Journey

Happiness is a Journey, not a destination.


Namaste.

Monday, December 26, 2011

Christmas 2011

I got home around 3:40 am, took some pictures, and crawled into bed about 4.  When Cole woke me at 7:20, It felt like I had hardly slept.  I went straight for a shot of caffeine in Diet Pepsi form. 

We had told the boys not even to think about coming upstairs until after 7.  I'm lucky that Cole is an early riser.  He was up around 6, and heard the boys moving around, waking each other up, and trying to keep each other quiet in the basement.  After Talia had to get up and go potty, he herded the kids into the basement until he woke me...

The kids were pretty excited. 
From December 2011


Talia loved her artist's easel, and dug immediately into her stocking (we usually save those for last)
From December 2011


I love the expressions on her face...
From December 2011


Alec
From December 2011


Kyle
From December 2011


It was a little hard for me this year to see Kyle with only a couple of things to open.  Mostly because he's older, and the days when toys were all he wanted are over...he's growing up. 

He was thrilled with his iPod Touch!
From December 2011


Alec's Beyblades were his big gift, and he loved them!
From December 2011


Lily decided to see what the fuss was about...
From December 2011


Indy crawled right up behind Alec, giving him cat ears....
From December 2011


I love that my kids have always liked "little" things...guys, action figures and figurines.  Talia was excited to get a new Polly Pocket to be friends with her other one...
From December 2011


Indy explores the present Santa left the cats...
From December 2011


From December 2011


Talia made us this magnet board at school....
From December 2011


I got mostly clothes, but also some cool stackable cooling racks for when I bake, and a batter dispenser so that I don't make such a mess when I do cupcakes!
From December 2011


Cole got some nice new clothes as well
From December 2011


After we finished opening, we all got ready to meet at my mom's house for brunch.  I, on my 3 hours of sleep, had a lovely 20 oz Sugar Free Red Bull to keep my energy up...

Kyle, Parker, and Alec
From December 2011


The Fam...
From December 2011


After brunch, we opened presents.  We had the cousins all draw names this year.  Our kids drew Hunter, Parker, and the new baby (Nikko). 

Heidi opens the present we got for Nikko
From December 2011


Hunter thanking us for the "gun and bullets" (exactly what he asked for :))
From December 2011


Talia was thrilled with her Leapster and Rapunzel game from Nana and Papa!
From December 2011


We had the boys combine the boys' Christmas to get them a Wii and a game. 
From December 2011

Alec was beyond excited, and Kyle was happy too, although he's at that age when it's not cool to show it ;)
From December 2011


Snuggling with the baby...
From December 2011


Alec had been dying to hold baby Nikko...
From December 2011


Playing...
From December 2011


I don't look nearly as tired as I feel....
From December 2011


After hanging out with my family for awhile, we went home for a short break and then headed to Cole's parents for a yummy rib roast dinner.  Cole's family is a little weird about pictures, so I didn't take too many.  We enjoyed hanging out for the evening.  We brought the kids home about 7, and I was barely functional.  We pretty much let the kids run wild with their new stuff, I got all ready for bed, and we chilled in our jammies.  We went to bed at 9 pm, and I was OUT.  I slept for 12 hours straight. 

It was worth it, it was a really nice Christmas.  I am so thankful for all the blessings that my family has.

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