Christmas

On Christmas morning, the kids woke us up just before 7:00 a.m.  Katelyn had been awake since around 5 and was just dozing on and off.  She finally woke Clark up at 6:30 and they came in and laid at the foot of our bed, whispering.  We told them that they had to wait until 7:00 before waking up Jake and Carlee.  The second the clock changed to 7, they bolted out of the room screaming, "Wake up!" and came running back into our room with their younger siblings in tow.  They all pounced on the bed, giggling, and jumping on us.  Joe and I teased them about waiting until 9:00 to make Christmas last longer, starting a new tradition of first doing/curling our hair for the day, pretending to have headaches or feeling sick, being too cold to get out of bed, and a hundred other reasons why we just couldn't get up.  When they had finally had enough, we got up, said prayer, and lined up on the stairs.

Racing down the hallway to see their surprises from Santa

Carlee was bouncing up and down with her new My American Girl doll that she named Natalie.  

And she found a Barbie Princess game for her DS (Jake's old one) in her stocking.

Katelyn was very surprised and thrilled to find a sewing machine, basket, and sewing items as well as new American Girl accessories--a camping tent, and clothes.

Clark was excited about another airsoft "backup" gun and protective gear.

Jacob got the Lego sets he asked for to complete his Ninjago and Avengers sets and an iPod.

Carlee said that she wanted a dog for Christmas so Santa brought her a Fur Real puppy.  And it looks just like Honey, the American Girl dog that belongs to her Bitty Baby, Lizzie.  How cute!

Here's my guy checking out what is in his Christmas stocking.

After inspecting all of our surprises from Santa, we had our traditional Christmas breakfast and then started opening gifts from each other.  Carlee had the craziest and most excited reactions from every gift that she opened.  She screamed in shock every time and it was hilarious because she was so silly and out of control. 

Katelyn got some cute earrings, a crocheted headband, and a necklace from Carlee.

Carlee gave Jake some Walkie-talkies and Clark a cooking set for his scout camp-outs.

I got a new apple machine and pancake/waffle mix "squirter" from Carlee

Carlee got a velour sweatsuit and the movie "Brave" from Jake.  Obviously, she is excited.

Katelyn got Taylor Swift's "Red" CD and a lounge outfit from Jake.

Joe got a cooking set to use on his scout camp-outs from Jake and lights for his road bike from Carlee.

The boys gave each other Skylanders Giants figures.  That is the new trend this year and the boys are ridiculous over it!

Katelyn gave Carlee a cute "C" necklace and an infinity scarf that she made. 

Battleship was given to Jake by Katelyn

 

Clark got Table Tennis from Katelyn and it clamps onto our kitchen table.  Perfect!

 

Clark gave Katelyn a 3-D puzzle of the Eiffel Tower and some cute earrings.

I got a cute Fossil bag in a greyish-blue color from Katelyn.  I love it!

Joe got a table-top Foosball table from Katelyn.  He laughed when he saw it but is so excited to play!

Clark gave Carlee the Tori Barbie doll from "Princess and the Popstar".  Again, she is so happy!

We gave the kids a two-part gift that we saved for last.  The first gift was headphones for each of them.  The little earbuds are always falling out and getting tangled so they have been wanting headphones of their own--all in different colors so they don't get mixed up!

Joe surprised me with a Neato robotic vacuum.  He read about it in the SkyMall magazine on the plane coming home from Florida and ironically, my neighbor and I had a conversation about it around the same day.  It had rave reviews and is the coolest thing.  I LOVE it!

I surprised Joe with a LCD BacPac for his GoPro camera and a battery pack.  He loved that!

We then let the kids open their very last gift from us.  Their reactions were the best.  They were FREAKING out.  We got them each an iPad mini.  They couldn't believe it and were ecstatic.

Katelyn had asked Santa for a Kindle and Clark was saving up for an iPod touch.  Joe and I had discussed getting all of them Kindles anyway because everything is so digital nowadays--music, movies, books, etc. but when the minis came out Joe convinced me to go that route since we are already Apple users and have all the apps.  We went to the base exchange a few days after they had come out and they only had 6 left including the floor model.  They were cheaper there so Joe bought four of them and we are so glad we got them when we did.  They were sold out all season long and some people didn't even get their Christmas orders filled because they were backordered.

We had a little meeting discussing the "rules of the iPads" and gave strict instructions that Mom and Dad own them, get to know all passwords and locks, and get unlimited access to them anytime.  The kids all agreed upon our rules, we set up the parental controls, and handed them over.  They couldn't wait to check them out.  Yes, our children are completely spoiled, but man, those minis are cool!

And here they are setting everything up and installing apps.  They are more excited about texting and Face Timing each other than anything.

Doing her favorite things--coloring and watching Netflix

Jake got started on building his last Avengers ship

Carlee and her My American Girl, Natalie

Katelyn wrote a note to Santa and wanted answers to some of her questions.  She is questioning a lot of things lately.  Luckily, Santa Claus wrote back and answered. 

We spent the day moving from one game or toy to the next.  We had a table tennis competition, built a Lego set, dressed and played with dolls, ate lots of treats, stayed in our pj's, played Battleship and other games, and enjoyed spending the day together.  It was a wonderful Christmas!

Christmas Eve

We slept in on Christmas Eve morning and slowly got ourselves ready for the day.  We cleaned up the yard a bit and made sure that everything in the house was in order.  We had a late breakfast and just relaxed until it was time for dinner.  Our Christmas Eve Dinner Out tradition has stayed.  Woohoo!  This year we went to BJ's Restaurant.  It is one of our favorite restaurants with lots and lots of delicious choices so everybody goes home happy with their meal choice.  We were off by ourselves in a section of the restaurant and we had a great time.  The Oldhams (except deployed Jake), the Swaseys (except deployed Drew), the Hathaways, and the Craguns joined us in our Christmas Eve fun.

 The Craguns just sent their oldest son on a mission around the 19th of December and during dinner they received their first email from him.  They were so excited as they were reading it.  

Tim was especially thrilled that Garret was speaking/writing in Spanish.

(Adison, Ami, Avery, Tim, Kenley (with Kirsten Hathaway in the background))

When the kids were done eating but the adults were not done chatting, they grabbed the cameras and entertained themselves.  They are too funny-

 Clark and Mitchell

Nedra

 Evan; Audrey and Katelyn;

Cole and Jake; Kirsten and Evan

 Avery; Clara; Carlee

 On to decorating cookies for Santa-

Then to acting out the Nativity-

 I love how all dress-up bins from all houses are raided and combined to come up with "costumes".  I really need to make/purchase some "authentic" nativity costumes but I love how creative the kids get when putting them together.  My favorites this year are the wolf-donkey, the court jester-wiseman, and the flowy sparkly angel.

Tim led the kids in playing Christmas carols on the chimes-

When the party was over, we opened our traditional pajamas with the Swaseys before they went home. 

I thought I was pretty funny this year and ordered the same striped pajamas for all four kids, boys and girls.  Their reaction was awesome.   I had searched and searched for weeks for the perfect Christmas jammies but sizes were sold out, I wasn't in love with any that I found, or they weren't the right "style".  When I found the striped ones, I figured that they could be worn by boys or girls.  Since my kids are getting older and I probably wouldn't be able to get away with it in the years to come, I took my chance and ordered them. 

 Carlee opened her pajamas first and when Jake opened his next and saw that they were the same, he exclaimed, "What the? We have the same ones?!?  Noooo!"

Katelyn just laughed and Clark threw his hands up with a smirk and just shook his head.  I was giggling and the kids were great sports to humor me with their matching pj's.

 Some darling kids in their new Christmas pajamas!

After the Swaseys left, we read "Twas the Night Before Christmas", followed Santa's location for a few minutes, set out the cookies and milk, completed the bedtime routine and the kids snuggled up in Katelyn's bed. 

 The kids made the bed how they wanted it right when they woke up this morning.  They even have post-it notes with their names of where they are supposed to sleep.  I love these kids of mine!