We had an absolutely perfect Christmas!! Yes, money was tight since Kendrick wasn't working. Yes, I still felt stress about wrapping all the gifts before Christmas eve and mailing out cards "on time", and I even felt a tiny bit of guilt when neighbor gifts arrived and I knew I wouldn't be giving any in return. But considering how much we have to be thankful for: that this Christmas we have a home we can afford, we all have our health (except for the cold virus that has been making it's way through our house), and we are surrounded by true friends and loving family, we were able to keep everything in perspective and enjoy all our fun family traditions and just appreciate the season for what it was.
On Christmas eve we were able to go over to Kendrick's uncle's house and visit with his older sister, Natalie before she moves to New Zealand with her new husband. Then we decided to start a new Christmas Eve tradition and we went to a movie with Richard and T. We saw
Life of Pi and we all loved it! After the movie we did something I swore I'd never do: we went Christmas shopping on Christmas Eve. I always swore that I would never join the throng of procrastinators and shop on Christmas Eve, but the kids wanted to get a present for Zoey and Kendrick and I still needed stocking stuffers for each other. Honestly, it wasn't that bad. Kendrick took the twins and I took a sleeping Easton and Taylor and we shopped for each other and really, it was kind of fun! After shopping we came home for a dinner of lasagna, salad and garlic bread and let the kids open their Christmas pajamas from Silly Grandma. The kids were up WAY later than I would have liked for Christmas Eve but that meant that they "slept in" the next morning, so that was nice. Here are all the kids on Christmas Eve in their new jammies.
The kids were in hog heaven on Christmas morning!! This Christmas, I am
proud to say, that Santa nailed it! The kids were in love with
everything they got and Santa didn't feel even the tiniest bit of buyers
remorse or doubt about what the kids got. We "slept in" until 7:30 and
then had a chill morning of unwrapping gifts and playing with our loot
until Grandma and Grandpa came over. Then as soon as Grandma and Grandpa
left we were all back in bed for some LONG winter naps. We all slept
for a few hours and didn't wake up until it was time to head over to
Grandma and Grandpa's for dinner! That was probably one of my favorite gifts
this year, I needed a good long afternoon nap.
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| Our Christmas loot 2012 |
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| I had to get a picture of Easton's face as we waited for Kendrick and Tay to join us. He cracks me up! |
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| Proof that Santa came. Although: the kids were telling stories all morning long about how they "heard Santa on the roof" and Tay even claims to have seen him fly away. I find it interesting that on Christmas we accept the bold faced lies that our children tell us... |
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| Tay was super excited and a little bit in shock over the stuffed animal zoo that Kendrick and Quinn built her. Needless to say, I was right, and it will have to be made smaller if we ever plan on putting it in her room. We were lucky to get it in the house! |
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| To kick off the unwrapping frenzy we had Zoey unwrap her traditional Chrismas duck. That way she spends the entire morning in the corner with her duck and we don't have to worry about her getting in the way of pictures while the kids unwrap their gifts. |
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| She sucks, not chews on her duck for hours on end. It really is kind of cute to see how excited she gets about this duck each year. We've tried stuffed hedge hogs, bunnies and bears but her favorite is this duck. |
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| Easton got to go first and he got "what he always wanted"- a blue power ranger! |
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| Myles was next and got a Paper Jamz guitar. I hope this thing ends up not being a waste of money-they got good reviews on Amazon but the whole concept of a paper guitar is weird to me... |
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| Jack got the same thing-just in a different color. |
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| Taylor got the stuffed Tiger she has been dying over for the past few months. I think the fact that we saw Life of Pi the night before helped make the Tiger all the more exciting. We begged her to name it "Richahd Pahker" but she thought that name was "stupid" and chose to name it Raja instead. |
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| Easton got a Fireman suit! We have a field trip to our local fire station planned for him in January so he's excited to be able to dress like a Fireman when he goes! |
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| Myles also got the Power Ranger he has been wanting-the red one. |
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| It didn't really matter what else she got-she was in heaven with that Tiger. |
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| Jack and his Power Ranger mask-I think he knew that unwrapping that meant that there would be a costume to unwrap somewhere too... |
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| Tay has been begging for a piano for the past year. Over the summer our neighbor, Debbie taught her about notes and chords and gave her some piano worksheets and since then Tay's interest has only peaked. We thought this might be a good intro to piano until we have room for a real piano. |
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| Easton got the big boy Toy Story backpack that he has been coveting ever since the twins first day of school. |
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| Kendrick got an itch to start painting a few months ago and was excited that I got him a table easel, an introduction to painting book, some canvases, acrylic paints, brushes and a palette. Maybe he'll end up being a kick butt artist and will be able to sell some of his masterpieces...who knows? |
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| Jack was right-he opened his costume next!! |
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| Tay got the Australian Barbie that she has wanted ever since her Birthday. |
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| Myles got the red power ranger costume! |
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| Jack got a Batman wall tracks set |
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| Taylor got some National Geographic books-one about birds and one about ocean life. |
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| Easton got the red light saber that he has wanted ever since he first watched Star Wars. |
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| The twins got a Leappad to share. So far, I hate it. It is such a pain to set up. But I keep reminding myself that I only paid $59 for it and that most people end up paying $99 (on sale) for it. To me, it is so not worth $99. |
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| Taylor got some binoculars so now she can further pursue her love of bird watching. |
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| Zoey got a jacket, because in her old age she has become a wuss and can't hack the cold. But it didn't fit her so we have to take it back. I love two things about this picture: 1-that she looks completely annoyed with us and 2-that she couldn't drop that duck for even 1 minute. |
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| I feel so much safer knowing that I live with the two most awesome Power Rangers! |
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| Kendrick's and my gift to the kids was the Kinect Sensor and some Kinect games. |
On Christmas night we had a good time at my parents house playing the kid's new game of
Hedbanz
and eating WAY too much food. I am excited for the new year because I
intend to throw out all the leftover sugar and get back on the
treadmill so that I can get this excess Holiday weight off! Although, I'm not stressing
too much about it because I know that in the big scheme of things: me
gaining 5 pounds this holiday season isn't a huge deal. But man, I do miss my
skinny minnie Christmases of being able to eat whatever I want and not
gain a pound! Oh to be 25 again...
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| Richard and T got all our kids fishing poles. I love this picture of Jack. He looks like such a little stud to me. |
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| The twins and their fishing poles. |
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| Kendrick and I (this was our TENTH Christmas together) |
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| The M family on Christmas 2012 |
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| T and I being photo bombed |
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| Richard and T got Kendrick and my Mom and Dad and I new jackets! We love them!! Thanks so much guys! |
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| Cute Richard and T on Christmas 2012 |
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Richard and my boys! I'm sorry, but I still think that aside from the twins coloring, all my boys look a lot like my little brother.
We hope you all had a very Merry Christmas!! | | |
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