Christmas

Our Christmas really started two days before.  Kevy had the greatest idea to let the kids open a present on the night before Christmas Eve.  We knew my parents had gotten them pajamas and they were supposed to open them on Christmas Eve, but the girls always want to pick out their own present instead of us telling them which one to open.  And with the frenzy and hyperactivity of Christmas, Kevy thought why not let them open a present the night before Christmas Eve.  It will be a new tradition in our house!  It was a hit with the kids, plus it kept them busy Christmas Eve and not so out of control,  It was a great idea.  The real reason Kevy did it was so I could open the new pans he got me so I could use them for cooking. What a great guy!

Christmas Eve day was pretty busy with making food and getting all ready for the next day.  Since we have our big meal on Christmas Day we decided to go out to eat for lunch, and it was so nice and empty!  

 The kids got a free sundae with their meals and they sure enjoyed them.  Especially Russ!

 Nellie really loves her Chocolate!!! Can you tell?  It sure was nice for me since I had so much food to make anyway to be able to get a break for lunch.

 The kids opened their pajamas that night and they loved them.  Thanks Grandma and Grandpa!  We thought Russ looked so cute in his pirate jammies.  Janie's are doggie ones so she decided to pretend to be a dog for the picture.
Christmas Morning came bit too soon for Kevy and I. This was really the first year that the kids were so excited that they had a really hard time going to sleep.  Lizzy was awake forever!!  Kevy and I stayed up until almost one, which is pretty darn rare for me these days, and that was a huge mistake.  I thought that once they were asleep they would sleep for a while.  I had a little visitor (Jane) come join me in bed around three.  She said she had a nightmare, and then Nellie woke up around 3:30 or 4 a.m. wanting to know if it was time to be awake yet.  Then she said she couldn't go back to sleep and came in every 15 to 20 minutes asking if it was time yet!  Arghh!  It was a pretty rough night and I have a feeling that Christmas Morning is going to be like that for a lot of years to come!  If they can just learn how to tell time then maybe it will get easier.

 Lizzy asked for roller blades and she got these really great ones from Santa.  She is absolutely amazing on them too.  She is so fast, it is really cute. What a great gift from Santa!  Plus it sure is nice that the weather  here is so great that we have been able to go to the park and play and go on walks and be outside a lot.

 Janie got her Rapunzel doll she has been asking for.  She is really into Rapunzel right now, so she was in heaven!

 Nellie asked for a pogo stick.  We had found this one in a magazine that seemed really neat because it does some different things other than just bouncing.  She said she wanted it and Santa brought it, and then come to find out later that she is embarrassed of it because it doesn't look like a regular one.  I swear we can never win with her!  Maybe one day she will figure things out.

 It was really hard to get a picture of Russ because he was all over the place that morning.

 Nellie asked for a cake pop maker so she was pretty excited to get this one.

 Once again Janie wanted Rapunzel stuff and she got an awful lot of it this year and she was thrilled.  I am just glad she has moved on from Dora.  She was obsessed with Dora for sooo long!

 Lizzy got some new slippers too.  She has gotten into the bigger kid phase where she is happy to get jewelry and clothes.  Its nice because I know those presents won't go to waste!

Russ got a truck that has flashing lights and sounds and he liked it quite a bit.  He is definitely a boy!  It is so fun to see the difference between him and his sisters, and nice to have a little balance.

He is just such a cute little monkey!

 Nellie got a fun cookbook and apron from Grammie and Papi.  She was pretty excited and wanted to immediately make some food out of it.

 Jane got a puzzle from Grammie and Papi and she loved it.  She still loves to do puzzles.

 Lizzy got some cute jewelry from Grammie and Papi and was so excited.  She loves having earrings to wear!

 Both Lizzy and Nellie made some pretty great presents for Kevin and me at school.  They spent a lot of time and were so excited for us to open them. Those things are the true treasures that we get.

We had Judy and Jim, Grandma Smith and Joe over to our house for Christmas dinner.  The food was great and there wasn't too much of it, where I had stressed myself out with the cooking, so it was really nice.  Russ really enjoyed my banana cream pie.  His favorite food right now is bananas, so he was seriously in heaven, plus I will admit, I can make a pretty good pie. :)  We had a great Christmas and were so sad to see it end.