Tad has been off work all week so I haven't hardly been on the computer. We've been busy around the house. But I have a few minutes (honestly, just a few) to blog about our Christmas morning at home.
I had to wake the kids up on Christmas morning because they were so tired from our Christmas Eve service at church. Then after church we went to my Dad's mom's house to open gifts, so we didn't get home til late. Drennan actually woke up at 5am, but we managed to convince him to go back to bed and we woke him up at 7:15am.

I love the expression on Micah's face in this picture. He asked for a Ghostbuster (his all-time favorite movie) belt buckle.


The kids each got a checkerboard/chess board. Drennan got chess pieces. Micah and Lila got checkers. Lila's board is pink.


Harry Potter DS game.


Jude got a weed eater. He loved it! I use past tense because after a few minutes it stopped working. We ordered a replacement and it, too, stopped working. So sadly, we have to get him something else.


I don't have a picture of Lila's new Lee Middleton baby doll. She loves a doll that she can cuddle with and sleep with, and she loves her new one.

After we opened presents, we went to church for breakfast and the service. Afterward, we went to my parents' house for lunch and to open gifts with my sister. I asked Tad if he brought the camera and he said no. Sometimes he likes to just enjoy the moment rather than worrying about pictures. For dinner we went to my Grandma's house and opened more gifts. By night, we were very tired. The three bigger kids spent the night with cousins.
The next morning we opened gifts with my other sister. Since this blog post started with Christmas morning. I didn't mention that we opened gifts with my in-laws on the 23rd. It was a great Christmas, but a very busy Christmas. I still have to take down decorations and get things in a little more order before school starts back. Thankfully the weather has been great and the kids have been playing outside a lot.

We usually watch a movie together on Family Night and last night was no exception. The kids wanted to watch the Grinch while lying on the floor covered up with blankets.


The only light besides the tv came from our tree lights.


This picture comes from Tad playing with his camera. Very cool effect.

The weather has been unusually warm this week. That means the kids have been playing outside more. When I went to check on these two they told me to be quiet because they were hunting for a deer.


Who knows, maybe they'll bring home dinner. :)

I love to do crafts and so do the kids. However, we haven't made too many so far this school year. I think I'm pretty worn out after getting the book work and the housework done, so I haven't had many extra creative juices. But the kids and I recently took a trip to get some craft supplies, and today we started some Christmas crafts.

I decided we would make some ornaments. We took beads and pipe cleaners to make different objects. They had a lot of fun deciding which colors/patterns/shapes to use.




They were very creative with their objects and patterns.
Micah's candy cane.


Here our dirty face model is showing her candy cane.


Star and Snowflake


Another star

These ornaments make great additions to our tree.

Christmas music playing in the background, the kids working hard on their crafts, and Judles fast asleep makes for a great relaxing afternoon. Now on to our next project!

The weather was so great this weekend so we took our family Christmas picture outside. Tad took some pictures of the kids while they were dressed for our family Christmas picture. They usually do better when by themselves rather than in a group shot. Go figure.









I love outdoor settings, and this time of year is great for taking pictures outdoors.

Each year I dread more and more the thought of putting up our Christmas tree. I know, that's pretty Scrooge-like. But every year the kids get so excited and start helping and I end up getting stressed while trying to make sure nothing gets broken.

I had it in my mind that I was NOT going to get too stressed this year when it came to decorating the tree.

We always get a real tree. I grew up always having a real tree and I love the smell of a real Christmas tree in the house. Tad, on the other hand, does not like getting a real tree. He has his reasons...it's a fire hazard, it pricks his hands badly getting it in and out of the house, blah, blah, blah. I love a real tree and so does the kids, so this year when Tad said, "Let's get a fake tree," the idea wasn't taken too great. But after thinking long and hard about I said what the heck let's get a fake tree. Mostly the kids were just excited to have a tree whether it was real or fake, with the exception of Drennan who is still pretty bummed about a fake tree.

After we got the tree and put it up, I noticed Jude kept getting his toy chain saw (his favorite toy) and trying to mimic what he has seen Tad do so many times. The problem was, he was trying to cut down our Christmas tree. Not good. Thankfully the ornaments weren't on yet.
The next day we put on the ornaments and I heard one of the other kids yelling that Jude was knocking off ornaments. When I checked on him he, once again, was using his chain saw and trying to cut down the tree.

We finally talked him out of cutting down the tree, and I thought all was good. I mentioned on Facebook that I am glad Jude is older because now he shouldn't be trying to grab the ornaments and eat them. Well, last night as I was getting ready for bed I heard Lila yell, "Jude is taking off the ornaments." When I went downstairs, I found this:


He was one by one taking off the ornaments and placing them gently into his seat.
Pretty sure the seat was filled a little more, but Lila had already started putting them back on the tree.

We are finally done decorating the tree, and hopefully Jude will lose interest in it pretty soon (fingers crossed).


We used to put the breakable ornaments up high so the little ones couldn't reach them. This year most all of them are up high. You do what you gotta do to have a somewhat non-stressful Merry Christmas.