Christmas Time

 The Holidays always make it harder to get back into the swing of things.  That is especially true with blogging and I always get frustrated because those are the times there are so many thing I want to document.  By the time I get around to actually blogging about it I'm afraid I've forgotten a lot, but at least I have a few pictures to spark my memory. 

 Casey and I started dieting after Thanksgiving and had a goal to continue until Christmas, which took some of the fun out of cookie making, but the kids enjoyed it none the less.

 As a bonus we were spared that question of "I wondered if anyone drooled in these cookies" since we did not eat any.

 For Christmas we went to my parents house and had a great time seeing everyone.  We have a tradition of visiting a local candy shop where they do demonstrations of candy making, but when we arrived on Christmas eve we were informed they no longer do demonstrations on Christmas eve.  It was a little disappointing but Nana and Grampy bought each kid a candy and all our troubles were forgotten!

 Bennett saw a box of Hello Kitty Jelly Beans when we first walked in and was super glad he got to take them home.  Silly little guy.

Hanny and Ender...Look at those BEAUTIFUL smiles!

Sarah and I got together and decided to make the kids some Christmas jammies when we found flannel super cheep on Black Friday.  I hurriedly volunteered to make the boys pants and she was stuck making the girls these impossibly adorable night gowns.  They were super precious.  I'm glad Sarah did it because I'm sure mine wouldn't have turned out near as nice.  As it was 3 of the boys pants (that I know of) ripped out in the crotch.  Following are a few of the group photos.  None of them turned out well but of course I've included them for posterity sake.  Bennett please notice your face in photo #1, Ella please notice that even with the bell we let you play with you were still a stinker, Ender see what a cheesy angry face you have? who could possibly take you seriously? Miles the only reason you were not caught on film being mischievous is because you were so so tired (too tired to act up, and that's saying something).  Big kids see what great sports you were holding the little squirmys while your parents tortured you with photo after photo after photo...

Once the wee ones are all snug in their new jammies and tucked in their beds the real fun starts.  Fancy dinner.  LOVE IT!  All the adults get to enjoy a delicious dinner and fabulous conversation in peace.  The only change I would make would be to have it EVERY NIGHT!  I was going to try to recap some of the memorable moments of fancy dinner but I thought Hanny wouldn't appreciate me discussing her little melt down, and talking about how amazing the salad was would only make me hungry, so I'll skit the recap.

Christmas morning, waiting to go down the stairs to see what Santa brought is torture.  Somehow Ender found a candy cane to make his wait a little more bearable.

You can see Landon is positively bursting with excitement.

Hanny and Miles who look like they are equally eager to sprint down the stairs and slash open the packages...or catch a few more Z's.

Maya got a hat loom (which I think I enjoy more than her) and MAKE UP!!!  She loves the make up and makes me think "This must have been what Lady GaGa was like as a child".  Yikes!  She also got roller skates (santa), an owl blankie, rice warmer, and the dreaded make up (nana and grampy), clothes (grammy and poppy), and a remote control little petshop car (siblings).

Miles got a night fury plushie that I lovingly stitched and have not taken the time to lovingly repair as it's legs dangle dangerously close to dismemberment.  He also got Trio blocks (santa), clothes & books (grammy and poppy), a curious George blankie, rice warmer, and curious George stuffed animal (nana and grampy),

Porter was the lucky recipient of a buckeyes jersey (which he would wear every second if I'd let him), receiving gloves, roller skates (santa), a model airplane and paints (dad), an Ohio state blanket, warmie, and pillow pet (nana and grampy), an xbox (grammy and poppy got this for the whole family) and video games for the xbox (uncle will and aunt nicole).

 

Bennett got trio blocks (santa), church clothes(mom), wooden cars (will and nicole), books, straws and juice boxes(the kid loves to drink), and a robot blanket warmie and remote control robot (nana and grampy).

The roller skates were a huge success.  We even went to goodwill and bought all the skates we could find so all the kids could roller skate at the church together.  They had a great time!  It's great to have cousins.

Some kids got a little worn out...

But they quickly pepped back up!