Christmas 2017

There is so much I should be doing right now...laundry, dishes, packing lunches for school tomorrow, putting the final coat of paint on our cabinet doors, picking up the house, etc., but sometimes I just can't, even though I know I'm going to regret it later. Plus, Graham keeps crying (poor baby has another cold), so I really can't start the painting project until I know he's asleep and the other stuff is just so unexciting. So, for now, I'm going to write a quick blog post about our Christmas.

Overall we had a great Christmas despite the fact that Micah and I both had terrible colds and coughs. We caught the sickness from the kids, of course, but they were way less affected by it than we were. Oh well, such is life as parents of littles! 

We had plans to travel to Micah's parents' house for Christmas, so we decided to celebrate our own family Christmas on Christmas Eve morning before we left for Colorado. I wrapped most things in advance before I started feeling sick, but it was still a struggle to find the energy to put the presents out and pack, and Micah spent a lot of time putting the kids new bikes together despite feeling low on energy himself. If only the kids knew the sacrifices we make for them!  

These stockings are hand-me-downs from my parents' and there are only five, so we'll have to buy our own set if we want to do stocking stuffers for ourselves in the future! We put small, inexpensive things in the stockings like books, notebooks, markers, and socks. This was the first year we've done stockings for our kids.

Everything ready on the night of the 23rd!

The kids patiently taking pictures before diving into the presents. We "wrapped" the bikes under a blanket.

Faith opening her 'dancing fairy jewelry box,' which is something she wanted

Alexis REALLY wanted a jack-in-the-box, so she was thrilled when she opened it

Jack opening his super hero action figures

Books are always worth the break from present opening

Graham with his new bibs. We didn't buy him much this year because he really didn't need anything, and we spent enough on the other three kids. He'll benefit from toys and bikes being passed down someday.

Jack got this light saber from his Aunt Emily and Uncle Kent, but I promise he's actually taller than it. He loves it.

The kids playing with their new toys while we packed for our trip

Bikes!

We left for Monte Vista around noon on Christmas Eve and we arrived just after 4:00. It felt a bit strange traveling on Christmas Eve, so we'll probably do it differently in the future so that we can actually go to a church service. The kids don't know the difference yet, though, so they didn't mind.

On Christmas morning we opened presents with Micah's parents.

Jack was thrilled to get the pirate ship that he saw at Costco

Graham checking out his new toy

Faith with the pink convertible she spied at Target

 No one was more excited than Alexis was when she opened her Paw Patrol Cars though. She saw them at Costco and talked about them for weeks!

Playing with new toys at Grammy and Grandpa's

Christmas Day 2017

Graham seemed to enjoy his first Christmas! Of course the big kids' toys are always more exciting.

Graham's checking out his new toy

No snow for Christmas (except for the tiny amount leftover in the yard), but we couldn't complain about the mild weather and sunshine!

Of course, the kids had to drive their cars

It's so cute to see them drive around on these things. It's like we are seeing glimpses of what they'll be like as teenagers, which is both cute and scary.

This really doesn't have anything to do with Christmas, but Micah's mom found this photo of Micah at age 4.5 and I think the girls look so much like him!

Micah at 4.5 compared to Jack. I think Jack takes more after me.

Reading bedtime stories with Grandpa

Micah and his parents took the kids skiing at Wolf Creek on the 26th. Graham and I stayed behind and enjoyed a quiet day in Monte Vista since he naps twice a day and that would be hard to do at the resort.

My parents flew in late the evening of January 4 and stayed until January 9. Although it was really late for a Christmas celebration, we still made the best of it! I had frozen some of our cookies so the kids decorated them with my parents. We then enjoyed opening some presents under the Christmas tree and fireplace on the TV. I wanted to get started on our cabinet painting project so I hadn't left our tree up, but the TV one was sufficient for the evening.

Grandpa has skills!

Excited for more presents

Graham got his own car!

Who knew three kids would get so excited for transformers!

Photo under the "tree"

The weather was beautiful and although we didn't get out much because we were busy painting our cabinets all weekend, we did get to the park once so the kids could ride their new bikes.

Farewell Grandma and Grandpa! See you soon!