Christmas Themes

This year seemed to be a theme Christmas especially for the kids.
Jade got mostly fairy stuff.
Aiden's Christmas was all about Elmo. He got Elmo Live, books about Elmo, and of course Elmo undies...
For Zack and James, it was all about Star Wars...they got ships and action figures.

Christmas Morning Surprise

Jade's big Christmas surprise was this sit-on elephant. She has one in her class at church and each week it is a MUST that she sits on it. So, we found one very similar to the one at church and put it under the Christmas tree. Needless to say, it was a hit.

More of Christmas

y

Christmas night, I woke up every little bit. I think I was excited to watch the kids during Christmas. Finally they woke up and we opened gifts around 7:15 or so. Here are some pictures of the kids waiting in the hallway Christmas morning. They have a tradition at my sister's house of wrapping the hallway so you can't see into the living room and you are trapped in the back end of the house. Then when they give the go ahead, the boys zoom through the paper and burst through on the other side...in the living room and see the tree with all the presents. They always have one present unwrapped. Jade had a giant sit-on elephant which she absolutely loves!

Christmas Eve + Christmas Morning

Jade and Daddy just before bedtime
Jade and her cousin, Aiden
(Those pj's Aiden is wearing are some that I bought for his oldest brother, James, when he was about Aiden's age... Now he is 9!)

We had a nice time visiting with my sister and her husband over the Christmas holiday. We arrived on the afternoon of Christmas Eve and stayed until the day after Christmas. Jade got some new jammies to wear on Christmas Eve...they were purple with little snow globes all over them. They were the warm fuzzy kind with non-slip feet and so cute. (We had to take them off part way through the opening of presents because she soaked through her diaper.) We went to a light show that someone had at their house. They syncronized lights to music and broadcast it on the raido at half hour intervals. It was neat. Here is a picture of how the tree looked Christmas Eve after the kids went to bed and we put everything out for the morning. Lots of stuff.

Happy Holidays

I hope your holidays were merry and bright. We had a great time at my sister's house. It was the first year with a baby of our own, so that of course was new and exciting. We went to see Santa on the 23rd...long story and even longer lines. DO NOT GO TO MALLS THAT CLOSE TO CHRISTMAS! I hope I remember that for next year. We're enjoying a few days off together.

More of my favorites

Larry and Erin

We had a great day with Larry and Erin yesterday. We went to a nearby university to shoot some pictures. Here's a couple from the day.

The Elephant.

At Sabbath School, there is this elephant. The kids sing a song called Animals, Animals. When they sing it, the teachers bring up different stuffed animals. One is this elephant. One week, we sat Jade on it. Now, whenever she sees it, she is dying to get on it. The other week, we were singing that song and she saw the teacher bringing up the elephant. She started squealing, "Uh, uh, uh..." over and over again. There were two other children there who got to go before Jade so the whole time during their turns she was there squealing and rocking and kicking her legs with excitement. FINALLY it was her turn and I lifted her up there on the elephant's back. She threw her little arms around its neck and bit the tuft of hair on it's head. Guess what I've ordered her for Christmas....