Weekly Round- Up: The Week with Christmas!

We took the whole week off to celebrate Christmas.  We had lots of family fun and the boys spent a lot of time in their rooms working on their new Lego sets-- we're drowning in Legos and the boys are in heaven.  They got some new games too and we spent time playing new games and old favorites.  It was freezing cold here and we wanted to just relax around the house as much as possible.

Friday I was up early to get to the grocery store before it got too crowded and after putting the groceries away we were supposed to start baking... but Evan wanted to finish putting his new Lego guy together and Ian headed off to work on his four wheeler using the excavator to clean up even more of the demolished trailer. The boys spent time watching TV and playing video games too.  We all started watching the new episodes of Fuller House after their father arrived home and they had all wrapped their gifts to put under the tree.

We had no plans on Saturday so Ian headed off to work with his grandfather and Alec made some eggnog cupcakes.  Evan worked for a few minutes on putting together a Lego set but then settled down to play video games instead.  We finished watching all the new episodes of Fuller House after dinner and enjoyed our last day of rest before all the holiday madness began.

The boys started their day playing Exploding Kittens, Scattegories, and Mario Chess on Sunday.  Alec made some cinnamon frosting for his eggnog cupcakes and all the boys got their chores done.  They had a few extra chores since I was busy in the kitchen cooking all day.  Ian spent a portion of his day crushing rocks with a mini crusher that my husband brought home.  My husband had made the crusher when he was in high school as part of a science fair project and he brought it home after cleaning out his grandfather's house.  We headed out in the evening to my mother's house for a Christmas Eve celebration with my whole family.

My mom's tree with gifts enough for the whole family-- There were 22 of us gathered together.

The kids played a new game and had so much fun trying to get to the center of the saran wrapped ball

We had a lovely Christmas day on Monday and woke to a truly white Christmas.  It was snowing! The boys actually didn't wake at the crack of dawn for once and we opened gifts starting around 7 or so.  It was nice and leisurely this year.  They were all thrilled with what they got and settled in to try out their new video games and check out their toys.  Ian put together all his Lego Marvel men. I made up some homemade cinnamon buns the day before that I just had to pop in the oven and while I swore I'd never make them again I probably will; they were amazing!  We had a laid back breakfast with the family and boys' grandmother came over to exchange gifts.  By lunchtime my husband and oldest son had to leave to go plow and we didn't see them again until dinnertime.  The younger two boys played outside and with all their new toys.  We had a big pot roast, mashed potato, and green bean feast followed with some warm Tollhouse pie and ice cream and ended out night with a rousing game of Harry Potter Clue.  It was so much fun and had some pretty unique twists from the traditional Clue game.

Alec got a color changing Harry Potter mug and some peppermint spoons for his hot cocoa addiction.

White out conditions for part of the day! 

All the boys slept in on Tuesday and while Alec did have karate class we elected to skip it and stay home snuggled up in the house because he was just so tired. Evan tried out his new hair chalks and talked Alec into try them too.  All three boys planted their Plat Pals they got from my sister and then went to put Lego sets together.  It was so quiet in our house! I don't think I saw anyone for much of the day.  After lunch Alec asked me to play his new video game with him and next thing I knew all four of us were gathered around the Xbox playing Overcooked having a great time!  We took turns since we only have three remotes and the object is to work together to cook meals for a restaurant; it is so much fun!!  We headed to my mother in law's for dinner and had leftover ham grinders.  We broke out the Parcheesi board and taught both Ian and Evan how to play while Alec played crazy 8's and triominoes.

Our plant pals

1/2 of Evan's new set all put together; Robin's bike combines fully with Batman's car

Alec's mushroom island set

The boys mostly worked on Lego sets and video games again on Wednesday though we did take a quick trip to the store and the library.  Ian made some moon sand using whole wheat flour and baby oil and took it down to the basement to use with all of his trucks.  We put Evan's new castle together and all three boys finished up the Lego sets they had been working on.  Alec had a huge Lego Minecraft set, Evan finished up Thor's battle arena, and Ian put Evan's ultimate Batmobile together for him.  I played a game of Yahtzee with the two older boys and we all played a bit of Overcooked again.

The other pieces of the Ultimate Batmobile separated... 

And together! 

We spent most of the day Thursday taking down Christmas decorations.  The boys helped carry bins up and down the stairs to the basement and sweep up all the needles and glitter off the floor. We cleaned through our game closet and stopped to play a few rounds of Scattegories and a rousing game of Mario Chess.  Ian cleaned out his room and got rid of a few toy bins.  He built a couple of new car garages out of blocks and re- arranged his toys. We ended our night with Alec and I playing another few rounds of Overcooked while Ian beat my husband in cribbage.  Ian and I played a game of rummy and I won.  We just had to play cards since our calendar told us it was national card playing day!

Linking Up With: Friday Loves