Christmas Fun '13

Now for the extravaganza that is Christmastime! We start the celebrating on Christmas Eve with Brad's family coming to our house!  It was so much fun - visiting and munching on some yummy treats and then sitting down to a nice dinner (which we were able to all sit together since we now have a dining room table)!  After we all stuff ourselves, it's present time!  And then of course the kids have to play with their new goods before getting ready for bed and putting cookies out :)  Here is the best pic I got of the two of them in front of our tree!

And Jack likes Katie's chair better than his - goofy guy!

And Katie looks huge sitting in it!

So they decided to trade chairs for a picture!  Love them and their excitement for Christmas!

And here is Katie ripping into a present - she loved it!

And while Jack loved the presents and toys, he really loved the tissue paper, bows, and wrapping paper!

And an attempt at a family picture - I'll take it!  At least we are all looking at the camera...even though Jack was less than thrilled!

And here's Katie playing with her dancing Dora and Boots toy!  It's so cute!

The boys...and Jack's "cheese" face!!

Before we went upstairs for bathtime, Katie went out to sprinkle reindeer food out in the yard so that the reindeer could make sure to find our house!

Brad had to show her how to sprinkle it out rather than dump it in a pile :)

Then it was bathtime and cookie/carrot/milk time!  Here she is after getting everything ready!  Three Santa cookies for Santa, a carrot for each reindeer, and a glass of milk!

And then a picture of them in their matching jammies from Alvin!  Then it was time for books and bed!

And then Christmas morning!  Oh, how I love Christmas morning with kids :)  We were up before the kids (I had to get my crockpot mac & cheese going) and could hardly wait for them to get up! Here is the tree, presents, and where Santa put mine and Brad's and Sadie's stockings!

And Jack's goods from Santa...

And Katie's goodies from Santa!

Here is the whole spread from Santa!!

And this pretty much sums up the kids Christmas morning - we had to wake both of them up!!  I love that Jack sleeps with his hiney in the air sometimes :)

I love this picture - the two of them getting ready to slide down the stairs together (Katie wanted to bump down on her bottom with Jack)!  They are so excited!

And here's Jack spotting his little ride-on "rollercoaster" toy - he was so excited to get down and see what it was all about!

Katie was loving looking at all of her loot too!

And he's on the go - he couldn't decide what to dig into first!

I think he was not so sure about actually riding on this toy - he was more concerned with his Daniel Tiger and Elmo!

And the fishing pole!  She was really hoping Santa would bring her one - and she must have been on the good list!

And of course Jack wanted in on all of Katie's things - I am fairly sure she is scooping up her things so Jack can't get to them!

Jack really loved these toy trucks and cars - he and Katie ended up deciding to race them down the little track!

And both kids got sunglasses in their stockings - I think Katie's may be a bit too small! :) What do you think?? 

And this guy...oh my goodness.  If only he would keep them on!  Notice Brad is keeping his hands away from his face to get a picture of him with the shades on!

And they both got fishing poles!  Katie knew that she had asked Santa for one, so she decided that she wanted to get one for Brad for Christmas so that they could go fishing together - so, so sweet!  So I had to take her to Target so she could pick one out for him :)

Nanny + Papa got Katie a dollhouse!  She couldn't tell what it was because the box was upside down - so she stood on her head to try to see the picture the right way!

And of course Jack was way into wrapping paper and bows this year - he loved sitting in big piles of wrapping paper and bows and throwing it all over the place.

And here are the crazies after we finished going through all the goods!  Love their matching jammies :)

They love letting their buddies ride on this little toy too - so cute to see them playing together, especially on Christmas morning!

Katie loves her new Ariel doll!

And Jack loves getting into all of sister's goodies!

Since I wasn't in any morning pics, here I am with my new purse!!! DOTS!! Love, love it!

And a family picture at my mom's house!  Love it!

Katie was so excited to rip into her goodies!

And we put Jack in the highchair to open and play with his new toys (and the bows and tissue paper)!

And this one couldn't believe she got the big present!

It was her own sleeping bag and she LOVES it!  She plays in it everyday (and plays her new keyboard from my grandparents)!

After the fun and celebrating at my mom's house, we headed to Christmas with my dad's side of the family!  Here is the annual reading of the Christmas story from our family's Bible - my favorite tradition!

And a girl picture!  Love it!

And a boy picture - I can't believe everyone is smiling and looking!

And my grandfather, my dad, and his two brothers!

My grandparents with the grandkids there!

And then one of my grandparents with my and the kids.  Cute picture!

We had such a great Christmas - especially being able to spend it with our families.  And now our house looks like a toy store :) But the kids are quite entertained which is fantastic!  Hope you all had a blessed Christmas - we certainly did!