MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Christmas Eve we FINALLY had the party we were planning last Christmas Eve before kiddos got sick and we had ER, hospital, and instacare visits! We had a little party where we ate dinner {Skyline Chili- for the 4th year in a row}, played a few games, made gingerbread cookies for Santa, and spent some time with family :) it was fun and ended early {around 7:15}so everybody could get ready for the MAN-IN-THE-RED-SUIT!

i forgot to take pics of the party but snagged these as Kailey and Shawn were leaving {T&L had just left ;( }

These two were READY FOR SANTA!!!

silly faces...

We got the cookies, milk, carrots, and water out. We also said goodbye to Marshmellow. Dallin and Cade had told us that you are allowed to give your elf a hug on Christmas Eve night before they head back to the North Pole with Santa! I handed Marshmellow to EJ and she started shaking. her eyes got larger than i thought possible and she whispered "I can't believe I am holding a REAL ELF"! It was pretty special!

here, ej was saying goodbye to Marshmellow- she was a little sad :(

AND then it was bedtime! EJ actually took FOREVER to fall asleep- i think she was too excited. BUT as i was in talking with her we heard jingle bells outside. Again, her eyes lit up and got larger than life and she said "He's here!" It kinda sounded like a scary movie but it cracked me up! I left the room and we didn't hear anything the rest of the night!

ej was such an amazing helper. she ran over to rowen's side of the couch and started helping him with his stuff! She was over there for a little bit without going to see her stuff and we told her she could dig into hers and she went nuts!

Santa put unders in Rowen's stocking.

looks like they enjoyed their snack!

Rowen couldn't stay out of the tent while nate tried to set it up!

Then, we had another surprise for the kids from Mom and Dad-

ej was a little freaked by Rowen's driving skills

BIKES

We got ready and headed to Grandma and Grandpa's house for more presents!

Grandma went OVERBOARD {in the best way possible} and made each of the kids a cozy-minky blanket! She personalized each of them and each of the grandkids thought theirs WAS the BEST! SUCCESS for Grandma! the blankets are so awesome and i steal my kidlets ALL THE TIME!  ej almost couldn't process just how excited she was and just how cozy it was! STIMULUS OVERLOAD!

we even snuck in some hot tub time!

Christmas was AWESOME! Nate had 9 consecutive days off! We spent a lot of time doing some fun Christmas activities and we even saw Chris and Ashley and few times as they were in town from Cleveland! We read Christmas books every night before bed to help add some Christmas fun. We got this really great book about the First Christmas. It explains the Christmas Story in detail but in kids terms. As Nate finished reading it to her for the first time ej looked at him and said "God is so great!" It was so sweet. As i laid in bed with her Christmas Eve night, we had just finished reading the First Christmas Story and i asked her why we celebrated Christmas. She replied "So Santa can give presents because Heavenly Father gave us a present of  Jesus"- I loved her thinking combining Santa and THE TRUE MEANING OF CHRISTMAS! I love this time of year.