Christmas 2013

We stayed home for Christmas again this year.  We like having Christmas Day with our own little family and then drive out to Utah to see family for the following week.

On Christmas Eve we took the kids ice skating in the morning.  They have been asking for ages, but we didn’t think they’d like it.  But Christmas Eve seemed like the perfect day to give it a shot.  Jacob was adorable in his tiny little ice skates but was too scared to stand on them.  The girls did great!  WAY better than we expected, and have continuously asked to go skating ever since. I forgot my camera, so I’ve just got these phone photos.

 

That evening we watched Christmas movies and made a gingerbread house.  It was a perfect day!

   

Sophie left this note for Santa, I was too lazy to make cookies.  There are too many treats on Christmas anyway.

Here they are Christmas morning opening their stockings…

  

They had to wait for me to make cinnamon rolls for breakfast and eat before we went in by the Christmas tree to open presents.  FINALLY eating breakfast! Tess wasn’t as into them as the blondies. Ha ha ha!

  

Present time!

     

I made everyone take some pictures in the Sunday before Christmas.  Why not?

 

Here’s Jacob later that afternoon pleased with himself for sneaking Tessa’s toy.  Look at that face, such a little stud!  But a stinker too!

That night when I put the girls to bed Sophie said, “I can’t wait until next Christmas!”  I told her it was going to be awhile!  But she corrected me, “No, we have 2 more Christmases at Grandma Nina and Grandma Quincy’s house!!”  She’s right, these kids are super lucky to have 3 Christmases and so many people who love them.

Over the river and through the woods… our post-Cmas visit to Utah

It was a cold snowy drive but we arrived at my parents’ house the evening of Dec 26th.  There were a lot of wonderful people I love there waiting for us, so that was awesome!

   

We got to meet Mikey for the first time, he’d proposed to my sister Joni the day before!!  He seemed a little nervous to meet our big Mormon family, but I don’t know why? j/k :)  Mikey was very nice, and I look forward to getting to know him better, my sister Joni is one very special girl and deserves the best!

 

The next day we did a sort of “mock” Christmas morning, that came out wrong… we pretended it was Christmas morning again.

  

Can you believe all of this stocking my mom Santa had to fill!!  They went down both sides of this railing.

 

Then we reenacted the nativity…

    

And some other pictures from the morning I wanted to include, just a lot of playing, hanging out and laughing!  Except for Jacob, who was very cranky and sick… :(

    

Next up was matching outfit pictures of the cousins (and a few necessary adults) on the sectional! Of course it quickly turned into mayhem…

   

This is my talented brother Jonathan, working on a painting for my house!  Isn’t he awesome?  I can’t wait to get it on the wall!!  Because our walls are bare!  My mom did a craft with the kids, making picture frames to keep their new cousin photo in.

 

Then there was sledding in the front yard!

 

I know what you’re thinking… How much can she cram in 1 post???  Well, there’s more!!!!!!!  Here’s some pictures from our visit to Josh and Meg’s house one morning.

   

Cute little Jamison and Jacob, tried to share the bacon, but it was hard!  One of Jacob’s nick names is “little handsome,” I think it’s obvious why!

  

I asked Dan to take a couple pictures of me and Jenny, who despite the way her coat is puffing out in the photo is looking very thin and fit!  She is getting super strong and ripped doing her crazy cross-fit stuff.  And I just threw in all of the pictures Dan took of me in those 2 min he had the camera… because, as we all know, it’s hard to get pictures of yourself!  This may be all we get this year! j/k

    

Ok, ok, ok, I guess that’s enough for 1 post. :)  Don’t worry, I’ve got plenty more where that came from, but you already know that. ;)