Birthday Party for Baby Jesus

Christmas night we invite both sides of our family back to a birthday party....baby Jesus' birthday party. It helps the girls remember what this time is all about. This year my mom made homemade bean soup and we had lots of snacks and desserts to fill us up. And of course, birthday cake. After singing Happy Birthday to Baby Jesus all the kiddos blew out the candles (one candle for each kiddo).

Then we spent the rest of the night enjoying family, playing dress-up, watching tv, playing the wii, playing carrom, playing board games, and burning off all of our holiday feasting by laughing!

I LOVE my family and am so thankful for the time we get to spend together.

Happy Birthday Baby Jesus!!!

B-Family Brunch

Christmas #3 of 3

Christmas morning the girls came downstairs to see that Santa had dropped in again at our house....this time to fill their stockings. They were thrilled with the little things that he left....their own "gum". ; )

Brunch with Chad's family on Christmas morning. Tradition. Chad's parents and his sister and her family always come over to our house on Christmas morning. We first fill up with yummy brunch. Then get to the gifts. We did it a little different this year. We started with the oldest and went to the youngest opening 1 gift at a time. That way we can slow the whole day out and really see what each person got. It was a bit rough for the girls, but they enjoyed helping everyone else open their gifts.

Presley (and all the girls) were thrilled with their LaLa Loopsy dolls that A.Cindy and family got them.

Reese

She must have been really, really good.

Santa (and MawMaw and Pawpaw) brought her a DSi.

She may be the only 2 year old with her own DSi. This was a combination present....Christmas and potty training. That is what she has been asking for and Mawmaw has been using that as motivation in our potty training plan. She is doing soo good and close to being trained completely (during the day at least). So this was her reward.

Lucky girl.

Santa left a Calico Critter house for them yesterday with our own family Christmas and today they got lots of families and furniture to go in the house.

Addy was thrilled with the complete Toy Story 3 character set and was happy just to sit and stare at it.

Another great, great Christmas this year. The girls (and Chad and I) were once again completely spoiled by everyone. Thank you!!!

My side Christmas (Christmas Eve)

Christmas #2 of 3

After a quick visit to Chad's parents in the afternoon to meet up with aunts, uncles and cousins it was back to our house to prepare for Christmas with my family. First up - yummy dinner. Then it was time for the reading of the Christmas story....Nana read this year. Then the girls sang a few carols and the gift giving began. My girls (Reese especially) were all about helping everyone open their gifts. Reese had been telling A.Hildy every time she was over that this gift for her was a sweatshirt....so A.Hildy was surprised to see it was something else.

Great Grandma p. made Reesey a scarf.

She actually made one for all the girls.

Reags opening her LaLa Loopsy doll that my girls got for her.

Reilly

So excited to see she got the LaLa Loopsy doll she wanted.

Presley loved the Ugly Doll from A.Jenny and family.

And Great A.Kathy couldn't go wrong with a Disney princess doll.

Strawberry Shortcake for Reese = perfect gift.

AddyHorses for Addy, right up her alley.

Nana made the girls new hooded towels (that match their bathroom perfectly).

Reagan, Reilly, Presley, Addison and Reese (in order from oldest to youngest)

It was super late before I realized we hadn't gotten a picture of our family yet....the girls weren't too excited and neither was Chad, but thankfully everyone made an attempt for me.

Me and my girls

Another great family Christmas in the books.

Our Christmas (Eve) Morning

Christmas #1 of 3

We actually had to wake 2 of our 3 girls. Presley got up around 7:30 and we waited until close to 8 to get the other 2 up. Addy actually had gotten up before we knew it (while we were still in bed) and then came back up and went to bed. When we got her up at 8 she told Presley what Santa had brought her. ; ) Oh well.

We came downstairs and saw that Santa had eaten the cookies and drank the milk, and the reindeer had eaten their carrots. Next we read the letters that Santa had written back to the girls.

Presley was excited for us to open the present she made us at school and wanted us to open that up before she opened all of her gifts. So sweet. Addy, on the other hand wasn't excited at all about opening gifts. She was "starving". We tried to get her to open a few presents, but she wasn't in to it. So we let her sit at the kitchen table and eat her breakfast while the rest of us started opening our gifts. What kid doesn't want to open gifts until after they eat? Oh yeah, Addy doesn't. ; )

After filling up her tummy she was back to her normal excited self. Santa left Addy a talking Woody doll....just what she wanted from Toy Story 3.

We had taken the girls shopping earlier in the week one at a time to pick out a present for both of their sisters. Presley knew even before we went that she wanted to get Addy something that had to do with horses. "Addy LOVES horses and will be so excited if I get her a horse."

And Presley was right! Addison loved her horses.

Presley has been asking for some "real jewelry" and was excited to see that she got a real necklace from Mommy and Daddy.

Reesey was excited with just about everything.

She was easy to please this year.

Santa didn't bring the Justin Bieber doll, but Mommy and Daddy came to the rescue. ; )

Santa also brought the girls the Pillow Pets that they had requested. They also got lots of clothes, games, and toys and were of course spoiled.

Our own Christmas Eve

We celebrated our own Christmas Eve on Christmas Eve-Eve. We like to be able to have our own family of 5 Christmas and not be rushed preparing to have both sides of our family at our house over the next few days. Because our girls are still young enough to believe what we say, they truly thought that Santa came to our house early.

We wrote letters to Santa. Presley wished that Santa had a very happy Christmas and asked him for a Pillow Pet (a unicorn),a LaLa Loopsy doll and a Justin Bieber barbie. (I know, I know....but he does have a catchy tune.)

Addy worked hard on her letter too. She wanted a LaLa Loopsy doll, a Pillow Pet (dolphin) along with anything Toy Story 3 (namely Jessie and Bullseye).

Reesey also worked on her letter to Santa. She wanted a LaLa Loopsy doll, a Pillow Pet (ladybug) and anything Strawberry Shortcake.

After writing their letters we sprinkled the reindeer food out on the front lawn.

And then we came in, warmed up and got a plate of fresh-baked cookies ready for Santa. The plate had lots more cookies on them, but after letting the girls hold the plate for pictures, the cookies kept disappearing. We also put a few carrots on the plate for the reindeer and Reese preferred the carrots.

We put the girls to bed and Santa got to work.

The girls must have been on the nice list this year.