Christmas!!

Christmas was so much fun! The kids are all at such cute ages and were so excited for Christmas to come. We had a full weekend of Christmas. With our families living away we have lots of company through the holidays since we don't want to travel with all the kids/gifts. So we began with Joe's family all coming down on the 23rd and celebrating Christmas with them that evening. I made dinner and we had round one of gifts.


Of course Maggie and Owen are pro's at opening gifts, Josie was so funny this year and isn't all that into many gifts. She opens one and is pretty happy. And Emmie quickly found out how fun it was to rip open presents.

Christmas Eve day I began round 2 of cooking. Mom and Dad headed to our house and I was making a big mexican meal for them, us, and Joe's family to all have together. It was nice to have everyone together (except my sis) and get to let the kids get to have a part of Christmas with all their family in one place. They enjoyed all the attention alot!

Joe's family headed home that afternoon and Mom and Dad stayed on to have Christmas at our house. That evening we enjoyed just relaxing and watching the kids excitment. The kids always open their gifts from each other on Christmas Eve so they were cute doing that.

















They all loved what they got from each other and were so sweet thanking and hugging each other.
























































































They all opened up a gift from Mimi and Jaja too.......headlamps.
















haha. They thought they were so cool and I am sure will have many fun playtimes with those!









That night we sat down to read the Christmas story as a family and the kids wanted to read it with the lights out and their headlamps as the lighting. And of course Joe went along with it.
































That night after the kids went to bed Santa arrived.


























Thankfully I had prepared before hand so there wasn't much to be done aside from setting everything out. And this year Santa didn't bring anything so it was all just wrapped and nothing had to be set out.

I made our annual cinnomon rolls that we have every Chrsitmas morning and got those ready to bake in the morning and we all headed off to bed, knowing it would probably be an early morning. Plus, we had church at 11 so knew we needed to get rest so we could all be up adn ready in time.

Well, the next morning I woke up at 7:45 and couldn't believe that all the kids were still asleep! I went out and got my camera all ready while Joe went and woke the kids up.

Emmie Jayne ran out and looked down while he got the others all ready to come down.


































She of course had no clue what everything was but was quite ready to head down the steps.

The kids all came running down and were so very excited to see all their gifts. They began opening them up and were all quite pleased they got the gifts they had really hoped for....

Owen got his DS and was thrilled!!


(wouldn't have to borrow maggie's anymore!)
























Maggie got her Calico Critter house and all the animals to go with it!

































Josie got a horse she had really wanted, although Josie opened a few gifts and than told me to just open the rest of hers.






















haha.....she just wasn't all that into all the gifts, as long as she got one she was pretty happy.






































And Emmie Jayne didn't get many gifts,

















she had all her winnie the pooh babies she got adn other than that was pretty happy just playing with the boxes.





































Maggie loves the stockings and was thriled she got a webkinz again in her stocking.












































And this was my Christmas gift....and my everyday gift.



































I love these babies more than I could ever find the words to express. I could never have drempt up more perfect children for me. Such a blessed momma that I am.


After all the opening of gifts and eating DELICIOUS homemade cinnamon rolls we all got ready for church to go celebrate the birth of Jesus! It was quite a task to get it all done and everyone ready that morning....but I want my children to understand that Christmas is so much more than gifts (and I did a horrible job this year of making them see this......gonna try much harder next year to downsize) and the only reason we have it is because of Jesus. So there is no way I could have said we can't make it to church on Christmas becasue we were too busy opening gifts! Thinking that would so not be a good thought to put in their heads. So we got there all dressed in their Christmas outfits and looking quite cute if I don't say so myself. :)









I got the little girls these adorable red coats on clearance a few weeks ago and they looked gorgeous on them.





























Although Josie was no where to be found when I tried to get some pictures of her in it.














When we got home from church Aunt Amanda had just pulled in so I had a hard time pulling the kids away from her to get a picture of all of them all dressed up. So here is what I got.....
































Emmie Jayne was sooooo not getting her picture taken despite her siblings trying to make her! She was very ready for naptime!












The past few Christmas's Joe has made dinner for all of us....our favorite dish at Carabbas....chicken or filet bryan with lots of yummy sides made by me. So this year we did the same and it was wonderful. I think that is one of Dad's favorite parts of the day. Well, after this year Joe had a new surprise for him that he may have enjoyed just as much! haha

The rest of the day was spent just hanging out together and relaxing. It was a wonderful Christmas day and I am so thankful for the amazing life I have been blessed with.

Happy Birthday Jesus!

Christmas Pictures....what fun!!

So this year I attempted to get the kids annual Christmas picture I always take to make the Christmas cards......by MYSELF. I am thinking I ussually get Joe in the background to get the kids to all look the right way, smile, sit still...while I snap away trying to get at least 1 good shot. Well this year I was feeling ambitious I suppose after school one day. So I got the kids all dressed and ready and got out the camera.

I began with group shots since individuals are much easier to get than all 4 of them.

So Emmie Jayne wasn't quite in the picture mood.....or the sit still mood. I kept telling the kids to just look at me and smile so that when I finally got her attention I could snap the shot. Well.....Maggie and Owen got it pretty good......but Josie on the other hand.


had better things to do while waiting for Emmie Jayne to smile.....

like pick her nose...























and picking at her fingernails.














hahahhaahaha.








So after a million shots this is the best I got


























Looks like Emmie is about as miserable as me!!

So we took a break and did individual shots...


My little model Maggie was first


































and did fabulous......she is such a beauty!




And than my lille man.





























He has come such a long way with pictures.....























it used to take hours to get smiles like this. Well hours or me saying "poopie" which was always alot of fun when we were at a photography session! He is so handsome!



Next was my little Josie. She likes to be in front of the camera too.....if it is her idea at the time. It took a bit of coaxing to get her here but what a cutie she is.....




























And lastly was the runaway.....I could not get her to sit still for a picture to save my life! I finally gave her a bulb off the tree, which is her FAVORITE thing to play with. (and of course they are all glass, so yes, it is safe to say we have lost half our bulbs this year) and I got a good smiley shot




























and I loved this one.....




























So after many many many pictures.....I finally got this one....
















and I loved it!! Such a blessed mommy I am.

Christmas vacation!!

Ahhhhh, Christmas break....kids off school....no alarm clocks....sleeping in.....staying up late... I love it! I think I am as happy about it as the kids are to be off school for a while.
They had 2 weeks off and we tried to pack as much fun in that first week as we could....we knew the 2nd week would be fun since Christmas started the week!

We started the week out making gingerbread houses. I waited until Emmie Jayne went down for her morning nap and got out the grahm crackers, icing and candy for the kids. They had so much fun making them and were all very creative with their houses. I was surprised how well they got their houses to stay together.







































































Josie would build a little.....eat a little.....









































Our next activity was christmas cookies. We did this when Emmie Jayne was up so it was a little more crazy. She consumed more sugar than she's probably ever had. The only way to keep her from climbing the table and grabbing everything was to put her in her high chair and give her cookies with icing. She had no desire to decorate anhything....just eat it!

















We tried a new icing recipe this year and it was DELISH.

It also iced much better and not nearly as messy.












My Maggie is like her Mommy and loves to decorate cookies, and is quite a perfectionist about it.























My 3 sweet girls having fun making Christmas cookies

























The finished product of the kids cookies....


















We headed out next to the mall to see Santa. We had seen him at the library but they wanted to see him at the mall too. I love days like this with my kids....running around, going to mall, eating lunch out. I am sure if I homeschooled my kids this is what we would do all day.



There was quite a line when we got to the mall to see Santa, I guess 3 days before Christmas isn't the best time to go! Well, we waited and there were benches the kids could sit on. Josie and Owen spent along time just looking at Santa and talking. Owen kept whispering in her ear and she would crack up. I have no idea what the conversation was between these two but it looked so sweet....





















Well, after waiting forever in the line we were up next to see Santa......and yep, it happened....Josie says "mommy, I have to pee.....like BAD!" Now when Josie says this you usually better listen because she means it. But I was so not gonna get out of this line and have to get back in and wait again. So I kept asking her if she could just wait to see Santa and she said she wasn't sure. Well, they said we could go see him and Owen says, "Josie, if you are gonna pee on Santa's lap you better tell us now!" She cracked up and said, "Owen, I'm not gonna pee on his lap!" So I just went for it and hoped for the best. Well, the kids all climbed on Santa's lap and wow....he was the grumpiest, meanest santa ever! He asked what the kids wanted for Christmas and Maggie proceeded to tell him that this year the kids had decided that instead of Santa bringing them 3 gifts (like he ussually does) they didn't want him to bring them anything, instead to take those gifts to kids that really needed something. (this was something that Maggie and Owen decided on their own). This Santa looks at them and says, "uhhhhh, okay than. cool." I am sitting there thinking, "seriously, cool is all you say to that santa!!" Anyhow, they all smiled for the picture even after Santa told Owen to sit still and smile.


























As we walked away Maggie said, "wow, that Santa was grumpy. And Owen says, "Maybe Mrs. Claus didn't let him have any cookies!" haha.



After that it was lunch at our favorite....chick fil a. We stayed there several hours, the kids ate and then all played really well together in the play area. And then came back for some ice cream.





















Emmie Jayne was loving her some ice cream......she has never had her own cone and was loving it.


























This was an absolute perfect day with my 4 kiddos. I love them so very much!