A Merry Christmas

We've had a lovely Christmas. The past few years we've had our Christmas at home with just our little family. This year was another wonderful Christmas of a blend of eating good food, enjoying each other, and plenty of laying around. It is what we always need and anything goes. And today it involved plenty of Christmas movies. Funny side note-Hampton saw Ralphie from A Christmas Story today and said, "Look! It's Hampy!" Even he sees the resemblance. Such a fun day.

 

This year the boys got Annies fruit snacks and granola bars, a box of crayons, Hershey kisses, and M and Ms in their stockings. They loved it.
 

For breakfast we enjoyed sweet rolls and pigs in a blanket. Yum!
 

And each child got a new book. Everett got a new Bernstein Bear book, Hampton got Little Blue Truck Goes to the City, and Eleanor got an Eloise Wilkin storybook.
 

After breakfast the children opened their presents. The boys' big present this year was a new train table with trains. They loved it! Everett got a new board game, a puzzle, and a stamp set. Hampton got a peg board and a few puzzles as well. Eleanor received a baby carriage and some stacking letter blocks.
 

 

 

 

 

The boys have been playing with their new table non-stop. It was a hit!
 

We spent the rest of the day watching movies and playing with toys. After dinner we had a chocolate chip pound cake and sang "Happy Birthday Jesus." It was a fantastic day. 

Happy Christmas Eve!

The children at our candlelight service last night.........
 

 

 

Christmas Party with Gigi

Eric's mom came to visit a couple of days ago and the children were excited to celebrate Christmas with her! They opened some pretty fun presents including lots of Play Doh, puzzles, and some new bath towels.
 

 

And Eleanor got some pretty outfits.
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Gigi opening her new blanket from the children.
 

 

And a box full of K cups!
 

 

 

 

 

 

And the boys got an art easel from Gigi!
 

 

 

 

 

Christmas Adventure

We've been having fun celebrating the season at our home. We have our Christmas trees and decor up, have been listening to Christmas music non-stop, and have been watching some Christmas movies.

We've also enjoyed a mug or two of hot cocoa........
 

 

 

 

And today Everett had his Christmas pageant at school. He did not sing much, but Hampton sure did from the audience! He did not know the words, so he just made up his own! He lives to entertain. I was so proud of Everett though.


And they had a little party afterward. Everett now has 2 weeks off from preschool.

Tonight Eric had to work late, so to have fun and create a memory I told the children we were going on a "Christmas adventure." They were very excited and curious as I got them into their Christmas jammies after dinner. We loaded up into the van.......

 

 

And went to look at Christmas lights! One of our parks has a whole display you can drive through. The children had a lot of fun.
 

After the lights I told them I had one more surprise in store. When we pulled up to Dunkin Donuts the boys started yelling in excitement. This was a rare and welcomed treat.
 

 

I washed them all up from that sugary goodness......
 

and then things got a little silly. The sugar must have kicked in instantly. The boys started dancing and acting goofy.
 

I am pretty sure I created a good memory tonight and we had a lot of fun. Needless to say as soon as their lights went out for bed, they fell fast asleep!
 

Many Small Children

Our close friends the Burkes came to visit us on Saturday. So that meant that between our two families we have 6 children ages 4 and under. It was a party. And to think, at one point we were friends with Chris and Amy before any of us even had any children. Just a couple of free spirits going to Wendys after church-ha!

We had pizza for lunch, picnic style and sat all the children in front of a Mickey Mouse. We know how to survive!


After lunch Amy and I escaped to Starbucks and to get pedicures. We are tired mamas and needed some pampering.
For dinner I made a quick spaghetti dinner which ended up being very messy. 

One of the best things though was since our children all line up in age and gender, they did a great job of just entertaining themselves in our playroom all day. It was like having a preschool class here!

Silas and Hampton

Everett and Wyatt

Eleanor and Clara

And the very best part!? The next time we see the Burkes we'll have 8 children amongst us! Baby Burke and Boy Williamson make their debut soon! We're adding 2 more boys to our crew.

It was a crazy, wonderful day.