Christmas 2008

We had such a great Christmas this year! I seriously love Christmas so much more now that I am a mom and I think I get just as excited about it if not more than the kids. Sorry lots of pictures!

Christmas Eve

Here we are making our cookies for Santa. The kids love doing this and I definitely think it's a highlight every year.

They were so into the elves this year and whether or not they are real. This is them looking out our back window for elf footprints.

Frosting the cookies.

Every year the Buckley family does a service project so this year we took some donations to the woman's shelter. I always think this is such a good experience for our kids and I'm so grateful that we do it.

On Christmas Eve we always have a delicious Chinese dinner. Here is Lauryn being such a good helper this year and making won tons. She was so proud of herself and she did such a good job. It was super yummy!

Here is our Nativity crew. Don't they look great? Lauryn was an angel, Braxton was a lamb, and TJ was the shepard.

I thought this was such a cute picture. Lauryn and Mykailyn are the youngest girl cousins on the Buckley side and they were given these cute tutu's from their Aunt Kristen. Lauryn actually got another one from my sister on Christmas that she had made. She loves both of them!

Braxton was so cute opening his presents this year. He loved all of them and was so fun this year!

Getting Ready for Santa

On our way home from the Buckley's on Christmas Eve, Braxton fell asleep in the car and we couldn't get him to wake up to open his one present and do all the fun traditions with us. It was kind of sad but we still had fun with Lauryn.

Here she is getting the pan of flour ready to put in front of the fireplace so that we can catch Santa's footprint. We love this and always get a nice old big footprint!

Throwing the Reindeer Dust out so they would come. This is the part Braxton was so excited to do but maybe next year.

Lighting our lantern for out porch so that Santa would see it and make it to our house.

And here is Lauryn pouring the milk for Santa. We had such a good Christmas Eve and doing all of our little traditions with our kids puts me into the Christmas spirit more than anything.


Christmas Day

This was on Christmas morning after Santa came. Lauryn and Braxton both asked for bikes. It was so fun to see they got them.

Here's our morning family picture. Ahhhh how hideous!

Every year for Christmas we get toghether in the morning at my mom's for a big breakfast but this year we had it out at my house. It was so nice to not have to leave and go somewhere else and my kids just got to play with their presents all morning long. It was so much fun having everyone at our house this year!

I had to work in the evening so TJ and the kids headed back over to his mom and dad's and I was off to the hospital so there aren't very many more pictures to share. We had an awesome Christmas and thank you so much to everyone for the gifts. We scored big this year!

This was about 2 minutes after we put the kids in the car to come home on Christmas. They were so tired! I'm sad it's all over and I can't wait for next year with 3 kids!

The Cabin

The last 2 years TJ's parents have surprised us with a trip to this cabin at Bear Lake as part of our Christmas. It is always so much fun to just go and relax, let the kids play in the snow, and ride the 4 wheelers around.

This picture was taken right after they came in from playing out in the snow. I can't believe how long they can last out in the freezing cold but look at Braxton's red swollen face from being so cold.

I took some cookies up there to decorate again with TJ's family and the kids loved it.

Grandma B gave the kids their stockings up there and this was them waiting on the stairs to go look for them. They are all in their matching PJ's she gave them too.

Thanks Grandma and Grandpa B! We loved the cabin and everything that you guys did for us. You're the best!

The Airhart's

My sister and her husband surprised us last week by just showing up at our house (they live in North Carolina). We were so excited I couldn't even talk for a while when I opened the door. Anyways we had a ton of fun having them here in town and seeing my cute little niece and nephew. Here are the all of the nieces and nephews.

Christmas Activities

This year my mom started a new tradition to have a Christmas Kick-off with the kids and give them their PJ's, do some crafts, and have a sleep over. Here are Braxton and Lauryn getting ready to open their cute PJ's.

Braxton, Lincoln, and Lauryn in their jammies. They are the best jammies cause they say, "What santa doesn't bring, Grandma will." It fits perfect.

Decorating Christmas tree ornaments.

The cutest Grandpa in the world. He was taking care of Lincoln while we were doing our crafts and this is how I found them on the couch.

Decorating cookies

Thank you mom! It was a blast and we love the PJ's.

Christmas Time

I LOVE this time of year so much ever since I have had kids. They make Christmas 10 times better. We got our Christmas Tree and decorations up this week. Lauryn and Braxton Loved it and had so much fun doing it. Our favorite thing to do now is to turn on the Christmas tree and the fireplace and listen to Christmas music.

Here is our first fake Christmas tree. I think it turned out pretty good. Don't pay attention to the crooked star on top ( I fixed it ).

This picture is for my sister Missy. I took this during the day while my kids were watching Chicken Run so excuse the TV and blankets on the floor.

My mother-in-law always has a Christmas kick-off at the beginning of the month. This time she gave us a huge bag full of the cutest things. These are some of the things we scored.

These are the kids favorite things that we got. The key on the left is a Claus o Meter. This key is for Santa to stick in their bedroom doors when he comes and the dial will spin and tell him about the kid in the room. The key on the left is a special key for those who don't have a fireplace for Santa to come in. You leave this outside the front door and it will let him in on Christmas.

Here is a notepad that we wrote out Santa letters on, a postmark "North Pole Express" stamp so that we could get it there fast, our special mailbox that we hung on our front door for the elves, and a lantern that we will light and put on our front porch on Christmas Eve so that Santa will be able to see our house.

While we were writing our letters and listening to Christmas music it started to snow. It was so exciting and made us even more ready for Christmas to be here! We can't wait!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!