FOURTEEN CHRISTMAS PICTURES (AND I DON'T BLAME YOU IF YOU JUST SKIP RIGHT ON PAST THIS ONE)

I feel like Christmas was ages ago, so it seems foolish to do this now, but I realized I hadn't posted any holiday pictures. So, for those of you who care, here is the proof that my family celebrated Christmas:

The kids get new pajamas every year after Thanksgiving. In the past, they have always been Christmas pajamas, but I found these at Costco for a great deal and they were too cute to pass up. Lauren was so thrilled that hers has a cheerleader on it. I am scared already (Hi, Sarah!).


The good thing about having both sets of grandparents in the same town is that we get to decorate three Christmas trees. I swear, this NEVER gets old for kids. We had a lot of fun at my parent's house with my grandparents but I forgot my camera that day, so there are no pictures. Here they are at Brian's parents house.

I L-O-V-E this picture. With all my heart.

Putting on the angel. I hope Brian doesn't mind that I cropped him out of this picture, but he was wearing the most hideous T-shirt and I am as prideful as I am honest.

Tree #3! Our own! Finally!

Lauren had a school project due just before Christmas break. It was a "Pay It Forward" project. Every first grader had to do an act of service for someone outside their family and take a picture and then write a few sentences about their experience. When we asked Lauren what she wanted to do for hers, she immediately said, "Make brownies for the Bishop!" It was so cute. She made them herself and then Brian took her over to his house to deliver them. I think "Brownies for the Bishop" might become an annual tradition at our house.


Our Sunday best in front of the tree. I could not get the kids to smile for their pictures. Cameron would not hold still for hers, so I finally just plopped her on top of this giant present and Brian took the shot before she had a chance to wiggle down. Also, I absolutely DID NOT match her dress to the tree ribbon on purpose.
This is honestly the best I could do with all three of them. The big kids just kept glaring at me so I finally told them to make silly faces. I took this picture and then they all walked away. I guess the photo shoot was over!

Baker's face (and hair) in this picture is classic. He got Barrel Of Monkeys in his stocking and got so excited and then said, "Well, it has a monkey on it, but what is it?"

Lauren wanted a Webkinz cat so badly and this is the look on her face when she got it. I love the Christmas morning looks on their faces over everything. She was really surprised that Santa brought her everything she asked for in her letter to him.
Baker got his Lightening McQueen race track. I love that it is so Old School. Just a figure eight track with two cars and two triggers. So simple and it has provided HOURS of entertainment.

Cameron is as OCD about cleaning as I am. She is always helping me clean and do laundry. She loves to throw stuff in the trash and pick things up off the floor (like crumbs or even loose threads) and bring them to me saying, "Yuck." We like to encourage these types of mental disorders in our children, so she got a whole supply of cleaning tools from Santa. They all talk, too (freaky!). She got a broom and dustpan, an iron and ironing board, a dustbuster, and a trashcan.

For mine and Brian's gift to the kids, we put a bookcase in the playroom and gave each of them one of these animal body pillows and a new stack of books. I think I like this gift better than they do because whenever they want me to come play upstairs, I lay across all three pillows and fall asleep while the kids play around me.

Here, I actually let the kids use them for awhile:

And that is the end of my picture taking on Christmas. We really had a great day with each other and all the grandparents and great-grandparents. It was relaxing and fun and I guess I was enjoying myself too much to worry about taking anymore pictures.

We had an awesome New Year's, too and I actually DID take a lot of pictures of that and maybe, if you're lucky, I'll get around to posting them before Valentine's Day!