Christmas Morning!

Carson and Preston were both up first on Christmas Morning around 6:30, and Kaylee was up shortly after.  Then it didn't take long for Livy to wake up.  While we finished feeding Preston, the kids played with the train.  They finally begged to go downstairs around 7:30, but first I had to get a picture of them all and make sure everything downstairs was in its place!

 Santa brought Carson a toy snow board and sled and the girls got a doll house!  They were SO excited about them!

 The girls both got new barbies, baby strollers, and princess babies with a carrier.  Alivia got a toy Dr. Set, Kaylee got a new snow coat, and all the kids got a play-doh set.  Carson got his own Erector Set, a toy semi truck, and his most wanted gift, a Y-Fliker scooter!  Overall, the kids were all very happy with what they got!

 Grandma Karen and Papa gave all the kids a blanket with their own name on it, and gave Nick and I a blanket as well.  We love them!  I don't think you can have too many blankets!

Carson gave me a cute hand made ornament that he made in his school class.  It also came with a cute card that he wrote in.  It is adorable!

 For Christmas, I got me some photography equiptment and Nick got me a new CD player.  Nick got a luggage cargo bag for the van and some money for his Jeep.

My favorite thing of the morning is how grateful Carson was.  Every time he would open a gift, he would come give me a hug or tell me thank you SO much!  He is such a sweet boy and is so loving and he just melts my heart!  It was just amazing to see all the kids be so happy and that is the best part of being a parent on Christmas Day!

Christmas Eve

A tradition that I have always remembered is getting to open one present on Christmas Eve.  When I was a kid, that meant either a new toy, movie, but mostly pajamas.  With our kids, we do the one preset on Christmas Eve, and it is new PJ's.  Even though they knew what it was going to be, they were excited to open them!  So after we got dinner cleaned up, they opened up their gifts and we read the Polar Express....well, listened to it actually on the CD the book came with.

 Once we read, the kids helped get a plate of cookies ready for Santa Clause.  They included some sugar cookies from the day before, some ores that were given as part of a neighbor gift, and some chocolate chip cookies from our great friends Deb & Dave.  And of course, Carson made sure we put out carrots for the reindeer too!  Then they both made signs for the cookies just in case Santa didn't know if they were for him or not!  Kaylee's is the one in purple!  Cute for a 4 year old, huh?

The kids easily went to bed by 8:15, besides Preston, but he went to sleep by 9, and Nick and I were in bed by 10.  We all got some great sleep, and even Preston slept through the night!  It was a wonderful Christmas Eve!

Brower Family Dinner

Last Friday, the 21st, we met up with Gma & Gpa Brower, Uncle Chris, and Matt's family for dinner in Ogden at Chuck-O-Rama.  It was super yummy and the kids had a blast eating what ever they wanted!  Since Matt & Nat were spending Christmas in Vegas this year, we wanted to get together and just have a little Christmas Dinner, but Grandma Joy didn't want to cook so she suggested eating out, so we did!  It was a fun night and an enjoyable time with my family.  Here are some pictures of the fun!

Getting ready for Christmas!

We have had such a fun month getting all ready for Christmas!  The kids have brought home fun artwork and crafts from school, we have daily jokes from the Advent Calendar Grandma gave us from last year, Carson learned about all the different traditions from other countries, and we did a LOT of playing.  It was so cute, the other day, to see Kaylee and Alivia who dressed up in costumes and just played so well together!  I had to take a picture!  Alivia still gets bugged often when Kaylee tries to mommy her, but they are getting better all the time about playing well together.  

 We were lucky enough to get a date night last Saturday, while Uncle Chris watched the kids.  And while we were out, we found a cute Christmas Tree Train that we just had to get.  A few days earlier, Carson was telling me how he really wanted a train for our tree, so when we saw it and it was a great price I didn't even hesitate on getting it!  The kids were excited to get it put together the next day!

On Saturday, I attempted to make sugar cookies with the kids, but that was an epic fail.  The dough was so sticky, no matter how much flour I added, so I threw it away, and ended up buying some cookie mix from the store that we put together after church on Sunday.  The kids loved it, but it sure was messy!

 On Monday, Carson and Kaylee did some last minute shopping that morning and boy it was crazy!  But we got most of what we needed and spent most of the day just hanging out.  It was raining earlier, but turned into snow that afternoon, so the kids were able to go out and play a bit in the snow.  Kaylee must have worn herself out, because she zonked out on the couch until dinner.  We were thinking about going out for dinner but then Carson reminded us that our tradition for Christmas Eve dinner is to do breakfast.  So we made french toast and bacon and enjoyed a yummy breakfast dinner.  So now that we have done that a couple years in a row, that will probably be a permanent tradition for our family!

Looking back over the month, we did have a lot of fun getting ready for Christmas.  Attending the ward party, family dinners, recitals, and church all made this month SO MUCH FUN!!!