Merry Christmas!

We had a wonderful Christmas this year!  The time between Thanksgiving and Christmas this year was quite long so it was fun watching the kids' anticipation of the holiday! 

 

Levi was less than impressed that I wanted to take a Christmas picture of the three kids.

Christmas morning!  Levi was super excited to run downstairs.  Erika was up at 6am ready to go and Levi woke up around 6:45, but we made them wait until 7 when we finally woke up Laurel.  Laurel is our sleep child, but luckily every morning she has a smile on her face even if someone wakes her up!

Santa brought Levi a train, Laurel a Dora and pony set and Erika a Lalaloopsy tree house.

 

As the girls came downstairs and saw their presents, their little faces completely lit up and they exclaimed, "It is exactly what I wanted!"

Levi was pretty happy with the toothbrush that Santa left in his stocking.

And his new tool set. 

 

Seeing what Santa left in their stockings.

 

After opening their stockings, we had a breakfast break and ate our traditional Christmas cinnamon rolls.

While they ate, Matt took their presents out of the boxes so they could play with them while we waited for Grandma and Aunt Sarah to come over and finish opening all the gifts.

We bought desks for the girls.  Erika especially is becoming quite creative in her story writing and drawing and creating of crafts so new desks for their bedrooms are really good for them.

 

Levi and his Christmas presents.

Erika with her haul.

And Laurel and all she received.

 

It really was the best Christmas we have had this year.  The kids are so much fun to watch how excited they get and how appreciative they are.  Every present they opened seemed like the perfect gift for them.  I was so proud to see that they didn't get upset about not getting enough....and they got plenty!  We are so blessed with such sweet children and with loving families who are so good to them.  We have spent the last couple of days playing with all the new toys and enjoying a break from school.  I am the luckiest woman to be Mommy to these three kids!

Christmastime Fun

We have been busy just about every day in December!  As the kids get older, it is really fun to be able to do more and more activities with them, especially around the holidays!  We started December off by celebrating Levi's birthday.  The weekend after that, the girls hosted a Christmas party for some of their friends.  They made bracelets and Christmas ornaments, baked cookies for their families, and decorated cookies to eat.  It was really fun and a great way to share Christmas with special friends!

Bracelet making.

Concentrating on getting the beads just right.

Eating their decorated Christmas cookies.

Last week, Erika went to a retirement center to sing Christmas carols with her Girl Scout troop.  She had a really good time!  I think her favorite part was ringing her jingle bell while singing!

Caroling.

Handing out Christmas cards to the residents.

The last week of school, we woke up on Tuesday and discovered it had snowed and school was cancelled for Erika!  We bundled up quickly and headed outside to play in the snow (it wasn't much at all) before it started to melt.

Watching the snow fall.

Throwing snow against the garage.

After playing for a while, we headed inside for some hot chocolate.

One day after school, we went to Aunt Sarah's for lunch and a quick rest before visiting Santa at the mall.  I assumed all the kids would be excited to see him.  And they were....from a distance.  Levi would not go near him once we were in the front of the line.  So, he just gave Santa a hearty wave and went on with his day.

My little cuties in front of Aunt Sarah's tree.

Excited about standing in line to see Santa.

And this is as far as Levi made it to the big guy's chair.  He wouldn't move from the floor.  He just kept saying, "No Santa" and that was that.  Maybe next year he will be ready.

That night, I baked gingerbread and prepared a gingerbread house for the kids to decorate.  It was our first gingerbread decorating experience as a family and it went really well!  The kids did great sticking all the candy on.

Our finished house.

Erika's class also decorated graham cracker houses as part of their Christmas party.  She invited Aunt Sarah to be her special guest and help her decorate.  There was a lot more candy and a lot more mess, but still fun!  Now, Erika is out of school for two weeks and I am looking forward to having time with all three kids in the house and not having to rush in the morning to get anywhere on time.