Happy Birthday, Jesus!

Christmas morning dawned bright and early at our house. I think Corban came into our room around 4:00am that morning and said he couldn't sleep anymore. He was just too excited. We told him there was NO WAY we were waking everyone up yet, and he had to try to go back to sleep. Fortunately for him, he didn't have to try very hard because by the time 5:00am rolled around, at least four out of the five kids were wide awake and ready to celebrate CHRISTMAS!!! We had to wake a sweetly snoozing Addy-Kate, but it didn't take long for her sleepiness to wear off and soon she was bouncing around anticipating the fun ahead just like her siblings.

Like I said in my earlier post, I don't have very many pictures from Christmas day. Most of these are the "pictures of the pictures". 

Anyway, we had such a sweet morning together. 

The kids were so excited to open their presents and see all the fun things Santa brought for them.

Sophie was so excited to find that the doll she so desperately wanted was waiting for her under the tree. 

She was OVER the MOON!

But just as thrilled as she was to receive her doll, she was just as equally excited to give her gift that she made for us at school. 

It was a beautiful ornament with her sweet hand print on it. A treasure for sure.

And speaking of treasure, Hudson gave us an ADORABLE calendar.

 Each month shows off a different piece of his artwork made out of his sweet little hand print.

It's PRECIOUS!!!

After presents were opened, we sat down and enjoyed a yummy breakfast. 

We had sausage casserole, monkey bread, and fresh fruit.

We gathered around the table, put a candle in the monkey bread and sang "Happy Birthday to Jesus!"

The sweetest moment of the day, for sure!

After breakfast, the kids couldn't wait to get some of their new toys out and PLAY!

We stayed in our jammies most of the day and just enjoyed our time together. 

 Later that evening, Shane's sister and her family joined us for dinner...

and of course...more PRESENTS!

What a wonderful Christmas it was and such a special time celebrating our dear Savior's birth together!

Christmas Eve

The last few weeks have been AWESOME!!!! Our family has thoroughly enjoyed this beautiful Christmas season! We've had lots of time off from school and a nice break from just the busyness of life in general. It's been simply wonderful! Shane was home for about ten days too, so that made this time of year especially sweet.

Christmas Eve was spent with our sweet family. 

Unfortunately, I only have a few pictures of our time together because my new computer deleted all my pictures from Christmas Eve AND Christmas Day! 

It's a long story, but we've done several thorough searches, and they are indeed gone.

Really really GONE! I was so incredibly sad about it, but you know that verse in the Bible about Mary treasuring all things and pondering them in her heart? 

Yeah, well that took on a whole new meaning for me this year:/

We were able to recover a few pictures (like 4 out of the 200 I took), but the software that we used to do it wanted to charge us over $100 to save them again. UGH!

And we would have gladly paid it too, if we were able to recover more than just FOUR pictures!

We opted to just take pictures of the pictures though. Sigh.

The pictures I do have are from my family or my phone...and there aren't many. 

Oh well...

Back to Christmas Eve...

The evening began as we joined my family for the candle light service at church.

Here's Miss Sophie Lu getting her "curlies" on for Christmas Eve!

Love my girly girl!

And here is my sweet crew all ready to go!

There is something so breathtakingly beautiful about worshiping the Christ Child by candlelight.

It's such a special time to be together!

After church, we headed over to my parents house for dinner, presents and FUN!

Appetizers and desserts were on the menu for the night.

It's tradition and it's the BEST;)

We had an absolute blast! 

 Christmas is such a fun time with so many sweet little ones around! 

And, like always, precious baby Emery was the star of the show! 

I love this picture of the cousins tracking Santa.

My sister, B, gave us this book and movie about Gladys Alyward, a missionary to China;)

(And just as a side note, the kids and I are halfway through the book and they are totally LOVING it. It blesses my heart so much to see my kids get so excited about anything China related.) 

As the night came to an end, it was time to put on our 

 Christmas jammies and head home to get ready for Santa!

Once home, cookies and milk were placed in just the right spot, 

and the reindeer food was scattered through out the yard.

Finally it was time for that so called "long winters nap".

And a "nap" it was as Christmas morning dawned very VERY early in this house.

Next post...Christmas day:) 

Happy Birthday, Riley!

This is the boy who crawls over the front seat of the van each morning while in car line, just to make sure he can give me one more goodbye hug!

This is also the boy who still reaches for my hand while watching a movie or walking in a parking lot together! 

Yesterday, this boy turned NINE and I know all too well these precious days are numbered. 

We enjoyed celebrating the birthday boy all day long! Christmas birthdays can be difficult, but I think Riley really enjoys having his birthday this time of year. We try our best to make sure he feels celebrated and special, even amidst the Christmas chaos.

When Riley woke up, our elf Sam was ready to greet him with a special birthday balloon. 

And before breakfast, Riley opened up his birthday present from all of us.

He was so excited to receive the flying car he's been hoping for;) 

Cinnamon Rolls were the birthday boys request for breakfast!

Later that morning, we headed over to my parents house for our annual cookie decorating party with our cousin's

AND to celebrate Ri's special day!

And one thing is for sure...

 with so much family around, any time we're all together, it's a PARTY.

Riley brought his sweet friend, Davis along for the day too.  

The kids had so much fun making a mess in Mimi's kitchen...

and decorating a few cookies too:)

Frosting, sprinkles, and cookie crumbs were everywhere.

A sign of a good time, for sure.

That night, we enjoyed one of Riley's favorite dinners (beef and broccoli) and then had chocolate eclair cake for dessert. 

Riley's pick! 

We LOVE this boy with all of our hearts! 

He is such a sweet blessing to our family and I can't wait to see all the Lord has in store for this boy!

Happy 9th Birthday, RiRi!!! 

Next year we will be celebrating double didgets;)