Merry Christmas!

Yup, this is the last and final Christmas post! We started Christmas off by having dinner Christmas Eve at my brother and sister-in-law's house. Lisa had her family over as well and she made a delicious ham. We had a lot of fun just visiting and the kids even got to open a few presents from Lisa's mom. Once we got home Kaiden and I left out our first plate of cookies for Santa. Later that night I went into the kids rooms w/ the video camera (like my parents always did) to record my sweet little angels sleeping...only it didn't work out so smoothly. Kaiden woke up a little but he was so out of it he just layed his head back down. I wasn't so lucky with Kalli. She will sleep through about anything even all of the noise Kaiden makes, but the second you open her door and start to walk in she's wide awake and screaming. I thought it was worth the risk but boy was I wrong. She cried for awhile and I just couldn't take it anymore. (We have a rule where we don't pick up Kalli in the middle of the night (unless something is wrong of course) b/c it encourages her to wake up each night for no reason). Joe is much more strict on our rule than I am, but its a lot easier for him since he doesn't hear her 1/2 of the time. I give in more than I probably should but I felt I owed it to poor, little Kal since I am the reason she woke up. But thanks to that interruption of sleep both kids slept in a little bit which was nice. So Christmas morning we fed the kids in bed so they couldn't see what Santa brought. Poor Joe woke up feeling really achy and had the chills. He toughed it out while the kids opened gifts but then he was back in bed while me and Kaiden played and Kal took her nap.

Kal with her glow worm from Santa

The beloved Car Garage

Scripture readers from Grandma and Grandpa (Kaiden & Joe were reading them tonight)

I love this picture of them sitting back to back. Kal is pulling all the paper out of the trash while Kaiden is opening more presents.


Favorite toy of the day by both Kaiden and Kalli (and still ranking #1) was Kaiden's car garage w/ a ramp. This was the cheapest Christmas we will probably ever have. All of Kaiden's gifts were given to us by a neighbor. She was getting rid of her grandson's toys and all Joe and I had to do was clean them up real good. Of course we bought a few things for Kalli too but she really just liked all of Kaiden's toys more.

Joe's parent's called and it was great to talk to them on Christmas. They said that at midnight on Christmas Eve it's crazy. Most people in Argentina spend a lot of money on fireworks to pop on the night before Christmas. They said at midnight its so loud you can hardly hear anything but fireworks. Which is kind of funny b/c I know how much mom and dad would just rather be in bed but there's no way they can sleep through that kind of noise. So they stayed up and even went to a party...what party animals!

I was very excited to go to my mom's and talk to my sister Autumn that's on a mission in New York. It's been so long since I've spoken to her and it was just great to hear her voice and know that she's doing good. We were able to talk for about 40 minutes, but time just flew by. We kept it on speaker phone and all just loved hearing her experiences instead of just reading about them. Joe couldn't quite make it out of bed so she got off easy and didn't get made fun of too much. (Update on Joe: after about 2 weeks he's finally better. He missed several days of work and was going to bed the same time as the kids. I knew he was really sick b/c he even missed a lot of the bowl games, which is so unlike him! He still has a lingering cough that won't go away making his side is really sore. But he's doing better and back to staying up late, playing X-Box 360, and watching football.)

Uncle Greg doing his yearly turkey carving

Lisa & Abby

Carmen w/ her new flat iron

My baby sister, Nana

After talking to Autumn my Aunt and Uncle showed up and it was time to eat! We had lots of good food and I ate WAY too much. Joe made it for dinner and but wasn't up to eating too much. then it was time for Christmas all over again. Kaiden got a lot of games to play, a train set, and a tricycle. He's really enjoyed riding it and I've been very impressed how well he's done w/ peddling. Oh and he also got a Little Mermaid doll from my brother Aaron. Yea, me and Joe were just thrilled about it. He looked at it for a minute and then it was on to the next present. The next day he agreed to give Ariel to Kalli since she didn't get as many presents as he did. I know sweet, huh? As for Kalli she slept through most of the present opening but enjoys her new toys and first dollie that my mom got.

Kaiden's 1st doll

And Joe's reaction

Uncle Greg and Aunt Linda with Kalli

My favorite big brother

Joe has a beat up Maryland shirt w/ holes all in it so Lisa got him a new one. Now if only that old one got thrown away somehow...

I made my mom a calender from Snapfish w/ all of our family photos. It was a big hit.

During the day my brother had worked on fixing our old go-cart. He finally got it running so we all enjoyed riding around the pond. This was a present to us as kids from Santa years ago. So it was fun to reminisce and think about all the things that have changed over the years. I just love this time of year where being with family means so much and its a time to really reflect on our Savior. I've been so blessed in my life and I'm truly thankful for all that I have especially my family.