On Christmas Day after a feast and some sledding at Grandma and Grandpa Sperle's we made the journey back to Fargo to spend the rest of Christmas Day with the other Grandparents. Traditions run very deep at this house. We MUST make sure every dish is washed and that the house is spotless before we start opening presents. Then, we must take pictures, which can be humorous and frustrating, but nonetheless, it must be accomplished.
I have ZERO pictures of Eli opening any gifts. And it's not that he didn't have any, he had plenty, believe me. But, he was so busy. He opened his presents so quickly and was off passing out gifts to everyone and putting paper in the trash and passing out cookies and making sure that the dog was ok and just being all around Mr. Event Coordinator that I didn't have a chance to get a picture of any of it.
Sadie, on the other hand, opened her presents so slowly and enjoyed each present as if it were the best present on Earth that she was still opening presents long after everyone else had finished. First, Sadie got the "precious jewels" and promptly put them on. Then, Sadie got the guitar. She patiently waited for me to get it out of the box (for those of you with kids, you know that this can be a long process of untwisting twist-ties and unscrewing screws, and breaking through un-breakable plastic), then started to play... Santa, by the way, pulled through and brought her the skunk slippers that she requested.
Later, still with her "precious jewels" and guitar, she can be seen wearing her new LLBean backpack with her name embroidered on it, and her new sock monkey (though, notice "monkey" is still getting some love as not to get jealous). It was such a joy watching the kids this Christmas, they had a blast and loved every moment (except for the tantrum Eli threw when we made him wear a sweater to church--oh the agony!) of family togetherness, Christmas Preparations, Christmas goodies and the overall spirit of Christmas.
The start of a new Christmas tradition? Eli, Sadie and Grandma slept under the Christmas tree that night in their brand-new inflatable sleeping bags. I didn't think they would sleep there all night, but they did. I don't know who had more fun, the kids or grandma? Just look at grandma's smile and I think grandma was pretty happy.
Sadie played a little frisbee, but mostly she just ran around, acted silly, spun in circles, and made grass angels while repeating the phrase, "I am a princess."
The kids had a go at the climbing wall. It is not rigged up for small kids so once they got up above our heads they had a hard time reaching the hand/feet holds. But, they had fun anyways. Here's Eli all harnessed up and ready to go.
Climbing up:
Sort of repelling down:
Sadie getting a little boost:
Swinging down was her favorite part. She kept saying, "I want to do it again."
Mom and Dad even got in on the action. Look I made it!
Dad too!
Eli wanted to wrestle:
They really might be "
Here is Eli with his friend, Charlie.
Eli and Sadie's friend, Max, checking out the ice up-close. Apparently is was really really slippery and Sadie could hardly walk on the path because of it. 
It looks so cool. I wish I could have been there.
That's potatoes, fried chicken and milk!! He's definitely showing interest in writing letters and is getting their sounds down pretty good, though he still has a ways to go. His favorite letter to write is an "i" because he loves the dot and he writes "Eli" over everything!
Here she is watching the Inaugural Parade and playing along with the numerous marching bands. .jpg)
Just so Eli doesn't feel left out:
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Sadie trying on her stockings.
With Auntie Mic:
Some of the family... That's Ashley helping Sadie with the camera and Carl playing cars with Eli. Carl is 18 years older than Eli, but I think he enjoyed the cars as much as Eli.
Then, Sadie got kind of bored and ended up moving the candy from one dish to another with a few ending up on the floor and a lot ending up in her mouth.
In the end, the house ended up looking quite charming and the kids love sneaking candy off of their house.
And do some shoveling:
And take Dad for a ride:
I would love to show you pictures of Eli on the ice and I wish that the camera were the excuse this time, but unfortunately being three and not taking a nap is the reason that Eli refused to ice skate.