A Merry Christmas in Kentucky

Our family on Christmas Eve

Lydia 10 months

Ethan and Lydia

 December is such a fun and exciting month, especially for a 3 year old. This year we made a paper chain counting down the days to Christmas and followed a scripture and sticker advent calendar provided by the Primary. It was a perfect way to help Ethan know "how long is it until Christmas."
This year we had an extra helper to put up our Christmas tree.

Ethan was really excited to get EVERYTHING out for Christmas and decorate the tree.

Lydia actually left the tree alone all month but did enjoy playing with the manger scene

We started the month off with a date to the Cincinnati Holiday Pops concert. We enjoyed the concert but it didn't really even compare to the Mormon Tabernacle Christmas concerts that we attended while we lived in Utah. Those are always so incredible!

Ethan and Lydia love to be together. Sometimes Ethan will spontaneously sing and "play" the piano and he loves to help get Lydia up in the morning with or without us. More than once I've found Ethan in her crib with her and all of his bed pillows. Ethan tries to play with Lydia quite a bit but I'm constantly reminding him to be more gentle or to be careful with her. Lydia likes to be where the action is and if Ethan and I go downstairs to start the laundry, Lydia is standing at the gate bouncing and waiting for us to come get her. Lydia is still hit and miss on her sleeping patterns. I'm still usually up twice a night with her to feed and or calm her. Trading off among teething issues, colds, and tummy problems, she isn't the sleeper. One day I hope we'll both sleep through the night!

We really enjoyed having Grandma and Grandpa Burningham visit us for Christmas. We kept them busy just the way they like it! They arrived Friday morning after a red eye flight from Las Vegas. Grandma Burningham helped me make Swedish Safrans Brod while Grandpa played basketball with Ethan in the basement. That evening we delivered our last few neighbor and friend gifts and drove around to see some Christmas lights.

Christmas Eve we visited the Creation Museum again this year. Last year was free admission and it was super crowded. This year they charged 1/2 price admission and there was hardly anyone there. It is a very interesting place that show's a perspective of "Man's Understanding" and "God's Ways." They believe the Creation of the Earth literally happened in seven 24-hour periods and gives some interesting perspectives on how that could be possible. For example, they portrayed dinosaurs being on the Earth possibly until Noah's flood.  After the museum we ate a yummy dinner, read the Christmas Story, and put the kids to bed. We got ready for Christmas and then played games and ate Christmas cookies.

Jason and Grandma Burningham on a display of Noah's Ark

Ethan at the Creation Museum

Christmas morning Ethan woke up at 6:30am but couldn't remember that it was the day to open presents. I put some chairs in the hallway so he couldn't just walk out to the front room when he woke up and it's a good thing! I woke up when I heard him trying to move the chairs. And the first thing he said to me was, "Why are there chairs here?" So....we were opening presents before 7:00. Ethan really liked the indoor trampoline we got along with some other games and activities. We ate a yummy traditional Burningham breakfast of Safrans brod, eggs, bacon, and juice. We had a one hour church service at 11:30 filled with mostly music and some narration. I played the piano while the Primary sang "When Joseph went to Bethlehem," "Picture a Christmas," and "The Way to Bethlehem."

The day after Christmas we took advantage of having Grandpa Burningham here and took care of some home improvement projects including replacing a light switch, replacing some calking, and installing a storm door. We had an adventure of trying to get the door home, but we made it safely. :) Overall, it was a productive day!

Jason under the storm door in our car

Installing the storm door

All finished

 A few days after Christmas we drove to Indianapolis and met up with Andy and Kimra and their family. We ate dinner at Applebees, went swimming at the the hotel pool, and played games with the adults that night. The next morning we ate a yummy breakfast at the hotel and visited the Indianapolis Children's Museum. We stayed there the whole day, but our favorite exhibit was the Playscape area built for children ages 5 and under. We ate some really yummy pizza there in the cafeteria and fortunately Lydia was able to take a few short naps in the stroller. The museum was really great and I would love to go back, the only down side was that we visited on one of their peak days and it was super crowded.

Swimming in the cold pool

Some pillow fight silliness

We had such a fun time at the Indianapolis Children's Museum

Lydia in the baby play area

Lydia loved the light switches on the walls that turned on and off various colors of firefly lights.

Ethan loved the Sandbox area and played in it for a long, long time.

They had a China exhibit there that made me thing of my sister Katrina who lived in Taiwan and visited China. I bet she would have enjoyed it too.

Ethan wanted his picture in the race car. Kids were lined up all day to get their picture taken in it.

Ethan also enjoyed ice fishing for a while with Grandma

And of course we had to take the Yule Slide from the second story to the first story on our way out.

Our last day with Grandma and Grandpa we made a cool Christmas tree treat and watched a movie together. We really enjoyed sharing our Christmas with Grandma and Grandpa Burningham and we're glad they made their flight back alright, especially since they had to come back home after they were halfway to the airport because of a forgotten wallet! Yikes! Always an adventure!

Grandma and Grandpa Burningham with Lydia and Ethan on Christmas Eve

Making Christmas tree treats

Saying Goodbye