Christmas 2012

Christmas day was relaxing and fun. Believe it or not, our kids slept in! We woke up a little after 7 to see what Santa brought everyone and to start giving each other the huge pile of gifts that were under the tree.

The littlest girls were spoiled with new jewelry and treats!

After a little while, we took a break for some breakfast and to try out their new strawz! The top picture was from a little later in the day when the strawz were joined together and colored water was added to the mix!

It wasn't long before they got back to business though. They loved everything they got and were so much fun to watch! Occasionally,we'd have to put something together before we could go any further!

Technology has officially entered their lives since they both now have their own kid tablets and head phones. I think we'll see more of this in years to come...

We literally played all day! We stopped from time to time to snack on the yummy breakfast foods or leftovers from the previous days of delicious food.

One of the highlights of my day was going for a walk with the kiddos. Ross and Audrey headed back early, and Jackson and I kept going. Jackson decided he needed a little break though, so we stopped on a bench and chatted for a little while. I did a little check to see if he still remembered what we were celebrating, and while I shouldn't be surprised by how incredibly smart and in-tune he is, I always am. Not only did he say we were celebrating Jesus' birthday, he also went into the details of why Jesus was born and the ultimate sacrifice he made for each of us so we could be forgiven and live with God forever...so amazing!

As usual, there are more pictures from the day in the album! I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas!

Christmas Eve

We spent most of the morning cooking and playing with Grandmother and Pop on Christmas Eve. Then our friends, the Fulliloves, joined us in the afternoon for some snacks before heading to the 4 o'clock service at our church, Gateway Community Church.

Our church has photographers set up in the life center where you can have family pictures taken and enjoy some hot chocolate and cookies before or after the service, which we did!

The service was really nice, but also a little tough for us since it was a strong reminder of how much we all miss John, Ross' dad. The music and message helped keep our focus on the real reason for the season though! Here's a picture of the stickers the kids got to play with courtesy of the church during the message. I think it's pretty amazing to see the difference between the two since they are right at 21 months apart in age.

When we got home, the kids exchanged presents, did a craft, and played while we finished cooking dinner. New matching Christmas PJs from the Fulliloves were huge hit for all the kids!

Before dinner started Emma shared one of her family traditions with us, which was opening Christmas crackers, which contained a paper crown to wear through dinner and a small toy. Not everyone wore their crowns the whole time, but a few of us did!

Dinner was delicious, but the kids were more interested in playing. Then Ross showed them how close Santa was to our houses thanks to the Norad tracker, and they were all eager to go to bed! We took a few last pictures and saw our guests out the door before the kiddos crashed hard.

The adults then had a little fun prepping for Christmas day! There are more pictures in the album

Christmas Weekend

The weekend before Christmas we had most of our family at our house. Our brother-in-law, Philip, was the only exception, so we had a full house! We had an early Christmas gift exchange on Saturday morning with Leslie, Mitchell, and Nana since they wouldn't be here on Christmas day.

Then we decorated some sugar cookies for Santa! There was a little finger licking going on in the process, and I'm guessing almost as many sprinkles were eaten as were put on the cookies.

After lunch and naps, we made our way to Hermann Memorial Park for a picnic! The weather was great for outdoor activities, and the kids loved waving to the train and passengers as it went past while we ate our dinner. After the sun set, we made our way into the zoo for Zoo Lights!

The kiddos loved seeing the lights and a few of the animals! The lions and giraffes were walking around getting ready for bed. Some of the lights were in shapes of animals or were projected onto animals, and some of the lights were set to music, which the kids thought was really cool. It was a wonderful day filled with lots of joy!

There are more pictures in the album

Jackson's Class Christmas Party

Jackson's class Christmas party was lots of fun too! The kiddos wore their PJs to school to board the Polar Express for a day of fun! Jackson chose his current favorite PJs, so he looked like a little elf, and apparently, he pretended to be an elf for most of the day. Audrey and I arrived at the end of the movie just in time for the gift exchange! Jackson's class had boys bring boy gifts and girls bring girl gifts. Jackson and one of his best friends, Cooper, had arranged to make sure they got each other's gifts..

Jackson was beyond excited to find a pirate puppet in his package, and Cooper was perhaps the quietest and most focused I've ever seen him after opening his, which was a Perplexus Rookie game that Jackson loves. Audrey was sad not to get a present at this party, but she was happy to settle for another cookie!

The room mom then presented Jackson's teachers with their gift, which was such a sweet and clever idea! She sneaked into the class with the help of the day care staff who distracted the teachers while she made these adorable Christmas tree pictures with hand and thumb prints from all of the kids. On the back was a list of their names along with the year. Such a sweet way to be able remember this year!

We are so thankful for both Jackson and Audrey's teachers and how much they genuinely love our kiddos!

There are more pictures of the fun in the album!

Audrey's Class Christmas Party

Audrey's teachers put together a fun-filled couple of days for the kiddos that included watching Polar Express and having a Christmas party! The party started with the decorating and eating of Christmas cookies! Jackson was our helper for the party. He made sure everyone had a cookie and snack. He sweetly asked Audrey to decorate his cookie while he helped, which she was happy to do. Then, as you can see, he enjoyed eating it!

After some yummy party snacks the kids sat on the carpet and eagerly awaited their gift exchange. All the girls sat together and had fun giggling and being silly!

Audrey's class chose to exchange books this year. Each kid got to chose another kid's gift, and after everyone had something, the paper shredding began! Jackson read Audrey's book to her after she opened it. The book was a silly book, which was perfect for these two silly-geese! As you can see below, Audrey loved having her big brother there for the party!

There are a lot more pictures of the silliness and fun in the album.

Fishermen

Thanks to the Fulliloves, Jackson finally caught his first fish!!! Last year Jackson wanted two things for Christmas, a fishing pole and an umbrella. We've attempted to take him fishing several times since, but we've yet to successfully catch a fish until now!

We went to a pier owned by the Fullilove's family in Galveston, and within a cast or two, Jackson had caught his first fish! There were high fives and dancing to go along with the excitement.

Everyone caught multiple fish that evening. Some were too small and a few flipped off the table or out of the ice chest, which kept us all laughing hysterically. We had so much fun we didn't get home until almost 10 PM, which is really late for our kiddos, but it was worth every whiny moment the next day!

There are a few more pictures of the fun in the album!

O Christmas Tree!

I hope to catch up on my blog posts over then next couple of days since I haven't posted anything since Thanksgiving!

The day after we got home from Louisiana, we made our way to the local tree lot to select our Christmas trees for this year. Yes, I said trees! It's become a tradition for us to buy a big family tree along with a smaller tree (maybe 3 feet tall) for the kids.

Both kids had a lot of fun helping decorate the trees this year, and no ornaments (or kids) were broken in the process!