Merry Christmas!

The month flew by and I can't believe it's already Christmas!  On Christmas Eve we hung out for awhile, went to Chick-fil-A for lunch, made gingerbread houses (something I had the kit for all month but finally got around to with Josh's help), cookies for Santa, and had lasagna for dinner.  

The kids worked hard all month on a chore chart to earn money to buy one of their siblings a gift and I'm so glad we did this.  Marissa had Shane and she knew exactly what he wanted and was so excited to give it to him.  

 They all got each other Beanie Boos and were thrilled with what they got.

We sent them to bed at a decent hour so Santa could come, he had a lot of work to do at our house!  I think he was excited to finally have a home big enough to bring us some big gifts.  The stockings were hung by the chimney with care...

 Shane's (the NBA sticker says go look outside on the back)

 Marissa (she was so cute as she came downstairs and checked everything out so excitedly' "Santa knew I loved Elephant and Piggie books!!  And he knew I wanted some more sparkly pants!!"

 Sadie's.  She literally jumped up and down and squealed "Santa brought me a basketball hoop!!"

 Aaron's train table.

 A view of the whole scene.  Christmas magic right here!  Our kids are at such fun ages for Christmas.

It was kind of funny when he read the note to look outside we looked and right then saw some deer in the yard!  Did Santa leave you a deer?  But they ran away and he found his basketball hoop.

 Aaron seemed to like his train table a lot, maybe more so breaking the pieces apart and climbing on top of it, but we are happy that it is a gift that he can grow into too.

 And the older three all loved it too.

 She shoots!  She scores!

 Our bookworm.

 Santa must know Marissa well, she loved this chalkboard and knew just what to do with it. She will make a good little teacher someday.

 Here she's telling Shane that he needs to do "3 star coloring" and what the requirements are for that.  Later on I was cutting an apple and a pear for lunch and she asked if she could use the cores to compare them.  I said sure and she got her teacher voice on and said, "Ok class, we're going to use our math skills today to compare this apple and pear.  Now, who can tell me what's the same or different about them?"  Shane-"the pear stem is longer"  Marissa- "Good, I'll write that on the board.  (she writes it).  Now, who can give me a different observation?  It can't be the same as Shane's?"...

 Aaron just wanted the chalk!

We had a 3 ward combined sacrament meeting at 10, so after looking at what Santa brought and going through their stockings we got ready for church.  Unfortunately, Josh woke up around 4 am with a stomach bug so he stayed home while we went.  It was packed and a little crazy but I'm glad we went.  Then we came home and they opened their presents.  Aaron still isn't super gung ho with the unwrapping yet, but he really enjoyed his gifts.

 Sadie was happy to get a lot of things the same as Marissa, and was thrilled with her Curious George coloring book.  He's her favorite.

 Shane finally found someone with the stamina to answer all his questions!  The Magic 8 Ball!

 Marissa was the most fun to watch open presents.  She gasped at several things she opened, like these boots.  I think she thinks she's pretty hot stuff in them:)

Living in North Carolina means no White Christmas the majority of the time, but I'll trade that for being able to go outside and play with our new toys in the warmer weather!  It was a little bit of a crazy day with Josh being sick and trying not to spread it to anyone else, but we still had a great day and are so greatful for all our many many blessings, most especially  a Savior who perfectly understands what we need and allows us to be together as a family forever through the gift of his Atonement.  Merry Christmas!