Christmas

It's so funny. It took about 2 months of shopping, three weeks of wrapping, 1 week of decorating and a full day of cooking. And now its all over. Just like that. It took about 23 seconds for all of the beautiful wrapping to be ripped through and a mess like none other to be created in our living room. It was quite a challenge keeping Ashley away from all the pieces of paper and tiny plastic choking hazards that come with every single toy.
This is what Caleb looked like when he realized we finally got him an IPod.

And then when he realized it was Jamie's old IPod he was suddenly a bit deflated, but still appreciative. (sweet boy) Then Jamie opened up the NEW IPod and Caleb was a bit disturbed but soon realized we were tricking him and then he did this.

This is a tight, genuine, full of appreciation and thankfulness, hug. It was nice. He was truly surprised. LOVE that part of Christmas.


Faith was so cute with everything. She was thrilled that Santa left her the dancing doll she asked for. (And every other doll sold in toys stores as well.)
This girl has so many dolls! Her favorite is this one...

This doll is really special. She says things like "I'm hungry, Mommy". Then you have to feed her (yes, actual food!). And she says "I'm thirsty, Mommy". And you have to give her water in her sippy cup. And she says "Did I make a stinky?".  And then you change her diaper. That's right, folks. I've said it would never happen but I have allowed another pooping, peeing object into my house. Let me tell you how gross this is too. I held her over the sink last night cleaning the green goo out of her mouth with water and vinegar. As I held the doll over the sink, a long, slimy, stringy green piece of loveliness fell from the hole in the bottom of the doll. I almost puked.
But Faith LOVES this doll. She feeds her and changes her like a crazy woman. She responds to the dolls every demand and just loves taking care of her. I had to laugh as she excitedly changed her 24th diaper. I hope I remember this to tell her about it when she has a baby of her own and has all those diapers full of real poo to tend too. I wonder if she will still be as eager.

Caleb also got a tablet and tablet accessories. And the usual basketball pants and shirts that he pretended were the best thing ever. But in reality, I just wrapped them so he'd have more to open since his Christmas was small with big ticket items.
Faith got dolls and more dolls. And a neat VTech electronic game system called a MobiGo. Really great! She hasn't played with it a ton but I'm hoping she will get into it during our 15 hour drive to Alabama.

For Christmas Eve, we had snacks galore! 

And Christmas Day, we had cornish hens.

The kids thought it was pretty neat having their own bird. I was really creeped out. I don't do well with meat on bones. Ick. Moments after this picture, I decided they weren't cooked enough and put them all back in the over. Well, except for Jamie's. He wouldn't have any part of over cooked chicken. I guess his was okay too since he didn't die. But I made the kids wait on theirs. We had it later in the day with other leftovers. I'll make chicken salad out of the rest. Everyone gets to pick a side for Christmas dinner. Caleb picked canned green beans, Faith chose macaroni, Jamie wanted sauteed mushrooms and I got corn casserole. Faith was unhappy that I didn't make boxed macaroni though. I decided to make homemade and she wasn't thrilled. We ate Jamie's mushrooms the night before at our Christmas eve feast so, Caleb and I were the only ones happy with the sides.
Oh well. We all spent the day in our pajamas and had a really fun day. It was a great Christmas. One of the best yet. All the kids are at such great ages! Next year will be even better since I won't be pulling paper out of Ashley's mouth every 30 seconds. Hopefully.

We leave on Friday for Alabama. Really looking forward to ringing in the New Years with Mimi and Pops! After we get home, we'll be doing final preparations for our baby turning ONE! Such fun things happening!

On a not so fun note, Faith will be having another heart catherization in February. Date still to be determined. More information to come on this later. Right now, we are still in the midst of our holiday cheer and I'm trying not to worry about this upcoming event quite yet. One day at a time.

Happy holidays to everyone!!!