The Minton Family.com

Like that headline? It’s December 26, 2011, so the Christmas festivities (chaotic activities) are on a downward slope. One of the stocking stuffers the kids received was a bottle of Ski. It’s a citrus style drink similar to Sprite or Mellow Yellow that I’ve never understood the big deal about, but Jackie’s family goes nuts over it. In any case, our kids got them from Santa and given the bottle is shaped about like a beer bottle, I guess that was enough to convince Levi. Jackie was in the kitchen when Levi walked in carrying his bottle of Ski and asked “Mom, will you open my beer?”. We both cracked up. I don’t drink (never have) and Jackie drinks very rarely, so we’re not even entirely sure how he made the connection. The request was funny nonetheless.

As is typical, amongst the splattering of smaller gifts, the kids each got big gifts from Santa this year as well. The boys got Nintendo DSi’s and the girls scored iPod Touches. They had been asking for cell phones for months, but given their ages; 8 & 9, a monthly bill for calling and texting the one or two people they’d talk to didn’t seem like a good idea (to Santa as well it would seem).

The boys also got a race track that Jonah punished within a couple of hours, a few DSi games, a couple of XBox games, and several trucks, both remote control and not. They’ve bounced around from toy to toy, not spending a lot of time with any given one, but Levi has played the DSi quite a bit.

The girls however, seem to love their touches. Even though they’ve had access to Jackie’s old iPhone 3G which worked like a touch for over a year now. I set them up with their own Apple accounts so they could learn to manage money a little bit and so far…we all love it. They each got $15 iTunes gift cards, and quickly learned that even .99 apps have tax applied, which makes them cost a tad over a dollar. I pointed Jada toward a better photo app than the one that comes with the Touch and her first question was “Is it free?”. I said “No.”, and she said “Then I don’t want it!”. It’s funny to hear her change her tune when she has a finite amount of money to spend and knows the supply is no longer unlimited (Daddy’s money).

Madelyn (next door) also got a Touch for Christmas, so they’ve been texting and calling each other quite a bit. The girls spent the night at Madelyn’s house last night and Jill (Madelyn’s Mom) took them out to buy cases for the Touches this morning. They seem to really enjoy the Touch and everything they can do with it. I think given their own accounts to buy things with, they feel a little freedom..and they needed that.

Jackie got several vegan cookbooks and I got some photography stuff (Photoshop CS5, a photography book, lens cleaning pen, etc.) which seems to be my new love since needing the latest and greatest gaming gear is no longer a requirement given the slow-down in gaming (Unreal Tournament) time. Levi has been playing UT2004 on the computer though, which he seems to really like (and I of course love watching him play a game I enjoyed so much).

I got some really good pictures, both at Mom’s and at our house. So far…still lovin’ the new camera hobby. I’m not as good as I want to be yet, but I’m definitely getting better.

Christmas was  a crazy time here!  Did you expect any less?  All of the kids got skates from Santa.  We haven’t been skating yet, but I’m sure it won’t be long.  Levi got his coveted “water building”, but the pots and pans work better for him.  The girls got Build-a-Bear dogs and a couple of games.  Jada really likes playing Yahtzee.  After we checked out our gifts and had our Christmas morning cinnamon rolls, we headed to Grammy’s.  We came home on my birthday and we all went out to dinner at O’Charley’s.  The kids went back to school last week, much to their dismay.

Lana started gymnastics again last week.  She really had a good time and is excited to go this week.  The other 3 have swim class at the same time.  Last week, the small pool heater was broken, so the boys didn’t have class.  Jada got to swim though and she was thrilled.  Jada and Levi start basketball next week.  Levi doesn’t really “get” that he will be doing it, but Jada keeps asking “When does basketball start?”.

Mom and I went to Columbia, MO to watch Gail’s team play Mizzou.  Texas lost, but Mom and I had a great time at the game and visiting with Gail.  We went to dinner with Sonny, Jan, Colleen, Glen, Devon & Sean afterwards.

While we were gone, Bill was on Daddy Duty.  He packed the kids up and headed to Marion for the weekend.  It sounds like the kids had fun shopping and playing with Aunt Tracey’s dogs.  I think Daddy had fun playing x-box games with Ben.  He said the kids were really good while they were gone, which is so nice to hear.

According to the weather report, we are supposed to get 3-5″ of snow tonight, so I bought the necessary ingredients for snow ice cream…so BRING ON THE SNOW!

It looks like Jada Lana Levi and Jonah have been helping out Santa Claus by becoming Elves.

There’s even a video of them doing a little dance.

We had a great time visiting everyone for Christmas. We went to KY to visit with my family. Staying at David’s was easier for us. The girls and Dale didn’t really play together much, but I am sure that will change by next year.

After being at David’s for 3 days, we headed to Marion. On Tuesday, Jada and I went to the park and then to Dairy Queen. It was 52 degrees. On Wednesday, we got 14 inches of snow! Bill and I took the girls out in the snow, but it was too deep for them to enjoy it.

Santa brought them a kitchen. They have both enjoyed playing with it. I put their kitchen and table in the living room. Now they can “cook” something and then “eat” it at their table!

Since Bill is on vacation this week, I decided to work on getting Lana to sleep through the night. She is still waking up, but I haven’t gone in to her room for 3 nights. Hopefully, she will sleep straight through by Sunday.

Lana is starting to talk. She says bye bye, up, Pooh, Mom, Jada, Grammy (Mam), Elmo, Barney, owie (Bill has a cut on his finger), night night…and a few more that I can’t think of right now.

Merry Christmas everyone. It’s been a rough couple of days here. I started feeling under the weather around the 23rd. The 24th was pretty much a do-absolutely-nothing day for me since I wasn’t feeling all that great. Mostly just stuffed up and coughing.

We went to Marion on the 23rd, and came home on the 24th so the girls could wake up and see their Santa Claus gifts. On the way home however, Jackie started not feeling so well. She ended up getting pretty sick, so I’ve been on Daddy duty ill or not. We’re both pretty worn out right now. Not to mention the fact that both girls have got it too.

In any case, I’ll get the pictures up as soon as I can. There’ve been over 100 taken so far, and that number’s sure to rise.

One of us will post again when the pictures are uploaded. Stay safe and check back often.