Christmas!

This past weekend we traveled to my parents house to finally celebrate Christmas together! We are so thankful our family was willing to wait until we were home with Rance to celebrate! It was definitely weird wrapping presents, decorating a Christmas tree and filling stockings in the middle of February! It was so fun to watch Rance do all of this for the first time! It truly was treasured time with family!

Thursday evening we decorated the tree, well, mostly Rance and his cousin Gracie decorated the tree. My mom had found some plastic balls on clearance for them to use along with some candy canes. They were so proud of their decorating!

**First for Rance
-Decorating a Christmas Tree
-Spending the night at Grandma and Papa's house!
     He got to sleep upstairs with his cousins! It melted my heart to hear their giggling after they had been tucked into bed!

The weather was pretty nice on Friday so the kids were able to play outside and enjoy being at the farm. Rance loves being outside, although I think he was a little unsure of all of the animals!

I think the highlight of our day was when Rance and our nephew put on their new costumes. Rance loves Spiderman and was elated with his new and first costume. He and my nephew began jumping on my sister's bed, wrestling around and being boys in costumes. The funny thing is every couple of minutes Rance would jump down off the bed to look at himself in the mirror. At first he would just look at himself, but eventually he began acting silly, showing off his muscles the costume provided and making faces. The rest of us sitting in the living room were rolling with laughter watching him. It was moments that will forever be embedded on my heart. Moments that every child should experience, much before the age of 6.

**Firsts for Rance
-Haircut
    First thing on Friday Matt and Rance went to get haircuts. They went to an old school barber so I'm not loving the cuts, but I suppose its better than the shaggy hairdo's they were sporting! He did great!
-Swinging
    He tried to swing on his own, which was pretty funny and quite cute, but I think he was starting to get it figured out by the end of the weekend!
-Seeing farm animals
    He got to see some brand new baby calves, horses, and a duck. Probably more.
-Playing in the haybarn.
    Definitely not scared to jump around on those haybales!
-Playing with sidewalk chalk.
-Riding a bike!
-Opening Christmas Presents!
    Friday evening we opened our gifts from each other, except for those from my parents.
-Wearing his first costume!

Saturday we awoke to three months of shopping from a person who loves to give gifts. We heard Rance's favorite word, "WOW!" with every present he opened. It broke our hearts yet filled them with joy at the same time. With one gift we even heard a "Really Wow!" We're not even sure where he learned the word really, which made it even more sweet.

Saturday was a relaxing day with our traditional family brunch after opening gifts, then time to play games, and enjoy being together. The only thing missing was a fire in the fireplace, but it was just too warm. My mom tried to convince my dad to turn on the a.c. to balance out the fire, but he didn't go for it.

**First for Rance
-Christmas morning, presents and stockings.

Sunday morning we got up and went to church with my parents. It had been a long time since I had been to the church I grew up in. With Matt working every Sunday we normally come home on Saturday nights. However, the church family had been so supportive and encouraging to us through the adoption process I wanted them to be able to meet Rance. So while Matt went home Saturday night, the boys and I stayed behind. Everyone loved meeting Rance and Grandma and Papa loved showing off their newest grandson.

Its good to be home once more, although I again face unpacking, laundry, and trying to find a place for all of the new toys the boys got. I am so ready to have my house organized!!Tomorrow I will begin shopping around for some cheap shelves, tubs or whatever I can find to help me get organized!

Today I got some things done, but it takes forever when you're having to rearrange everything to try and squeeze in the new things. I did finally take down our Christmas tree and the few decorations I had gotten out! I was sad at first, as I love Christmas, but then I remembered I could get out my hand painted eggs from Austria, which I also love.