Christmas Day was wonderful around here and went just the way I had hoped. I only wished I had had my camera but thankfully we were able to still have a borrowed one. Each of the kids received one Santa gift this year and all got the one thing they had asked him for (besides the batteries of course!)
I woke up at 5am while the house was still quiet and everyone was sound to sleep. I got the cinnamon rolls ready and rising, stuffed the stockings for Ammon and the kids, cleaned up the kitchen and prepared things for breakfast. I really wanted everything to be perfect when everyone woke up that morning...I even had time to shower and put my face on! That's never happened before...not bad!!
Around 8am the kiddos were stirring and finally I got Ammon up and we headed upstairs to our bedroom. We read the Nativity Story out of the Easy Scripture Readers like Ammon's family started years ago and then lined everyone up like we do every year-youngest to oldest to head down the stairs. Karli was a bit over anxious and this was the first year she was really taking everything in and understanding it all. It was really fun to experience it through her eyes and "introduce" her to the way we do things now that she gets it all.
The kids in their Christmas jammies!
The kids squealed when they saw everything and headed straight for their stockings. We could have stopped there...they were pleased with the candy, toothbrushes and I included the card for each of them from Ammon's parents. They were soooo excited and sure spoiled and so grateful. It was really sweet of Ammon's parents to send them each their own card.
During the next hour, it was fun as the mom in the family to watch everyone experience Christmas and see the happiness that came from all the hours of picking out gifts, the wrapping, the returning and exchanging to make sure everything was perfect. It went just the way I had hoped! We were soooo spoiled by family and friends this Christmas and we were so grateful for everything!
Love those monogram stockings I found last year on clearance at Target! It made finding their stockings so much easier this year!
My mom and sister secretly got together and found the EXACT Petunia Picklebottom Diaper Bag and matching wallet that I wanted. I am sooo lucky and get to have a cute diaper bag this time around!
1. Brynlee was excited about her Barbie. 2. Ethan totally embarrassed about the underwear he got! LOL 3. Santa left the "American Girl Doll" Jeep for Karli (really just a cheaper version from Target) that she had begged and begged for 4. Ethan finally got a nice camera that works 5. Hailey loved that we finally have a girl WII game now 6. Ammon like the shirt we gave him
Santa left Ethan this Harry Potter castle....the LAST one we could find on Amazon since it was sold out everywhere in Columbus. He had been wanting this for two years now and was so excited about it!!!
I found these matching shirts for our girly girls..I love that they still humor me with matching clothes occasionally! And they were thrilled with their new Barbies too.
A super fun game we just love from Uncle Paul...we've played it lots and lots....it's called ColorKu and is a colored version of Sudoku. Love it!
I married a hottie...seriously...
Okay...how to explain this gift....I scored majorly with my two boys on this one and it was all my idea!!!! For $10 each on Amazon, I found two matching blow dart guns. Now what would possess me to buy blow dart guns? Hmm...the fact that we are expecting our fourth girl and wanting to make sure that Ethan doesn't get over run by all of them!!! Haha....these things blow darts clear across the room into the wall. They are so dangerous, I don't know what I was thinking but have provided HOURS of entertainment and competitions between Ammon and Ethan. I am probably crazy but it's fun for them to have manly stuff to do together so I went with it. And I can trust them...most of the time....plus Ammon learned if he takes the sharp tip off and just blows the plastic piece out the gun, he can get any daughters that aren't listening when it's time to clean up toys, to do it for fear of being shot in the rear end!!! And trust me...it happened. And boy did that one daughter move a lot quicker!!! ;-)
The aftermath....
The ornaments I made with the kids this year. I try to make one homemade one with them each year and this year we did handprint snowman on pink or blue ornaments. They turned out so cute and I love that their little handprints are "frozen" in time.
Thanks to Andrea and Nate (more on that next), we got a family picture taken in our Sunday best too. Plus, that's me at 36 weeks...so ready to POP!!!
And the traditional one I take of the kids every year in front of the tree.....love these four kiddos!
During the day we napped, played WII, played some of the new games and relaxed. So nice to have Ammon home. That night we had our tradional Christmas dinner (steak, twice baked potatoes, red/green jello, rolls, apple cider, glazed carrots and green bean casserole) complete with candles as the kids requested. We finished with the same cookie dough/ice cream dessert we always have....we went to sleep happy, spoiled and full that night! The only thing that could have been better? Celebrating with loved ones far away...
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