Thursday, January 19, 2012

Christmas Eve and Day

So, if you haven't noticed, our Christmas was a little mixed up timeline wise. We had already opened our presents and had done the "Christmas" thing. So, on Christmas Eve, we headed to our church and went to the Christmas Eve service. Caleb and Chloe were a part of the service. They read a part of the Christmas story. They did awesome, and Bella even got up there to sing Away in a Manger with the kids. It was a sweet time.


























After the service, we went to 3 Margaritas and had dinner. It was everyone's last night together, and it was a lot of fun.











The waiter took this picture and clearly missed a few of our group....












The next morning, Christmas morning, everyone left and we packed up to head to Michigan. I had left a few small things for the kids to open on Christmas morning (small stocking stuffers), so they got to do that which was fun. But otherwise, our Christmas day was filled with cleaning, laundry, and packing...not your ideal day, but the time before it with family was the best!!!



Ice skating in Colorado

Ice skating was so much fun. The kids were pretty quick at picking it up. They quickly went from hanging on for dear life to wanting to go all by themselves. Keira decided she would keep Grandma warm.....Everyone fell a few times and a few close calls happened, but overall, we had a great time. Chloe has since asked several times when we are going back. Probably pretty soon.









Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Sledding with cousins


So, since we had like 18 inches of snow, and Jeremy so graciously shoveled the snow for us, we bundled up the kids and ourselves, and headed out to the hill to go sledding....enjoy the pictures










Look out Shaun White....




Christmas in Colorado

We woke up to a white Christmas, how about you? It was the perfect day to stay inside and open presents. The fire was going and there was so much joy and happiness in the house....what a beautiful setting for our first Christmas in Colorado.
Santa came while the kids were sleeping and brought baby pillow pets for my three, a horse for Victoria, and a baby Bella for Bella....They were all thrilled with their gifts.
Cindy was showered with jewelry this year....lucky girl
Before opening presents (I realize the picture of Cindy is out of order), we read the Christmas story from the Bible. We love this book for small kids because they can push the noise buttons to make the story more interesting. Caleb read the story this year...
Gift time....we took several breaks....some to eat, some to shovel snow (there was like 18 inches out there), and some to play with the new toys before opening new ones.
Doodle bear from Caleb and Keira
Slippers for Grandpa....
Barbie computer
Lord Garmadon's castle....
My little pony fair pony - the wings light up...
skateboard
Not sure what this gift is....but that is Bella :)
The girls got each other a Sing a ma jig....and both were thrilled...
Lovin on Grandpa...
Sonic shirt and Cars 2 for Caleb from his sisters.
Our big gift from Grandpa and Grandma - an XBOX 360 with Kinect...woohoo!

Josh's slippers
Grandma's photo book
new pots and pans for me!!!
Lego Ninjago board game
Are there any more for me???
Monster High stuff....
Finally all the gifts were opened and the kids spent the day playing with their new toys. Caleb and Josh got right to work putting the new Ninjago game together.
After a day like that, I can't help but feel extremely blessed and loved!!!