Christmas 2011

So, we haven't fallen off the face of the earth over here. Just keeping busy. Looking back I didn't really take any pictures of Christmas Eve and Christmas this year. It was a nice relaxing Christmas. Christmas Eve we spent just as our small little family. We had our traditional steak and potatoes dinner, with Dickens Pudding for dessert. I think Reuben was the only one, of the kids, that enjoyed the steak and no one except Ryan and I enjoyed the dessert, but hopefully the rest will learn to like it as the years go on. To me it isn't Christmas Eve without the food traditions. My mother is such a wonderful cook and all of us looked forward to her special holiday meal traditions. After dinner we had the kids open some pajama pants that I had sewn. Then the kids schemed and talked Ryan and I into letting them open their present from each other. (We put all of our names in a hat on Thanksgiving and draw out a name of someone else in the family, the kids love this.) Ryan and I decided it wouldn't be the end of the world if we gave in and that it was actually a good idea because this way the gift from the family member wouldn't get lost in the chaos of opening presents in the morning. It ended up being wonderful! We all played the game Reuben received and Lincoln could not stand to part with his squinkies from that moment on, the girls loved their hand picked presents too. After some cookies were put out for Santa it was off to bed.

Lincoln saw me working on these pajamas and just had to have super hero pajama pants just like Reuben's, luckily I had enough to be able to make both of them.

Here's the gang holding their presents that they purchased for each other in the family.

Christmas started with opening of presents and then going to church. It turned out to be a relaxing afternoon followed by dinner at our dear friend's house.

My Boys

This has nothing to do with Christmas, but I just had to include this picture.
Most mornings are spent like this. The kids finish waking up in front of the t.v. More often than not Lincoln will snuggle up the Reuben or at least sit right next to him. They truly are such good friends or as Lincoln likes to say "best bubby". We have fantasized of someday owning our own home and having more bedrooms and space. The cute part is Reuben still always says he wants to share a room with Lincoln. Don't get me wrong they do have their moments when they would like to play without the other, but I know they really do love each other. As a mother moments like these just melt my heart.

Gingerbread Houses Throught the Years

Making a gingerbread house at Christmas time has become a tradition in our house. Ryan and I both love to make these. So I think a competition might be in order one of these years. Boys vs. Girls old school style :)

2011

2010

2009
We took a little break...

2008

2007
(That is not Lincoln next to me. I am 7 months pregnant with him in this picture. Can you tell they are brothers?)

2006

My wonderful mother at my childhood home

2005

We were still living in married student housing

Nutcracker

On Friday the girls and I went to see the Nutcracker. We went with a couple of Evie's friends and their Moms. Kaitlyn brought her best friend, Lauren. It was such a fun night, just us girls.

Grace and Eve
(Grace and her Mom gave all the girls a locket. They were a huge hit!)

We are so lucky to live near such beautiful theaters. We were in the last row of the top balcony but it wasn't too shabby for are awesome deal we got on the tickets :)

Kaitlyn and Lauren
(it was hard to take normal pictures in the theater because it was dark in the room and the flash was blinding us)

All of the little girls

Brutus

Evie's kindergarten teacher is so creative and lets each child in their class have a turn being "lucky buckeye" for a week. They have a special activity that they get to do every day such as; making a poster, bringing in pictures, show and tell, estimation station (where they can put whatever they want into a plastic bag and the class guesses how many items are in the bag), and bringing Brutus home for the weekend. In case you don't live in Ohio, Brutus is Ohio State's mascot, he is a buckeye. On Monday the "lucky buckeye" gets to share what they did with Brutus over the weekend. Here are some pictures of Eve with Brutus.

We love to go to our church's historical sites every year at Christmas time. They put on a phenomenal display of nativities. This year there were over 600! There is no charge to go and you don't have to be a member of our church. Eve took Brutus with us and Evie dressed up like an angel.


Riding in the car with our Brutus and Brutus from school.

Christmas party

We had our annual church Christmas party last weekend. We had a dinner, Nativity, coloring for the kids, a cookie decorating station, blanket tying for charity, and the big guest was Santa. This year is so much fun because Lincoln really gets it. He was supper excited when Santa appeared. Lincoln sat on his lap and then had his eyes glued on him while the other children had their turns. On another note this year was Kaitlyn's first year not sitting on Santa's lap, they really do grow up too fast!

Temple Trip

Where we live it takes us two and a half hours to drive to the closest temple. Since it is so far it is always an event! We went down with our friends the Wilde Family. We switch off watching the kids so that all the adults can go inside. This time we hung out in the chapel across the parking lot and let the kids play. We had to get some pictures of all the kiddos! It was a wonderful trip, hopefully we can go again soon!

Going to the Zoo

I had a Friday free from babysitting recently. Lincoln and I thought that it would be fun to go to the zoo with our friends. We packed a lunch and headed to the zoo's rain forest. Lincoln and Jayne are so adorable together!