Christmas week

Mon and Tues Dan went to work out with Myles Scott, our neighbor who owns a cross fit gym near by.  We didn't have other ambitious plans those days.  The kids played with the Scott kids both days, some at our house and some at their house. We also joined them at the Big Hero 6 movie.

Christmas Eve was great. We hung around in the morning while Dave went to work and then in the afternoon we went out to launch the Estes Rockets he has. It was too windy so the kids just played. The girls - Clare and Lexey and Ellie Scott were completely drenched in mud!  What a great way to burn some energy!

Christmas eve was lovely. We went to the Scott's house with a couple of other families. The Scott's made an amazing prime rib and cake balls and other families brought delicious sides. We made green beans, peppermint ice cream cake and sweet potatoes. My favorite dish was the scalloped potatoes!

After dinner we had a talent show. Brinley played violin, Ellie and Lexey played piano, Peter danced while the fog machine was on.  My three girls and Dave did a skit "Is it time yet?"  It is very silly but everyone laughed really hard.  Perfect for the young audience we had.

Then the kids dressed up and acted out the nativity, with three week old baby Nolan Scott as baby Jesus. It was a really wonderful Christmas eve.

We got the kids to bed late 9:30 and watched 3 Days to Kill (kind of dumb) while waiting for them to sleep and then finished prepping for Christmas.


Chrismas morning Calvin woke up at 6am. We had told him he wasn't allowed to leave our room so we gave him his 2ds and let him lay in bed and play. Around 6:30 Remy (the dog we are dog sitting) needed to go potty and woke up some of the other kids!  Then it was just Jo sleeping. We had a hard time waking her up. She didn't want to come out of her room. It took some coaxing to get her to even open her eyes but still she refused to come out. She kept asking if Santa came and we said "YES!" very excitedly! But then she asked "Is Santa here?" and I realized that she was scared that Santa might still be here. When I told her Santa was gone, then she was willing to come out!

darling silly girls

Santa's setup for each kid:

Jo
.  She asked Santa for an umbrella this year.

Calvin. (he is still letting the bear wear the clothes though I think the clothes are meant for Calvin and not the bear). Calvin named his bear Blue. (as in Michigan "GO BLUE)

Lexey

Clare . Her bear is named bear.  Clare's nickname is bear bear.

Santa always brings lots of balloons

Christmas morning :  YayJo!

Lexey makes the best excited faces ever

We've been watching My Fair Lady. The kids don't really get it but I hope they'll grow to appreciate it.

Calvin playing the new wii U game he gave Dave for Christmas!

Lexey's MP3 player and headphones. Best gift!

 The many cute Jo faces with her sophia playdoh

Calvin loves his bear

Christmas day legos (and mess in the background is the Christmas Eve rockets Dave did with the kids)

Jo LOVES her bike from Dad.  As Jo said, "Daddy gave me the bike. Santa gave me the umbrella and my computer. I love my bike."  I picked this up on a neighborhood trading site for $25. They are so expensive new but oh so fun. Jo can ride really fast on this already!