Christmas Eve and Christmas

Since Chris and I have been married we have traveled every year for Christmas so this year we decided to stay home. I was excited to have Christmas without trying to get everything packed and get everyone ready to go on a trip. We were lucky enough to have my parents and Chris's mom join us at our house so we still had family around to enjoy the holidays with. On Christmas Eve we enjoyed a nice dinner and then the boys made sugar cookies for Santa the hardest part of this for me was letting them decorate the cookies all on their own without any help from me. They were both so proud of their cookies and could not wait for Santa to eat them.

When the boys went up stair to get ready for bed they discovered that Gerald had left and gone back to the North Pole, but he left them presents under the tree in their room. They all got a new pair of pajamas and even though Payton had no interest in unwrapping her present she loved her princess pajamas.

Before the boys went to bed Grandma Willis read them a story about the birth of Jesus to help them settle down a little before it was time to go sleep it also helped them to think about the reason why we celebrate Christmas.

Christmas morning was so much fun they kids were so excited when the they woke up and saw Santa had come. Carter came running into our room yelling "Santa Came Santa Came " and then he could hardly wait to get down stairs and start tearing open the presents. Payton on the other hand had no interest in opening presents there was so much going on I don't think she knew what to think.

One of the presents that caught Paytons interest after someone else opened it for her was her baby doll as soon as she saw it she wanted it out of the box as quickly as possible so that she could play with it.

Carter and his new friend Kota he loves this dinosaur and can't get enough of playing with him. He is on him all the time and if you shut him off Carter turns him back on so keeping batteries in this toy should be lots of fun.

Carter as the incredible Hulk.

Christmas was so much fun it was nice to be home and enjoy the day with family it was great that our parents could come and enjoy the day with us it made for a great Christmas.

Our Elf on the Shelf

Chris's Aunt Jill sent the kids "The Elf on the Shelf" it is an elf that you sit around your house and he watches what you do and at night he goes and reports to Santa and then when you wake up the next day he is in a different spot so you have to look around the house and find him. The first thing the kids had to do was come up with a name for the elf and immediately Jaxson named him Gerald I have no idea where he came up with that. Chris and I have loved having Gerald around all we have to do is mention that he is watching and the kids stop what they are doing it is so nice we were saying we are going to have to keep Gerald around year round instead of just at Christmas. The kids have had so much fun with Gerald every morning they wake up and try to find where he is at and to be honest I think that Chris is having just as much fun trying to find different places to put Gerald. Below are some of the spots Gerald has turned up.

Carter's Christmas Program

Yesterday was Carter's Christams program and I don't know if he was more excited about the program or that his dad was going to be there. When we woke up in the morning it was snowing and it did not look like it was going to let up anytime soon and it wasn't long before Chris called and said he was running late. Carter loves his dad and I knew he would be sad if I told him Chris was not going to make it so I decided not to say anything and hope that Chris made it in time. This turned out not to be the best decision Carter was so cute up there singing his songs but as soon as he got done singing he would yell out "Mom I can't see my dad where is my dad" I felt so bad for him, but he finished the program and Chris showed up at the very end and Carter was excited to see his dad. He is the cutest kid and he has the best personality he is so easy going and some of the things that he says and does make us laugh so hard we are so lucky to have him in our family.

Finally Enough Snow to Play In

Today we woke up to snow and the kids could not have been more excited. Jaxson has been asking to build a snowman for weeks so he could barely wait to get home from school and play in the snow. I don't know why kids like playing out in the cold but they love it and they can stay out there forever which is fine by me since it takes 20 minutes just to get them in their snow clothes. All the kids had fun in the snow and I got about 45 minutes of peace so it was a good day.

Visit with Santa

Our ward party was on Saturday so the kids finally got to see Santa. The boys were both very excited and Payton liked to look at him from a safe distance. Carter got on Santa's lap and asked for a toy mouse he comes up with some of the craziest things sometimes. Both boys were so excited that they finally got to talk to Santa so now we can cross that off the list of many things left to do before Christmas.

This Ones for You Mom

I figured this was pretty good payback for Kelly posting the pictures of you playing Rayman Raving Rabbids. This is Kelly doing the Hula Hoop on Wii Fit it was very entertaining for everyone. Sorry about it being sideways I couldn't figure out how to turn it.

Cooking With Dad

The kids wanted a treat after dinner last night so while I cleaned up dinner Chris and the kids made a treat. This was the first time Payton joined in she mostly just liked holding and looking at the box. The boys are always excited to help someone cook so they got to help dad mix and stir things. They all had lots of fun and the treat turned out delicious.




Payton loves to clean up so when Chris started to wipe off the counter she immediately climbed up and took over it made me so proud.

Jaxson's Gingerbreadman

We finally did it Jaxson came home with a school project and instead of turning it into something Star Wars he choose Kung Fu Panda not your everyday Gingerbreadman but at least we have started branching out a little bit.

A Few of Payton's Favorite Things

Payton loves nighttime she gets to take a bath all by herself and stay as long as she wants. She recently has decided the the best place to take a bath is in my tub with lots of bubbles it is so fun to watch her in there. She also loves her princess nightgown as soon as she sees it she gets so excited but I think that her favorite part of the whole night is getting on mom and dads bed and jumping and running around with her brothers. I know not the safest thing but she loves it and we all know it is not easy to say no to Payton.

Let the Fun Begin

I have never done much decorating for holidays I am not sure why I just have never really gotten into decorating for all the holidays, but I have to admit that I love decorating for Christmas. I love to see the tree lit and the other decorations around the house. Last night we decided we would put up our decorations my first mistake was telling the kids about this in the morning. I think Carter asked me just about every 15 minutes when we would be putting up the tree they were so excited and the excitement turned into them bouncing off the walls for the entire afternoon. Chris finally got home and after spending an hour convincing the kids to eat dinner it was time to begin. I know in most houses decorating is fun and relaxing but I have to admit it didn't feel very relaxing last night. After disagreements on how to arrange furniture and trying to make lights on the tree work it was time to decorate. This part was fun the kids love seeing all the decorations and they love finding their ornaments from years past and hanging them on the tree. Carter looks at the tree and says "Look at our beautiful Christmas Tree" I am glad that they had fun and now we can just enjoy the tree.



I have found Carter in this very postion about 10 times today I know that before this holiday is over he is going to land right in the tree that should be a fun day.