Holiday Recap- Christmas Eve/Day

This year Jacob woke up bursting with excitement on Christmas Eve!  Santa was FINALLY coming that night!  We got all dressed up and went to the children's mass at church with my parents, siblings and grandma.  Jacob was really into kids who acted out the Gospel.  Being at that service always brings me back to when I was younger.  My brothers and I loved seeing (and evening being in!) the play at church and I remember how excited were that the next day was Christmas!  There was always something about being all dressed up and hearing about the birth of Jesus and the priest always threw in a little something about Santa!  We would giggle and whisper and being full of that magical feeling.  I hope my kids have the same memories.  After church, we headed back to my parents for what has become our traditional Christmas Eve dinner-- prime roast, salad, baked potatoes, rolls and dessert.  The kids were hyped up even more after Santa came by on a fire truck!  Jacob asked him why he wasn't in his sled.  It was so funny!  Santa told him he was just reminding all the kids to go to bed on time so he could bring their presents.

Jacob running off some energy at my mom's and Lexi ringing the Christmas bells.

Lexi running in her pretty dress!

My little angels checking out my mom's beautiful tree.

After dinner and visiting with my parents and grandparents (since we weren't going to see them on Christmas) it was home to put out reindeer food, milk and cookies for Santa and go to bed!

Making his reindeer food.

 Smiling with his milk and cookies for Santa.

This Christmas morning was AWESOME!  Jacob was so, so excited to see the presents and the girls were pretty excited, too! They had a great time tearing into presents and wanted each toy opened up to play with instantly.  I didn't mind because it allowed our morning to stretch out and last so we could soak up all the goodness.  I'll close out with a few pictures from the morning! 

Science Center

My mom told me about a class from 3-5 year olds at the Maryland Science Center.  This class was minimally priced and by paying for you child to take the class both the child and a parent can get into the science center that day for free!  I signed Jacob up for a class called Water, Water Everywhere.  I knew this was right up his alley!  The classroom was located inside the children's area of the science center and Jacob was bummed he wasn't able to play, but after a promise of playtime after his class and a peek at the cool things in the classroom, he was ready to go! 

It was so cute to see him sitting in a circle with the other kids ready to learn!  The teacher talked to them about precipitation and condensation--quite big words for the little guys, but she did a job helping them act it out.  After some time to talk about water and allowing the kids to share what the know about water, they got to try some different water stations out. 

Testing objects out to see what sinks and floats.

Fishing

Using a dropper to put warm water on ice to help melt it.

Jacob really enjoyed his class!  I'd love to take him back for another.  After his class he got some playtime in the children's room with the girls.  Thank goodness my mom, brother and sister were there to help keep track of my munchkins!!

Under the 'ship'

More water fun!

Going to get the kids a water table this summer after all the fun they had!

This was very cool for all of us!  You pushed the pegs from one side to the other.

Climbing to the top of the 'ship'.

After leaving the children's room, we went to check out the dinosaur section.  Jacob loved digging for fossils and seeing the dinosaur models.

We has so much fun at the science center.  We didn't even bring in a stroller for the girls and they did great and walked almost the whole time!   Hope to make a return trip in the near future.