Merry Christmas!

Christmas is such a magical time of year.  Yes, it is busy in our home (not just with Christmas but the birthdays the week before and week after!)  We really enjoy all the celebration. 

Christmas Morning!

The kids were so excited to open presents.  It was hard to get pictures of them all.  I was the mean mom and made them open one present at a time.  I just couldn't miss out of their excited faces.

And EXCITED faces they had.  This is what makes Christmas so magical!

Look at the excitement and magic in their eyes!

This year we kept asking the kids what they wanted.  The lists when on and on.  Esp. for Keegan who wanted everything he saw on TV. 

Kallie asked for her "Fur-Real Puppy" and of course at the very last minute told Santa she wanted an American Doll.  Well Santa answered her call (kinda) and got her the doll.  Her name is even Callie!

The only thing that stayed consistent on Keegans wish list was a Batman and Spiderman Wii game.

Among the Stinky the Garbage Truck and BigFoot.

All Shantel wanted and asked and asked for was a DS.  Can you guess by her face, what she was opening?

Lemieux was even a good dog and got a present from the big guy.  He couldn't wait to sink his teeth into his new toys!

The girls played their DS's all day and into the night.  Do you think they even knew I was there?

Oh yeah, a quick look up for a pictures.

It was the first Christmas I have had totally OFF without worrying I might have to work since I started in the health care field.  It was so nice to be able to enjoy my family not in Zombie mode! 

And what is Christmas without a quick family photo!

Yes, all 6 of us!

And we can't end it all without a picture of the aftermath!

Here is what the house looked like the morning after Christmas....

This is after 4 bags of trash has been taken out and another 3 are not visible!

8 years already?

8 years ago I became a mother.  Everyone one gives you advice, but no one can tell you the adventure that really takes place in raising a child.  It has been one wild ride.  8 years and a lot of laughing and tears (on both our parts)!  I can't believe she is so big...well not big in the sense of tall

(my girls still squeezes into size 5)!

For her birthday she gave me a list of things she wanted to do for her party, and it changed every other day.  I convinced her to go with a party at home so she could invite MORE friends.  10 friends later we had an awesome girly birthday bash at home.

 10 girls and 2 siblings later the house was full of giggles and screams.

This is the crew that ran wild through the house!  All innocent can't you tell?

For her party we decorated GIANT cupcakes with colored frosting and sprinkles of every color.

Then we played a fun game of blindfolded chapstick.  Each girl took a chapstick and applied it to their neighbor..BLINDFOLDED.  What a funny sight to watch.  The girls had chapstick from their necks to their foreheads.

 Then came time to play musical nail polish.  Pass the nail polish around until the music stops..whoever the lucky...or unlucky person was holding that color was out and got to keep that color.  The colors green and yellow went flying across the room...can't imagine why those colors weren't wanted :)

Then came the opening of the presents.  WOW! what a fun scene..girls fighting over who was to be first as well as last.  She got everything from petshops, to art stuff.  What a great bunch of friends she has.  Then came more running wild through the house until it was time to go home.  It was so fun to put faces with names and meet some parents.

 Cousin Ella and Shantel

Shantel's other lifelong bud Abbie.

Happy Birthday Shantel

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!!!

Waiting for the first big storm of the season.  Well a good one hit us and the kids had a great time playing in the snow the next morning.  As some of you may have heard, Utah was expecting a ginormous BLIZZARD one Tuesday night.  The Whole state seemed to be shut down for this Blizzard we were to expect.  Well the snow came and went only leaving what looked like a normal Utah snow storm.  The storm this Sunday morning and a week later produced more snow than this alleged Blizzard of 2010!!

The kids playing out in the Winter Wonderland!!

Kallie giving Shantel a dose of her own medicine



Even Lemieux dressed up for the cold weather outside!

 Trimming the Tree!
Of course it wouldn't be the holiday season with out trimming the Christmas tree.  The weekend after Thanksgiving we decorated for Christmas.  It was a fun family activity for us. The kids were so excited to decorate.  Fighting over what they were going to set up, throwing things at each other...Ahh what a fun evening it was.

Ahh..lil baby W.  hanging his first ornament with help from mom!

Sisters hanging their sisters ornaments!

Keegan so eager to hang Every ornament..up high!

The finished product.

After we decked the halls, Gary had a great idea to make Christmas cookies with the kids.

We pulled out the Christmas cutters and got elbow deep in dough!

The kids really enjoy eating the dough...I mean making cookies!  I think the favorite part is decorating them.  Not only do you have to lick your fingers free of excess frosting and sprinkles...you are that much closer to trying the masterpiece!

And YES, we had sprinkles and colored sugar everywhere after they were finished.  And I think a few cookies had half a bottle of sprinkles on them!

After all the excitement, it was time to settle down for a nice Christmas movie.  One of our homes favorite movies is The Polar Express.  We got all snuggled in our jammies and a warm blanket and watched.

It was a wonderful evening spent with the family to help ring in this holiday season!!