Christmas Day

After the late Christmas Eve, the kiddos did a pretty good job sleeping in the next morning.  Unfortunately, though, that didn't leave any time to open stockings before church.  So Emerson was more than anxious to get home to see what Santa left and see our surprise from the gifts she made us and picked out for her brother!

 I got Landon a tie 👔 and in all our rush to get ready, forgot to have him wear it. 😢

 As soon as we got home (before we could even change our clothes), the kiddos were ready to get opening.

 I love watching the expressions on their faces as they see what is in each gift.

They were so excited with their gifts from each other.  Landon got Emmy some Shopkins and Emmy got Landon some Magic cards and football cards.

 These were gifts sent by Landon's birthmother, Mary.  I noticed I forgot to take pictures with their Santa gifts, but Emerson got a CD player and Landon got a new Nerf gun.

 Later that afternoon, we went over to Steven and Kristina's for Christmas.  We opened presents first and Landon decided he wanted to be the photographer 📷so most of these pictures were taken by him!

We had yummy hot chocolate and WAAYYY too much food, but it was all delicious.  Jess, Grace, and Tyler joined us for dinner.  What a nice way to end our celebrations.  I hope you enjoyed your family and friends and got time to reflect on the birth of Jesus this Christmas season.

Christmas Eve

Christmas fell on a Sunday this year so our traditions all around looked a little different this year, which is fine, just different!  Nate and Sara drove up from Evansville and stayed with us Friday night through Tuesday morning.  It was so nice having them around and getting to know Sara a little better.  The kids LOVED having them stay with us, too!

As I was finishing up Christmas shopping earlier in the week, I found these curlers and Emerson wanted to try them so she'd have curly hair for Christmas.  They worked amazingly well!  We put them in after her shower and she slept on them all night.  The next morning...

her hair was SUPER curly and so cute.  She was really excited about it and also since they were really good, they got to play with Tricky, the elf, and Santa came to pick him up when he delivered presents.

They both LOVE their elf so much and usually spend a good amount of time arguing over who's turn it is to play with him or hold him!

We had a Christmas Eve brunch over at Todd and Cathy's again this year.  It is always yummy and a nice relaxing time.  The kids go over in their pjs and get to spend most of the day playing,

Usually, before the kids go to bed, they open their new Christmas pjs, put out milk and cookies for Santa, and "try" really hard to get to sleep.  This year, though, was a little different because our Sunday School class was in charge of the service at church.  So the kids got to stay up past midnight!  Matt and I got to play Mary and Joseph in the play that Pastor Frank wrote for us.  The kids were so excited to stay up so late, but we had to rush home and get to sleep so Santa could stop at our house and fill the stockings and hopefully leave each child a present!

Christmas Fun

 We've been trying to make the most of our Christmas Break so far.  Here are some pictures:

Caleb loves his "MeMe".  He also loves watching The Good Dinosaur on "dd".

 The Davis' hosted Friends Christmas 🎄 again this year.  We had yummy turkey, decorated cookies for Santa 🎅, and even had a show from the kids.  The Fallers and Sarbers joined us this year as well.

The twins had fun eating all the frosting and sprinkles!

Kenna and Emmy sang and danced...

...while Greyson played piano.

 We went on a double date with the Davis' to the casino for the yummy buffet (although next year, we'll have to go on the weekend to get crab legs🦀 and prime rib!) and some card/slot playing🎰.  We had a lot of fun but most of us lost money. 💰  I won $35 on penny slots, though!

 We also decided to help out the Salvation Army this year by signing up to ring the bell by Walmart in Dunlap.  We had to sign up for a 2 hour shift and although it wasn't very cold out (33 degrees), by the end, our toes were numb!❆  We tried to collect as much as we could by singing Christmas carols and wishing everyone a Merry Christmas!  A few days later, I got an email saying we raised over $700 in our two hour shift!

 Nate and Sara visited us from Evansville so as we were cleaning out a room for them, the kiddos wrote them a note on the chalkboard.

Tricky, trees, birthday, basketball, and Santa

Alright, here we go for December.  We've only had 11 days, but the most wonderful time of the year has been busy! 🎅  Our elf came back to visit from the North Pole on Dec. 1st.  He left the kids a note out of Fruit Loops and Emerson had several questions for him.

 We went to Eby Pines to pick out our Christmas tree and the kids got to visit with Santa.  Landon asked for a squishy basketball and a new football.

 Emerson asked for Shopkins and American Girl Doll things.

Our perfect tree🎄

 The next day (Dec. 4th) was our first good snow.  The kids were out long after dark making snowmen and snow forts.  They loved it and it was the perfect snow!⛄

 We also got to celebrate the greatest guy's birthday!🎈  Matt turned 39 this year.  He is such a great leader for our family and we love him a bunch!  Emmy and I made him chocolate chip cookies for his birthday.  He's also a pretty good sport as he asked Em to get him a hat so I could take pictures for his birthday and this is the one she picked out:

 This weekend, we got to go down to Purdue for the Kids Club basketball game. 🏀  We spent the night with the Berger's.  The kids get along so well and are always sad when we have to leave.

 Before the game, we got to go down and make a fan tunnel for the players.

 The girls trying to master the selfie!😜

 Decorating our tree:

 This morning was the kids' Christmas play at church.  They performed "Santa Bowed at Christmas".  Emerson was a shepherd and had 2 lines to say.

 Landon was a wise man and had 1 line about bringing a football for baby Jesus because he didn't know what myrrh is!

 All the kiddos and adults did such a great job.  I know it takes a lot of practice and time to put something like this together.  It was fun to watch.

Caleb got to meet Santa.  He wasn't too impressed!

It's a great start to a great time of year to celebrate!