CHRISTMAS HOLIDAY!

Miduk on Christmas morning.  He was awake early!

Christmas Eve with Shelby's side of our family.  Their longstanding tradition has been to have dinner on Christmas Eve at a Chinese restaurant, then we go to church together, then to one of our homes for fun and games.  This year we went to Shelby's sister Kelly's house.  She had some fun games planned, one of which we had to sing "The Twelve Days of Christmas" and each of us had to sing the line of our given "day".  Miduk was "Three French Hens" and he really hammed it up after watching cousin Christopher (Partridge in a Pear Tree)  We also went around the circle telling our favorite Christmas memory and also telling what we are thankful for.  Miduk's Christmas memory was going to church with his family, and he is most thankful for his brother Besli.  :)  We had a gift exchange with "stealing" each other's gifts, and Miduk ended up with a gift card to Best Buy. "What IS, Mom?" haha guess we will take him shopping soon!  We let him call his mom and his brother Besli several times to wish them "Selamat Hari Natal"!!!

Miduk with Santa on Christmas Morning

We finally got Wes and Kasey out of bed at 10:00am!

The first gift Miduk opened was from Grandma and Grandad.  He was so excited and very dramatic, kissed the gift (it was a wallet) and was even more excited when he found some dollar bills inside! He kept saying "oh my goodness, oh my goodness".

Miduk gave some great gifts this year!  He was so excited when Wes opened his orange and black OSU golf tees

Miduk is ready for the special handshake that he does with Wes and with Shelby; it's so cute to watch....one of those guy things!

Wes gave Miduk a Nerf basketball hoop that he can hang on his closet door and play basketball.  (earlier in the week, we watched as Miduk rolled up paper and taped it to his bedroom wall to make a basketball hoop!)

One of his favorites, a remote controlled car. 

We thought he needed a Dallas cowboys tshirt.  He is always goofing around and saying "SALAD" instead of "DALLAS".  (no, he is not dyslexic-just goofy!)

The car magazine that Kasey gave him.  You would have thought she gave him the car, too!  Isn't he handsome in this photo?

Poor Sugar being a shepherd

Playing the tabletop pinball game

Playing Jenga (Tumbling Towers) with Shelby, Kasey and I

He was really good at it!

Nerf basketball with Wes in his bedroom

Hot tub with Dad.  Miduk LOVES the hot tub!  He actually swims around in that small space and has the best time!  We have been heating it up almost every night during the Christmas break.  He has actually jumped into the freezing cold swimming pool then back into the hot tub. BRRRR

A few days after Christmas Shelby and Wes took Miduk shooting with Shelby's friend Darin.  They shot rifles at targets, cans of pop, and some of Sugar's old stuffed animals.  :)  Miduk enjoyed being outside with all the guys, and the weather has been beautiful!

On Christmas night we went to Shelby's brother Jeff and sister-in-law Kit's house for lamb and ham.  It was a big group and a lot of fun!  Seated at this table are Shelby's mother Marlene and her sis Aunt Katy next to Miduk.  Miduk took his Nintendo DS with him and played it after dinner until he was falling asleep in a chair!

Miduk and Hunter

On Christmas Eve we always order a lot of different dishes then pass it around family-style.  Miduk ordered some type of soup and we were all just cracking up at him when they brought it to him-it was in a gallon size serving bowl! haha  You should have seen the look on his face.  Such a huge bowl!  He proceeded to eat at least 2/3 of it all by himself.  I weighed him a few days after Christmas and he weighed 83 pounds - the same as Sugar!!!  He has been going to work out with Wes a few times, and I have even seen him doing pushups at home on occasion.  He says he is "big"!

We have had a lot of fun the past ten days.  So much fun, in fact, that I haven't made the time to blog!  You know how sometimes when you are taking photos and trying to document things that you just kind of miss out on what's going on?  Well I didn't want that to happen so I intentionally  put the camera aside this past week and just ENJOYED.  It was been a lot of fun having Christmas with Miduk and introducing him to so many new things and also to all of his cousins!  We tried not to spoil him with too many gifts but I think he was completely overwhelmed.  Kasey and Christian took him to Justin to the Justin Boot Outlet so that Christian could buy some cowboy boots.  Kasey said they tried to get Miduk to try some on so she could take a picture, but he let her know that he does NOT like cowboys or cowboy boots or country music!  We took him to Olive Garden one night and he ordered spaghetti with meatballs and ate the entire thing.  He is an eating machine!  Kasey ordered the same thing and could only eat half of her entree.  :)  One night it was just Shelby, Miduk and I at home and we were watching a National Geographic DVD on volcanos and Miduk fell asleep at 8:30!  First time ever!  And one morning he actually slept in until 9:00am!  We took the Christmas decorations down a couple days after Christmas, which of course was not fun - and I heard Miduk muttering, "too much, too much".  I have to agree!