Christmas Eve and Day

It feels weird posting about Christmas when it's 65 degrees outside, but really it's just unseasonably beautiful outside and I'm only a month behind on posting.  So, here's what we have from Christmas Eve and Christmas day.  In my defense, there were 3 cameras in action.  I tried to narrow the pictures down, but I was starting from near 1000 I think (Aunt Michelle is a little trigger happy :) )

Poor John started feeling sick the night we were at Hollywild, and didn't feel well until a few days after Christmas when we finally got him on antibiotics.  He couldn't sleep, and just felt cruddy.  Needless to say, that made me really sad for his Christmas.  He didn't get to truly enjoy Aunt Michelle and Uncle Greg, or any of the excitement Christmas brings at that age.  BUT, props to John for having a great attitude while we tried to get family pictures Christmas Eve!  (He ended up throwing up in the car on our way home from Christmas Eve service :( )

 It was unseasonably warm Christmas, too.  Unfortunately, out of TONS of pictures, this is the best we got.

 Or maybe this one.  At least everyone is participating here...sort of.

 After church we snuggled up for a movie.

 After the movie we put out cookies for Santa.  Unfortunately, by this time John just wanted to go to bed.  Bummer.

 Eve and Ellie enjoyed it, though.

 And the cookies must have worked!  Santa came!  It's not looking like we're going to get to use those sleds any time soon.

 Here is a nice "Before the Chaos" picture.

 Santa enjoyed the cookies and milk.

 John and Eve didn't wake up until 7:30 or 8!  They were very excited to see Santa brought what they asked for.  John got Hot Wheels wall tracks and Eve got a fairy Barbie.

 Ellie wasn't quite ready for what lay ahead.

 Ellie first discovered that Santa left behind a few crumbs for her breakfast.

 Then she danced with excitement in her sled.

 Bo and Callie didn't get left out.

 Santa brought fairy fruit snacks for the girls.  Ellie had grabbed one of Eve's and we had to take it away.  She assumes this position when she's angry.  We put one of her fruit snacks by her hand.  Look closely while she continues to pitch her fit...

 Smooth move!  We got a good laugh out of it.

 Can you tell Ellie enjoyed the edible treats most?

 We got some really special gifts.

 And some "special" gifts.

 Eve dressed as a fairy.

 John dressed as a fairy jedi (or something with guns)

 And the "after" picture.  It took a few days to recover from this mess.

 Just to remind us, though, that Christmas is not about the presents.  John drew this picture to welcome Uncle Greg, but I love that it's a picture of the manger and it looks like the angels and shepherds are welcoming Christ.

 We got to skype with family.  Sometimes technology is wonderful!

 We all looked for the pickle on the tree...nobody found it!

 No Christmas is complete without at least one fairy melting down.

 Peek-a-boo!  We fried 5 turkeys Christmas day!  One for us, and a few for neighbors.  I think we've started a great new tradition!  It was great to just sit and spend good quality time with them, with no agenda or reason to rush.

Thanks, Uncle Greg, for the pants!  I think John will be enjoying those for a few years :)
We had a wonderful Christmas aside from John being sick, and looking through the pictures I'm just overwhelmed with seeing all of our many blessings...certainly not as much the gifts as the family gathered and opportunity to share special time enjoying the excitement of the kids and celebrating our Savior.

Why My Kids Are The Awesomest

OK, so I'm a little bit biased, but I think my kids are the awesomest.

First, John came home from school with a book titled "The Story of Me".  Here is my favorite page...

We made a Christmas video, and I don't know how to post it here, but I think Eve's dance moves (typically eyes-shut), are top notch!

Ellie, at 20 months, may have trouble with a few things her peers have mastered like animal sounds or body parts, but 2 days ago she recited a complete knock knock joke!  "Knock Knock" "Who's there?" "Boo!" "Boo who?" "Don't cry, I'll let you in."  And, by the way, she's got her second molar coming in, top right.

Christmas is Coming!

So here we have the rest of December prior to Christmas Eve.  The kids had a fun Christmas program, and of course the video camera battery was dead, and they're just not as fun on a still camera.  They also did lots of fun crafts and activities at school.  Here is John's gingerbread house...complete with a swimming pool!

 We had breakfast with Santa at the neighborhood clubhouse.  Before I had gotten clothes together, John and Eve had dressed themselves...quite nicely!  Yes, we had cute Christmas-colored coordinating outfits, but this was just way more fun.

 We also spent an evening in Ft. Inn at the carriage rides.  Santa is there as well as free crafts, and this year they also had a model train exhibit!  Once again, we had a battery issue, but it just meant we got to focus more on having fun with the kids (and not losing them).

 I still can't believe they let little ones use this huge blade that they pull toward themselves, but John has done it twice and not ended up in the ER, AND he got to make a cool hammer (that I later used to hang pictures).

Then Uncle Greg came!!!  We were so excited to have him come visit.

 Then Aunt Michelle came!!!!  We were so excited to have her come visit too!  Both Michelle and Greg stayed until after Christmas, and it was such a treat to have their help...I mean share the holidays with them :)

 Aunt Michelle was very neat with the icing.

 No Eve!  Not in your mouth! (Michelle quickly learned to just let it go...it's an uphill battle)

 We went to Hollywild!  So fun!

 You can't tell from the pictures, but this cow that came to our car was seriously as tall as the van!  All was going well until...

 IT TRIED TO EAT EVE!  Just kidding.  It was just huge and slobbery.  It gave us all a good laugh. (Mostly me.  Greg and Michelle were on the passenger side with the kids screaming "Drive, Katie, Drive!!!" but I was laughing too hard.)

 Seriously, that cow was HUGE and it's whole head was in the car!

 Check out the buffalo's tongue.  Gross.  Fortunately that wasn't in our car!

 Eve and Ellie had a great time walking around feeding and petting all the animals.  Ellie had a peanut butter cracker she was carrying around that got the attention of all the animals, but she was very posessive and wouldn't share.  Unfortunately this was the night John started to get sick, so he, Buck, and Grandma headed home after the drive-through.  I was really bummed for him.