Merry Christmas!!

We let the kids open one present Christmas Eve (pajamas).

Ari was crying because that wasn't the present she wanted to unwrap.

Hello Kitty pjs!

Kaden picked these Skylander's footie pjs out about a month ago and LOVES them.

Finally happy with new Hello Kitty pjs.

Ready for Santa!

 I didn't feel like making cookies for Santa, so I told the kids that since Santa gets so many cookies, I thought he would enjoy a change....like brownies!  They loved that idea and helped make brownies, then cut them into shapes after they'd cooled off a bit.  Santa loved the brownie idea, FYI.

Santa came!!

The enclosure part of their new trampoline because I wasn't gonna haul the bigger box in from the garage.

Christmas morning!

These Hello Kitty rings have lip gloss on the inside.

Books!

Presents from Danny and Steph.

This was the present Ari was crying about not being able to open the night before.

Minnie Mouse stickers!  Worth the wait!

 

A sparkly purse with lip gloss and hair ties from Danny and Steph.

Elsa and Anna from Frozen.

Kaden is my artist so I got him a full art set that he LOVES.

Ari opened this puppy that barks and "walks" and said, "Dis is what I always wanted!!"

The bigger Santa gifts.

Skylanders Swap Force!

Her very own camera!!

Minnie's Bow-tique!

Shane bought me a Kindle!

 Shane got presents, too, I promise.  I just didn't take any pics of him cause a camera in his face first thing in the morning isn't his favorite thing.

When the kids thought all the presents had been unwrapped, we realized they still hadn't noticed the tramp.  Shane and I directed them over to it.

They were all so excited.

Shane got me a BIG crockpot!! I've been wanting one for forever!

For the record, Kaden has already beat the entire Swap Force game (he finished it today when I was at work) and Shane saved my butt with Lexi's camera because I didn't know to get a memory card to go with it.  Seriously, why don't those things come with a memory card?!  Good thing Shane had some extras.  :)

The rest of the day was spent running everywhere.  We went to my dad's at 1:00, then my mom's at 2:30, then my grandma's for dinner at 4:30.  None of the kids had naps and the girls were feeling it by 6:00.  We got home around 7:00 and the girls went straight to bed and passed out.  It was a great Christmas!

Lights

On the eve of Christmas Eve, (so, Monday night), we went out to see some more lights from the warm comfort of our van while blasting Christmas tunes.  We went to a couple of neighborhoods in Syracuse where the entire neighborhood gets decked out with lights and decorations and everything.  I went there as a kid and it was always awesome to see.  After that, we decided to swing by the Layton City lights and drive through (since I only venture out into the cold for Kelly and she wasn't here).  ;)

The tunnel

After watching Rise of the Guardians one too many times, the kids wouldn't believe me that this was Jack Frost.

Because nothing says "Christmas" like the Easter Bunny!

Peacock

We missed having you guys there, Kelly!

Gingerbread Houses

My family never did gingerbread houses when I was growing up (or even now), so it's not something that I associate with Christmas traditions.  Kaden and Lexi both saw them at their schools, though, which planted the idea in their brains.  I decided to make things easy on myself and do graham cracker houses and just let them eat them whenever they want.  So much of the time, actual gingerbread houses seem to be just for show.  What a waste of money!

So the Sunday night before Christmas, we set out to try our hands at gingerbread graham cracker houses!  The plan was to have Shane help Ari while I helped the other two kids.

This is the face I got when I told her she couldn't just eat all the candy.

Kaden wanted to do it all by himself.  I only helped a little with the framework.

Happy candy face!

Shane was going for most creative.

Heaven.

Shane's Ari's house!

Mine and Lexi's finished house.

Lexi's house from the side.

Shane made a garage.

And a Christmas tree...

And a doorbell.

Kaden copied Shane and did a garage of his own all by himself.  :)

All done!!

 Just for fun, on these next pictures I'll post underneath them what I said to the kids as I was taking the picture.  This is how well the girls follow directions:

"Look at the camera! Smile!!"

"Silly faces!"

"Smile pretty, girls!"

 Oh gosh they crack me up.

Then it was time to eat them!

Ari just wanted her plate of treats.

Nom, nom, nom.

They munched on the houses for the next couple of days.

It was slightly stressful, but definitely worth doing again.  We're going to make it our family tradition and I already started imagining how every year the house contest will grow bigger and bigger and someday all the grandkids will be "helping" as I bake cookies and Shane and Kaden make elaborate houses.  :)  I love Christmas time!