Christmas 2012

Christmas has come and gone, and the kids are back in school.  It was a fun break and I really enjoyed having the kids home.  Nowhere to be, no schedule.  It was lovely and a much needed break from "busyness" for me!  I think Ellie is having the hardest time with the big kids gone.  She got extremely spoiled with all of their attention for two full weeks!

Here are the annual "kids on the Sunday before Christmas" photos.  I wish I could say Ellie kept her hair like this but pretty sure the clip was taken out before we stepped foot in the church.  It was cute while it lasted.

Recognize her dress?  It's her blessing dress!  I bought it on clearance at Old Navy for her blessing and the only size they had was 12-18 months.  It was a bit large on top but you couldn't tell when she was wearing her little 0/3 month sweater.  Plus the length was perfect for a longer blessing dress.  Now it fits her perfectly as a normal sized dress.  I found the red sweater at Kohl's this year and thought it would be perfect for Christmas.  Crazy to think these pictures are just a year apart.

Christmas Eve Jammies!  I couldn't find any pajamas in the store that I really liked and it's a tradition to get new pjs for Christmas Eve.  They aren't always matching and aren't always sewn by me but this year that's the way it happened.  I went to Jo-Ann's the Saturday before Christmas and found this flannel and it was perfect.  A little mad dash sewing during the day on Christmas Eve but I finished them all by early afternoon while Rob took the older kids sledding and Ellie took a nap.

Ellie was being really silly that night.  One of her newest tricks is "jumping."  You say "Ellie, can you jump?" and she squats down like this...

And then "jumps" up, although her toes never leave the floor.

She knows she is the center of attention and eats it up!

Making snickerdoodles for Santa...

This year for Christmas I decided I wanted to do something I had heard about in previous years but hadn't done yet.  When buying presents for the kids, I followed the "something you want, something you need, something to wear, something to read" idea.  I told the kids when they were making their Christmas lists about what I was doing so they helped me out thinking of things in those categories and most had a few things in each category that I chose from (or some items could be used for multiple categories).  It really made the gift buying process so much easier and I didn't feel like I was buying tons of toys that wouldn't be played with the day after the Christmas excitement had worn off or just buying more stuff so everyone had an "equal" (whether in dollar amount or number of items) amount of gifts.  I bought them all books from a neighbor who does a book sale a couple of times a year and has really cheap books...sometimes cheaper than Scholastic Book orders.  My mom sends money for me to purchase gifts so they had those to open as well.

Ashlee's gifts were (in order of the theme) a CTR ring, a metronome, a ballet skirt and a couple paperback books (The Little Prince and Star Girl).  Santa brought her a Kindle Fire.

  

Brynlee got colored pencils, silver sparkly Converse shoes, a leotard and gym shorts (purple sparkly zebra striped!), and a couple of books as well.  Santa brought her a Salon Doll....a doll with REAL hair that you can wash, dry, curl, crimp, etc.

Landon got Nerf swords, a sleeping bag, 2 pairs of pants and 2 long sleeve shirts (yes, technically more than one thing BUT he was in desperate need of something to wear!) and the whole Magic Tree House series.  Santa brought him a watch and Lego Harry Potter Years 5-7 Wii game.

Trevor was a hard one to buy for this year.  One, his birthday is just days before Christmas.  Two, whenever you asked him what he wanted, he would look around the room and say something he saw.  Totally didn't get it! The only thing he did say was that he wanted a red dragon.  Santa made that wish come true.

Lame mom moment.  The kids were taking turns opening gifts.  The other kids still had presents to open and Trevor was done opening his.  I couldn't figure out how.  I went back and looked at my list.  I crossed off the gifts as I wrapped them and noticed that I had crossed off what was listed under his "want".  I then realized that I had decided to give it to him for his birthday (the Nerf swords) and never ended up buying a "want".  Doh!  He didn't seem to mind and got to open the family gift from Jeremy and Clytie.  He also got a sleeping bag, some pants and long sleeve shirts (same situation as Landon, although shorts and tshirts are still his first choice, silly kid!), and two books.  Who knew a book about bears would create such an awesome reaction.  That's Trevor for you.  He gets excited about everything and I love that about him.

Miss Ellie got a PINK Radio Flyer trike from Santa.  She climbed right on.  She can't quite reach the pedals but I'm sure by summertime she'll be cruisin' the neighborhood.

I took the liberty of her having no idea what presents are.  Of course she doesn't "want" anything at this age and I didn't really want to buy more toys since we have plenty.  I could have wrapped up the Little People Farm or Dollhouse that we already have but in the end, I chose not to.  Instead she got a sippy cup, plates, Strawberry Shortcake toothbrushes that were even scented! (she steals everyone else's) and a new Sunday dress.

  

After breakfast and presents, Ellie helped herself to more coffeecake while everyone else was enjoying their new things.

A winter storm came through on Christmas Eve so we definitely had a beautiful WHITE Christmas! 

I feel so blessed to have my beautiful family and to live in such a beautiful valley surrounded by such good people.  Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!