Christmas Eve

We had a fabulous Christmas Eve. The kids watched a Christmas movie in the morning, we cleaned up the house, they opened a present, and we went to grandma and grandpa's house.

They were so excited to open a present even though they knew what was going to be inside... They always get Christmas jammies. I asked Doug if he thought we should let them open a toy, but he didn't think so :) 

 Coleman even opened his present. It's the first time he's really been into opening one.

 I love Kenzie's face in the picture. She makes it when she's being excited for him. 

 Cute Christmas jammies. I didn't go get my fabric the day after Thanksgiving this year and by the time I got to Joanns a few weeks later, this fabric was the only flannel Christmas fabric I could find. And they had less than 3 yards of it left. I bought all they had, and hoped it would be enough to make everyone's pajamas. It wasn't quite enough though so I had to make Kenzie a jammy-skirt. I thought it turned out pretty cute though:)

This is the snowman Jack made for my mom. He did most of it himself. I did the ironing and I sewed it closed after he stuffed it. I think it's super cute :) 

 The boys found this hockey game that Amazon accidentally sent my dad instead of what he ordered. Amazon told him to keep it.  The boys love it. 

 My dad read books to the kids. His dad used to read me books every time we'd visit him. :)

 My mom worked hard cooking a very delicious dinner!

 We did a fun snowman craft after dinner.

 Then we went upstairs. Jordan and Jackson played some Christmas songs on the piano. Then we read the Christmas story in the Bible, sang songs, then the kids hit the piano.

Coleman went first. He liked it until the pinata swung back and hit him after he hit it. It didn't scar him too badly though because he did hit it again on his second turn after all the other kids who wanted to go had a turn. 

 Mackenzie didn't want to wear the blindfold. We'll see if she can still convince my dad next year that she shouldn't wear it. Jackson didn't have to wear it until last year (when he was 6) and she's more stubborn than him :)

 Jordan almost whacked my dad instead of the pinata.

 Jackson hit it pretty good.

 Mckaye hit it open this year. Her first turn she broke it a little bit and they had to put it back on the string since only a few pieces of candy came out. On her second turn she got the whole thing open.

 Jordan, Tally, Mckaye, and Jackson gathering food.

 Coleman pitched the ball to my dad. The ball came back and hit Colie a few times and he was laughing so hard.

 My dad put the pinata on his head.

Chocolate mouthed Jack.

Sewing, Baking, Snow Flake Lane

 Jackson wanted to make a few stuffed animals for Christmas presents. He told me that sports, the Wii, art, and sewing are his favorite things :) 

 On Christmas Eve Eve I needed to do some baking for Christmas Eve. Jordan wanted to help. He actually was a big help. He was measuring and adding ingredients and I could clean up while he was doing that. It was much more fun baking with him than by myself :)

We also went to Snow Flake Lane on Christmas Eve Eve. I didn't like it as much as normal because they changed it a lot and we couldn't really see anything. They usually have drummers and people in costumes coming down the sidewalks on both sides of the street, but this year they had dancers and drummers go in the street. There were a ton of people so we couldn't see anyone on the street. We went with the Crabtrees and my parents'. The Crabtree girls went up in front of the adults on the street so I think they could see pretty well and it sounded like it was cool. :) But I liked the old way where everyone could see.

 Kenzie loved her sucker.

 So did he.

 Poor Jack didn't even get a sucker.

 Camryn was dancing to the music.

 Kenzie (in the pink coat) on my dad's shoulders.

Ornament Party

Kenzie and I were invited to Ashlee's mother/daughter ornament party this year.   Kenzie was so excited to go to the party with just me and stay up late. There were a ton of kids there and Kenzie was very energetic and only made it through a little bit of the ornament exchange before she went off to play in the preschool room. We had a lot of fun and are excited for next year. We even bought new ornaments already for it :)

We did crafts before the ornament exchange.

Kenzie was excited to tell Doug all about it!

Snow!

Every year in Seattle there is a huge gingerbread house display in a hotel. I've heard it's really cool and have always wanted to go, but never have because I've heard the line to get in is so long (like an hour or 2 long.) This year I realized we could go during the day when everyone else is at school and work. We planned to go with some friends and were really excited. Then we woke up to snow. So we stayed home instead. I don't like driving in snow. Plus, I didn't want to get stranded in Seattle if it snowed more. The kids were really excited for the snow. Kenzie came in and said she wanted to eat it. (It didn't really snow last year so Kenzie didn't really remember it... Jack had told her he like to eat it so she was really excited to.)

Doug went down with her to show her that she could eat it from the balcony without having to go out in the snow.

Jordan trying it.

As soon as she touched it she started crying.

I heard her from upstairs screaming that the snow was too cold.

I suggested that Doug feed it to her. That made her happy and she loved it :)

Doug went out with the kids to play in the snow.

She didn't want her coat on. I brought it to her and she said she wasn't cold. But about 15 minutes later she was ready to come in and change into her feety jammies. She wants to wear pajamas all the time now. She's turned into Jackson :) Except she changed her pajamas about 10 times a day. She also loves to stay home now. I'm not sure what's made her change from always wanting to go places.

Coleman eating some oatmeal.

Doug, Coleman, Kenzie, Jackson with their snowman.

So cute in his snowsuit. He loved playing in the snow.

Kenzie eating more snow.

They decided they wanted to go sledding on the street next to our house, but when Doug went to get the sled he couldn't find it. We must have given it away. I suggested that Jordan give Doug his present to Doug.

Jordie thought it was a great idea.

It's a sled!

He loved playing in the snow. He later said that playing in the snow was his favorite thing to do.

Colie loved throwing snowballs.

Jack trying out the sled.

Jordan's turn.

And Colie's turn. Doug had to push him the whole way down. He loved it!

Doug tried snowboarding.

Kenzie watched us, while eating Life, from Colie's room. :) She kept shouting down at us, saying "hi" and "I love you."

Colie kept wanting Doug to make him snowballs.

Jack and Jordan played for a couple hours in the snow. It's longest they've ever play in it. Usually they only last a half hour or so. And they've always wanted Doug or me out there with them. This was the first year we've had a bigger back yard and it the first time they've both been old enough to really play in it since Jordan would have been 3 the last time it snowed very much.

Jack made his first snowman. He was proud of it!