Christmas is a great time! We like to start things off the weekend after Thanksgiving by going to pick out a tree.
Isn't it great how we are all looking together!! :)
Josh gets to hold it up for us to examine. He does such a great job!
This is really what the kids did, ran around finding cool places to sit, climb, and crawl over. I don't mind the sitting.
We pack the tree on top of the car and away we go! Josh gets that job too!
Then we decorate!
Andrew is a fabulous helper! He LOVES to help me ALL the time!
I do the lights, the kids do the decorations. They do a pretty good job! They also really enjoy it.
We got a few shots of precious moments of decorating!
Brayden is so focused!
Andrew is again helping!
We like to spread the rest of the different activities over the next few weeks. Normally I post each one as they happen, but this year it didn't happen, you get them all in one post!! Here we are making gingerbread houses.
Andrew placed each and every candy very carefully and deliberately.
Addison did the same as Andrew for a few moments. Then she started dumping them on!
Brayden probably ate more than he placed!
Evan kept things simple. He added a few where he wanted and then declared himself done.
These are my two helpers with my truffles. After they set up they put them in te bags for me. That was actually a BIG help. It was a Sunday morning and we needed the table asap. I knew handling chocolate would be something they would be ok with doing!
Here we are decorating sugar cookies. We did this on Christmas eve. Just something for the kids to do during the afternoon hours. They had fun and decorated each cookie pretty similar to the way the each decorated the gingerbread houses. So funny how they each have their own unique style.
Brayden is trying to fit as much as he can onto one cookie.
Addison is eating a bunch this time. . .
Brayden showing off one of his designs.
The final products.
Addison and her cookie, and her messy face!!
Andrew
The family picture that turned out the best number 1, or. . .
The family picture that truly turned out best number 2!! They were both pretty good, and both very similar! Just glad we even got one!!
The kids were SUPER cute! I love something about each of these next three pictures.
So cute!
Seriously so cute!
and seriously people, I know I'm a little biased, but they are SO CUTE!!!
This happy face is priceless!
And then came this one! She loves to get her picture taken and say cheese! as long as you let her see the picture right after!! One of the best pictures ever!
Of course for Christmas Eve we had a present to open. . .
They were all so excited!
and what could it possibly be????
Jammies of course!! I wasn't really in the mood for sewing them this year, so we lucked out on black friday and found Angry Bird Jammies for EVERYONE!!!
So cute,
super cute,
handsome,
super handsome!!!!
They really did a great job taking pictures this year!
Josh layed right on top of them all and they just laughed their heads off!! They love it when Dad plays with them!!
We even found a pair for Grandpa!
And of course we had to get the family jammie picture!
They are so fun now! Love that the babies are getting bigger!
Now, last year I made my mom a great quilt. At that time Evan asked me for one. . . we went and picked out material and I even started them. Then I put them away until this winter. When it started getting cold I pulled them out, finished them and decided they could wait another week or so and get them on Christmas Eve with their jammies. They loved them! They are warm and big and so comfortable!
Andrew and Evan trying them out.
Addison already cozy.
Andrew copying Brayden (picture below a bit).
Brayden being cute.
Another look at all four!
This is the one when Andrew was copying Brayden by having it over his head.
Andrew showing it off. His is special because I put some of his left over material from his "blankie" that he likes so much on the edges. He really thought that was cool.
I was trying to cuddle with Evan. If you know him at all, you know that wasn't happening!! He also didn't want a cute picture of it happening because he didn't want it to end up on the calendar I laughed so hard and then put it on here!! He won't know! :)
Here we are after the kids went to bed and "Santa came". We pulled all the presents from the back or around the tree to one spot up front and then put in Addison's tent and the family present. It was enough of an awe moment that they were impressed when they woke up!
That tent was the best free item I've found thus far!! Love that I got such a great deal on it!!
We also set up the stockings. . . separating them enough to hopefully avoid any fighting!
Sure enough, Christmas morning came!
They looked around for a minute. . .
looked a little closer. . .
and then Addison went straight into her tent to hug her new pony and just sit there. She was SO HAPPY!!!
Andrew found his candy. . .
and ate it. He even tried to steal other people's candy! He was so happy!!
Brayden layed down and got himself all comfy and ready to open presents.
See, I wasn't kidding!
Watching Brayden open presents is pretty much the funnest thing! He is so expressive and so grateful no matter what it is! This is a present from Evan. Evan wanted to trick Brayden and wrap a present in many different boxes, over and over again.
Brayden thought it was GREAT!! He enjoyed every minute and had me laughing so hard because he was so cute doing it. I wanted to post the video, but am still learning how to do that from picasa.
See, that was what was inside. I tiny bracelet that Evan had made for him!! It was great!
Cute babies and their glowing stars!
Andrew opened this present from Addison and he said, "I've always wanted a monkey!" He was so happy with that little thing. Now I wish we would have gotten him the bigger one! I didn't know he had "always wanted a monkey"!! He is such a precious little boy!
See, he just loves it!!
Andrew, on the other hand, got Addison this beautiful purple princess dress. She had wanted a purple present and made sure everyone knew it. Josh took Andrew with him one day and he said that Andrew picked out this purple dress for Addison. He thought is was the cutest one. I'm sure he did! He is so nice to her, really, he is!
See, it's pretty!
These are some games Grandma and Grandpa Dance got us for our new xbox. We've never owned a gaming system before and look forward to using the kinect and our bodies as controllers ! (so far so good, we love so many of them!)
I thought this was just a cute picture of Addison patiently waiting for her turn to open more presents.
Josh got this little back massager in his stocking that the babies found at the store. We thought it would work great for him. Addison thought she should try it on Dad's head! So cute and funny.
She was laughing the whole time!
Addison and her drawing set.
Andrew and his dinosaur, which he loved!!
The boys got light sabers. . . they are doing ok with them so far.
Grandma Moxcey also gave the twins some reading books with pens. . .
They love them! They sit and use the pens to read one of the five different books they came with. Thankfully I already have headphones they can plug into them to use with the pens! It helps them be able to hear and me not have to!
Evan drew Brayden's name, and he got him this cool hexbug battle arena thingy.
Brayden drew Evan's name and got him this cool giant spider hexbug thingy! Couldn't believe they each picked out hexbugs for each other. So funny!
Grandpa Cobb came and got some new slippers! (he really needed them. . . bad!)
He also got a cool Cornell Dad t-shirt. We went with the Cornell theme for Grandparent presents this year. Since it is our last Christmas here we thought it would be a good idea!
Stylish little thing! I loved these cute glasses on her. She's rockin' them!
Evan seems to lounge while opening presents. How old is he? He's patient is what he is!
Cute one of Andrew saying cheese, but not looking at me! He still asks me for more presents. He thinks presents every day would be a good thing.
Even Dad and Mom (not pictured! hehehe) got presents! Of course Addison helped us both!
Here is my little princess with her tent, and all her bows in her hair!
The boys playing with the hexbug battle arena Evan got for Brayden.
Addison and Andrew "reading" their new books.
Breakfast time is cinnamon pull aparts and hot chocolate. By this time Addison was so tired she couldn't smile anymore. She asked me for more whip cream in her hot chocolate and I topped it off and then some! THAT got a huge smile! She LOVES whip cream!!
She's so cute.
She was so tired that after breakfast I had her "veg" for awhile. She sat on the couch with her pillow, a blanket, her dress, snacks and new animals and watched a movie.
Even Grandpa sat down to "watch"!
This is what Christmas morning does to people!
Unless your Andrew who likes to perch on the edge of things.
Or Evan and Brayden who tried to play with everything within the first hour after opening it! They actually played here for a good ten minutes or so without arguing about it! Love Christmas miracles!!
Overall it was a really good Christmas. We were incredibly blessed by so many different people! All the Grandparents did their part to spoil us all, and unfortunately even us as parents couldn't help but spoil the kids a little too. Thank you to all of you who helped make the 2012 Christmas a fabulous one!! We LOVE YOU!!!
