Christmas!

We were blessed to be able to spend Christmas with both sides of our families this year! We started with Christmas with my family on the Saturday before Christmas. 

This boy loves to help MiMi wash dishes.

They were "organizing" the presents. They couldn't wait to dig into them!

They love baby Austynn!!

Cousin picture with Papa!

DD, Mike and Granny arrived on Christmas Eve (Grandpa was sick and couldn't make the trip, we missed seeing him).

We headed to church that evening for the candlelight service. Probably my most favorite part of Christmas!!

Carson and Avery got to sit with us during the service and I loved seeing the excitement in their eyes as they held their candles and worshiped our Lord!

We took a few family pictures in front of the tree after the service.

And a few pictures with our friends. Cade and Kinley.

Crazy kids!!

After church we headed over to MiMi and Papa's house for their Christmas Eve party.

My mom did a great job, it was such a fun night!

Love their matching dresses.

Playing our traditional left, right, center game.

We ended the night with a group picture in the cute Christmas jammies KiKi gave them before heading home to get tucked into bed. Santa was on his way!!

The kids woke up at about 7:00 on Christmas morning (not too bad). Daddy read them the story about the birth of Christ from the book of Luke before we opened presents. 

Stella, posing with the Christmas presents.

Carson was very excited to get the inflatable hog he asked Santa for. 

Cade loves his Oso bear. Although I think he was a little confused as to how Oso got off the TV and into our living room. Ha!

Avery asked Santa for a Frozen blanket and a wheelchair for her dolls.

She was pretty excited!

Another gun for his collection. 

Cade also got this Jake and the Neverland Pirates riding toy. 

Carson showing him how to ride it. 

Carson and Avery have been asking for Kindles (their cousins have them) and since both of their LeapPads have cracked screens we decided to say goodbye to our LeapPad days and move onto something else. I still cannot believe that my 5 year olds have tablets (is a Kindle Fire considered a tablet? I'm not sure). I never thought I'd be the mom that jumped into the gadget world so quickly, but I guess it's inevitable these days. 

They were pretty excited!!

And they've already gotten a lot of great use out of them!!

The kids got to open gifts with Granny next.

She sure loves her great grandkids!!

We did stockings last.

This was probably his most favorite gift. I'm not surprised one bit!

JJ, Barrett and Madison arrived after breakfast. It was so great to see them.

We opened some more presents with DD and Mike after everyone got to our house. I'd say these kids have a lot to play with this year!!

Mimi and Papa came over for dinner that night.

Oops!

The day after Christmas we went to the Arboretum to see the 12 Days of Christmas exhibit. It was really neat.

Carson and Mike racing.

It was a really fun few days with Shane's family. The kids really loved having their cousins with us!

We made "snow" (baking soda and shaving cream) outside one day.

It was some good messy fun!

A few days later, our old neighbor Jim brought Christmas gifts over for the kids. It was so sweet. We really miss having them as neighbors. 

What a blessed and joyful Christmas we had.