Christmas Morning

Christmas morning was so much fun. I, of course, didn't sleep at all the night before.  I always have issues sleeping on Christmas Eve but add in being 9 months pregnant and being uncomfortable, having to go to the bathroom every hour, and having braxton hicks contractions all through the night made it impossible!  At 7:00 I couldn't take it anymore and I went to wake up my kids.

They were SO excited with what Santa brought them! 

After playing with our Santa presents for awhile we took a break for breakfast.  I made the Schmuhl/Bottema/Foree traditional Christmas morning breakfast, Sugar Cake!  It turned out so good, it made two entire cookie sheets worth and we ate it all that day!  When the kids couldn't wait any longer we went to open the rest of the presents.

Max got plush Mario dolls from Kate, a Cars road mat, Monsters Inc figurines, a Buzz Lightyear, a Spiderman doll and hat, and a Mickey Mouse truck that you put together yourself.

Kate got Frozen dolls, a walking Pinkie Pie, an apron, some Minnie Mouse pots, an Ariel dress and a princess art set.

Each kid, including Jack, got an outfit from Grandma Watson.  Grandma and Grandpa Watson got the kids a trampoline, and Grandma and Grandpa Foree got them an art easel!  They are both over the moon with these gifts, they have not stopped playing with them!

Christmas this year was so much fun.  We of course missed being with family, but it was also fun to have our own little Christmas this year. The kids got all that they could want and more, and we had an awesome day.  So sad that it's over already!  Now the countdown begins for Baby Jack to get here!

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve was mainly spent doing things to wear my kids out so they would sleep well that night. We cleaned and did our chores in the morning, then we went to lunch at Chick-fil-a and played at the park for a long time. When we came home to even more neighbor goodies on our doorstep, I felt bad that I still had not done anything for my neighbors so we made very last minute plates of candies and cookies and went and handed them out. Kate wanted to sing "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" at every door. She even told us to stop singing and let her sing it herself at the last few houses!

After we were done with that we came home, ate our Christmas Eve dinner (which was delicious Mexican food still left over from the Watson party), and got started on Santa's cookies.  We made sugar cookies this year and the kids had so much fun decorating them.

More frosting may have been eaten than what ended up on the cookies.

Then we went to look at Christmas lights again!  We saw Santa, high-fived the Grinch, and danced along to the music of the "Monster House".

Then we came home and got to open our Christmas Eve presents.  Or as the Watson's have dubbed them, "Star Presents".  Even though we were home by ourselves this year we tried to keep family traditions alive.  Mexican food on Christmas Eve (watson), Christmas light looking (Foree), and opening a present on Christmas Eve is something both our families did.  I'm not sure if my family did it every year, but I definitely remember it.  Of course, what was inside isn't much of a surprise, it was pajamas, but the kids were so excited for them!  They were yelling and running around the house so excited for their pajamas.  Haha! 

 

Then we set out the cookies and milk for Santa.  Kate and Max both insisted on making a card for Santa.

The kids went to sleep so good that night.  No struggle or anything!  I guess operation make-my-kids-so-tired-that-they-will-go-right-to-sleep was a success!  Santa visited early that night and left a good loot for my kids.  Kate got her much asked for Zoomer Dog, a princess wii game, a couple Palace Pets, candy, Oz the Great and Powerful and The Wizard of Oz.  Max got a set of Super Hero Squad heroes (Wolverine, Captain America, Ironman, "Hulk Smash", and Thor) a Captain America shield, some Spiderman boxing gloves, hot wheels, and Monsters Inc and Monsters University.

It was a fantastic Christmas Eve, we loved every minute!

Sleeping by the Tree

On Christmas Eve Eve, I let the kids sleep by the Christmas tree.  Kate had been begging to do it for awhile, and I thought it would be a fun new tradition to start.  So they got in their Christmas jammies, and we made a big bed for them by the tree.  Dustin read Christmas Oranges while Kate listened and Max wandered.  It took them awhile to actually fall asleep but they did, and it was adorable.

Watson Christmas Party

Last Friday we had our traditional Watson Christmas Party.  Only this year we had it at my house!  I am too pregnant to travel anywhere for Christmas this year and everyone else had big plans with their other families this year as well, so we all got together on that day.  It was a little stressful hosting it at my house being this pregnant with no energy, but luckily my brother Andy was in town and he helped me clean my house and get ready for it.

We had our Mexican food feast of course.  I made green chile burros, Sherice made queso dip, Beth made salsa, and Lisa brought tamales, taquitos, chimichangas, beans and rice.  It was delicious!  After dinner we took a walk along my neighborhood Loop of Lights.  This is something my neighborhood does every year and it gets bigger and better each year.  There is a designated loop in our neighborhood and if you live along it you deck your house out with as many lights as you can.  We have some really amazing houses and it's so fun to see it every year.  It's generated so much popularity that they actually had to close traffic off to the public and make everybody walk it this year.

Here is one of my favorites, the Grinch House.

And this is what my kids call the "Monster House".  They have 150,000 lights on their house!  Also when it's close to Christmas, Santa, The Grinch and Frosty are out there every night taking pictures with kids.  So fun!

When we got back we played a game of Christmas Bingo with the kids.  The girls won some Palace Pets (pets that the Disney Princesses have) and the boys won some super hero inflatable stuff.  Max won this enormous Avengers hammer.  Best present I think he could have ever imagined.  He wouldn't stop hitting people with it.

Then it was time for the Nativity. 

Not sure why this video cuts off early, I think my phone just couldn't handle how long the video is.

Nativity 2013 from Erin Watson on Vimeo.


We also had each of the kids pick a Christmas song to sing.  Max wanted to sing "I am a Child of God".  So we sang it and he impressed everybody and made Grandma a little teary with how well he knew the song.

Then it was time for the gift exchange! 

Max had Layton and I made him a stuffed elephant and monster.  Kate had Jaylee and I made her a Snow White inspired dress and doll.  Jaylee had Kate and Beth had made her an adorable little wooden ironing board.  Maddock had Max and he got him some shake and go Cars.  I had Lacie and I gave her some shampoo and conditioner from Bath and Body works as well as some smoothing cream from S-factor.  Dustin had Jaron and he got him Suns tickets.  I got a super cute frame and an Origami Owl necklace from Sherice (it has a little camera and sewing machine in it, so cute!) and Dustin got a Jordan t-shirt and keychain from Scott.

It was so much fun and I'm glad we all got a chance to get together this year!

Santa Mail

In my neighborhood their is a house that does Santa Mail. Kate was so excited to write Santa a letter this year.  I didn't get a picture of the actual letter, but it said

"Dear Santa,
 I hope you can make me the Zoomer Dog
-Kate"

She wrote and addressed the letter all by herself, and we went and mailed it!

Also, notice on the first line on the envelope that she sometimes writes in mirror images.  I'm wondering if this is a left handed thing?

Playing by the Christmas Tree

I took these pictures of Kate the other day when I found her playing with the Little People Nativity set by the Christmas tree. She was saying, "Fear not! Baby Jesus is here". I love that she knows the story of Christs birth so well, and that she understands why we truly celebrate Christmas.

Christmas Pictures

I took these pictures of my kids the day after Thanksgiving.  I fully intended to use these for Christmas cards this year.  I even went as far as designing a card with these pictures on it!  But did I order them?  No.  And if I ordered them now, they would be mailed out after Christmas.  Oh well.  So... here is all the pictures I took that day, and a mock up of what the card would have looked like.  Merry Christmas!