Christmas Eve Pictures - 2013

Even though it's a little (ha ha ha) stressful to try and get a decent group picture with these four wild and crazy kids, I'm always glad looking back that we made the effort. Having said that, I am truly looking forward to the day when they are old enough to just cooperate and have beautiful smiles. :)

 McKinley - 10 months old

 Jackson - 3 years old

Kennedy - 5 years old

Reagan - 6 1/2 years old

 I am so thankful for these 4 healthy munchkins that bless our lives each and every day! :)

Christmas 2013

Our children are blessed beyond measure with all the people who love them and all the gifts they receive each year for Christmas. As I shared previously we celebrate an early Christmas with Aunt Arla and Uncle Scott when they visit us in November for the girl's violin recital.

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This year Aunt Julie and Uncle Chuck brought Christmas presents from Grandma and Grandpa which the kids were more than happy to open and enjoy Thanksgiving weekend. I can't possibly post pictures of everything, but here are a few of my favorites of them opening up some of their gifts. 

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Each of the girls received a box filled with numerous American Girl Doll accessories. You can tell by their faces that they're just a little excited. :)

Grandma gave each of the kids their very own 6 pack of Puffs - I cannot tell you how excited each of them were to receive these! lol :) 

  Jackson was in heaven with an arsenal of new guns (these are only a couple of them). :)

 McKinley certainly wasn't left out either! My favorite gift she received was this number flower garden - it is soooo cute! All the kids love playing with this and it is such a good learning toy!

 Thank you Grandma and Grandpa for all the wonderful gifts! We truly appreciate them and love you lots!

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It has been our tradition for the last several years to open up Christmas gifts with Grammy and Grand-Dad on Christmas Eve morning. I was impressed with how well the kids cooperated in getting a group picture taken before opening gifts. :)

 Kennedy with Grammy and her new Molly doll and Reagan with her new doll, Kit

 Grammy and Grand-Dad gave McKinley her first American Girl Doll which was the doll of the year for 2013, Saige.

 

 McKinely enjoying a Godchild ornament for Uncle Andrew and Aunt Jen

Jackson must not have been in the mood for pictures that morning because this is about the only decent picture Grand-Dad or I caught of him. At least it's a cute pic of all the kids with Grammy and Grand-Dad! :)

 Thank you Grammy and Grand-Dad for all the beautiful and amazing gifts and for all you do for us throughout the year!

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And of course Santa may have brought the kids a couple of gifts. :) I once again tortured my crew with taking a pic with the presents before letting them opening their gifts. We especially had to get a picture since they were all wearing their super cool camouflage jammies from Grandma and Grandpa! :)

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I have to tell one story about Jackson, especially given how excited he is in this picture. Jackson has come such a long way in loving McKinley since she was born and he refused to even be in the same room as her. Christmas morning he came down the stairs, walked straight past everything under the tree to come and love on her before he did anything else. It was so sweet! My children can certainly be a challenge at times, but they really do have good hearts when it comes to loving each other and other people. :)

Reagan sporting a new bike helmet while opening up doll furniture for the new dollhouse

Jackson's two favorite gifts were his Big Wheels and a new set of Disney Cars

 

 As has been our tradition for the other girls, McKinley received a Bitty Baby for from Santa for her 1st Christmas.

 Kennedy helping McKinley open and read a book from Uncle Andrew and Aunt Jen

 We gave the grandparents Santa ornaments made from the kids handprints. I have to say they did turn out pretty cute and the girls sure were proud of their efforts!

Thank you to everyone for being so generous to our family. We feel so incredibly blessed each year by our wonderful family and friends and appreciate you more than you could possibly ever know! We are especially thankful to God for sending us His son that we might all have eternal life. That by far is the most important reason for all of us to celebrate and share the joy of this blessed season! We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and a very Happy New Year as well! :)

Hermie - 2013

There is always great excitement in our house when our elf, Hermie, appears for the month of December. Last Christmas Hermie had several new and fun ideas he had never tried before like wrapping our toilet one night! 

 One morning the kids discovered Hermie had left a gift. It turned out he had been paying attention to what we were studying and decided to bring them a Viking ship to build.

 Aunt Marta gave the girls Elf on the Shelf chef outfits and the girls thoroughly enjoyed wearing them to help bake some of our favorite Christmas treats. :)

Hermie must have felt inspired by the girls and his matching chef's hat because he decided to try his hand at cooking breakfast for the kids one morning. I personally thought this concoction of spaghetti, ketchup, cookies, popcorn balls, cheerios, M&Ms, marshmallows and more looked pretty disgusting, but not only were the kids excited about it they ate it!

Both Frosty (who sent back cotton candy snowballs) and Rudolph sent notes back with Hermie this year. Rudolph sent some small cute treats including a flashing read nose for Jackson.

  Hermie certainly didn't want us to forget the reason for the season so on Christmas Eve we found him in our Nativity scene presenting a gift to Jesus with a note telling the kids "God Loves You!"

 The kids are looking forward to seeing Hermie again in about a month for Jackson's birthday and it won't be long now before he's back for this Christmas season! :)  

American Girl Dollhouse

Grammy and Grand-Dad gave (and built) an American Girl Dollhouse to the girls for Christmas. It took Grand-Dad several days of building along with help from Grammy in the painting and decorating department to put it all together. It is incredible and the girls love it! Thank you so much Grammy and Grand-dad for such an amazing gift! :)

 After Gran-Dad cut the pieces he labeled them and brought them into the house for Grammy to paint 

 Jackson decided he'd like to help with the building too :)

 First floor and back put together

 Adding color to the rooms

 Maybe it should be a dollhouse for McKinley instead?

 The completed product -  I wish I could get a better picture but it's so big it's hard to stand at an angle that allows a picture of the entire dollhouse.

 The top level has the tent, extra clothes that don't fit in the wardrobes and the gymnastics set

 

I'm not sure if the dining room or kitchen is my favorite room. They both turned out so beautifully!

 The living room

 The girls each have a bedroom for their dolls

 The schoolroom is pretty cool too

Even though they have a dollhouse now, Kit's Treehouse is still a popular hangout for our dolls

 Grooming and riding horses is lots of fun too!

Thank you to everyone who has contributed to our collection of American Girl dolls. Reagan and Kennedy have spent hours enjoying everything you have given them and we truly appreciate it all! Thank you especially to Grammy and Grand-Dad for providing such a beautiful dollhouse which allows the girls to enjoy their dolls even more!