Baby on Board!: January 2017

Another year, another whirlwind, another awesome Christmas we celebrated with our families! This year was definitely fun with Ethan because his excitement was contagious. It was right after Thanksgiving and he was all ready to decorate the house...my kinda guy! I will say the absolute highlight of Christmas for the kids was their Christmas jammies. Haha! Forget the new toys or all the family they saw, these kids have worn their Christmas jammies probably every single day since early December!! The first night they put them on they came running downstairs to show me and it was like the biggest celebration ever! Running, jumping, laughing, pointing to their jammies...it was pretty fantastic. Of course I was making a big deal out of it too and we immediately started taking pictures. I've never seen them be so willing to stand there and take pictures with such nice smiles! =)

Our Christmas season kicked off with our annual trip to see 'ol St. Nick! Ethan seemed excited - and remembered that he had candy canes in his pocket =) Emerson was cautious. She would say "no, brother sit in his lap." Our sweet girl never disappoints. She put on quite a show which we absolutely loved. Hey, cheap entertainment these days! There was no way in heck she was sitting on Mrs. Claus's lap so they pulled a chair up. We laughed going through these pictures because at one point Mrs. Claus tried to put her arm around Emerson and, well, you can just see the look of pure fear...

Poor Ethan =)

LOVE Mrs. Claus's face in this one. Over.It.

The next weekend Ethan had his choir performance at church. What a difference a year makes! Last year, he just stood there wide-eyed, didn't sing, and barely did the motions. This year, while he had a look of concern on his face the whole time, he sang both songs and did all the motions with it! Sweet boy. It's a lot for these munchkins to get up there on stage in front of hundreds of people, all the lights, etc. We were super proud of him.

We kicked off celebrations starting with the Smith's and Grandpa Joe. Kristen was amazing and made two soups for us all to enjoy for dinner. I'm starting to laugh writing this because it all seems like a blur...sometimes her and I still shake our heads that we have SIX kids between us. Haha. So.much.activity. The kids made out like bandits. Ethan received a very cool fire truck that he is in love with. He plays with it all the time and "goes to help people."

Emerson liked her Minnie Mouse cash register that has pretend money she can use. All in all, the kids did an awesome job sharing because obviously they each wanted to play with another's toy.

The Smith's were staying with us for two nights and Ethan could not have been more excited to have a slumber party. We had kids everywhere...Ethan, Emerson, and Jayden in a room, Kaleb on an air mattress with Jeffrey and Kristen in the guest room, Logan in Carolina's room, and we moved Carolina to our room. Just the beginning of MANY cousin sleepovers. Per usual, getting a picture of all these munchkins was quite hard...

Next up was the big celebration at Papaw and Ginka's. I think we're up to 19 people now? The kids did a wonderful job watching one another open their presents. They were so patient and excited for the gifts their cousins were receiving.

Ethan got a remote control excavator, a cool Spiderman jacket, and his very own crane. He plays with this crane every day and loves to see what he can pick up with it. You should see him - he creates a whole "scene" and plays it out by being the crane operator. I love his imagination. Emerson got lots of fun sticker books (her favorite), her own personalized backpack, and lots of superhero capes! Her and Ethan love to put on their capes and fly around the house.

Yup, this about sums up Emerson.

We got to share lots and lots of special family time with aunts, uncles, and cousins and tried to take as many pictures as we could!

Christmas morning we woke up at our house and got to share a nice, quiet morning just the five of us. We haven't started any Christmas traditions yet, but I think next year we will definitely put more emphasis on leaving cookies out for Santa, reindeer food, a special Christmas breakfast, etc. We Facetimed with Pa and Gigi so the kids could open the gifts they had shipped to our house. The kids got more great gifts - sticker books, Batman shirt, Daniel Tiger pajamas - let's just say our kids are spoiled rotten by seven grandparents...and we wouldn't have it any other way! =)

Christmas evening we headed back out to my parents for dinner and more family time. The kids got to open their stockings and the biggest hit of the night? Band-Aids. Good 'ol Band-Aids. =)

We capped off our celebrations by spending it with Mamaw and Papaw Steve. Ethan and Emerson got tons of new art supplies - much needed! Markers, crayons, activity books, sticker books...will be perfect for when we get their 'craft' area set up in the play room! Mamaw also made them a tee-pee...or pee-tee as Ethan keeps calling it!

We walked away from this Christmas season feeling very blessed. Not only for the material things we received, but for the time well spent with our amazing family. As the kids get older and will start to remember more, it's motivating Eric and I to make our own traditions and memories that will stick. This year, though, I will hang on to memories of Ethan and Eric sitting by the fire, Carolina's first Christmas, my kids asking for hot chocolate for the first time, Ethan being beyond excited after the first big snow and shoveling the entire back deck by himself, Emerson walking away from meeting Santa and calling him scary, and the endless amounts of overwhelming cuteness of our kids in their Christmas jammies!