Christmas Day

We had a wonderful Christmas this year. The kids woke up about 8 o clock. Can't come plan. Bailey actually came in about 7:15 but didn't remember what day it was and crawled in bed and feel back asleep til Caleb woke up at 8. We forgot to get the cameras out so the kids patiently waited in the hallway until we were ready. The kids were so excited and I LOVE watching their excitement! Caleb was so happy to see that Santa left a bell again this year. The kids did not ask for hardly anything this year so we kept it low key. Caleb's wish list was a Geotrax set and Bailey asked for a guitar and pillow pet. That was it, we thought for sure it would grow longer as they talked to their friends at school, etc but it never grew. I love my sweet kids!!! They were so happy and content with what they got and LOVED the Geotrax that we bought them (they played with one at my sister's while in TX and loved it). They spent the morning playing with it while Tommy and I got breakfast going and got showered for the day. We switched things up this year and did omelets for breakfast, they were so yummy! We left the house around 11 and headed out to Shanna's for a bit. We exchanged a few more gifts. The kids got their pillow pets from Grandma and Grandpa in California. We laid around and visited for a bit before heading to my parents for an early dinner at 2. All my siblings were there except for the Smith clan in Texas (we missed you guys)! After eating we exchanged a few more gifts between siblings and cousins. We all visited and let the kids play until around 6 and then we headed home to relax as our own little family and let the kids play some more with their new toys. It was so nice to come home and have time by ourselves. We played Bailey's Angelina Ballerina matching game, Caleb's Big Buck Hunter game and then let the kids play with the Geotrax. It was a busy but very memorable Christmas! We are so grateful for this time of year to reflect on Christ's birth! I am grateful for my little family and all the wonderful memories we create together. Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas! Tommy was able to get Monday off so we spent one last day with his family playing games and relaxing before they left Tuesday morning.

Santa left his bell
Just like cousin Emmie's

Surprised him with the Oakleys he had been wanting

Caleb made this for me. Forgot to get a pic of Bailey's. It was a clear ornament with her handprint on it.

Round 2 at Aunt Shanna's

Round 3 at Grandma's. She got the tank top she has been obsessing about.

Twas the Night Before Christmas.....

I can not believe how quickly Christmas seemed to come this year. We haven't had any snow so I think that has made it seem like it was not time for Christmas yet. Tommy's whole family was here this year. His brother was in Iraq last year so this was the first year his side of the family was all together since he got married. We started Christmas Eve off like we always do with a matinee movie. Both sets of grandparents came with us this year. The kids were so excited to have them both with us. We took the kids to see Chipwrecked. We tried to sway them but they were set on seeing it so we went, they liked it but it was so super cheesy this time around it was a bit painful for us adults :) but we still had fun. We headed over to Tommy's sisters afterwards to meet up with the rest of his side. We relaxed for a while before heading out to dinner at Tokyo. It was really good and Caleb amazed us with how much shrimp he ate. We headed back to Shanna's to open up a few gifts. Of course it is always pajamas but the kids still look forward to it. We watched some Christmas movies and baked some cookies for Santa. Aunt Jessica also made some chocolate covered pretzels, which my kids love. We headed home around 9:30 to get the kids in bed before Santa came. We of course put out our reindeer food before heading off to bed. I love the magic of Christmas Eve!!

Greene Family Get Together

For the second year we got together at my sisters house to let the kids act out the manager scene. This year she had some fun little crafts for the kids to do. They started out making macaroni necklaces and then she had made some sugar cookie dough that we cut out in Christmas shapes. They then painted their cookies using dyed egg whites and then you bake them. They turned out so cool! The kids had so much fun painting and they were all very "serious" and detailed. We were quite impressed with the results. We went downstairs and read the story of Christ's birth out of the Bible while the kids acted it out. They love doing this. Then each kid sand their Christmas song from school and Maddie and Allie did some musical numbers. We enjoyed the cookies and had hot chocolate afterwards. It was such a fun and relaxing night and the kids had so much fun! Thanks again Steph!

The kids and all their necklaces

Caleb's Christmas Sing

Caleb had a very fun last week of school before Christmas break. They wrapped and took in their favorite Christmas stories to read to the class, they had Christmas Around the World where they learned how each different country celebrates, Polar Express Day, his class party and then the Christmas Sing. Tommy had the day off since we were in charge of the ward Christmas party that night so he was able to come and watch Caleb sing. Caleb's song this year was, I Want A Hippopotamus for Christmas. We would hear him singing this song several times a day for most of December as they were learning it. I am bummed that we don't have a recording but we started to record it but the girl in front of him was quite tall and you couldn't even see him :( He did a great job though.

Gingerbread Houses

I started the tradition two years ago of doing gingerbread houses with the kids. It has been such a fun tradition that both the kids and I look forward to. This year we did it as an impromptu family home evening with our friends the Hubert's. It was very last minute but we ran out and got the gingerbread houses and they ran out and got some sandwiches at Quiznos. We ate and then let the kids go crazy, and if you can't tell by the amount of candy and sprinkles that is exactly what they did. They had so much fun! I usually "try" to help and make it all neat but I stepped back this year as both kids are older now and let them create :) We finished off the night with hot chocolate and peppermint ice cream.