Journey

Happiness is a Journey, not a destination.


Namaste.
Showing posts with label Christmas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Christmas. Show all posts

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.

Sunday, December 18, 2011

Castle of Chaos...Christmas Style!

The Castle of Chaos Haunted House in Riverdale did a Chrismas Haunt...Free with a donation of food or warm clothes for the local shelters.  We took a bunch of coats our kids had outgrown down there...

From December 2011


The kids got their picture taken with Jack Skellington and the cast of "The Nightmare Before Christmas"...

The haunted house was a little bit Christmas themed, and we enjoyed it. 
From December 2011

Thursday, December 15, 2011

Talia's Preschool Christmas Program

Talia's Preschool had a little program to perform for the parents, and they also got to see "Santa"!

From December 2011


From December 2011

From December 2011

Saturday, December 25, 2010

Christmas 2010

Christmas Morning, we were all sleeping soundly...we typically have to wake our children to open presents.  This year, however, the newspaper lady threw the paper so hard, when it hit the front door, Cole thought someone was trying to break in, and Talia thought it was Santa...

Cole had been dozing on the couch (he's always been an early riser), so he sent Talia downstairs to wake the boys, while he gently woke me up.  Then we let the kids check things out...

Talia putting the star on our advent calendar...
From Christmas 2010


The kids get their first look at Christmas...
From Christmas 2010


From Christmas 2010


Talia insisted we open the stockings first....
From Christmas 2010

From Christmas 2010

From Christmas 2010


Then we let the kids open their presents, one at a time, youngest to oldest...
From Christmas 2010

From Christmas 2010

From Christmas 2010


From Christmas 2010

From Christmas 2010

From Christmas 2010

From Christmas 2010

From Christmas 2010


Cosette always joins us...
From Christmas 2010


Talia with her Santa gifts...
From Christmas 2010


A wand and a crown from Grandma and Grandpa...
From Christmas 2010

From Christmas 2010

(Indy loves the wand...I keep catching him sneaking into her room and trying to carry it off)

After the kids opened all their gifts, Cole and I finally got a turn...

From Christmas 2010


The kids got me a new yoga mat, they were so excited...
From Christmas 2010

From Christmas 2010


We had a nice, relaxed morning.  We opened up toys for the kids, started picking up the mess, had time to get ready without hurrying....then we headed over to my parents' house for a late breakfast and opening more presents...

From Christmas 2010
(The white balance was set wrong for this pic, but I loved the effect it gave...)
From Christmas 2010


Gracie was soooooo excited about her American Girl doll Kit!
From Christmas 2010


Of course, as the kids started opening their gifts from Nana and Papa, my camera started to die...I really wanted to get Alec's expression for his gift, so I only got a couple of  Talia...and none of Kyle :(
From Christmas 2010

From Christmas 2010

From Christmas 2010

Alec was thrilled....he hasn't had a new bike since he was 4....(he's been riding Kyle's old one).

After we were done at my parents, we had a little down time.  Cole and Talia took naps, Alec took his new bike for a spin around the neighborhood, then he and Kyle played with their new stuff. 

Later, we headed over to Cole's parents for a yummy dinner and family time...
From Christmas 2010

From Christmas 2010


We also took our first Gilbert family picture in many, many years....since Kyle was 2.  That picture is currently being edited, and I will post that later.  (I have to say, I'm glad to have figured out the photo merge feature of Photoshop...it's hard to get a baby and a 3 year old to look at a camera on a tripod and smile...at the same time!)

It was a great Christmas, and we feel very, very grateful for how blessed our family is.