The boys had their last day of winter break yesterday.  I was on duty with them as Stuart was back to work.  Logan and I started the day early with an orthodontic consultation in the morning.  We arrived at the office and we were the only clients there.  We were given a tour of the office, then they took some pictures of Logan’s profile and teeth.  The orthodontist sat down and took a closer look.  He gave me an overview of what the treatment plan would be for the next many years.  Afterward, Logan and I returned home and found Connor enjoying a breakfast.  For this last day, other than having some video game time, I also had a few things planned with the boys.  We went grocery shopping, then I had them done some math, reading and writing work as practice.  We also took a short walk to get our steps in.  This marked an end to a relaxing two-week break.  This morning, all of us, except for Logan, had difficulty getting up and out of bed.  But we all went to work and school as usual again.

    Stuart had studied the trails at the local county park, Quicksilver, but we ended up not going there with the Kaos yesterday.  Since the storm had not arrived yet, we decided to check out one of its trails this morning.  This one was less steep than the one we had visited before, but it was on the opposite side of the mountain.  It took 18 minutes to drive there and it was a bit windy.  When we were getting close to the destination, Logan said he was not feeling well and asked for a bag.  Once he threw up a little and got out of the car, he felt better and we started our walk.  The hike took us into the valleys; the trails were beautiful and were not too difficult.  We saw some horses on the way and some eagles flying in the sky.  We finally made it to one of the old mining structures at the 1.4 mile mark.  We took a brief stop, then turned around for the return trek.  Connor started to complain about his legs being tired, but with some distraction, he made it back all the way.  Logan did well and basically led the way with Stuart the entire time.  It was nice to explore our neighborhood, and we hiked three miles.

    We met up with the Kaos at our local hiking park yesterday afternoon.  All four kids were motivated and ran up the hill quite fast.  They continued in good pace throughout the mile hike, and we made it to the playground quickly.  After the kids played for awhile, we finished up the short hike and returned to our house.  The kids ran off to play upstairs as soon as we arrived home.  They also played a game of Monopoly Jr all on their own, so we did not interfere at all.  Connor had been asking to have “hotpot”, so we had chosen it for our dinner.  Michelle helped me get the preps ready, then the four adults started cooking and enjoyed eating first while the kids continued to play.  They had fun the whole time and were giggling while they were eating too.  After dinner, we had some dessert before our guests left to go home.  For the evening, the boys were being good hosts; they shared their toys and told us that they would be happy to clean up afterward. 

     We were invited to the Gopals for a new year eve party starting at 6:30pm.  The boys were so looking forward to it that they began counting down three hours prior to our departure time.  We arrived at the party right at the start and most people arrived shortly thereafter as well.  The kids quickly delved into the food and settled down in front of the TV.  It was cute that all the kids sat themselves nicely into a half circle.  After some TV watching time, the rest of the night the kids scattered everywhere in the house.  Connor usually hung out with Logan and Rohan wherever they were, but sometimes we saw him checking out what other kids were doing.  Most adults stood and chatted by the kitchen the whole night; Stuart’s and my legs were getting sore.  Before we knew it, it was 10 something at night and some people had started to pack up to leave.  We ended up hanging with the last group of people and left to go home around 11ish.  Logan wanted to sleep during the drive home, but Connor helped us in keeping him up.  We showered the kids and it was just about time to ring into the new year.  We took a selfie and counted down to the new year.  We watched a clip of fireworks together, then I read one book with them.  The boys made it past midnight, but they were out within 30 seconds after being tucked in.

    Despite going to bed late, the boys woke up 7:15am and 7:30am this morning.  They also did not seem to be tired the entire day.  They played a good game of basketball with Stuart in the morning.  Connor was full of energy like he usually is, and Logan played aggressively too.  They played well offensively and tried to get rebounds.  In the afternoon, they also played one of their invented game “rocket ball” in the front of house for a long time.  Stuart and I decided to move up the bedtime early; with the activities they had done, the boys fell asleep quickly.

     After dinner on the 27th, we went with the grandparents to check out the night scene of the Christmas park.  It was quite crowded and festive.  We walked around the animated booths to check on the puppets.  There was a stage with a performer singing and playing guitar.  The boys were interested and we sat in the cold enjoying the show for a little while.  We strolled some more looking at the decorations and at the fair games while we drank some hot cocoa.  Even though it was after Christmas, we all enjoyed the festivities.

    The grandparents arrived on Wednesday night, then we were on full swing toward Christmas.  We made chocolate cookies for Santa, but this time the boys were not as interested to help me.  In the meantime, both boys wanted to play Chess with grandpa and showed Grandma other games.  On Christmas Eve, it was rainy and therefore we did not end up going to the Christmas in the Park for the night troll.  We came home after dinner and decorated a gingerbread house instead.  The final product came out quite nice; I was happy that the house did not fall apart as I did a poor job with the foundation.  By bedtime, the boys were excited.  Connor put out some cookies for Santa and he added a box of tissue on the tray.  He told us that since it is cold at North Pole, he figured that Santa might need a tissue in case of a runny nose.  The boys then quickly went to sleep so Santa would not skip our house.

   On Christmas Day, both boys woke up bright and early but stayed in their rooms quietly.  At 7am sharp, they rushed down to check on the tree and were thrilled to find even more presents under it.  They carefully looked through them and found the Santa presents.  Logan was disappointed that his was smaller than Connor’s.  Quickly he was over it and moved onto TV.  After we all woke up and had breakfast, the excitement began.  We started with the stockings and played briefly with our little toys.  Then we migrated to the living room.  Logan and Connor quickly found themselves a present and opened it.  We had to encourage them to find presents for the grandparents, Stuart and I, so everyone could take turn.  The fun time lasted more than 30 minutes and all of us received a great bounty. 

    The rest of the Christmas day and the following couple of days, everyone sorted through and played with the new toys.  Stuart set up his new XBox One, but Logan and Connor spent more time playing their new Batman 3 game on it than Stuart can with his games.  Logan and Connor both love the soft snuggle animals and carry them everywhere in the house.  They like the REV remote control cars and even Stuart thinks they are very cool.  They are getting better driving them. The best part of it is that the cars require phones to control and Stuart had taken out our old iPhones.  The boys enjoy playing the phones even when they are not driving the cars.  They have also been having fun building some figures with the classic Lego set during quiet time.  From the Santa presents, Logan is learning how to use his mini robot, Ozobot, and Connor loves his Transformer/tank figurine.  We all share some fun time playing with the Simon game, some puzzles and a dice game as well.  Stuart blew up the Sumo inflatables, and the boys had a blast and got some exercise playing with them in the game room.  I also set up my Fitbit and began my competition with Stuart and with my sisters.  Here are our Christmas pictures.