Christmas Eve and Christmas Day!

We had a great Christmas! On Christmas Eve we took the kids to Pump It Up (it's a place with tons of bounce houses) to get their wiggles out. It was a great distraction from being asked every 10 minutes if Santa was on his way yet.

When we got home, I made our Christmas Eve dinner and we had a wonderful feast.

After dinner, we read from Luke 2 and Hayden and Lincoln were kind enough to play Mary and Joseph in a little family nativity. Our sheep (Spencer) refused to participate minutes before showtime. Just so you know, he had the option of being the sheep, the shepherd or the wiseman and he chose the sheep, but then bailed on us.


I love this picture! (Even with Jude's big head!) Ohhhhh, now I can use my gift from my sister-in-law (photoshop)!



After our Christmas Nativity pageant, we read the Homer Story (the real name is "Christmas is for Sharing" by Robert Warner) and it helps us remember what the season is all about. It was a fantastic night! Okay, it was fantastic until the kids went to bed and the putting together of Christmas toys began. Why do we always get toys that require assembly???


Christmas Morning!!!! Santa left our toys in our family room, away from the Christmas tree because he knows that Jude is dangerous in the living room. Santa brought the big kids bikes. Pictures of the kids riding those to come.


Hayden got American Girl doll clothes.


Yup, Spiderman and Ninja-man.


Spencer cuddling with his Sing-a-ma-jig and the Monster my mom made (she made the kids their own, cute monsters). She is so talented.


The boys with their racetrack from Nonni and Bobpa! It's a crazy slot car racetrack that is awesome. I've found Joey in the boys' room playing with it (the boys were not in there with him!)

Mom and Dad finally did it! We finally got the present that kept them occupied for 4 hours on Christmas Day. The trampoline is a huge success, so much so that they wouldn't stop to smile and take a picture.

Attempting Christmas Pictures

This is why they invented Photoshop, but what happens when you don't get one "non-crying" shot of Mr. Jude??








What am I going to do with that kid??

Christmas Programs

We had our ward Christmas party on Saturday night. Hayden was in the primary program and she was an angel!





Hayden also had her program at school called "Reindeer Rock"! The teacher said it was not an accident that she was front and center. She knew all the words, dance moves and smiled super big! Our video camera died so we don't have video of the performance but I'm trying to track down other parents who recorded it to see if we could get a copy! No one but grandparents care about that!

Graham Cracker Houses

It's the time for graham cracker houses. I'm lazy when it comes to the whole gingerbread house thing and we do graham cracker houses instead. The kids have fun, they get messy and it's a lot easier for me! I love that the kids are entirely in charge of their house. They get a lot of satisfaction out of it.

If I had to guess, I would say that the kids ate 80% of the candy and 20% actually got on the houses. We also went through a whole tub of frosting! It's one night, it's fun, I'm okay with it!

Here is our Jude! He had fun watching the excitement and eating graham crackers!


Here is Link enjoying his frosting covered hand!

Spencer's approach to eating the frosting is a little more subtle.

The boys were so proud of their architectural accomplishments.

Hayden and her house! We especially love her snowman!

The kids in all their Frank Lloyd Wright-esque glory! (minus Jude, he was upset by this point and wondering if we were ever going to change his diaper!)