Christmas Day 2015

The kids were so excited to wake up Christmas morning and see what Santa brought them.  Lucy got up really early and came into bed to snuggle with us until 7 AM.  We told the kids we would go down at 7, no earlier.  We all went down together to look inside our stockings.  Santa brought all the kids another set of magnet tiles and as a family we got the movie "Inside Out".  We then had a nice breakfast together.  Some friends dropped off some homemade cinnamon rolls on our doorstep while we were gone.  They were the perfect addition to our Christmas breakfast.  We then started to open the rest of the gifts.  We took turns making sure to see what we all got.  Nolan was really into opening gifts this year.  He would take his time and tear little pieces off at a time.

Nolan got a monkey pillow pet. He was so excited and snuggled up with it right away.

Nolan got a basketball hoop, a Duplo Lego table, some Duplo Lego's, wooden animal magnets, monkey pillow pet, a dinosaur with a flashlight tummy and a Thomas the train book with flashlight and sounds.  Grandma and Grandpa Smith sent him some Little People cars and Aunt Tracy sent him a little corgi dog.  Santa brought him some bath crayons in his stocking.

Garrett got a punching bag, a snap circuit set, a Lego truck and boat set (the boat floats), a lava lamp, and a book.  He got a new watch in his stocking and a flying ninja ball.  Aunt Tracy sent him a Minecraft Lego set.  Grandma and Grandpa Smith sent Lucy and Garrett the 25th anniversary set of the "Home Alone" movies. 

Lucy got a Lego set of a double decker boat, a new Kidz Bop CD, a new book and a vest with a fur collar.  Aunt Tracy sent her a Lego friends set. 

I got a new mirror for my bedroom, some new workout clothes and some bracelets. Santa brought me a new scarf and some earrings.  Tracy sent me some new organic chap sticks.

 JJ got a new pair of shoes, a new workout shirt, a table tennis set and an new saw blade.  I tried to get him a new circular saw but the one I wanted was out of stock.  I wrapped up the rain check and a picture of it.  Hopefully in the next little bit it will be back in stock and we can go get it. Tracy sent him a blues t-shirt (the one he has on).

We were so blessed to have such nice gifts this year.  Everyone was so happy with the things they got and it was fun to see them open them.  The kids had such a fun time playing with them all day.  Lucy and Garrett got right to work putting together their Lego sets.  It took Lucy a few hours to get hers put together.  It was an awesome Lego set and we knew she would love it.  Garrett's boat is fun and has a cool truck that pulls it. 

The weather was nice and when Nolan woke up we went for a nice walk in the neighborhood.  They are working on a new walking trail in our neighborhood and it was fun to check out.  When we got back my Dad was there with my Grandma.  We hosted dinner at our house, it was fun to get both the dinning room and kitchen table set all nice with our Christmas place settings.  We decided to have a turkey dinner.  We bought a large turkey and JJ was excited to cook it.  It turned out great and he made gravy from scratch that was perfect.  I made a sweet potato dish, a green bean dish and some mashed potatoes.  My Mom brought some rolls, everything was delicious! 

We had a nice time visiting with everyone and the kids loved showing off their new things.  Grandma really enjoyed coming over.  She said she always likes coming over to our house.  She had some sweet compliments on the way our house looked and how yummy all the food was.  We do love our home and it is fun to have it filled with family!

Nolan loved to play with both Grandma's and had so much energy! 

We had such a wonderful Christmas and loved spending time relaxing and visiting with family.

Christmas Eve

 For some reason Christmas really snuck up on us this year.  We were all prepared but it seemed like it just didn't feel like Christmas.  JJ and I were both commenting on it and thought maybe since he doesn't have that much time off work or we aren't traveling anywhere? We both miss the days of being a student and having several weeks off school.  The way Christmas and New years are this year he doesn't get a whole lot of time of work.  Both fall on Fridays this year which are his usual day off.   Oh well, we will hope his productivity bonus will make it worth it.  JJ is excited to have a break from teaching seminary for a few weeks.  Sleeping in an extra few hours and getting in a longer workout at the gym have been nice.  Classes at the gym were normal Christmas Eve morning and with JJ home I headed over to catch a class.  The plan was to get ready and head over to my parents house so Nolan could nap there and we could make cookies.  It was a pretty nice day and my parents decided to go for a walk.  We decided to wait to go down and let Nolan nap at home.  It worked out better and we were able to get some things done around the house.  When Nolan woke up we headed down and made cookies with Grandma. 

I let Lucy do a whole batch of cookies and Garrett did a whole batch.

 Nolan tried to get a hold of any dough he could.  I gave him a little ball of dough to play with and he was so happy about it.  He tried to eat it but found out it didn't taste really good raw.  

 We all helped decorate them with different colors of frosting and sprinkles. 

 After we made cookies we had a nice ham dinner.  It was all so yummy!  We then had a nice Christmas program.  Courtney and I played some songs on the piano and everyone sang.  Instead of reading the scripture story we watched the Nativity movie the church put out a few years ago.  We have been reading the story along with the advent calendar in the friend magazine.  It was nice to feel the true meaning of Christmas.  We played our dollar store gift exchange game which was fun.  We then did our gift exchange with everyone that we draw names for.  I had Lauren and they weren't in town so I gave her gift to her at Thanksgiving.  I picked out some new earring for her while in Arizona as well as a new scarf and a picture frame.  JJ had Courtney and he did an eye exam for her and got her some new glasses online.  Natalie had me and got me some new perfume, some bracelets and some scarfs.  She did a great job and I love it all.   Chad had JJ and he got him some eye chart dress socks and an optometry tie, he was so excited about both.  Grandma and Grandpa gave the kids their gifts as well.  They got Nolan a Duplo Lego set, he was so excited and kept saying "choo choo!"  Garrett got a really cool snow plow truck Lego set.  Lucy got a new jacket and a watch, she loves them.

 We had such a nice evening with everyone!  It was so nice to be with family and feel the Christmas spirit.

When we got home the kids opened up their Christmas pajamas.  They loved them and were so excited about them being so soft and cozy.  We set our cookies out for Santa and they were off to bed.

Cookies with Friends

Wednesday was our first day of winter break.  A friend from church invited everyone over to decorate sugar cookies.  The kids were looking forward to going and it was a lot of fun.  She had a huge group of kids, just under 30.  For some reason the boys all ended up at one table and the girls at another.   

 Garrett's cookies, he wanted to save them for later.

 Lucy and her cookie, she made more but she ate them as she decorated them.

We played and visited when we were done with cookies.  A friend of mine just moved into our ward.  I know her from the gym back when we were both pregnant.  We became friends while we attended the classes together.  She was a few months behind me and would tell me that I was her motivation and if I was doing it she could too! We didn't know that we were both LDS until we passed each other in the hall at church one week when her ward was ended and I was heading somewhere in the hall.  We both saw each other and kind of laughed, she said "you go here?!" It was funny we never put it together until then.  I am excited to have her in our ward, her little girl is just a few months younger then Nolan.  She came to the cookie decorating activity and it was fun to hang out.  We are glad we were able to go, the kids had fun making cookies and hanging out with their church friends.

Gingerbread Houses

Each year we usually participate in a gingerbread house competition with some friends.  We had it scheduled earlier but things came up and they had to cancel it.  We were disappointed because its always a lot of fun.  We thought it would still be fun to make some houses with the kids.  They weren't anything fancy but I bought some little gingerbread house kits for the kids to do.  They each got their own little house and were so excited to put them together.  Nolan wanted to eat all his little candy but he figured out they went on the house when we showed him.   

 Nolan loves to sit up on the table, we are constantly telling him to get down.  We get him off and he climbs right back on. 

Everyone's house turned out really cute! 

 

Merry Christmas

Sunday we all wore our Christmas outfits to church.  I wanted to get a picture of us all in front of the tree.  I figured the best time to do it would be before church since when we come home Nolan is usually ready to take a nap.  Nolan wanted nothing to do with taking picture!  We teased he was an angry elf.  They turned out good enough and we called it good.  We had to hurry off to church early for a meeting JJ needed to attend.   

 We walked in the door from church and Nolan went right over to the bench and sat on it and said "Cheese!" So I hurried and made the other kids sit down and we tried again.  He was being so silly, I am glad we got this cute one of the three of them all smiling.  I like the pretty Christmas lights behind us in these ones.  

 Here is our Christmas card we sent out this year.  It is always so fun to get cards from our friends and family who live near and far.

Main Street in St. Charles

We have had such a mild winter, which has been great!  We have been able to play outside and do outside activities without freezing.  We have never been down to main street St. Charles during the Christmas season.  They have the Dickens characters all dressed up and the whole street is decorated really nice.  We have wanted to go years previous but haven't made it down.  Saturday afternoon some friends were heading down and invited us to go with them.  We were excited to go and it was the perfect day. 

 

We had fun walking up and down main street together, stopping to hear some carolers along the way.  Each person or group had a card that you collected as you stopped and visited with them.  The kids thought it was a lot of fun to get cards from them.  We snacked on little treats as we walked.  Spencer bought a big bag of popcorn to share as well as some cookies from a little shop.  It was his birthday so we really should have treated him to a treat.   

 

 As it got darker it got colder and Nolan didn't want to ride in the stroller anymore.  He wanted to get out and explore.  Which meant he wanted to run, Nolan doesn't just walk along side you.  He runs away, fast.  We let him out a little when we got over to the big Christmas tree.  They had a stage with someone juggling and he enjoyed watching them and looking at the lights.

We stopped at this Deli to warm up and get some hot chocolate.  We decided to get some dinner and sit and visit.  Evan and Garrett laid out all their cards they collected.  It was cute they had the table covered and you would think they were trading sports cards or something.  They had a big TV in there and they turned the channel for us so we could watch a little bit of the BYU vs. Utah football game.  It was the perfect place to hang out for a little while.   

As we left the deli there was a church across the street hosting a gingerbread house competition.  We went in and voted and looked at some fun houses.  We usually participate in a gingerbread house competition so it was fun to see some ideas for the future.

 

After looking at the houses we walked back down main street to our cars to head home.  It was such a fun night.  Main street was so pretty and fun this time of year.  We are so glad we made it down and it was fun to hang out with friends.