Waite Christmas

Our wonderful day ended at G Ma and Papa's house.  We went over and started with having a delicious Mexican dinner.  I always eat way to much at their house.  We then opened presents.  My kids got spoiled like they always do. 

Aidan excited about his Iron man toys

KK showing off her cute new clothes.

Trev was our permanent video guy since he couldn't move with his knee.

Great Grandma and Grandpa were there.

KK with G Ma

Aidan with Papa

Our self portrait

Corbin was asleep when the rest of us opened gifts so he opened his last.

I love this picture

Our one and only family Christmas picture

We ended the night with the kids watching a movie while the adults played games.  Andrea had extra presents so we played a white elephant with a twist.  We played spoons and the winner got to open a present.  The next winner could either open another present or steal a previous present already open.  It was so much fun.  We are starting a tradition.  Instead of exchanging presents with each other.  We will bring presents for this game.  

We also played the Alice in Wonderland game Trev got for Christmas.  I was so much fun, but by the time we finished it was almost midnight. 

The next day we were tired but it was well worth it.  I can't wait for next year!!!!

Slack Christmas

The Slack Christmas was at our house this year.  We get together at 10am for breakfast and games.  We had omelets, pancakes, sausage, and cinnamon rolls. Afterwards, we played Minute to Win it games.  Trev and I came up with the game after watching a game show.  The kids(and most adults) loved it. 

We started with a candy cane game.  You see how many candy canes you can pick up with the candy cane you are holding in your mouth. 

Austin was our champ.  He got 18 in one minute.

We then played "jingle balls".  You have a tissue box filled with ornaments(or bells) belted on your waist backwards (so it's over your butt).  You have to move and jiggle to get all the ornaments out.  As you can see, Tina and Tami had the most fun with this one.

This game is the "Rudolph the Red nose Reindeer" game.  You put vaseline on your nose and you have a ball hanging out of your mouth that you have to bounce up to stick to the vaseline.  I was surprised how many kids were actually able to do it.

We finished the day off with having a white elephant gift exchange. We changed it a couple of years ago to just have the kids do it cause the adults would get a little crazy.  It has helped alot.  KK got candy.  She was not very happy.  I think I am the only parent whose child would not be excited about candy.  KK ended up exchanging it with Brooklynn for chalk and doodle books.

Aidan got bubble bath stuff.  He was happy.

My kids had so much fun hanging out with their cousins and playing games but we still had more fun in store on our Christmas Day

Christmas Morning

Christmas was so fun this year.  The kids are at an age where they really grasp the concept of Santa.  They kept talking about what he was going to bring.  They went to bed so good the night before cause I told them that Santa wouldn't stop if they were still awake.

Aidan so happy for his remote control motorcycle.  I love KK's reaction in the background.

KK opening her makeup and press on nails.

Corbin trying to figure out how to get the tape off his hand.

Daddy getting the painting he wanted

Our family opening up presents was only the beginning of a really good day.

Christmas Eve Traditions

On Christmas Eve, we always do the same thing.  We open one present which is always PJ's.  The kids loved their pj's this years.  KK's were a little big and kept falling down but that's what happens when you are so skinny.

We also make homemade pizza.  It turned out so good this year.  We used a different pizza sauce and it was delicious.

We finish the night off with watching "The Nightmare before Christmas".  The kids love that movie and it is Trev's all time favorite.

Polar Express

We took a family vacation last week. We haven't been on one in a year and a half.  It wasn't a long one but it was fun.  It didn't start off that way but in the end it was well worth it.  We went to Williams, Arizona to ride the Polar Express.  It is only about 3 1/2 hours away and it is a beautiful drive. 

We almost didn't go on the trip.  We were supposed to leave early Monday morning, but at 1 am on Monday Aidan came running in my room to tell me KK was throwing up.  Of course, she tried to run to the bathroom but didn't make it so there were two huge spots that she left on the way to the bathroom that we had to clean up.  She contiuned to throw up every hour for the next couple of hours until it finally stopped at around 5 am.  We all got up at 8 and we had to decide if we were still going on our trip.  Aidan had thrown up a couple days before but it only happened once and he was over it.  We didn't know if KK was going to do the same or if it was going to last longer.  We were going with Trista and Jason's family and we didn't want to get them sick.

We made the decision at 11 that we were still going to try and make it to the Polar Express.    We couldn't get our money back so we figured if we try and don't actually make it...no harm done. At first KK kept complaining about her tummy.  We made it to the Hoover Dam before she threw up(luckily we had brought a bowl), but afterwards she felt fine and started eating normal.  We made it the rest of the way to Williams with not more incidents. 

When we got to Williams, we had about 2 hours before we boarded the train so we stopped by the pizza factory to eat some dinner.  KK started complaining of her tummy again.  We laid her down on the bench and she fell right to sleep.  She slept the whole time we were there.  After dinner, we got dressed in our PJs and went to board the train.

We are waiting in line to board the train...

Aidan looking in awww of the huge train.

Boarding the train

Waiting for the train to take off

KK still felt tired and gross so she closed her eyes for a few minutes but when she woke up she was like a different child.  She was back to her old self.   She wanted to look at everything.

Aidan drawing on the train windows

Aidan eating the cookies and chocolate cocoa they gave us

Looking out the window to see Santa Claus

Finally the time came to met Santa Claus.  He came and gave us a gift. 

He gave us all bells.

Afterward the train ride was over, we were able to go and sit on Santa's lap to have the kids tell him what they want for Christmas.

After the train we stopped by a cool diner that was on the Historic route 66

Trev couldn't resist taking a photo of the bubble boogers Corbin kept blowing.

We drove home that night because we were staying in the same cabin as my sister and we didn't want to chance getting their kids sick.  Even though it wasn't a long trip it was so nice and fun to get a way. 

We have decided that we are going to go back next year and we are going to make it a two or three day trip so we can go and see the Gand Canyon since it is so close.

Sickness and Surgery

I am so over sickness and surgery.  For the past two weeks, I have been cleaning up puke, poo, and all the messes that come with it.  Aidan got sick first at the Nativity.  Two days later, KK got sick and was sick for our whole trip to the Polar Express.  Corbin got sick two days later.  Luckily the sickness only lasted about 24 hrs each.  I thought since no one got sick for 5 days that we were out of the woods, but we were not so lucky.  I got sick 5 days later and so did Corbin.  I thought I was going to die.  My stomach hurt so bad. 

So Trevor was the only one lucky enough to not get it (or so we thought).  Monday morning he woke up with it.  This was bad news cause Tuesday he was supposed to be having his second knee surgery.  He was down and out all day, and he had it worse than any of us.  He got a blessing that night in hopes that he would still be able to have surgery the next morning.  The next morning he got up still sick but good enough that he could still have surgery. 

The surgery went good but Trev was still sick and I think all the drugs they gave him made his bad stomach and bowels even worse.  Poor guy had it bad for the next two days.  He is feeling better this morning and I hope it lasts.  

KK on the other hand threw up last night.  She kept complaining that she had a bad air bubble that she couldn't get out.  After a while, she threw up.  It was only a little but she felt instantly better and fell right to sleep.  This morning she woke up complaining her tummy hurts but hasn't thrown up.  She keeps burping so I am hoping it is just gas and not more sickness.  Trev used to throw up when he was younger cause he would get such bad gas, and that is the only thing the would help make him feel better.  

I am so over it.  Please let us have a Christmas with no puke or poo!!!!!

New Camera

I traded in my old camera (cause the flash would smoke) and got a new one.  I am still playing around with it. I don't know how much I like it but here are my family pictures I took with it. 

 

I love the goofy, funny and beautiful faces my family comes up with when the camera comes out.