Thursday, January 31, 2019

Christmas Day @ Ga-Ga & Pa'

We got to Ga-Ga & Pa's house around 11am and just had to wait for Uncle Ry & Aunt Stephie to get there so we could start opening presents. 

 For some reason I think I had my camera setting wrong so the pictures aren't the best quality. 




Zeke was so excited to get his giant pack of army men! 





Ella got her two fuzzy pink pillows for her clubhouse. 




Uncle Ry & Aunt Stephie




Ga-Ga & Pa got all the kids new suitcases since there monogramed suitcases were a bit too small and a couple of them were falling apart! 






They also got the kids something to wear and candy. 



Zeke got a shirt and Skittles. 



Jack got a shirt and Sour Punch candy. 



Ella got black ankle boots and a big Toblerone bar. 



Owen got a shirt and Nerds! 


More gifts!!!  


 Jack got a Slime Lab. Owen got a Lego Minecraft set. 



 Ella got a one of those wooden breakfast in bed desks to use in her clubhouse. Zeke got a remote control car. 




Zeke got playmags



  
Jackson got a Beyblade and a new Ripper for his Beyblades. 



Owen got Xbox 360 Minecraft Story Mode. 



After the first round of opening presents the rest of the clan showed up for round 2. 



Papa & Ruth...I haven't mentioned this on the blog yet. Papa met Ruth online and they have been dating since summer time. Their love story is completely God written. It's a wonderful story!!! They actually got married on January 5th and are now in Africa on a mission trip! 



 Ga-Ga got Anna two Beanie Boos and she got Addison jewelry! 




Caleb got a Lego set he'd been wanting! 



We got the Kuch kids two games....Sleeping Queens & Rat A Tat Cat! 



For each family I made them Plum Pepper Jelly and Soup Cozies. 



Pa & Bill doing what they love...chatting! 



Mom and Dad got each of the families...Kuch's, Grant's and Martin's a monogram metal sign. Unfortunately the Kuch families sign didn't get shipped in time so this was just a picture of what their sign would look like. Fortunately their sign came in time for my parents NYE party so they got it then. 




The Kuch family got each of the families a LL Bean bag with our family name.  



I'm not sure who got Ga-Ga & Pa this giant box of chocolates, but I'm sure they are loving it. 



Here is our metal name sign. 



I had been wanting to redo our mantle for a long time and I absolutely love how it turned out! 

Usually by the end of Christmas Day I'm super bummed, but this year I wasn't. I don't know why it was different, but I just felt content. It's a good feeling too! 

Wednesday, January 30, 2019

Christmas Morning!

Our tradition on Christmas morning is the kids have to wait to wake us up until 7am and then we head downstairs to open presents. This year I woke up at 6:41am to go to the bathroom and I decided to go downstairs to get everything ready. I got the lights on, lit a yummy smelling candle and started Christmas music. When I made it back upstairs it was only 3 minutes until it was time for the kids to wake us up. 

I already knew the kids were awake. Zeke had come out of his room before I woke up and was in Ella's room playing. I could also hear Owen and Jack playing in their room as well. So I woke up Michael early and told him we should go freak out the kids. We went down the hallway and Michael stood at Ella's door and I stood at the older boys room and we counted to 3 and stormed in saying, "Merry Christmas"! Oh my goodness it was the funniest thing....they freaked out. I think Jack started crying and Zeke & Owen we both complaining that it wasn't 7am yet!!!



Obligatory stair picture!!! 



Owen and Jack helped pass out everyone's presents. 



Wrapping most things in the wrapping paper each kid chose makes it quicker to pass out the gifts. 


Wear Gifts! 






I had the kids all open their 'wear' gift at the same time. Being a 'wear' gift was a stretch, but they did really need new sleeping bags and they will put their bodies inside these. ;)  




Sibling Gifts! 




Owen got Jack a new Beyblade stadium and a bag of Takis.



 Zeke got Ella a Barbie phone that has credit cards and car keys. Jack got Zeke a Dinosaur Hot Wheels track. Not picture was Owen opening his 3 bags of Takis that Jack got him. 


 Need Gifts! 

For the kids need gift we got them all Bed Buddies....Zeke's is behind him in the picture above. Jack got one that has Emojis all over it, Owen got a brown one, Ella got a fuzzy pink one and Zeke got a spotted puppy one. 



Want Gifts!




 Owen got Monopoly Ultimate Banking. Jack got a BeyBlade locker and a new Beyblade. 




 Ella got her Mini Chandelier for her clubhouse and Zeke got a Laser Quest set. 



Read Gifts! 



 Owen got a 13 book series called The Last 13. I actually bought it over a year ago from Usborne books when I had a party. I've just been waiting for him to get older to be able to read them. Jackson got 8 new Bear Grylls books. These are more advanced than his other Bear Grylls books....not sure if he's really ready for them yet, but they'll be waiting for him. 



 Ella got a Mermaid activity book as well as a Mermaid Tales 5 in 1 book. Zeke got 2 Dinosaur books one that had a cardboard punch out of a T-Rex skeleton. 



Santa Gifts: 



Owen got a Stomp Rocket and a VR Jurassic World game. Jack got a Gas Out Game & a Remote Control Car....the car ended up not working so I returned it and he got another Beyblade. Ella got a Rubber Band Bracelet Kit and a Barbie Car Wash set (Which we've already donated to Value Village). Zeke got the game Safe Breaker and a Dino Lego set. 



Family Gift!



We got the movies Journey to the Center of the Earth 1 & 2 and the game Forbidden Desert.



Time for Daddy & Mommy to open gifts! 





Ga-Ga & Pa take the kids out shopping so they can buy us gifts. Love their handwriting on the gift tag! 



The kids hit a home run....a new scarf and 4 packs of my favorite road trip snack....Oberta Cocktail Pepperoni!!! 



Sweet girl was so happy that I liked my gift! 



Another home run....Hostess Cupcakes and a Swiss Army knife! I love Owen's little happy dance!!! 




Time for Michael to open the gifts I got him. Inside the butter box was a Groupon for him to get a 45 minute golf lesson and fitting. 



I also got him 2 new pairs of pajama pants which he desperately needed. 





 Michael got me a Lenovo Google Home Hub and a Smart Plug. Crazy story...I saw this at Costco and came home and told Michael about it. He ended up buying it on Cyber Monday from Lenovo for only $100...Costco wanted $199. The same day he bought it I told him I actually didn't want it. Of course he's thinking....great thanks lady! It's not that I didn't want it...I just didn't want him to spend $199 and I thought this is the first year maybe we should wait for the second generation. I love it though. It goes in the kitchen and I can have it play Youtube music, I can ask it questions, it has my calendar on it and it shows me all my Google pictures. I can ask it to bring up recipes and more. It's been fun! The only thing I hope it can eventually do in the future will be to access Pinterest. 

The Smart Plug also has a funny story. Michael wrapped it in the box it came in which is the same size as a ring box. I was thinking he better not have bought me a ring. I told him he's super lucky because about 95% of ladies would not being saying that. :) We attached the smart plug to the main light in our living room and now I can tell Google to turn our light on and off. It's so cool! Michael also got me a super fuzzy plush robe!! 


Stockings!!


The kids always get movies in their stocking. All the boys got sour candy canes as well. Jack got Black Panther. Ella got AntMan and the Wasp. 




Owen got Avengers Infinity Wars and Zeke got Thor Ragnarok. 





Since Ella can't have the sour candy canes I got her slippers that match my slippers. She is all about matching Mommy right now! 

It was a wonderful Christmas morning at our house!!!