Christmas 2011

He became human like us,

lived a perfect life,

so that WE could become sons of God like him.

“…This is the name by which He will be called: The LORD our righteousness.”

-Jeremiah 23:6-

Merry Christmas Everyone! Christmas was a blast this year, but there was one thing missing….my Mother-In-law! We haven’t spent Christmas without her in 4 years so she was very very missed! We mainly celebrated our Christmas, Christmas Eve with church and dinner but anyone who knows my husband would know Christmas Presents are to be opened no sooner than Christmas morning. So that is exactly what we did. My parents and niece stayed the night Christmas Eve so we were all in one house to be up together to open gifts Christmas morning. My sister joined us in the midst of present chaos once she got off work around 8:20am. After the piles and piles of gifts were opened (thank you so much to everyone who sent gifts, the kids loved every single one) we enjoyed a very nice breakfast together. After breakfast the kids enjoyed playing with their gifts and then it was nap time for all, even the adults. Haha. At around 3pm my parents headed home and the 4 of us just enjoyed a quite evening as a family and ate delicious left overs from Christmas Eve dinner. It was a really nice laid back day, so much that we stayed in our pj’s all day. Gotta love pj days. Warning: I have tons of pictures to share due to out of town relatives who were heartbroken that they couldn’t be here to celebrate with us and our kids. I tried to document every moment so they feel less like they missed out. Okay here we go….

Santa was definitely here! He left cookie crumbs, the reindeers left half chewed carrots, presents that were requested were left and stockings were stuffed tight. Guess that means we had some “good” kiddos this year. We did not get pictures of the kids reactions because we were busy recording it. We had three kids and four adults so some things were impossible to get pictures of. Just know they loved everything Santa left! Even the half eaten cookies (Autumn ate them up in no time flat)! Owen got his very anticipated new computer game he was asking for and a cool new spider man and hulk toy and Autumn got her adorable new ladybug helmet.

Mommy was smart this year and had all the presents divided up so that we didn’t have to waste valuable time in the morning doing it. These two piles were just Owen and Autumn’s gifts. Yes, absolutely ridiculous. I think we are going to need to set a present limit next year. Our kids our loved by so many people. Thank you all again for all the amazingly wonderful gifts!!! There is not a single toy/present that hasn’t gone unused.

Things started off nice and calm and them turned into present chaos. There was wrapping paper and bows flying all over the place. Haha, it was so much fun! The kids were on present overload. They couldn’t decided if they wanted to open things up and start playing or keep on opening up more gifts. Christmas with kids is so much fun!

Owen was a pro from last year at opening gifts. Some of his reaction’s were priceless.

Autumn on the other hand….wanted nothing to do with opening presents. Something about the sound of the wrapping paper ripping did not set well with her. She was so freaked out that I was left opening all her gifts. She loved them once the paper was off. So funny how different kids are.

Pampo and his Girls

They each got some really adorable new clothes. I think they both have complete new wardrobes.

Autumn got an adorable new Minnie Mouse scooter and Owen got a sweet new Cars bike with training wheels.

Abi was so excited when Mommy showed up to open presents with her after work!

After the kids opened their stacks of gifts, Mommy & Daddy brought out a special gift from them…

A Red Mustang Convertible! They were beyond excited!!!! Every time we go to Toys ‘r’ Us the kids insist on going to play in the Power Wheels. Now they have their very own.

Once present time was finished we had all worked up a huge appetite….

We had a breakfast casserole I made in the cock pot (yes, I said the CROCK POT! You throw everything in before you go to bed and then you have a delicious hot breakfast all ready when you wake up. Amazing! Thank you Pinterest!) and we ate the leftover Holiday Cranberry Cake from Christmas Eve dinner. Yum yum yum!

After breakfast the kids were busy playing with all their new stuff so us adults decided it was our turn to open up some gifts.

Owen and Daddy checking out the sweet new game Santa brought him for Christmas. He LOVES this new game!

Autumn taking her new puppy for a walk!

Opening up the present Owen made us at Pre-School.

Look at the awesome shadow from the top of the Christmas Tree!

Lots of lovin was also going around!

While Nana & Pampo were trying to gather all there stuff up to head home, we decided to bundle up the kids and take them out to take their new Mustang for a spin around the Cul de Sac….

Owen got the hang of driving really quick. He is even good at steering in the correct directions. A little scary how fast he picked it up. Autumn was just sitting in the passenger seat yelling “weeee, weee, weee.” She loves going for rides with her big bro!

Check out those sweet platinum rims. Owen made sure to tell me his mustang goes way faster than my mini van. Haha, thanks son!

And by the end of the night we were all BEAT! What a fun Christmas we had with lots of love and way too many gifts. Thank you to everyone who made our Christmas so memorable.

MERRY CHIRSTMAS EVERYONE!!!!

The day after Christmas they first words out of Owen’s mouth were, “Can we go out and drive our car?” Once we washed up and ate breakfast we went out to drive the car some more. It was pretty cold so we only stayed out for a few minutes, but the kids had a blast.

Owen even tried out his new bike. He definitely needs some more practice on this thing. It is quite a difference going from a tricycle to a bike with training wheels. He has a problem of trying to peddle backwards, which works on his tricycle, but it turns on the brakes on his new bike which makes him very frustrated. No biggy, we have lots of time to practice. He is one determined little boy so I know he will get it very soon.

Breaks my heart how grown up he is.