Merry Christmas!

This year was one of the best Christmases we've had in a long time. Not a lot of fuss or a huge dinner. Just some finger foods and our little family.

This year we spent Christmas Eve with Jonathan's parents. We watched some Christmas movies, had some amazing finger foods. I swear I gained a good 10 lbs that day! Nana had story time with the kiddos and just some good quality time together was had.

Ugh! Damn mountain zits!

Me and my baby! ♥

Amaya playing on Nana's iPod.

LOVE my coffee cup Momma Joy!

Joseph jumped into the picture last second. Lol

And then he threw up the deuces.

Presents!

Story time with Nana!

Daddy and Miss Amaya lovin'!

We ended up getting much more video than pictures this year. I'm working on putting that all together now. So expect a video in the next few days.

After all the excitement at Nana and Papa's we headed home to bed so Santa could come.

Jonathan and I were so exhausted and the kiddos did not want to sleep. They finally conked out and we were able to follow shortly after!

Played around with my camera and got such a good shot. Lol So proud of myself!

Jonathan took this one with his phone. Isn't it pretty?

Christmas morning we had to wake the kids up. Even telling them it was Christmas morning they didn't want to get out of bed. What kid has to be waken and doesn't want to get out of bed to see all their goodies?!

Jonathan wouldn't let anyone into the living room until after I had seen my new gift. Of course, like previous years we had agreed not to get anything for one another. And like every year, he disobeys and I stick to our agreement. Well this year I knew he was up to something when he kept telling me not to look in our bank account or open any mail. So I had to get him something too. 

Anyway. He had to video tape it all. It's quite embarrassing to watch really. But I'll make sure to add it to our Christmas video. I walked into the living room and saw the most awesomest gift of life!

I got a keyboard!!! Eek! I freaking love it! Now if I could learn something besides Twinkle Little Star...

And to top it all off. He gave me a little gift to open nearly every hour. He even added the cutest things on the tags. Like,

To: The love of my life 

              From: The bottom of my heart! 

       (Who wouldn't love that?!) 

Another one said, To: My baby mama 

                              From: Daddy-o! Lol 

He's so creative and knows me so well. I love him with all of my everything! 

Good morning with coffee and awesome coffee cup! :D

Joseph got a new game from Pat-Pat and Pappy!

Her new horse she named Carla from Pat-Pat and Pappy!

Tressa's "two headed dog" that she got from Pat-Pat and Pappy. She has named them Bubblegum and Cocoa. 

Her very own wig from Auntie Becca and Uncle Chad!

She loves her hoodie!

He loves defending himself with his new shield and sword. Thanks Auntie Becca and Uncle Chad!

This Hello Kitty smells like bubblegum! It's craziness!

And she smells like grapes!

His favorite gift of everything he got! Thanks Auntie and Uncle!

 

She's got her very own wig too!

She had to make sure the word Princess was visible to everyone! Lol

She has named her wig bluey!

So because I knew Jonathan was getting me something, I got him a Kindle Touch. He's always reading and buying new books that we have no more space for. Bingo! Space saver and he still gets to buy his books! I even triple checked to make sure the book he wanted recently was available on Kindle before I bought it.

This year we we've been doing really well saving money and not touching it! Then we got lucky when our rent was only $215 this month. Yay! I'm proud of us! Mostly glad that Christmas wasn't a huge stress session this year.

The kids had such a great time. Joseph has started his Avatar books and has been watching the Avatar season all over again. They could all watch their Hexbugs for hours on end. Hell, Jonathan and I caught ourselves watching for a good 20 minutes or more. The girls are loving all of their toys. They play with all of them at once!

We miss a lot of our family and friends on the holiday, but we didn't miss all the fuss and stress that's usually involved when too many people get together. Lol Loooooooovvvvvveeee you! Tee-hee!

I hope that everyone had as great a holiday as we did. A huge thank you to everyone that sent cards and gifts to the kiddos! They loved them!

Look for our Christmas video soon!

Christmas and a coma.

Hoping everyone enjoyed their Christmas holiday. I know we did.

Let's see... Where do we start?..

Let's start with the kiddos writing their Christmas lists a few weeks ago. I have already written a post about them, but I didn't include pictures.

For the longest time after, they kept asking about a Christmas tree. I told them I put it on my Christmas list for Santa. Jonathan and I had decided that we would not have one this year. Mostly because we didn't want to be out of pocket the extra expenses that come with having a tree. I mean, there's the tree itself, ornaments, lights, etc. We could afford it, but then we wouldn't be able to afford the gift we really wanted to get the kids. Their very own wii. They loved it when Nana and Papa had theirs (pre-lightning disaster) and they're always asking to play the xbox 360. Occasionally we let them play, but the games are far from age appropriate. And, besides, we'd planned that as their Christmas gift since friggin April! Lol... Seriously.

Back to the tree... Jonathan had been asking weird questions about the type of tree we should get, how big, what color, color of ornaments, lights, etc. I got irritated and knew he was up to something so I'm instantly freaking out about our finances, thinking he's going to buy this tree and all the hoopla with it. Finally he caves and tells me that it's what he told his parent's he wanted for Christmas. He gave up getting an actual "gift" so that we and the kiddos could have a tree on Christmas morning! Is that not fantastic?! He and his dad were going to pick out the tree the following day and they had lots of old ornaments that weren't used, extra lights, beaded strings, and even the tree topper that Jonathan remembers seeing on his tree every year as a child. We were ecstatic! Then we had "Operation Candy Cane" (Don't ask, and I won't tell! Lmao)

Operation Candy Cane entailed getting the tree and decorations into the house, set up and presents placed underneath all while the kiddos slept Christmas Eve night. We were up ALL NIGHT LONG! until 2am that night getting things just right for Christmas morning.

Isn't it beautiful?!

So Jonathan and I hit the sack and slept surprisingly well with all the excitement I had for the morning. Joseph wakes me at about 7:15 or so asking if he can go and watch cartoons. "Sure." I said, rolled over with the biggest grin on my face just waiting for him to come back running and waking us up.

All we hear for the next 2 minutes is whispered gasps like, "Oh" "Oooh" "Wow". Then he runs down the hall and wakes the girls. Tressa is the only one that wakes, poor Amaya is just like her mommy when it comes to mornings. They walk into the living room and Tressa is practically screaming with excitement. Nothing like Joseph and his whispering the whole time. Finally Tressa works Amaya out of bed with, "Santa came and brought a tree and presents and stockings!"

After a little discussion about all the cool stuff they see, they begin talking about the tree topper.

"What is that?"

"Maybe it's an elf."

"Or a Santa."

"... It looks like a monster."

All we could do was laugh. It is indeed a Santa Claus, a little antique, but it still looks nothing like a monster... or an elf for that matter. Lol

After waiting on them to wake us, which they didn't. We hear them trying to mess with gifts which was our cue to get out of bed. 

Many excited exclamations from all three of them the second we walked out. Eventually we got situated and stockings gone through and were ready for gift opening. We didn't get a lot of pictures since we recorded most of it for family so they could enjoy seeing the kids' faces when they opened their gifts. (I'll get those put up some time this week for you guys). 

About 10:30 we made it to Nana & Papa's house to enjoy Christmas lunch and gift opening.

Yes... Papa really was watching Star Wars... On Christmas morning! Lol

 Pink is his color... At least we think so :Þ

Then we went home and fell into a coma! We slept and slept and slept some more!

The kids got some really great things and I am ever thankful for how occupied those gifts are keeping them!

Tis all for now... I have already written what seems to be a novel and I feel there is a lot more to say, but I'll save your eyes the trouble for now.

Love and occupied children

          -Jaclyn-