Christmas Day 2023!

After we opened all our presents we got ready and came down to Ga-Ga & Pa's for the day. 

I'll give a full update on Ella in her birthday post, but by this time in the year she hadn't thrown up since Halloween night! We had her on Magnesium and she was avoiding dairy. Also when she would get a headache she would take Excedrin and it worked like a charm. Since she was doing so well we decided to slowly start adding dairy back into her diet. This was her first taste of dairy since October 30th. She was so excited to get to eat a small piece of Ga-Ga's fudge! 

I'll do anything to help this girl not have to suffer!!! 

Getting to play on electronics!!! 

Time to gather around for presents. 

Passing out all the presents is my favorite part. 

Even adults like presents! 

Look at those beautiful smiles! 

This kid was ready!!! 

Lego sets are always a hit!

His candy 'cane' came in handy! 

Papa & Ruth got all the kids the coolest gifts. They got them rocks to start their own collections. I know that might sound funny, but all the kids loved it. Ella isn't as interested in rocks so they got her sea glass type pieces that she can use in craft projects. They also got these cute hippy glasses that she has to wear next year with her Halloween costume. 

Ga-Ga got the girls match necklaces and they got matching lipstick too! 

I got all the ladies these cool paper flowers. I saw them on an ad on FB and they just looked so beautiful. I love flowers, but I hate how they die these won't die and you don't have to remember to water them! 

I got Ga-Ga & Pa and Papa & Ruth their calendars like always. 

Papa & Ruth got me a Veterinary Clinic for my Christmas Village...I wish I had taken a picture...it's so cute! Ga-Ga & Pa got each of us a Harry & David gift basket full of yummies! Of course the kids got all sorts of things. I didn't actually take that many pictures I was just enjoying being present. 

The best part of the day is just getting to hang out and chill with family. 

I made my yummy cranberry punch! 

There were lots of yummy snacks to enjoy! 

My cousin Bill was able to come over after he got off work. 

Of course the boys had to play on the Switch! 

These pretty girls....Ella's wearing one of my shirts! 

Owen loves getting to play on the tablet at Ga-Ga's house since hers has different games than theirs do. 

The Barbie's had to come out. 

As did all the board games! 

Time for dinner!! 

The table looked so beautiful! 

It's a full house! 

And we ate well!!! 

After dinner we had a show!!! 

Jack has been learning to play the guitar with Papa. Every Tuesday, Papa comes to our house and works with Jack for 30-60 minutes. They had been working on the music for Winter Wonderland. 

Here's a video of them playing. Jack has only been taking lessons from Papa for a few months and he was doing pretty good. It's going to be fun to see him just gain more and more skills as he keeps on practicing! 

We even got to sing along with them! 

After Jack's performance the other musical kids stepped up and play piano and/or sang for us. It's so fun that music is such a daily part of our lives now. I love it!!! 

The whole gang! 

It's tradition....in fact I now have a whole Google Photo album full of selfies of just me and Christina. It's so fun! 

The best Christmas present for me and Michael was the kids were staying at Ga-Ga & Pa's until the end of the week. We had driven down in 2 vehicles so we didn't even have to come pick them up. Merry Christmas to us!

Christmas Eve & Christmas Morning 2023!

Christmas Eve Service at Church is when we always take pictures in front of the tree. 

These are my Christmas Babies, but when did they grow up! They aren't babies anymore! 

Christmas morning on the stairs ready to come down. Michael thinks I do this just to torture them. I do it because it's tradition! 

In their jammies ready for presents! 

Christmas of 2022 was completely different since we had the Cabin Christmas. We told the kids we weren't going to be buying them their 4 gifts....Want, Need, Wear, Read. The cabin was their big present. On our way home from the cabin they all agreed that they were okay with not having 4 presents they wanted to possibly be able to have just a couple presents that were maybe more expensive. 

There is actually photographic proof that I was there....it's a Christmas miracle! :) 

Zeke drew Ella's name this year. He bought her lip gloss and a necklace set. 

Owen drew Jack's name. He got him a Lego set he'd been wanting. 

Ella drew Owen's name and she got him 2 sets of Jenga blocks. He never plays the game he just uses them to make set ups with army men or Angry Birds. 

Jack drew Zeke's name and he got him a new version of Uno and 2 bags of Taki Stix. 

For Michael the kids got him Golf Balls, candy and a golf towel and says, "It takes a lot of balls to golf the way I do!" Which is entirely accurate! :P 

It's hard to see in this picture, but we got Ella a cross necklace. 

I bought the boys shaving kits which as you can see by Owen's face he was not thrilled with. 

The boys' big present was a Switch....I wrapped up everything separately though. One of them opened up the Switch, one opened the case and one opened all the games. This was why one of the older boys' gifts were shaving kits. That Switch wasn't cheap! Zeke also got a hygiene gift....he got an electric toothbrush. 

Ella also got a shaving kit, this cute sweatshirt and the cutest brown boots. 

I bought Michael nice golf shoes. It was so stressful picking them out. I hated all the boring old man white golf shoes so I knew I wanted to find ones that were a fun color.  I read up on some consumer reports and these had good reviews. I loved the look of them and I trust the Under Armour brand so I took a chance. We won't find out if they are good for a while though since it's not really golfing weather right now. I also got him some fun golf tees and a NYT crossword book. 

Of course there's no pictures of me with my opened presents. :) I got couple shirts from the kids, slippers and kitchen gadgets....liquid measuring cups and a pancake pourer. From Michael I got this cute Bakery to add to my Christmas Villages. I also got tickets to see 3 plays at the Taproot Theater which I'm super excited about. We haven't been to the theater since it had a major fire years ago. It will be really fun for date nights. 

Moving onto stockings. All the kids got movies. Zeke got all the Mission Impossible movies, Owen got Oblivion and Jack got the 2 Top Gun movies...we are on a Tom Cruise kick! Ella got the 2 Snow White and the Huntsmen movies.