Christmas Day 2011

We had church this morning (just Sacrament meeting), so we had to wake up the kids in time to do stockings, Santa presents & breakfast all before church started.

We do the line up & have the kids walk in order by age- youngest to oldest into the living room. I love how sleepy the boys are & how excited Marlee is.

 

Three in a row-

 

Marlee is a little distracted by the stockings to pay attention to the camera.

 

Tearing into the stockings.

 

Love Marlee’s bedhead.

 

These Lindt chocolate teddy bears are so cute & tasty. 

 

Porter was happy to find flarp in his stocking.

 

Marlee’s present from Santa- a collection of 7 princess Barbie's. She was so happy & grateful. She kept saying thank you. I think she likes this Santa guy.

 

She didn’t waste anytime, she is so excited to have Barbie's of her own.

 

The boys were happy to find that Santa brought them a basketball hoop- it will go perfect with the basketballs they got in their stockings:)

 

Breakfast is homemade coffee cake- same recipe my Grandma Turley & mom use.

 

Clayton is having lots of sugar for breakfast- coffee cake & pez candy. 

 

After church the kids opened gifts from each other, relatives & us (Laun & I).

 

Clayton is such a great big brother- here he is putting on Marlee’s new necklace for her.

 

The kids got me a kitchen gadget.

 

Marlee in her new dress ups & bling.

 

Laun & I haven’t gotten Christmas gifts for each other for awhile. With our student budget, we just focus on the kiddos. Plus, we celebrate our anniversary in only 5 days, so we do something for that.

We had lots of good things to eat for lunch & dinner- cheeses, crackers, bread, meats, berries, pears, pineapple & of course some Martinelli’s. We also had some of the great cookies our neighbors the Petersons always make us.

 

The cheese selection: my favorites were the Mango Fire Cheddar, Double Smoked Cheddar & the Truffle.

 

We also had a smoked turkey (Dr. Collier gets them for the grad students) & a ham- so good!

 

Turkey leg anyone?

Christmas Eve 2011

I am loving the traditions we are starting…

Steak dinner on Christmas Eve night lives on.

 

Mexican sodas- apple is my favorite.

 

A toast of happiness.

 

This year we decided that we want to do a piñata each year for Christmas Eve (my Grandma Turley did this, too). I think this sweet reindeer piñata was only 8 bucks or something-from Sam's Club (hope they have them next year).

 

Each kid took a whack at it:

 

I joined in the fun, too. Clayton was supposedly video tapping the whole thing, but when I watched the video it was all of the ground- ha ha! The kids loved finding the goodies & we burned the piñata afterwards - great for warmth & clean-up.

 

The kids were excited to get a better look of all the piñata goodies. 

 

The massive balloons (Snowman, Santa & penguin) were a big hit.

 

They also loved the 2 dollar bills & hot wheels ( I made sure to find a pink one for Marlee).

 

Another fun treat was the magic milk straws. Each kid got a different flavor.

 

You use the flavored candy straws to drink milk & it flavors the milk.

 

We all watched the great Christmas movies done by the church- they were amazing & help us remember the real meaning of Christmas- Jesus Christ.

 

We did the traditional new pj’s on Christmas Eve- that way they can put them on & be wearing them Christmas morning.

 

I love how excited my kiddos get.

 

Each year the kids all get an ornament of their own to help remember the year & to take with them when they are grown.

 

This year the boys got birds, since they raised so many in the incubator.

 

Adding the new ornaments to the tree.

 

Love the bird ornament- it is by Martha Stewart. Marlee got a big pink (plastic) Princess ornament. Although, I don’t think she needs any reminder that she is the Princess in the house or that her favorite color is pink.

 

The kids had lots of fun with their new balloons tonight.

 

I think Marlee’s new pj’s speak the truth.

 

Cute kids sporting their new pj’s.

 

Before bed we had to track Santa to see where he was & of course leave out treats for Santa & his reindeer.

 

Laun & I wait for the kids to fall asleep to make sure it is safe for Santa to come fill their stockings & leave them presents.

 

Then we make sure all the other gifts are wrapped.

I am so excited for the morning to come!!!

decorating the tree

I love that we are just now decorating our Christmas tree, even though we got it back in November!

 

The kids have so much fun looking at all of the ornaments. Every Christmas Eve the kids get to open up a Christmas ornament & then when they get grown-up and move out, they get to take all of their ornaments with them. One of my favorite ornaments is the wooden quail I got Laun a long time ago.

We usually get a real tree every year…we love the smell. This year we didn’t cut it down ourselves, we just picked it up from Sams Club.