For the most part, these held up pretty well throughout the month.  A few were lost to Aria...but that's just assumed since she is just 16 months old and ripping things up is in her job description.  I let the kids glue them all together.  It was messy, but they really had fun with it.

Then we made Christmas trees a couple weeks before Christmas and hung them all up around our house.

One day we made Christmas cookies......

and the kids had a lot of fun decorating them!

Then on another day we made Ginger Bread Houses out of graham crackers. I think the kids enjoyed this project the most -- especially because they got to eat their creation afterwards :)

We made Almonda Rocha on Christmas Eve -- and I must admit this was my favorite activity,

mainly because it's my favorite thing to eat!   

Afton enjoys this project every year, but Tony -- not so much.  He complains about getting stuck with stirring the sugary "magma" as he calls it, which is not such an exciting job and the mixture gets really hot, and every now and then a bubble will pop, and well....it's not such a fun part of this process.  Even though he complains, he still says, "Okay...I'll stir the hot magma..."  so secretly I think he does enjoy it on some level :)

 

This is what our house looked like before Santa arrived......

And this is how it looked the morning after he arrived....

Tony and Afton help with wrapping gifts late on Christmas Eve.

Rich holds up his favorite Christmas gift -

 a blanket with a photo of our motorhome on it!

Aria in her new pajamas!

Growing Up Too Fast!

This photo was taken in Austin, Texas, a couple weeks ago.

Aria is talking so much lately.  At 16 months, she can tell us exactly what she wants by pointing and saying a few words.  Here is a list of the things she says now:

Mom  (never mama, but just mom)
Dada  (sometimes she says Dad, but mostly its dada)
Ah na (Audriana)
A yex  (Alex)
Ay Yay (A.J.)
Aria  (for some reason she says HER name completely correct!)
dogdog
shoes  (sounds more like sheeews)
hello
hi
eat (says this word completely clear)
num num (her word for when she wants to nurse-- yes, I still nurse her :)
baba   (her word for her drink cup)
bye
ewww!  (when she sees something gross)
Nanon ( for Shannon, Audriana's best friend who is over here a lot)
mine  (everything is "mine!" )

There's more but I can't think of them all right now.  Oh, wait...I can't believe I forgot her most favorite word that she says about 200 times a day.  Can you guess?  That would be the word NO.  She even says NO when she means YES. 

"Aria...do you want to play outside with the guys?!!!"  Mommy says with excitement.

"NO!"  she says, running for the door with a huge smile on her face.

Aria loves walking our dog Milo.  He's a little Toy Fox Terrier, so she can hold his leash just fine and he doesn't pull her down or anything.  I will put Milo on his leash and let Aria walk around the backyard with him.  She is also into playing house.  She will grab a baby doll and "fake cry" to make the baby seem like it needs its mama, and then she comforts the baby.  That is really sweet to watch!

Ahhhh...babies.  They are just too cute, and so much fun!  But my one complaint -- They Grow Up Too Darn Fast!!!

Family Christmas Photo -- 2009

Our 2009 Christmas Photo

Holiday Fun

Who doesn't remember making advent links?  I remember making them every Christmas season in school.  Since my kids are homeschooled for elementary, I don't know if they still do this in the public schools.  It might not be politically correct anymore.  We also used to put on Christmas programs in my public school, and that is what it was called -- The Christmas Program -- not Holiday Celebration.  We would sing Christmas songs, including "Away in a Manger"  and  all those holy songs.  Now I bet they don't do that.  It seems that everyone is trying to take the Christ out of Christmas nowadays -- when Christ is what Christmas is all about.  Of course, there are other religious celebrations at this time of year, too.  So maybe in the school now they celebrate all religions during this season?  Which would be cool, too.  So long as Christmas is represented as well....without trying to take Christ out of it.