Our Family Christmas

We celebrated our family Christmas a few days early due to our travel plans.

 Friday night we opened family gifts. 

Grayson gave Caroline a night light...

and Caroline gave Grayson a calendar. 

 I love how it doesn't take much to get these kiddos excited.

After the kids were tucked into bed, we got to work....

I had so much fun this year planning their kitchen.  I made the matching curtain, towel, and apron.  I am so happy with how it turned out!

 Grayson was super excited to wake up and find all of the surprises.

 and this poor baby had a 102 temperature..

she was feeling pretty yucky.

 

we spent the entire day at home with nothing to do but play...

  

it was GREAT!

 

our travel plans were a bit delayed as I spent 2 hours in urgent care with Caroline the next morning.

thankfully she just had a virus (no flu!!) that was gone within a few days.

Random pics from December

 

It's hard to believe that December is almost over.  It was such a fun month--celebrating the season with these 2 little ones.  

 

I've tried to integrate some quiet learning time into our days to make our long mornings seem shorter.

 



 

 

It may only last a few minutes, but the quiet is nice.

 

Our evenings consisted of snuggling up on the couch with a snack and a Christmas movie.

 



 

 

Yay for a ponytail!  

 

 

 

The weather this month was AMAZING!!  So we had lots of opportunities for outdoor play.

 



 

 

 

ADVENT- Week 3

December 16- Open a Gift

oops! no picture.  pretty sure it was a coloring book of some sort

December 17- Polar Express Movie Night

complete with a graham cracker train --topped with whipped cream 

(to represent snow)  

December 18- Go Christmas shopping for Daddy

Grayson was so excited to pick out a gift for Daddy and Caroline.  He even wrapped them himself.    Daddy ended up with Reece's Peanut Butter Cups (which Grayson insisted on sleeping with for several nights) and Caroline got a princess night  light.

December 19- Make Christmas goodies for neighbors

We  made a hot chocolate mix and oreo-dipped lollipops.  Of course, Grayson had to sample the hot chocolate. 

December 20- Deliver the goodies!

Not only did we make some deliveries, but we finished up some Christmas shopping and these kiddos were in and out of the car for 3 hours!  They were troopers! 

Advent- Week 2

December 9- Open a Gift and Visit with Mimi

a giant coloring book!

 

Mimi came to babysit so that Chad and I could enjoy our Adult Christmas Party sans kids.  We are so thankful that she took the time out of her busy schedule to spend a few days with us.  The kids loved it!

December 10- Make cookies

these were supposed to be Christmas cookies, but I just didn't have the energy after being in the kitchen cooking most of the day.  so daddy saved the day with a box mix!

 

 maybe we'll get to those Christmas cookies eventually.

 December 11- Make Christmas cards for cousins

Abby Ruth, Noah, Sophie, and Lyla

December 12- Open a Gift

velvet Christmas ornaments to color for the tree 

December 13- Lights of Life

I think the kids were more excited about eating popcorn in the car! 

December 14- Read Christmas stories

 

December 15- Visit with Great-Granddaddy and Grandmother

Chad's grandparents are too sweet.  The kids always love spending time at their house. 

love, love, love...

 one more week...

(the Christmas season goes by too quickly!)