Christmas Eve

Our Christmas Eve was just like it is every year...except that there were two more of us this year! We went to Santa Claus' house so the kids could each pick out an ornament. We waited an hour for the boys to talk to Santa, but it was definitely worth it. All five boys LOVED talking to him and Conner and Kooper didn't cry until after we picked them up from Santa's lap.

We then went home and the kids got to open up one present...new Christmas jammies. The boys were VERY patient in waiting to open them. We decided this year to just have them all open them at the same time instead of individually. I love the pics of Conner and Kooper.

It looks like Kooper is asking Hunter if he is doing this right!

Kooper is digging this unwrapping thing

Conner thinks it's pretty cool too

Conner just looking cute

This is the finished product. All five boys in their jammies and as you can see it was hard to get a pic of them sitting still.

After everyone got their jammies on we all grabbed our blankets, a candy cane and some hot chocolate and got loaded in the Yukon. We first made a stop at my parents' house so that they could see everyone in their jammies. Then it was off to check out some Christmas lights around town. Once that was done it was time to set out cookies, nog egg (that's what the kids call egg nog) and carrots for Santa and his reindeer. After that it was off to bed to wait for Santa to arrive.

Sugar Cookie Fun

The boys LOVE to decorate sugar cookies, especially Walker, he loves to do anything that may be considered an art or craft. This Christmas season we decorated sooo many sugar cookies. I seriously think we did it a couple days a week the whole month of December! The only sad part is we didn't get any pictures of the finished products.

Walker concentrating really hard on his cookie

I think Kyler did more eating than decorating

And Hunter is waiting patiently for the sprinkles

Homemade for Christmas

The kids had been bugging us since the day after Thanksgiving to put up the Christmas tree. Having been married to the Christmas Scrooge, I mean Rikk, the last eight years, I knew that wasn't going to happen! Rikk HATES Christmas and I don't know why, just cause...maybe it's because his birthday is 4 days after it...who knows.

Anyway...when he finally agreed to set up the tree, we went out to the garage to get the ornaments (or "ordaments" as Rikk and Walker say) so that the kids and I could get unwrapping them and what not while Rikk got the tree out and up. Well, there were no ornaments in the garage...they are all down in Anchorage in a storage unit. Oops!

So we decided that we would make our own ornaments this year. I have a container with about 20 different Christmas cookie cutters. I traced a set for each of us on poster board, we all decorated our own with markers, I cut them out, added some ribbon to hang them, laminated them and cut them out again. They turned out REALLY cute and we all really like them. I think that they are going to be our only ornaments from here on out. And it was really neat to see everyone's decorations and what they thought each ornament should look like. We didn't have one that looked like another! We thought about stringing some popcorn but knew that would just end up being a snack for Kyler, so we made some garland out of construction paper.

Hunter coloring his ornaments

Me cutting one of the MANY ornaments

So we got the ornaments done and Rikk went into the crawl space to get out the tree...NO TREE!!! DOH! We suggested to the kids two options and told them that they could choose which we were going to do. The first option was making a Christmas tree out of butcher paper and hanging it on the wall. They thought that was a pretty cool idea. The second option was calling Nana and Papa and asking them if we could borrow their tree to put up at our house, to which we got an unanimous "Call Nana and Papa NOW!!!" So mom and dad were very kind and let us use their tree, which made three little boys VERY happy!

Rikk made these ornaments for Kooper and Conner

Rikk putting the tree up

Kyler helping to decorate the tree

Hunter decorating the tree

Walker decorating the tree

Kyler putting the angel on top

(Hunter made it at school, it really kinda looks like a butterfly!)

The finished product minus our homemade stockings

That's right, we even made homemade stockings. My mom had a neat idea of just using big brown grocery bags and having the kids each decorate their own. They turned out so neat, I wish we had gotten a picture and that they hadn't been thrown away. And if you look at the tree there are envelopes on it. Hunter and Walker made something for each of us and put it in an envelope. It was anything from a picture to a coupon to do something for us. What sweet thoughtful little boys we have! The kids, Rikk and I had such a great time together coloring, putting the tree together and decorating, it was really nice to spend so much time together as a family.

Gobble, Gobble, Gobble

Thanksgiving isn't the only time of year Rikk and I get to enjoy turkey...we feel that we enjoy five little "turkeys" EVERY day! We had Thanksgiving dinner at my parents' house with them, my grandparents and Uncle Kevin. We had really delicious food and great company. We all really love to spend time with my family. The kids just can't get enough of them and love to show off and talk their ears off.

Oh, and the kids made the cutest little turkey name place cards (I remember doing that when I was little!). My mom LOVED them and has safely stored them in her china cabinet for next year's turkey day. I just wish that I had remembered to take a picture of them.

The above three pictures of Kooper and Conner and them

not wanting their picture taken after such a long day

Conner

Conner kept pulling it over his face

Grandpa and Kooper, Grandma and Conner

Grandma, Kooper and Conner

Chuck E. Cheese, Bowling and an Arcade

On a house hunting trip in November, we of course had to have some fun with the kids. They were all soo good being stuck in the car 4 out of 5 days looking at houses and driving to and from Anchorage that we had to go and play.

Below are pics from Chuck E. Cheese

Here are pics from bowling

Rikk's favorite kind of bowling pic

Me helping out Kyler

Kyler taking a break from bowling

Bowling with baby

And below are pics from hitting the arcade after bowling.

This is a street sign from somewhere in Eagle River or Peter's Creek. It was HUGE compared to any other sign we have ever seen. How do you even pronounce that?