Jolly Holidays

It came and went didn't it? Wow. Way too fast. Holiday highlights:

*Successful Kindergarten Christmas Program. Very cute. Almost all the parents attended. The kazoos (on backorder) came the day before the program. We used them for "I'm getting Nuttin for Christmas". Well worth the stress and hassle.

*12th Anniversary on the 19th. Huge thanks to Amber and Nick for watching our kids for the day. We went shopping and on a little date to celebrate. I love you, Troy man. Thanks for a great dozen years!

*Christmas Eve with the LaMont family. Troy's mom always makes homemade clam chowder, and we all play games and drink eggnog (mixed with Sprite). Douglas was really excited that his cousin, Tony, has a new girlfriend with a son his age. We played PIT.

I think Douglas had a little too much eggnog.

*Christmas Break. So fun to have time to spend with the kiddos. Not much Christmas prep time (school on the 22nd!), but a good week after to relish in the love.

One of my favorite all time gifts.... DOUGLAS!
TJ's three favorite gifts: Bronco's throwback socks, MP3 player from Jace and the 5th Percy Jackson book.

*We are especially excited about the boys getting bunkbeds for Christmas. Troy and I spent a good 5 hours putting them together, but they have been worth it. The boys actually have room to play in their room! The kids were thrilled with their presents.

Notice the cool paint job in the boys' room- my first home project. It used to be hot pink (even the windowsill). You may also be wondering why Douglas is on the top. Well... TJ got the new mattress, so Douglas got to choose top or bottom. This may change if he shows lack of ability to get out of bed in the morning. I'm afraid of breaking his bones if I have to drag him out of bed. :)

*Kira loved Christmas. She got some "pretties" from Santa (necklaces and bracelets). She played with them for hours. On, off, on, off. So funny. Easy to please. She also likes her new buggy stroller to put her baby and puppies in. I love her Christmas dress from Grandma. So cute. I took WAY too many pictures of her. Here are just a few:

As soon as Kira's buggy was assembled and ready to roll, she took the screwdriver from me to make a few minor adjustments before use.As soon as Kira discovered that CANDY was in the stockings, no stocking was safe. She ate everyone's chocolate, and tried to eat the candycanes even with the wrapper still on.
The Christmas Stash Pictures (a family tradition). I have to pile gather up all the gifts my children got and take a picture with it. My family did this when I was a kid, too. It's fun to look back and see when you got what. Most of the kiddos gifts came from generous relatives this year. The fleece blankets the kids are sitting on were a surprise from my mom. She made everyone a double fleece blanket that folds up into a pillow. Very handy for travel, and warm and cozy for winter. Grandma LaMont got each of the kids a nice pair of shoes. I love Kiki's new boots. Thank you everyone for the great presents! My kids had a wonderful Christmas.

I'm going to miss you, Christmas Break. I'm still on strike from the holidays really being over. My decorations are still up, the tree still decorated, and the diet is still kaput. What about that crazy sleeping schedule? Well, that will have to change. It was rough to get out of bed this morning. Hopefully we'll be back on schedule in a few days. Merry Late Christmas!