Christmas 2013

This is going to be a very long post of all of our Christmas celebrations, so I hope you have more than a couple of minutes to catch up! Since Thanksgiving was so late this year, we started getting the Christmas decorations out the day after!

I made this wreath for the front door.

Bentley loved when we got Santa and Snowman out!

Santa stood at the top of the stairs.

We hung our Advent Calendar outside of Kiley's room this year. We put a line from the story of Christmas and Jesus' birth in each pocket. We would read them each day and then we made loops and taped them together to make garland. It was very fun. I also typed up fun Christmas activities and parties and put them in the days in which we were doing them.

Snowman hung out in the playroom.

This is the kids' Christmas tree. We have framed pictures of all of our extended family members as ornaments and we talk about who everyone is when we hang them.

We had what some people may call a Charlie Brown Christmas tree this year. We loaded up the kids to go buy our tree and when we got there, they were all wrapped up. It was really hard to juggle the 3 kids and cut strings off to look at the trees, so we just went with the first one we saw. We usually go for tall and skinny and this one was short and fat. The stick at the top of the tree wasn't even centered!

Our Christmas Tree topper had to be thrown out this year, so I made one myself. The uncentered stick helped center the B.

Finally, our mantle and stockings.

The Friday of the ice storm, was Mikey's company party. It wasn't too far away, so we decided to go ahead and go. There weren't too many people there but we still had fun. We got our picture with Santa! We cancelled the rest of our Christmas celebrations that weekend. It was just too dangerous to get out with the kids.

On Saturday of the ice storm, we went on a little (or big) adventure. My cousin, Ryan, plays Division 3 college football in Upstate New York and he was in the playoffs. It turns out that he would be playing a team in Texas! So we had some family come into town at the last minute. Thank goodness they all made it in safely. So we left the kids at home and bundled up and took a road trip down to see him! It was so cold, but so much fun to watch him in action! He is #2 and a team captain. They were lining up to go out for the coin toss.

Monday after the ice storm, we took the kids to a spectacular Christmas performance at a church where we take the kids to a respite program once a month. They have a huge special needs program. They invited all of the kids with special needs and their families to come watch the last dress rehearsal. It was such a good show and perfect to take the kids to where we didn't have to worry about the kids being loud. Since cousin Heather was still in town, she was able to join us!

The next weekend after all of the ice was gone, we were able to get the kids out to go see Santa and Mickey & Minnie! This year it was on a ranch, so we took a hay ride to go see them. The kids weren't dressed appropriately for a ranch, but I needed to get as much wear out of their Christmas outfits as possible!

That same day, we also had our neighborhood Christmas celebration. I loaded the kids up in the wagon and took them over to the park.

The girls played in the bounce house.

Then we got to see Santa again! You can tell it was past naptime. Poor Bentley, but he still looked cute!

Presley and I made puppy chow for all of Kiley's therapists and bus drivers.

She loved licking the spoon!

Presley's "Happy Birthday Jesus" party.

They did a fun, but very messy craft.

Presley took a bite of it after it was all done!

That evening, we had our annual Santa Party at Daddie's work! All of the kids sit and wait for their name to be called. They go up and they get two presents. One for themselves and then they donate one to the Children's Hospital. Presley was waiting patiently with her friend Felicity.

She was called first out of the three of them.

What a smile.

Then Kiley was called.

And then Bentley. He didn't know what to think, but just stared at Santa.

After everyone had their presents, we wanted to take a picture of the kids. Mikey has 4 close friends at work and these are all of their kids. Bentley is the only boy so far! He looks pretty happy to be surrounded by all of the girls.

The next day, I went to Kiley's Winter Party. When I walked in, she was dancing with a classmate. So cute!

Kiley's Occupational Therapist gave the girls some bracelets for Christmas. They were so excited!

Presley played with them.

And played with them.

And played with them.

Even Bentley loved them!

On Monday before Christmas, we celebrated with Josh and Mycah. They came over for dinner and then we opened presents.

The girls loved their new ironing board. Daddie is hoping it inspires Mommy to iron.

That whole night, Mycah and I were waiting by our phones for a call from Mom. Dad had planned to surprise Mom with an early Christmas present and we couldn't wait to hear all about it. We finally got a call at 1030pm. Longest wait ever! Dad had planned to put the ring on her wine charm on her glass of wine. Apparently Mom never noticed all night and started getting ready for bed so Dad finally had to say something. It was too funny. She was so surprised and excited. Great job Dad!!

On Christmas Eve, before we left for church, we went over to our neighbors house because they had some presents for the kids.

After church, we went over to Grammy and Grampy's house for dinner and presents.

The girls got some new dress up shoes and a car seat, bouncer and pack n play for their babies!

Daddie joined in on the fun too.

Mommy and Daddie got some new cookware.

Unfortunately, the pictures end there on Christmas Eve. Bentley started coughing Christmas Eve morning and as the day went by, he got progressively worse. He coughed all through church and things didn't get any better at Grammy and Grampy's house. He was constantly coughing. So we left right after dinner. We dropped Mikey and the girls off at home to get in bed before Santa came and I took Bentley to Urgent Care. He was diagnosed with RSV. He was so miserable. I can't believe we spent his first Christmas Eve at Urgent Care. My poor baby. Not quite the Christmas Eve I had in mind. I felt so bad that I couldn't tuck the girls in or read them Twas the Night Before Christmas. We got home and got in bed as soon as we could.

Luckily, Santa came!!

After our adventurous night, the kids slept until almost 8am. Presley saw the truck as soon as she got out of bed!

The girls got in and were ready to go! We took the truck outside and let the girls drive around until Bentley woke up.

Once Bentley woke up, they came in and went through their stockings.

Grammy and Grampy came over to see what Santa had brought and then we packed up the car and headed to Marmee and Guys house. When we got there, Bentley went straight for the tree!

The girls got new shopping carts and Bentley got a bean bag. They all got a lot of new clothes from Marmee and Guy. Of course in the midst of all of the presents, the bubble wrap was the most exciting.

We couldn't have a Christmas celebration without dancing!

We managed to do a 1000 piece puzzle with the kids around and didn't lose any pieces. Shocking!

Having fun with the tinsel!

Marmee and Guy got us some new embroidered towels for our bathroom.

And a new table for our entry way.

Santa brought Mikey and I a new outdoor rug.

And a custom shelf for our outdoor bathroom!

My parents had this headboard made for my sister and it was absolutely gorgeous!

Unfortunately at my parents, Bentley seemed to be getting worse. He started pulling at his ear, so we came home after dinner on Friday and I took him straight back to Urgent Care. He did have an ear infection and was put on antibiotics. He immediately started getting better. Despite poor Bentley being sick, we had a wonderful Christmas. Thanks to everyone for making it so special for us. I think this is officially the longest blog I have ever done!