Christmas Day 2012

 Claire and Sean were up around 7:15. They were pleased to see that Santa came while they were sleeping. We let them wake up Lukey.

 Claire asked for a rainbow, unicorn dream lite. Santa brought one for each of the kids. They have had so much fun with these toys.

                                               This kid is adorable

 Daddy got new slippers so he would stop stealing my pink ones.

 Santa met all of this girl's expectations. She had a great Christmas morning.

                           I like that this present is almost as tall as he is.

 I love my awesome Mom presents that the kids made for me in school.

                                           Lukey loves Nemo

                                          I love this crooked smile

                           Christmas morning pancakes are always extra yummy.

 Mark and I got plenty of sleep the night before but were exhausted all day from the intense parenting.

                                        Sean and his Grammy.

We had a calm, peaceful happy day. We were able to relax and take our time in the morning. We had a relaxed lunch at the Hamblins and played games with some friends in the evening. Our children surprised us with their ability to handle all the activities from the day. They were happy for each other as they watched their siblings open gifts. Mark and I experienced great joy watching our children experience the magic of the day. It was a very happy day.

Christmas Eve

                                         We loved our white Christmas

 Claire and Mommy dressed in matching red shirts and snowflake necklaces. We took the kids over to the dinosaur museum to run around for a while.

 We hosted my parents, my brother's family and my grandma. Mark and I enjoyed hosting our first Christmas dinner. We spent the day cleaning and preparing homemade lasagna and garlic bread and trifle. We felt like it came together quit nicely.

                                                   Our helpers

 For our activity we listening to President Monson's voice recording of his new book. Grandma Hamblin gave this to Sean as an early present. I told Sean we would listen to it when everyone came over. He carried the book and CD around all day. He was very excited to turn the pages in his book while we listened.

 Opening presents from Grandma and Grandpa Luke

                                           Our kids with Cousin Elena.

 As everyone left we went outside to sprinkle the reindeer food out on the snow.

                                         Glitter and oats.

 Claire made a checklist of all the things we needed to do in order for Santa to come. Put on winter jammies, lay out the stockings, put out cookies and milk and spread reindeer food. Her need to make checklists for everything just reinforces to me that she is my daughter.

                    We had everything ready to go and were in bed by 10pm!

Christmas Festivities

 The kids were great helpers with delivering cards and treats to our neighbors.

                               The Hamblin family Christmas party.

                                    Making sugar cookies with Daddy.

 Grandma and Grandpa Luke's Christmas party. Claire was excited to be Mary this year.

                                             Sean was a sheep.

                                  Lukey clung to Daddy all night.

Christmas school programs

 Claire's school did a singing program for the parents. We were set up in the gym and each grade took a turn on stage singing their prepared song. Claire's song was Rudoff the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Claire had been practicing and was super excited. Mark, Luke and I were able to be in the audience to watch her.

 Sean's little school had prepared a 20 minute program with several songs they had been learning. Sean was a little rock star. He sat nicely in his seat, held up his visual aids, did most of the actions and even sang a few songs. I cried through the entire program. I couldn't help but think about how far he has come. A year ago at this time Sean was just barely putting two words together. He had high levels of anxiety, wasn't sleeping much at night and might have been overwhelmed and over stimulated by this kind of activity. Watching my little guy manage himself so well and enjoy himself was overwhelming for me. I have a really hard time having him be gone so long during the day but he is thriving in the structured school environment. All the other autism mommies told me that he would and I felt like I just had to trust them as I put Sean on a but day after day. Sean is growing in ways that Mark and I didn't know were possible for him. He loves playing with friends. I taught him how to knock on the neighbor's door across the street and ask, "can friends play?" He is able to manage playing and is getting much better at sharing and being kind. My favorite part of this Christmas season has been Sean's constant chattering. He is constantly talking about Christmas and Santa and lights and trees. This is the first year that he really understood what was going on. We had so much fun watching Sean experience his first Christmas.

                                      Sean sitting with his teacher Miss Janeen.

  Getting hugs after Mommy cried for a half a hour. I'm so proud of him!

 The Utah County Annual Commissioners Cup selected Giant Steps to be the recipient of their Charity Golf Tournament. They presented Kyle with a check for $10,000.

                                           Sean got a kick out of Santa!

 Claire took this conversation very seriously. Mark and I were pleased when Santa showed up as it saved us a trip to the mall.