Christmas Week

Psshht, as I was going to be able to get all of the Christmas shenanigans in one post.  Alright, here we go!

First things first, we kicked off the week with a reindeer shirt flashback!

2012 - Awww, my little girl

Aww, my big girl!

The kiddos had some special time with Grandma and Grandpa

while we went a saw a movie within a month of it coming out (unheard of around here).

We saw Star Wars

Twas a year of many flashback shirts.  Since Clark has such a fixation with Minnie Mouse, I figured he should have a turn in the Merry Minnie shirt.

2012 (at Disney World)

2013

2014

Clark willing, I'll get him in it one more time next year.  If not, I can always count on Christmas comparison flashbacks from Natalie's boys.

Dog hug!

The weather was pretty decent on Christmas Eve, so we loaded up and took a walk/bike ride around the block.

When we got back, we made our special M&M cookies for Santa.

We I also decided that pizza would be a new Christmas Eve tradition for dinner.

Gluten free for my mom on the left :)

Before bed, I forced the kids to take a picture together (apparently a premonition about how things would go the next day...).  The hats and stepstool inclusion were their idea.

I'll take it!

2014 comparison :)

Ellie set out cookies and carrots and I promised her I would put out milk before I went to bed, so it would still be cold for Santa.

Santa came... and stayed for a week! 

Love you, Dad! ;)

Seriously though, Christmas morning dawned with a pretty good spread!

When he came downstairs, Clark's first words were, "Woah, cowboy!"

 First things first though, our annual bacon and pancake (this year gluten free) breakfast!  Unfortunately, I burnt the bacon.

No one cared except for Ellie.  This was her reaction to crispy bacon.

Clark certainly didn't care since he opted for mixed nuts.

Before I let them dig into the presents, I tried to take a picture of the 2 of them in front of the tree.  Clark wasn't having it.

At least some children cooperate in their T Rex Christmas jammies.

Ellie asked to open stockings first, so we obliged.

Everest from Paw Patrol!

My parents got us a Super fun clock that now resides in the garage/workshop, so my husband can keep track of how long he's avoiding the chaos in the house. :)

As requested, Santa brought Ellie an Aurora doll

and Clark got lots of puzzles.

We gave them this really awesome superhero board book collection that we're all obsessed with now.

Ellie had asked for Flipsies toys, but as soon as I really looked into them, I decided that was just the commercials talking and she really wouldn't enjoy them, so I bought her something I thought she really would enjoy and she was so happy she hugged it.

I mean, how cool is this Polly Pocket house?!

She wanted it on the back of her door (it attaches with command strips).

Back to presents.  Uncle Matt gave Ellie the book "The Day the Crayons Quit", which apparently she had read at school and loved.

Clark got the book "The Story of Ferdinand" and I apparently didn't get a good picture of him opening it.

I did get this lovely picture of Clark opening our gift to him - LeapFrog Fix and Learn Speedy

So fun!

From Aunt Mary, Ellie got a "close eye doll".

She loved the matching pjs they share.

Aunt Mary gave Clark a number lovin' oven and he's been cooking since.

Grandma and Grandpa gave Clark a skills board puzzle

and Ellie was given a bag of Barbies and clothes.  She. Was. Ecstatic.

 Another gift from us to both kids was a play tent and tunnel.  They've loved it.

The rest of Christmas was pretty low key.  My husband had been hit with a 24 hour virus starting on Christmas Eve, so he spent the majority of the day resting.  Clark tried to sneak some carbs in him during a nap.

He moved to another couch and Clark decided if you can't feed 'em, join 'em.

I fed everybody a delicious dinner of glazed ham, glazed sweet potatoes, and roasted asparagus.

I then had a go at family pictures.  It didn't go great at first.

 We decided to divide and conquer with much better results.

Even Penny agreed to get in on a little holiday fun.

We put on our matching jammies and called it a day.

 The next morning, the kids were right back at it with their new toys.  We added a mouse wheelie to our menagerie so that there wouldn't be anymore fighting over the cow.  It made for a cute parade through the kitchen.

At one point, I was talking with my parents when I heard Ellie singing.  I snuck over to the tent to find her trying to get Clark to sleep ("for pretend").  

She got very mad at him when he didn't follow as instructed.

 Ellie learned to play UNO and we're still learning how to lose graciously.

 It was then time for my parents to head to the airport to catch their flight home.

The dogs were pretty depressed to see them go.

I once again tried to get pictures that involved my children with mixed results.

All in all, it was a wonderful Christmas and a fabulous visit.