Christmas

It was fun and weird to be on our own again this year. We had a really low key Christmas Eve. We went out to lunch becuase we discovered a couple years ago it is a great day to go out to nice restaurant becuase they are empty! We took the kids to,Red Robin because it is always a good place to take the kids. That night we had our traditional shepherds dinner. We didn't do the sandwiches but I made a yummy soup. Then we did our usual puppet show of the nativity. I love that we spend a lot of time focusing on the true meaning of Christmas on Christmas Eve, because the next day always seems to get so crazy wth all the presents.

 

We got the kids new pajamas for Christmas but I didn't make them open them for their Christmas Eve present becuase they really hated when I did that in the past. I love this picture of them by the tree. I still look at these little faces and can't believe that I am their momma!!

We had to get a picture of Russy with his Spider-Man becuase it may have been his favorite present! Isn't that how it always goes though? It seems that ones that are almost afterthoughts are their favorites.

Miss Anne got this cute Minnie ride on and she didn't have many problemfiguring out how to use it. The funny thing was Russ was all into it too but Anne would freak out anytime he would get near it!

Nellie got an Our Generation doll, which is like an Americal girl doll by about 1/4 the price! Plus they come with lots more stuff! She got the doll from us and Santa brought the bed.

LIzzy got a phone from Santa this year. We made sure that it would be something that we could ave the control over, but it is nice for her to have it now that she is getting old enough to leave here and there.

Janie was super excited to get a doll this year too becuase she has been feeling a little bit left out when the big play dolls since she didn't have one, now she has one and tons of accessories to go with it. Since the girls got their dolls, they have played so much with them, I love when we get the kids something that ends up being so played with! It makes it all worth it. Lizzy got a doll too, she got an extra present from us this year since we were having shush a hard time getting the other kids to be motivated to help and Lizzy is always totally willing to. We felt like we really wanted to reward her for all she does, because I seriously don't know how I function without her!

Russy got a super cool remote control firetruck that even came with a hose to squirt water! I don't know what Santa was thinking! Maybe he didn't realize that it could do that!

 

I love this picture of Kevy with the little ones. We had a great Christmas this year. We decided to really limit the number of presents we got the kids and stay in a budget and it didn't really seem any different! The kids still loved what they got and it seemed like we got just enough without going overboard. It couldn't have been any better!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Christmas Festivites

It was another super christmas season this year. We didn't do as many activites as we sometimes do, but I know my limitations right now and I just couldn't over do it. I still felt like we had a good time and we tried to do Christmassy things every night.I am always itching to get the Christmas decorations up every year and it is so hard to wait until after thanksgiving, but I always do. The funny thing is how excited I am to get them up and then the day after Christmas I am just as excited to get the dang things down. It's one of those funny things in life I guess.

 

Annie was actually really good and hardly touched the ornaments after we put them on the tree, which really surprised me! But she did have fun helping us decorate.

 

We had a great time going to the Roseville Christmas tree lighting this year. Last year we went and it was so darn cold that we didn't really stay. This year was such a perfect night, we stayed for quite a while and had a really good time.

We didn't quite make it in time for the actually tree lighting but that's ok. We still got a picture by the tree, even if it wasn't a great one, we were all in it at least.

There was cookie decorating and Anne really enjoyed the eating part of it.

 

The girls got to write some letters to Santa.

and the girls got to make fun little hats. Russ wasn't interested in the hat making so he and Kevy went over and checked out the SWAT truck that was there.

I actually took about ten pictures of these little rascals thinking that surely one of them would turn out but it was a no-go. This was the best I could find.

One of the families in our ward put together a little family home evening going and seeing some lights together. One great thing about living where it is warmer is that we can do stuff like this without being totally miserable. We walked around this fun decorated neighborhood and then hung out with all the families after and had cookies. It was a lot of fun!

From this picture it doesn't really look like Anne and Jane had much fun, but they actually really did! Annie LOVED the lights this year so much, it was really the cutest thing ever. Every single time she would see lights she would say "woah!!" Over and over. I seriously could not get enough of it.

 

This picture is not that great but it was the cutest thing. One of our favorite things to do during the Christmas season is to do dancing at night. The kids really love it and it is a tradition that I have from my childhood that I love sharing now with my children. They decided to make a train and Annie was the leader. It really was so dang cute. I really love seeing my little kids together.

I had some serious helpers making sugar cookies. We had a lot of fun though. It really makes everything harder and longer but also so much better when I do things with my little kiddos.

The kids had fun with the decorating of the cookies for Santa. It's a fun tradition that we started that we will defintely have to continue.

 

I wish I had a better picture of this little monkey. She is such a dolly, but that's what happens when you take pictures with a crappy phone.

We had such a great time this year celebrating the season together. It really seems to get more and more fun every year. I love being a mom!