Wednesday, December 25, 2013

Christmas Day 2014

Another Christmas Day come and gone.  The kids were up bright and early, and had a great morning.  The played all day with their new toys and games, and we relaxed.  This day we always spend just the 5 of us.  The kids didn't even get out of their pajamas all day.  Shoot - they barely stopped to eat let alone get dressed.


It was another fun Christmas.  Now everything is put away, and the kids are in bed.  In a few days their grandparents will arrive for the final round, and we will be done for another year.

Enjoy the pictures!

The loot - from Santa, from us, from all their aunts and uncles....it was a bit nuts
 Loot for the dogs.  They were a mess all day - no idea what was going on:
 Finley's pile.
 All the kids - and Mat and my - piles
 The kids checking out all of their toys:
 Finley was pretty excited to see all this stuff:
 This was the one thing she asked Santa for - a big My Little Pony Horse:
 Cainan got a clock in the shape of Ninjago:
 I am just going to put it out there right now - he got a ton of legos from everyone.  The end.
 I found American Girl doll wedding dresses on Ebay and got one for each girl.  Handmade and very cute!  That is the one thing they wanted for their dolls.
 And there is our friendly neighborhood burglar, Mat.  He wanted a ski mask for Christmas so his face would be warm when he was out in the snow, and he wore it all morning, photobombing all of my pictures.

 Her annual Elephant - that girl still loves them!
 Nerf gun.  Just what she needed:
 An Equestria Girl - which is part pony, part Barbie.  Don't get me started:

 Ah....there is the weirdo again.  For those of you who don't know us - Mat is not normal.

 An American Girl apron and cooking set.  I got this for $3 on their clearance!
 Legos.....
 A rocket.  Because - as stated above - her father is crazy:
 My little ponies.  Thank you ebay!
 Legos.....
 Remote control helicopter.  Because we didn't learn our lesson last Christmas with the remote control plane she crashed into our house 5 minutes after she opened it.
 Pokemon cards - high on her list this year.  She was pretty excited.  Me?  I don't get it
 Legos......
 And legos.....
 Arlington's bestie "C" got her some really cute craft things for them to work on together:
 Pokemon..
 Pokemon....

 Legos....I am not even kidding.  This one was from Aunt Betty.  And the ones above - they are not all from us - I just can't remember any more!
 A game...
 And Legos.....
 And face paint and a game
 From Aunt Teen and Uncle Frank - she got a My Little Pony, a book, and some really cool paint pens
 From Aunt Jess and Uncle Tom he got a cool book and.......legos!!!!
 From Aunt Jess and Uncle Tom she got a science kit and a weird looking stuffed animal she wanted
 From Aunt Jess and Uncle Tom she got a cool paint set and a Pokemon
 From Uncle Zac and Aunt Allison - a Monster High set
 From Uncle Zac and Aunt Allison - nail polishes!
 Our brother-in-law Jonathan was Mat's secret Santa this year, and he got him this hat.  Looks great with the ski mask, right?  Not.

 Arlingotn's big gift from Santa was a hamster.  I know, I know - I hear you.  Welcome to our animal farm.  Two dogs, a fish, a hamster.  We did a lot of research and found that the Chinese Dwarf Hamster was the best fit for kids.  And it is very tiny - weighs just a couple of ounces and is about 2 inches long.  And that is all the bigger she will get.  So she got the hamster and all the fixings, and I was a dork and read two hamster books.
She named her Holiday "Holly"
 Okay, she is very cute.  And she is pretty low maintenance.

Monday, December 23, 2013

More Pictures

Here are pictures from the last week.  I can't believe that tomorrow is Christmas Eve.  Finley is beside herself with excitement.  She was climbing the walls today.  We hope everyone has a wonderful holiday  - if you celebrate - or enjoy a much needed winter break if you don't!

Enjoy the pictures!

Christmas play at Church:





Visit with Santa.  Arlington told us she was too old to sit on his lap this year.  (Sob!)




Mat's parents and Aunt Betty came up for a long visit this past weekend and we did our Christmas with them.  We had a great time, and they spoiled the kids (and us) rotten:








Today was our annual cookie baking day with the kids.  They each get to pick one kind of cookie they wanted to make.  Finley picked Snickerdoodles, Cainan picked Gingerbread that we will make into cut outs (tomorrow), and Arlington picked an chocolate coated oreo cookie ball:







Arlington's finished product:



Finley's finished product: