Christmas Eve was so much fun this year. Santa came for an early visit and brought the kids new pj’s. After Santa left Sage told us “That wasn’t the real Santa because he talked funny just like Papa and I know it was Papa.” We started laughing since that was true. We didn’t say anything and she dropped it. The kids also opened new pj’s from us and a new blanket. I only made one for Caleb this year since we found some way cute blankets at Costco back in early November. We then watched “Max & Ruby: Christmas” together and then it was off to bed.

Kip and I had so much fun playing “Santa” this year. The kids had toys they asked for so we knew what to get them. Sage got a WowWee Alive Lion Cub, just what she has been asking for since the beginning of November. Jayden asked for a doll that peed in the potty, but because of having CF and the bacteria risk if water were to stay in the doll too long she got a doll that talks, laughs, and goes to sleep. She loves it! Braxton wanted a new remote control car like his old one although we didn’t like his old one so we found something better. He got the Playschool Remote Control Car. BIG HIT!!! Caleb got an animal train. Kip gave me a new waffle maker since my died a few weeks ago. Kip got a new cordless drill which he was very surprised about. Christmas was great this year!!

This year I decided to buy one house and then help the kids each make a house. Well, I didn’t end up helping so much since they are all so independent. Here is how they turned about.

Mine is the top left, although I let the kids put most of the candy on it. The back of the house was broken in three places so it needed to be repaired first. Jayden’s is the bottom left. She has a gingerbread man from mine on hers. It was harder than I thought to make the frosting since I couldn’t get it thick enough. Braxton’s is the middle one and has a snowman on it. Sage’s house, on the right, looked great until this large snow storm came and covered it up. The kids had tons of fund and I love their creativity! It is fun to let them do things on their own.

Now that December is almost over I have decided it is about time to update my blog. Actually, I have just been so busy with the kids and the business that updating the blog took a back seat for the past three weeks. So, what have we been up to? We started Christmas off right by hanging lights on the house. Okay, Kip hung the lights while I played with the kids. This is the second time in 5 years that there were light on our house. Way to go Kip for getting them up.

After hanging the lights they didn’t get turned on much until we went and bought a timer. Remembering to turn the lights on and off has become a thing of the past. They come on at dark and go off 4 hours later. Worry free lights!

This year we decided to bake up some of our own Christmas tree ornaments. The kids had so much fun cutting out shapes. About a week after we had them all baked up I had the kids put on old shirts for painting and go for it. We had some great ornaments. The kids love to paint and this was fun for them. We then hung some of them on the tree. Some of them broke before making it to the tree all because of me. I was carrying the bag with them in it and dropped it. About half of them broke. The kids we so sad, but they got over it fast.

Decorating the tree was a real hit this year. The kids were so excited to see all the ornaments. They remembered ones from last year and talked about them. I ended up decorated the top of the tree since the kids can only reach so far. They actually hung most of them in the front right by each other. I spread them out later so the tree wouldn’t topple over from the weight of all the ornaments being in one spot. After decorating the tree I figured the kids would be taking the ornaments on and off the entire time the tree was up. To my surprise they hardly touched it. Caleb was the biggest problem since he could scoot over to it and pull off bells and ornaments to suck on. Soon the tree was bare at the bottom in fear that Caleb would grab a bell to choke on and I wouldn’t catch him in time.

Other fun things we have done this December include: Trying the stockings on for size, putting curlers in the girls hair, celebrating Kip’s 38th birthday, and trying to get a good picture of all the kids for Christmas cards. As you can see from all the pictures we have had a lot of fun as a family and enjoy spending time together!

On the first snow fall of the year I had the kids try on anything they wanted in the box of snow clothes. We needed to find things that fit or find out what we needed to buy. The kids had fun searching through the box to find anything they thought would be great to wear. Jayden found everything needed to play in the snow. She is still wearing the same snow pants from last year although they are getting a little small, the boots are from Sage a few years ago, and a hat that Grandma gave her last year which was meant for this year. Braxton still fits into his snow pants as well, and yes they are a little small, but I don’t want to buy knew ones until they are on clearance. He can wear Sage’s boots from last year and we found a hat that fit. Sage had all new stuff last year and all of it still fits except her boots. We went to Walmart and found the only size 9 pair they had at the time. Turns out they are blue and can be passed on to Braxton or Caleb as well as Jayden if they fit when needed. I love to have gender neutral colored items for hand-me downs. Kip and I also found some mittens for the kids that are more water proof than the baby fuzzy ones you find attached to hats. The kids had so much fun trying snow clothes on and saying to each other “Remember wearing this last year and play in the snow.” It if fun to see what they remember doing as a family. They also helped Caleb try on a few things.