Regan and I were out shopping when we saw our first Christmas tree in our city.
When we got back we spent a couple hours in the afternoon watching a Christmas movie together as a family. Hudson is not big on movies, but he sat through this one. It might have something to do with the fact that Charlie had him pinned down ;)
The kids had more fun opening more presents :) this notebook was fitting...we just had to explain the "pie" part :)
Benjamin opening a washcloth
This gift has been sitting under the tree for a while and the kids have been begging to open it. They were so happy that they finally got to open it.
Presents came from Mamaw and Papaw. I was instructed to put them under the tree for at least 2 hours before they opened them :)
So when you live overseas, most of the time Christmas presents are opened and then talked about and thank yous said via Skype at a later time, but every once in a while you get to open presents on Skype. So the following pictures are from our Christmas with Mamaw and Papaw...
Hudson loved his shirt (very cute colors)
Katherine was more than happy about her science experiment book (more pictures to follow)
Lauren loved this shirt as well (very her)
Regan got
Anne of Green Gables and
Anne of Avonlea. (my girl who loves to read...a perfect gift)
Benjamin also got some books (he is looking forward to reading
The Swiss Family Robinson because he said anything with a treehouse has to be cool)
I got a cute long sleeve cat shirt
Jonathan got a Monopoly card game
Benjamin made several Star Wars ships and hung them from his ceiling. They really want to see the movie, but it doesn't come out here until January 13th! I guess they have to wait.
Ok....and here are the "pictures to follow" Katherine was all about the science experiments!
Every time I turned around she was reading a new one and saying, "Oooooo, I wander what will happen!" I told her that I think the title was 365 experiments so that you could do one each day....she didn't believe me and just kept going :)
I love that she has a curious mind and wants to find out what things will do. (This one was by far the coolest of the ones she did that day...she did 5 of them in one day)
Hudson had his first go at finger painting. He kept asking wear the brush was, but once he realized what he was supposed to do there was no holding him back (see below)
We finally made some Christmas cookies (on Christmas Eve) and again, this was Hudson's first time to make them.
He really didn't get the idea of using Christmas shapes at Christmas, but that's ok. He did choose a tree finally.
These two always go a little heavy on the sprinkles.
Benjamin used icing after the fact this year. Normally, we just do sprinkles, but I had icing leftover from the cakes.
Regan did a mix...some sprinkles and some with icing. She is always very precise on where each sprinkle or dot of icing is placed.
Oh yes, he got to eat one cookie and this is what he looked like afterwards :)
Katherine wanted me to get a picture of her snowman before she ate it.
That night we exchanged family gifts. We gave Ayi a panorama picture of me and the kids on top her her house in her village up in the mountains.
Christmas morning!!! This was their big gift and not the reaction I was expecting. I videoed the whole thing....They opened their presents and finally realized what the "paper" said. They were so calm and reserved..."Really? We get to go to Disneyland?" Then Jonathan and I open our "tickets" and there is a second ticket that says we have hotel reservations....then they start screaming and jumping around "We get to stay in a hotel!!!" Now that the shock has worn off, they talk about their Disney trip coming up all the time :)
Stockings
Benjamin and all his many expressions
Hudson so happy...he wants Santa to come every day :)
Regan enjoying everything
Katherine beyond excited
Lauren in disbelief that she got the doll Molly (and the rest of us lost some hearing when she opened the box, too)
I tried out my new cookie cutter that I got. It was fun.
Jonathan had a Monkey birthday from his 5 little monkeys! They all made the cake. I felt bad that his present got lost in the mail and his other present I hid a little too well (still haven't found where I hid it), but very thankful that family and friends sent him some gifts. Happy 35th!
Some new dress shirts! (notice the thumbs up) :)
new music!
And stuff for cheese dip, Velveeta and Rotel! (mmmm, I'm excited about this gift, too) :)
I believe these girls have more dolls than they need! This is how I found them when I went to tuck them in one night. I will say that most of these have been bought with their own money and they do play with them all ALL the time. I was never a doll kind of girl, but I love watching them play with their dolls :)
We had another Christmas party. All the kids got a gift.
Lauren doesn't want to take these off
This is one of Hudson's favorite girls....haha!
We then had another Christmas party at our house...complete with a gingerbread house!
We were so glad that many were able to hear the Christmas story and we have found that a candy cane version of spoons is very popular and very fun at a party :) FYI- when people really get into the game the candy canes can be broken in half...hmmm. I might have to rethink the game for next year ;) Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!!!
