Christmas!!!!

I know, I know. I've taken quite a break from blogging. I guess there are a few more important things to do in my life right now besides blogging! Imagine that! But I need to document stuff before I forget about them, especially our Christmas events.

We went over to the Taylor Grandparents' house and got to make a huge gingerbread house. It was so much fun and the kids loved it. I should say Mike loved it!! He was very meticulous and had to have everything just so! It was cute!

The finished masterpiece:


Christmas was quite the whirlwind, trying to fit everything in. Next year I think we'll make it a little more low-key and not travel so much. The kids remember the little things, right? Well, we tried a new tradition this year and read a Christmas book every night for the last 12 days of Christmas. I wanted to start on the 1st of December, but I only had 12 books! I'll have to start collecting more through the year for next year. The kids really enjoyed that. We would read at night by the Christmas tree. It was so peaceful.

Christmas Eve we tried a new tradition; a candlelight dinner. We did it at Mike's parents house and it was fun to include them. Then we packed up and headed home for some more fun. The kids got to open one present; their new jammies. And then they got the treats out for Santa and his reindeer. Ethan and Asia wanted to put out carrots, grapes and nutritious things for Santa because they didn't want Santa to get any fatter and have a heart attack and die! I think they saw something on TV that said Santa needed to go on a diet or something! It was a good thing because I didn't have any cookies to put on the plate anyway! They put out some water for the reindeer to drink and it turned red because Rudolph stuck his nose in it! They thought that was pretty cool.

Here's all of the loot:

Ethan was the first to wake up Christmas morning. We forgot to tell them the rules the night before about when they could wake up and, most importantly, when they could wake us up. I heard Ethan come upstairs and gasp and get excited about 7:30. Not too bad! Then he went and got Asia and then came and got us up. They couldn't wait to tear into their stockings!
And then the babies fianlly woke up around 8. They were pretty excited too. Jacob was a little more into the opening of the presents thing this year. Mia loved playing with the boxes!
Ethan got a new charger for his DS so he was in HEAVEN!

That night we had the Taylor family Christmas party. It was Kaylene's year to be in charge and she decided to do a progressive dinner. We started at Russ and Joy's for appetizers, then Nathan and Amy's for salad, then Kaylene and Doug's for the main course and present opening, and then our house for dessert. We put the kids to bed with Tina and Shayna babysitting and went over to Robert and Toni's for games. It was pretty fun.

Then we went home to pack up so we could leave for Canada the next morning. We left at about 9am and got there about 5ish for the Nicholas family Christmas party. And even more presents and spoiling! We did the usual up there; went shopping, went for sushi, sang karaoke, and visited. We had to go to the Sugarbowl and sled, even though the snow was almost gone in spots. It was so icy and shiny! The kids went down the hill and up the other side! Fun stuff!

We stayed up there for about 5 days and then headed back just in time to go up to Island Park for another Taylor party. This time we decided to rent a cabin for New Years. So we had 27 people in one cabin! It was pretty fun, except when it was time to go to bed. We had the babies sleep with us in one room. They had a pretty hard time sleeping, to say the least! I think it was a combination of teeth coming in and not being in their own beds for a week that really threw them off. Not the funnest! Besides the not sleeping issue, it was a good time. We played games, watched movies, went swimming, played in the snow, and made hair bows and watch bands. Oh, and we also ate LOTS and LOTS of food!! Here are some of the kids playing in the snow:

And fun times hanging out in the cabin:

It was a pretty fun time, but very very hectic. Not the way I would plan for next year! We live and learn, right! Now onto 2010!!