Auntie’s pretty girls

One of Auntie’s jobs, according to Noelle, is painting nails. The day after Christmas she came and asked me to polish them again because her sparkles were coming off. So of course I agreed to paint them. As soon as Noelle got out of the chair, Karly got in it and put her hand on my leg and was ready to have her fingers polished. So Karly got her fingers and toes painted for the first time.

Uncle Troy and Tyler’s visit

Troy and Julie decided to spend Christmas at their own house this year which was great for them but not so great for us. Thomas and Noelle really missed not having Tyler there.  They understood though that Tyler needed to be home for Santa to bring him his gifts.

Troy decided to take Tyler on a road trip and drove up to Stockton a few days after Christmas and stayed until New Years. The kids were thrilled that they were coming and that we were going to have a third “Christmas”. They loved opening gifts with Tyler and Uncle Troy. 

   

Kelly found this shirt for Troy which is totally fitting for him.

They also loved having a “slumber party” in Noelle’s room.

The next day we went sledding. The kids all had a blast.

This is what Karly did when everyone else was sledding…

Playing in the snow was also a huge hit with the kids.

Then on Christmas Eve we went to the Stockton Thunder game with Grandma and Pop.

What a blast we had.  The kids loved playing with Tyler and Kelly and I enjoyed having Troy home. I hope this becomes a yearly trip!

Christmas Day

I spent the night at Kelly’s on Christmas Eve so I could be there when the kids got up to see what Santa brought them.  We stayed up late wrapping all the gifts from Santa.  

The kids didn’t care that Santa’s elf's were up late wrapping their gifts, they still woke us up early. 

 

This year was a lot of fun.  The kids were so excited about all of their gifts.  There was a lot of screaming, lots of laughs and tons of fun shooting the kids with their new Nerf guns. Is there anything better than shooting kids with Nerf guns? I’m not sure. 

 

Thomas loved his new skateboard                                    Noelle loved her cupcake bike   

                                                                    Karly loved her new rocking horse.

This was the first year that Troy, Julie and the kids didn’t come for Christmas.  We really really missed them. It was a pretty quiet day. The kids enjoyed playing with their new toys.  Kelly and I made dinner, fabulous homemade peppermint ice cream, and my favorite Red Velvet cake.

We had a great Christmas season.  We spent a lot of time in the kitchen and delivering our goodies to the neighbors, our pixie family and the firemen at the firehouse.  The kids made Christmas cards for the people at a local skilled nursing facility. They picked out gifts to give to Toys For Tots while enjoying great Christmas lights and hot chocolate at one of Kelly’s coworkers home. 

We have so much to be grateful for this season!

Christmas Eve

We usually spend Christmas Eve at my Mom’s house but this year she decided that it would be fun to switch things up a little and have it at my house.  I’ve been in my house for a little over a year now and have never had a holiday celebration at my here.  This was exciting and nerve-racking at the same time. Kelly and I decided that instead of making dinner we would pick up Chinese food. It reminded us of one of our favorite Christmas movies. We were going to be limited on time and it just made more sense then spending time in the kitchen cooking and doing dishes.

Christmas Eve day I was trying to move the kitchen table around to fit a second table in the kitchen. It wasn’t one of my more brilliant ideas.  I’ve had sciatica problem for years and when I moved the table I moved the wrong way and immediately had a horrible pain from my hip all the way down my leg.  I can’t explain the pain just that it was horrible.  Luckily my Mom was here with me and was willing to take Noelle and Karly to her house so I could relax and ice my back.  Thomas stayed here with me and was such a huge help setting the table for dinner, making the centerpiece and cleaning up all the toys and putting them away.

I’m so glad that we decided to have Chinese food or I would’ve really been in trouble. Kelly picked up the dinner on her way over.  Everything turned out perfect! Kelly and I decided that we have a new tradition.  Chinese food every Christmas Eve.

 

After dinner the kids opened their gifts from Grandma and Pop.   

Noelle and Thomas were so excited about their new markers and crayons.  What can I say, they are just like their Auntie!  It’s the small things in life that puts huge smiles on their faces.

Christmas Eve was a huge success with the help of my family.

Thomas’ Christmas Program

Thomas was very excited to be in his Christmas program at school.  He has been practicing his song for weeks.  He took this very seriously and wanted to make sure that he knew his song and the movements that he needed to do.  He also wanted to make sure that his Grandpa and Auntie were going to be there and ON TIME!  His Grandpa and Auntie wouldn’t have missed it! Thomas did a fabulous job! I was a proud Auntie.

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Noelle’s Preschool Christmas Program

Noelle has grown so much this past year.  She did fabulous at the Christmas program.

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Dave enjoys helping out in the classroom and was asked by Noelle’s teacher to be Santa at the Christmas program.  Kelly and I had had a great laugh at the thought of Dave playing Santa.  Considering that he worked the night before and had been up for close to 16 hours straight I think he did a pretty good job!

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