Chistmas 2009

I am still in awe that Christmas has now come and gone. The month of December did seem to FLY by, but there were so many things I enjoyed this year that did make it magical and other things that totally stressed me out!

Christmas Eve:

Sean took the kids sledding that morning so that I could mop my floor without any distractions, a.k.a. "helpers." He is such a great Dad. I really do love his willingness to always take the kids out to play. He is awesome!

He even bought them a new sled to try out. I had a Dr's appt. that morning and it was nice to just head out myself. Usually I have Jayson and Rylee in tow, but this time I was in and out. I can't believe the time is quickly approaching to add #4 to the circus. I can't wait! (literally). I need to make it through Rylee's birthday and then I will start to get everything ready for the new baby.

My mom was able to celebrate with us this year and we are grateful that she came up to be with us. She came up around 12:30 and was just in time to help me get my house put back in order after the festivities of the 23rd. Thanks Mom! Sorry that you had to work, but I really appreciated all that you did. It made it so much easier. We put Jayson down for a much needed nap, Sean and I delivered some neighbor gifts, and then we bathed and got the kids ready for the night. This year Shelly & Mike hosted Christmas Eve at their house and everything was great. It was quite relaxing and nice to be with everyone. Thank you Shelly & Mike! (I forgot my camera, so if I can steal some pictures from Shelly I will post those from that night). We ate dinner, had sleigh races which were made out of Crunch bars and candy canes thanks to Grandma Shayla and opened presents. We stayed until 9 and then delivered 2 gifts on our way home. When we got home we opened up the traditional Christmas P.J.'s and slippers.

We put out our cookies and milk for Santa. Also, this year Tayler made him a present and even wrapped it. She also got out a pen and paper and left it right by the cookie plate so that he could write back. Isn't she so thoughtful? I loved it! Then it was off to bed. All 3 fell asleep quickly, so that Santa could dump his sleigh!

Christmas Day:

Christmas morning we had to wake the kids up at 8:45 a.m. My kids are not early risers, especially when they get such a late start (but, I didn't wake up much earlier than them either so I guess I can't say much.) I turned on the Christmas music so that it would play through all the speakers in the house, thinking that would at least cause them to stir. NOPE! I went upstairs only to see them all still snoring away. After a few minutes they did wake up and remembered that it was Christmas morning & were excited. Man, as a kid I remember being so excited that I never really went to sleep for more than a few hours!

Thanks to Santa,

Tayler got a new PINK camera from Santa and a new coat (good thing since her mom broke the zipper on her other one). She also got some new clothes, books and p.j.'s.

Rylee got some babies with accessories, a dress up and some clothes.

Jayson got a Geo Trax and a little people car shop which Santa so lovingly had all put together for him so that he could play with it right away. (good job, Santa!)

After they looked and played with their Santa toys, we had breakfast and then it was off to open the presents under the tree.

I have a lot of video from the morning, but not a lot of pictures. Here are Tayler and Sean figuring out her new camera. She loved it and took lots and lots of pictures. I was really relying on downloading her pictures and posting them, but SADLY (and we don't talk about it) Saturday night she accidentally dropped it- Lens down- on the tile and now it won't work. It broke my heart because she had waited for a very long time for that camera and it was just an accident. We will have to see if we can get her another one sometime.

Cute Grandma & Jayson

Yes, Sean bought Jayson some Y gear.

Rylee got another princess dress-up. That is really the only thing she wanted this year.

Playing with the "choo choo train"

We were able to talk to Jen and her cute family and Julie on Skype that morning/early afternoon. Mom left around noon to go and visit Grandma B with Annie and the gang. Thanks again for coming Mom! I hope you got a nap when you got home. We kept her up WAY past her bedtime Christmas Eve (morning ;)

After lunch we all went and took naps too. I was exhausted. I didn't care that my house looked like a tornado hit either. It was fun to not care and just play with all the toys. Later that night we went to dinner and took the kids to see The Princess & the Frog. The kids loved it! Jayson kept laughing at all the right parts exclaiming "that's funny" They are all at such fun ages. I love that they always want to hang out as a family.

I love the Christmas season when you forget about all the "have to do lists" It was a wonderful year!