We spent Christmas Eve with Grant's family at our house. His parents and brother Aaron came over from Spokane. His sister, Jill, her husband, Tito, and their 3 daughters (Alexis, Paige, and Kaiti) live about an hour north of us and were able to come. And Brian and Shannon were so nice to come back and visit for the evening, during their stay with her family. Anyway, we had a nice relaxing time. We ate dinner, played games, and opened presents. Pictures-- 1) What happens to a man's man, when he has 3 daughters! ;) 2) Our girls and nieces, 3) Looking cute right before prayer, 4) We switch names on both sides of the family. On Grant's side, Phil's boys had our girls. This is our girl's opening their present from them. 5) Grandma and Grandpa made some very awesome marshmellow guns for their grandkids (very creative and fun but messy!!) 6) Since Aurora wasn't old enough for one, she received this very cute polar bear and it even had her name on the tag. :)
As is tradition, the girls opened one present on Christmas Eve, which is always new pajamas. This year, they received matching pajamas. Here are some fun pictures. 1) Aurora refused to be a part of the picture because she just wanted her Grandpa. So Grandpa joined the picture and it turned out super, super cute!! 2) Opening the PJs, 3, 4, 5, & 6) The next few are with Uncle Aaron. The girls love to attack him. He was having fun trying to see how many he could carry at once. And then he read them some bedtime stories! So cute! 7) The girls on Christmas morning, waiting to go down, 8) Santa's snack (and the reindeers') all ready to go, along with our favorite (kid friendly) nativity set-- highly recommended for families with young children/grandchildren!
Grant's parents and Aaron stayed over on Christmas night. So on Christmas morning, we were able to spend some more fun with them before they took off to spend some time with Shari's parents. We ate a big breakfast and opened/played with presents. Here is Aurora playing with her Aurora baby and Grant's parents with some presents. We also had Aaron's name, in the name switch.
Last year, my Dad dressed up as Grandpa Claus and this year, he somehow convinced Grant and Mark (Liz's hubby) to take turns as Daddy Claus. So the song came true this year, "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus." I couldn't help myself. How often do you get to kiss Santa? ;) He was a pretty funny Santa and almost everyone enjoyed the Grant-a-Claus. But Aurora hated Daddy Santa!! She screamed whenever he was in the room. He even tried taking off the beard but that didn't even work. She would say, "No, Teenta!" or "No, no, ho, ho!!" (His ho-ho-ho was pretty creepy sounding. LOL!)
Here are some more pictures of Christmas Day with my Family. 1) My brother, Chris, and Grant, showing the kids some fun videos on You Tube, like "Charlie bit me, and that really hurts..." So funny! 2) My Mom with the bird feeder she wanted and the really cute bag it came in. 3) My Dad with one of his presents 4) In my family, one of the names we had was my little brother, Joe. We gave him art supplies and a book. He is a really good artist! We also had my brother, Tom, who we gave some movie tickets to.
But I received the best Christmas present ever, from my brother, Dan, and his wife, Jolie... an adorable, little nephew, Cohen. He is so sweet! I still can't believe my little brother is a Daddy! Anyway, my girls thought it was the neatest thing ever, that he was born on Christmas Day and Tia even asked if I could have our next baby on Christmas Day. So cute!
Each year, since I was really little, it has been tradition in our family to put on and videotape the Nativity. The grandkids have taken over, which none of us mind at all. 1) Kaatlin and Seth as the shepherds, 2) Ethan, Stratton, and Harrison as the wise guys, 3) Nathanael and Riana as Mary and Joseph, 4) And Uncle Joe was the donkey, 5, 6, & 7) The Angels-- Sariah, Tierra, Karina, Laurel, Rachel, and see if you can find the little angel baby, Aurora.
We received a Wii for Christmas this year and the girls have been having a lot of fun playing the different games. Here is Riana and Tierra, who earned high scores for bowling. They are all pretty good!
On New Years Eve, we were able to go over to my parent's house for the traditional countdown. Danny and Jolie let the kids take turns holding baby Cohen. All the kids looked like they were in heaven with their big smiles. They all love babies!
Here are a few more pictures from New Years Eve- my Mom getting the ice cream ready for floats (Sprite and Peppermint Candy or the normal Root Beer floats), Aurora didn't quite last until midnight and instead found a spot in the middle of the action to take a quick nap- LOL!, and everyone eating the yummy snacks/appetizer type foods we enjoy each New Years Eve.
