Christmas 2013

 Another Christmas has come and gone. The Christmas season is one of my favorites, such a nostalgic and important time of year, however, it is always nice to put the decorations away and get back to normal as well. This year I felt like we were able to do some great, intentional things with our kids, we carried on some traditions (homemade pizza on Christmas Eve, driving around looking at lights, LOTS of Christmas music) and we started a new one, we made an Advent chain and read one story out of the Jesus Storybook Bible each night that foreshadowed the birth of our Savior. It was a great way to really focus daily on the reason we celebrate Christmas. While our kids are kids and they enjoy the gifts, they also really understand why we celebrate Christmas and I am really thankful for that!

This year Papa did a very unlike Papa thing, he dressed up like Santa. He hid upstairs until everyone was there, and then he came down and acted like Santa and talked to all the kids. It was very fun for him to do this, but none of our kiddos believe in Santa, so as you can tell from poor Annika's face a couple of them were very scared. Brooklyn and Annika did not appreciate Santa's appearance at our Christmas party. Thanks for being a good sport dad!

We all had a fun time and were blessed by the gifts and time together. Unfortunately this was the night that family member number 2 came down with the stomach flu. Kevin and Morgan missed dinner but came so Morgan could open her presents. She was not feeling well, but hung in there for about an hour before I brought her home.

Kara made this baby carrier for Brooklyn. She is our little mommy so it was the perfect gift!

Pizza picnic on Christmas Eve!

Unfortunately we were unable to celebrate Christmas in person with Kevin's family. We missed them all tremendously, but the kids still enjoyed receiving gifts from them. We are looking forward to some time with them this Spring.

Thanks for the earrings Opa and Oma!

Thanks for the money and doggy purse too!

We bought Hudson a drill and saw set. It has batteries and they all make noise. He was super excited about it until he went out in the morning and tried to cut our neighbors tree down and he realized it was fake. Now he'll pull them out every once in a while and gets pissed they don't really work and puts it all away. I'm not sure why he thought he would get a real chain saw for Christmas?

Another baby gift, a stroller.

Ethan was very happy to finally get his own Rainbow Loom since EVERYONE else already has one! Need a bracelet anyone??? It has seriously been one of the best gifts for him. He looks up different bracelet patterns on YouTube and then makes them. It keeps him busy for hours!

We got Morgan her very own box of "stuff". She loves crafts, and paper and boxes and bags. She is forever digging through my stuff so I thought this might curb that habit.

Here are a few more Christmas snapshots.

Nothing better than reading by the Christmas lights.

My parents took the whole crew (minus Emily) to the Nutcracker this year. We all had a great time. The 3 year-olds did surprisingly well. It was a very fun afternoon and evening.

Audrey really had a good time, despite the tears to start it off.

I got to help with Morgan and Ethan's classroom celebrations. I love that about being a stay-at-home mom.

We didn't all go to church on Christmas, these pics were taken a week or two before when everyone was healthy.

We also were able to go to the coast for a few days over New Year's with my parents. We had a great time and enjoyed absolutely gorgeous weather!

By the end of this beach outing all the kids were soaking wet, it felt like summer, not December 31. They road home in their undies, which they thought was hilarious!

My mom and I took the kids to a Wild Animal park one afternoon. It is a compound that has all retired "movie star" and circus animals. It was fun to see these animals up close and hear interesting facts about them.

All in all it was a great 2 weeks off. Even with the stomach flu it was one of our better Christmas breaks I feel like. It was just nice to be still and enjoy each other. God has a plan in everything!

"Winter" fun

After Kevin recovered from the stomach flu, and before the rest of us were struck down with it, we were able to go to a local farm that has brought winter to the valley. Ethan really wanted to try ice skating so he, Kevin and Morgan rented skates and gave that a try. Kevin was right at home showing all the Californian's how to skate and Ethan and Morgan did pretty well for their first time. Ethan has mastered roller blading so ice skating was fairly easy for him, but he had a little learning curve still. Hudson, Brooklyn and I found this pile of fake snow to play in, they had a blast. It was a warm morning though! We really wanted to take them to some real snow, but we don't have any yet in the mountains near us, we are in desperate need of some moisture over here.

Here is Morgan's snow man...how sad isn't it? We need to get these kids up north or out to the Midwest to enjoy a real winter. 

If you look closely at this picture you can see the snow machine and the snowflakes....I mean ice chunks falling on everyone.

Christmas Card Photo Shoot

We decided to do our own photo shoot for our Christmas card this year. Eric took the family pictures for us and I did the rest. It was fun and worked out quite well. Here are a few out takes.....