Family Pictures 2019

My very talented friend, Alisha took our family pictures for us this fall.  Besides newborn pictures, this is the only time we had real family pictures taken.  We headed over to Eagle Island and lectured the kids the whole way over about how to behave.  They did so good.  They did everything that was asked of them and smiled when they were supposed to, it was totally painless and we were in and out in like 30 minutes.  We had so many good ones to choose from for our Christmas cards and to hang on our wall, which will hopefully be happening soon (fingers crossed).  Alisha, you are never allowed to move and you have to take our family pictures for the rest of forever.

Christmas Time with the Fam

We had such an enjoyable Christmas with the kiddos.  We were able to spend a lot of time with both sides of the family and we were all smiles the whole time.  Christmas Eve, after a quick workout, we headed to my parents house for Chinese food for lunch and to watch a movie.  McKay even took a little nap while we watched the movie.  After the movies were over we headed to Craig's parents house for Christmas Eve dinner.  We ate a delicious prime rim and ham dinner with all of the fixings.  After a super yummy dinner we did the nativity.  Brooklyn was Mary, McKay was Joseph and Craig was a Shepard.  After acting out the nativity Nana gave the kids one of their Christmas presents, she made each grand-kid a new pillowcase.  To say they loved them would be an understatement. We then headed home and changed into our Christmas jammies and got out the milk and cookies for Santa before heading to bed.  This year we didn't have anything we had to put together so Craig and I headed to bed early too.

Christmas morning Brooklyn was in to our room right at 7:00 am.  Not sure how long she had been awake, but at least she waited until 7:00 to wake us up.  At 7:20 we went and woke up McKay(which is very rare) because Brooklyn was getting a little antsy, don't blame her.  I got the Monkey Bread in the oven and made sure the stockings were all ready to go and then had the kiddos come down.  They both got new watches, swim googles, coloring books, baseball mits, candy and gum from Santa.  McKay also got a Tractor and a Jeep with a trailer.  Brooklyn got a yo-yo, earrings, snow skis and boots and a make-up kit.  We then opened up the rest of our gifts which included Boise State gear for everyone, golf balls and socks for dad and running gear and slippers for mom.  Brooklyn got ski googles, a scarf, new clothes and books from Mom and Dad and a jump rope from McKay.  McKay got another truck with a trailer, a puzzle and some shoes and slippers from Mom and Dad and then some Dinotrux figurines from Brooklyn.

After we played with our new toys for a while we got ready for the day and headed over to my parents house for Christmas Brunch.  We ate a ton of yummy and not so healthy food and the kids got to open up their presents from my parents and also a few from their cousins.  My parents got us a trampoline!!  We are so excited to get it set up in the backyard and are praying for no broken bones.  They both also got a new outfit from Grandma.  After our tummies were full we headed over to Craig's parents to open some more gifts.  Craig got new shoes for work, I got a utility wagon. McKay got a new scooter and some airplanes and Brooklyn got roller skates.  They also put some money into the kids college fund, which makes Craig and I very excited.  After the kids played for a while, we laid McKay down for a short nap and then we ate some yummy leftovers from the night before.  To say we had a great day would be a major understatement.  We are so blessed with so much family that love us and help us to truly enjoy holidays.  I hope that our kids will not just remember the gifts they received, but also the spirit that was felt throughout the Christmas season as we remembered our Savior and spent time together as a family.

Pre-Christmas Festivus

We always have a lot of fun getting into the Christmas spirit.  With Thanksgiving so late this year I felt like we were really thrown into Christmas time.  Right after Christmas we put up our decorations, I even did lights on the house this year (no thanks to Craig).  The following week we jumped right in with Winter Garden-A-Glow at the botanic gardens and Brooklyn and I the went to The Nutcracker Jr. and Clara's Tea Party with Grandmas galore and her cousin Riaan.  This has been such a fun tradition to do with my sweet girl.  The next night we then headed over to Mark and Paige's house for the annual Grinch night.  We love eating all things green and watching the Grinch. Brooklyn also lost her 5th tooth that night when we got home (don't tell her but we may have taken 2 dollars out of her piggy bank for the tooth fairy to use, the tooth fairy was not well prepared and she has the plan to replace it one of these days.  Total parent win).

We headed up to McCall the first weekend of December and was surprised by Santa at the Pancake House.  The kids were so excited to tell him what they wanted for Christmas and McKay even included that mom wanted some new slippers.  The kids did not ask for much from Santa.  Brooklyn asked for a jump rope, yo-yo, watch and books.  McKay asked for a red truck with a trailer, a watch and slippers.  Craig and I of course went to the Nutcracker, they had a new set and new costumes this year and they were spectacular.  Always such a fun evening out with the hubby.  The kids and I had fun making a gingerbread house, not the prettiest you've ever seen, but they sure had fun and I did my best to just stand back and let them do their thing which was very hard for this OCD mommy.

We had our ward Christmas party just right after church on Dec. 22nd.  The ward did a great program, I love how much you can feel the spirit through music.  We were very busy the month of December, the whole 3 weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas thing was not my favorite but I feel like we did pretty good to keep everything low key and low stress so we could enjoy it as much as possible.  It helped that we had all of our shopping done, Christmas cards addressed and neighbor/friend gifts delivered by Thanksgiving.  The kids were such a blast to do all of these things with.  I love seeing the wonder of the season through their eyes.