Christmas Morning 2021!

It's Christmas Morning! 

The dreaded "Mom makes us wait on the stairs" picture! :) 

Charlie looking at the kids like they are a bunch of weirdos! 

Finding their "Santa" gifts! 

Jack got his Avenger's LEGO set he'd been wanting and a LEGO base plate. 

Zeke got Avenger's Clue and a LEGO base plate. 

Owen got LOTR Monopoly and a LEGO base plate. 

Ella got a Barbie Clinic Kit and a LEGO base plate. 

Can you tell LEGO base plates cause arguments in our house? 

Charlie still thinking we're a bunch of weirdos! 

Owen brought his gift over to him! 

We got him a remote control mouse and a mouse laser pointer. One of the funniest things was when we said it was a mouse laser pointer Zeke was like really? He was staring down at the floor to see the laser in the shape of a mouse! It's actually the pointer that's in the shape of a mouse. The laser is just a dot! LOL!!!! 

We always go around and pass out all the presents first! 

When the gifts are under the tree I don't let the kids move them around. 

I always wrap their gifts in the paper they pick out so they can see their gifts without touching them. 

Michael and I got spoiled this year! 

So excited about her Santa gift she wanted it to be in this picture too! 

Holy Cow that's a lot of gifts! 

Michael opened his gifts from the kids first. They got him a joystick to use with a certain game on his computer. They also got him the DVD Rampage, orange golf balls and Reese's Peanut Butter Cups! 

Owen's sibling gift from Zeke was these awesome dart guns! 

Owen got Jack 2 Harry Potter LEGO sets...one Jack knew he wanted and then a surprise set that is one of the classrooms at Hogwarts and the whole set folds into a big book. It's really cool! 

Ella has the best reactions to gifts....EVER!!! Jack got her this lipstick she'd been wanting for so long! 

He also got her this tie dye Barbie clothes kit that she saw in one of the Fred Meyer Ads. To say she was thrilled was an understatement.

Ella got Zeke a wolf stuffed animals and a dinosaur dart gun! 

I love seeing the kids open their gifts from each other. I think they are their favorite ones since they always open those first!

For Zeke's Want gift he got LEGO's....lots of LEGO's! 

For Ella's Wear gift she got new headphones since her's broke. Which she later told me I could take them back since she had gotten used to using the earbuds we had. She also got new socks and underwear. Of course I didn't pay attention to the size of underwear and I washed them so Caitlynn got new underwear and then I had to buy Ella the correct size. Sheesh! 

For Jack's Want gift he got a Star Wars Ship. LEGO's was definitely a theme for this Christmas! SO many LEGO's! 

For Owen's Want gift he got the Creator Pirate Ship! 

For Michael I got him a bunch of useful stuff for the garage and all the work he's always doing. Extension LED light, 3 way splitter and impact resistant gloves!

For Owen's Read gift he got the Artemis Fowl series.

I got Jack a book series call The Unwanted. We have the first book and I thought he liked them, but apparently they were Unwanted! :) No big deal....I returned them and got him all the books in the Warrior series he actually wanted. 

For Ella's Want gift she got the LEGO Friends Mall! 

For Ella's Read gift she got all the books in the Nancy Clancy series! 

For Owen's wear he got a few new shirts, but this one was my favorite. Owen loves music and Star Wars. I knew I had to get him this shirt when I saw that the backgrounds says....Duh Da Duh Da Da Da!!! 

For the rest of their gifts....they all got new gloves for their Need gift and they were all so happy with them. I was sure it was going to be a big bust, but they really needed them and they were so appreciative to have them. Jackson got a new pair of jeans and new socks and maybe underwear for this Wear gift, Zeke's Read gift was a bunch of random silly books that he loved and his Wear gift was a pair of camo pants and I think new underwear. 

I'm so bad about having Michael take my picture....I got a new Ice Cream machine and Michael also got me a new recipe book to go with the Ice Cream machine. Of course I was supposed to open them in a certain order, but opened them in the wrong order so I got the recipe book first and knew what the next gift was. It was hilarious! I also got a book about day hikes in Washington state, a pamper kit that had lavender lotion, bath salts and one of the heat up wraps you can put in the microwave and my favorite gift from Michael was new forrest green cardigan sweater. I love it! The kids got me a new Calphelon pan to cook my eggs in, a cookie sheet, a pancake flipper and tongs! I needed all of those so that was great! 

Michael also got a BlackStone Grill, with a cover and all the accessories! I tried to get a picture of him seeing it....I had just covered it in a blanket since it was way to big to wrap, but the kids were in the way in the picture. Oh well! 

Charlie checking out the mayhem! 

There is his remote control mouse. Which of course he could care less about! 

He does have fun chasing about the laser dot! 

Of course after the craziness comes the mass opening of all the presents to play with....

or put together! 

Michael's joystick worked great and the kids were so proud of themselves...especially since Daddy can be really hard to shop for. 

And of course I didn't get any pictures of them opening up their stockings which were full of what else but new DVD's to add to our collection for the kids and for Michael and I we got each other snacks! 

Next up...Christmas at Ga-Ga & Pa's! 

Christmas Eve 2021!

On Christmas Eve, we always go to Christmas Eve service at church and we always get pictures in front of the Huge Christmas Tree. 

We've been doing this same post since 2016....6 years!

Here's 2016! 

Oh my word those cute little chubby baby faces are killing me. Zeke was only 4 years old here. Although in all honesty he seriously looks like he's only 2! 

My beautiful blessings!!!

I kept up the tradition of buying the kids new Christmas jammies and hiding them under their pillow! They really enjoy this tradition! Ella did ask me that next year I buy her pajama pants since she's ready to not have nightgowns anymore. :) 

It was a Christmas Eve miracle! Charlie let Michael hold him for a little bit! 

Presents all set out and ready for Christmas Morning! 

As the kids get older, it hits me more and more how these days are fleeting. Sometime in the next decade, we'll be down to 3 kids living at home and then 2 and then 1. These years with all my kids living under our roof will one day come to a close. Sure they'll come home for Christmas and maybe even spend Christmas night at our house, but it won't be the same. It won't be their house anymore and they won't just be my kids. They'll be someone's spouse and they'll have kids of their own and that will bring a whole new level of wonderfulness, but this...this time with my kids, under my roof where it's just about them and focused on our little family...that will end and time will move on and things will change. Just feeling a little emotional writing this out. I love my family and I love that one day there will be more to our family. More people to love, more people to buy for, more people to thank God for! We are so incredibly blessed by Him!

Random Christmas Season Happenings!

Just a few random things we did during the month of December! 

Diamond paintings were a total hit for Ella Grace and I. We worked on them constantly while watching all sorts of sappy Christmas Movies. 

One December evening we were sitting around when their was a knock at the door. One of our neighbors that rents a room in the house next to us brought over this fresh Christmas wreath. Her husbands employer gave it to him as a gift, but since they only rent a room they weren't decorating. They saw how nicely decorated our house was so they knew we would put it to good use. It was so sweet and thoughtful! I even came with these LED fairy lights to wrap around it. It also smelled amazing since it was real! 

It really did finish off the mantle area nicely! 

Here's one of the Christmas diamond paintings all finished! 

I love decorating our tree all fancy. The tree in the dining room next to the fireplace is the kids fun tree that they get to decorate. 

Ga-Ga's birthday is December 6th and since it's close to Christmas her gift is usually something she can use throughout the Christmas season. In the last 3 years I've been buying her different things from this Yuletide collection from Kohl's. This year I got her this cute Snowman Candy dish. She loves Snowmen!

Our church had a Christmas party for all the Board Members and their families. They had some fun games lined up for us. One was pin the nose on Pastor Tim. 

Lined up waiting for their turn at pinning the nose. I can't even remember who won, but it was so fun! 

I took the kids out shopping so they could buy something for Michael for Christmas. Since there was still a vaccine mandate in King County we had to come down to Pierce County so we could go out to dinner afterwards. At the mall I asked this nice couple if they would mind taking our picture. It was really nice seeing so many people at the mall without masks! 

We chose to eat at Olive Garden. That seems to be the kids new favorite restaurant! 

During the month of December before their are too many presents under the tree, Charlie loves to snuggle under there. I'm always telling him it's his tree and we put it up just for him! ;)

Finished the set of 4 diamond paintings and hung them up in the downstairs bathroom. 

I was talking to a friend on Facebook about fun things to do with our kids during the Christmas season and she said they had tickets to see Scrooge the Musical. I looked it up, but of course it was practically sold out. There was no way we were going to find 6 seats together! 

A few days after that I happened to be looking on Facebook and a different friend posted that she had accidentally bought the tickets for the wrong night and wasn't going to be able to use them since her kids had an event at school. There were 6 tickets and they were for the only night that would work for us to go. I commented that I'd love them and she just gave them to us. No need to pay her back or anything...it was such a sweet gift! 

This Musical was top notch!!!! So amazing! It's been going on since Reagan was President! Of course they've made some changes to it and technology has come a long way. It's fabulous! I don't know if we'll go every year, but maybe every other year! 

This fun truck was in the lobby of the church and I just had to get a cute picture of my Zeke Man! 

We hadn't seen Hansi in a long time and one of the Sunday's in December he came to church he wore is Santa mask...it was quite fun! 

Every December we have a fun night with the Storer Family and do some sort of craft. This year I found these fun diamond painting ornaments from Amazon. I sense a theme here! :) 

I wasn't sure if the boys would have as much fun, but they did great! 

Most of the ornaments were very small and didn't require much time. 

We had Beef Stew for dinner, the kids did the craft, us adults chatted and the kids played. It was a great evening with friends! 

On December 20th, our Mommy & Mimosa group met for our Christmas celebration. This was actually the last time we'd all be together since Shasha second from the left and Laci on the far left were both moving. Alicia was there too, but her daughter started not feel good so she left before we had a chance to take a picture. I love these ladies so much. All those years in MOPS were like a lifeline for a young mother and I'm so happy I didn't do those years alone. These women hold a special place in my heart! 

The last of the random things this Christmas was Michael built me a Christmas Village Tree for some of my village houses. I love it and it really added a bunch of space for me to work with. Also it can't be Christmas without putting together Charlies Wysocki Christmas puzzles!

Christmas With Uncle Ry & Aunt Stephie!

This Christmas Uncle Ry and Aunt Stephie decided they wanted to have a fun adventure and stay in downtown Bellevue and enjoy all the Christmasy stuff down their on Christmas Eve & Christmas Day. So we got together with them for an early Christmas celebration on Saturday, December 18th. 

For lunch we kept it really simple and did croissant sandwiches and fruit salad. It was easy and yummy! 

Present Time!  

Zeke's gift was almost as big as he was! 

Epic dart gun! 

The Amazon box it came in could be a coffin! 

Ella got Rockstar Barbies! She was so pleased! 

Jack got the LEGO X-Wing he wanted! 

Owen got the troop transport he wanted! 

I made Ryan & Stephie the calendar that I always make with all the pictures through the last year. I also saw this fun Fireball candy cane and I knew Ry would get a kick out of it.