Christmas Morning 2010

It finally arrived and the girls couldn't be more excited. I heard them in their rooms a little after 7am, but had to make them wait to come out until Daddy got out of bed. It was only a few minutes later, but it was probably an eternity to them. Brandon was still snoozing, so we let him come down when he woke up. It wasn't long, before he headed down as well.

I love this picture because Leah isn't excited for her gift here, she's yelling up to Ashlyn that Santa brought her an American Girl doll!

One Happy Girl.

Leah was pretty excited for her gift too. Although she later told me she wanted a REAL laptop. What is it with my kids and expensive electronics? I blame their father. haha.....

My Happy little boy! Yes, he is MUCH happier these days, which makes me happier too!

Brandon was having so much fun playing with his toys that it literally took him ALL day to open everything. We finally had to sit him down at the end of the day and "help" him open the rest of his gifts. It was hilarious!

Here's Grammy trying to get Brandon to open another gift.

As for Carter, he had enough excitement and fell asleep about 30 minutes into our gift opening.

Grammy and Pop Pop certainly know how to spoil their grandkids. A new scooter for Leah!

Matching Christmas Dresses. I love them!

While Ashlyn spent a good portion of the day dressing up her new Julie doll in all her new outfits...

Leah spent her day dressing herself up in all her new dress up clothes, courtesy of her Uncle Steve and Aunt Soul.

One final "spoiling" for the grandkids. A "my first trampoline" for them to play on from Grammy and Pop Pop. It's just the perfect size for our backyard. Not too big, not too small and can only fit one or two kids at a time. The kids love it....especially Leah, but does that surprise anyone? Probably not. She's my little gymnast.

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Eve

All of Paul's family came into town to celebrate Christmas with us this year. We were grateful to have them come here, since there was really no way I was gonna get on a plane with four little kids two months after having a baby. So even though it was a bit crowded at our place, it really worked out quite well and I think (or rather hope) everyone had a good time.

We let the kids open one gift on Christmas Eve. They got lucky and also got to open their gift from Uncle Ty and Aunt Heather, who came over with their boys to enjoy Christmas Eve dinner with us.

Once again, Brandon was not too happy with me taking his picture.

But after he opened his gift, he didn't seem to notice that I snapped another one of him. He has been watching his sisters get zhu zhu pets for the past year. He finally got one of his own. His name is Rockie and he scurries around our house quite frequently these days.

Leah sporting her new jammies.

Ashlyn in hers.

Santa came! Here it is all set up and ready for the girls to come down Christmas morning.

Copper Hill Christmas Lights

I'm so very far behind in my blogging. I will attempt to catch up just a bit.

The Tuesday, scratch that, the THURSDAY before Christmas we met up with some friends to go look at Christmas lights. Last year we went to the same place together and loved it, so it is becoming a tradition. The whole street is decked out in lights and you can walk around and take pictures at your own pace. The kids have a blast being with friends (and so do I) and it definitely gets me in the holiday spirit. Here are a few pictures from the evening.

Ashlyn's Cast

I never would have guessed that the first kid in our family to break a bone would be my sweet little Ashlyn. But sure enough, it was. Over a simple pillow fight even. Seems she hyper extends her limbs (loose joints like her Daddy) and her Doctor said she will be prone to injury because of it.

It happened on Thanksgiving Day. We had dinner at my brother's house and the kids were having fun running around and being silly. Toward the end of the night, Ashlyn runs up to me crying saying she hurt her arm. She's not one to calm down quickly when hurt, so I didn't think much of it. We went home, put an Ace bandage on it, and put the kids to bed. The next day it was swollen and she couldn't bend it very well. We kept it bandaged and gave her some motrin thinking she must have sprained it. The day after, even her hand was looking swollen. So we took her to urgent care. They x-rayed it and said she had a broken elbow. They put her in a splint and gave us the number to a pediatric orthopedic doctor in our area. That was Saturday.

On Monday, I called the number and got an appointment. Turns out the doctor wasn't really in our area, more like Tarzana, but whatever. It was a mad dash to get down there in time to be "squeezed in". But once at the office, we sat and waited for about 2 1/2 hours before seeing the doctor (lucky for me my Dad was in town and him and Heather watched Brandon and Leah while I was gone). We FINALLY got called back and I swear the doctor was so old. He shuffled around the office barking orders at his nurses and seriously looked like he had one foot in the grave. Oh well. He looked at the xray, said it was just a hairline fracture and to cast it for two weeks. Whew! That wasn't too bad afterall. Ashlyn chose her favorite color, and we were off.

Two weeks later, back at the same office, they took a" saw" to her poor little arm and cut that cast right off. Then the doctor told me to make sure she gets more calcium and that she can't play at school for the next SIX weeks (lucky for her that winter break is three of those six weeks).

Through it all she was extremely brave. I was so proud of her. And she even conceded and let me take a few pictures of her before heading down to get it taken off. I told her she'll want to see them when she's older and she'll be glad I took them.

Jingle Bells (batman style)

As most of you know, Batman is a very popular character around our house. As is the Batman version of Jingle Bells. We decided it needed more to it, so this is our rendition of Jingle Bells (batman style). Feel free to adopt it in your own home if you'd like, but don't tell me if you don't like it. We're not pros here okay!

Dashing through the snow,

In the Batmobile we go.

Through the street of Gotham,

We are so awesome!

Joker thinks he's cool,

But he never goes to school.

Fighting crime all day is neat,

As we're running down the street!

OH....

Jingle Bells, Batman smells, Robin laid an egg

Batmobile lost it's wheel and Joker got away!

Brownie Scouts

Many of you know that Ashlyn was in Daisy Scouts the past two years. Well, at the end of last year, she had to quit because her leader was going back to school and no longer had time to commit to it. There was no one else that could step up to lead (I was tempted to, but being pregnant put an end to that temptation), so the troop dissolved. I was so sad. Ashlyn was so sad. But then a couple of months ago, one of the moms decided she could do it and they reformed the troop (although much smaller this time). Ashlyn is so excited and so am I. They had a Holiday party last week to get re-aquainted and will start up regular meetings every other week after the New Year!

A little Pre Christmas Fun

This past weekend we got together with my Aunt and Uncle for a little Pre Christmas celebrating since they will be out of town for Christmas. We had a delicious ham dinner (courtesy of my mom since I am pretty much completely preoccupied with my little fussy man most of the time). It was delicious and I must have been hungry because after it was all said and done, I think I ate two complete plate fulls.

Here are some photos from the weekend.

Paul couldn't look up because he would have messed up his game. Oh brother!

Leah and Grandma Dana

Me with my little man sporting his totally awesome batman attire. Brandon thought that was pretty cool!

We had 7 adults and 6 kids at our house. It was a "bit" crazy!

Brandon opening his gift from Aunt Rhonda and Uncle Jim.

Awww.....

Proof that Ashlyn does have a cast on. She doesn't like me taking pictures of it. She'll be glad she has a few once it comes off (which is TOMORROW. Hooray)

Leah got dressed for the occasion in her pj's of course.

Heather put this beautiful picture frame together for my mom. It made her cry of course. It made me realize how FEW pictures Paul and I have of just us. Gotta do better about that.

Here is our attempt at getting a photo with me and all FOUR children (unfortunately Paul was already at church). Is someone missing you say? Oh no, just look to the left behind my hair. He's there.....hiding.

Little man is starting to smile. It's rather cute, but hard to catch on camera still. This was my best attempt at it. Isn't he adorable! Yes, I think so too!