Merry Christmas!

On Christmas Eve Oliver woke up and climbed in bed with Paul and I, and he started singing the "Happy Birthday" song. He did much better than I had ever heard him do before, and he sang the song to Ian. Now we just need him to sing it to Jesus since it's His birthday we are celebrating! On Tuesday night we went Christmas caroling at several of my parents' neighbors houses, which is a tradition we've maintained for the 33 years my parents have lived in this house. On Wednesday night we went to the Christmas Eve candlelight service at my parents' church. I am happy to say none of the children set anything on fire. Fifteen of us went ice skating on Wednesday afternoon. I was pleased at how much better Nadia and Ian did compared to the last time I took them! The weather has been warmer than usual (highs in the low 50's), so we took the kids to a playground yesterday afternoon. The kids have also been playing many games together - Don't Break the Ice, Trouble, Sorry, chess, Monopoly, etc. Chess has been the most popular board game this week! Paul has been teaching her how to play (giving her puzzles to solve and such), but this was the first time she actually played a game. Adam beat her, but she was SO excited when she captured his queen!


Naturally the kids were very excited to open their presents yesterday. Many of the kids received a watch or clock of some type. Ian LOVES his new Lego Batman alarm clock (from Grandma), two new Lego sets (from Wendy and Grandma), and Star Wars figurines (from Maurice). He also got a "I'm the middle brother" t-shirt, which I think is adorable and should make for some cute photos. It's easy to find big sister and little brother shirts, but it's much harder to find middle brother or middle child ones. My parents gave Paul three air mattresses, pillows, and sets of twin sheets so we will be set the next time the Towifighis spend the night at our house. My most favorite gift was a new lens for my camera (an 85mm prime lens). YAY!!

Proof that Ian is doing better with eating, he has done well this week with the dinner menus which have included tuna noodle casserole, spaghetti and meatballs, hamburgers or hotdogs, and a ham dinner on Christmas Day. I'm sure tonight will be a breeze because we're supposed to have pizza.

Sleeping has been a little more problematic in light of the fact that Oliver can now climb out of a pack and play. This morning I found him sitting naked on the kitchen floor at 5:45am as he climbed out of the pack and play and took off his diaper and pajamas. Nadia (my best sleeper) has been impacted the least although she has been waking up earlier than usual since the five of us were sleeping in the living room. On Wednesday night she was the only one able to fall asleep shortly after I put her to bed, the boys were up for another 2+ hours due to lights and sounds in the kitchen keeping them awake. Ian was having some trouble sleeping because the lights from the kitchen were waking him up, but we moved Ian's air mattress closer to our bed last night, which helped him a lot. We also moved Oliver to the family room last night, which meant that Ian was able to sleep in longer this morning. Even though Oliver didn't fall asleep until after 10pm on Wednesday (he usually is asleep at 8pm), he woke up at 4:22 on Christmas morning. My kids are used to sleeping in a quiet, dark bedroom with the door closed so it's an adjustment to sleep in a room without a door that isn't dark, but we're doing the best we can considering 23 people are sleeping under one roof!  Last night my dad, Paul, Joe, Drayton, and Maurice went to see the movie Hobbit at the theatre. Many memories are being made!