Christmas 2013

Christmas as always is a magical time of year. Keila was really getting the idea of Santa and Isaac decided to leave behind the doubts of last year and put his full faith in the Jolly Red Fellow, especially after watching Polar Express again. With Isaac learning to read, m hoping they'll write letters to Santa next year. Here are some of the few moments captured on camera.

We had to do our gingerbread houses but I've gotten smarter and bought the sets instead. While it seems so much like the magical Mary Poppins feel when I bake and cut the gingerbread, it is far less taxing. I do miss the smell of it in the air but the kids haven't noticed one bit!


We watched movies a lot! I love this shot where the smallest kids has the biggest bowl of popcorn

Here in AZ we seek out snow and around the holidays they it can be found at many of the weekend festivals. Isaac had a blast digging in something other than sand and dirt. Keila had fun trying to find her balance on it and had to try eating it, apparently it looked too similar to ice cream.


If you look carefully you'll see keila in the corner of the shot while Isaac takes aim.





I kept trying to get Isaac to sit in the back of the police car so I could take a shot of Keila taking him in but he wouldn't do it.


After ten years we replaced our Walmart tree with this smashing pre-lit beauty!

Christmas Eve is usually spent at one of kent siblings home for a visit with Santa but unfortunately Santa couldn't make it. So the Jolly Old Man gave us the go ahead to open one present on Christmas Eve. Keila's present needed some filling up at Build-A-Bear Workshop so we went down early before the crowds hit.




The joyous Christmas morning!





Eli took a little time to figure out how to rip the wrapping paper but once we helped him out he was having a blast!












Unfortunately the first day of the Christmas break two of our family got sick with the 7+ day flu and it soon hit the rest of us. While it wasn't fun having a ton of laundry to do, it was nice in other ways, everyone slept in, we all took naps and no one had any appetite for a big dinner so I didn't cook. It really was one of the most relaxing Christmas I've had in years! Instead of visiting friends for the afternoon we took ourselves to the park. It was a beautiful day with some beautiful pictures.









Aunt Becky and Uncle Joe stopped off for a visit while attending a wedding. We had some fun at the park and making Aubrey laugh, she is such a doll!




We celebrated Kent's birthday with a cheesecake and present.