Because of the doctor's appointment and some kiddos who kept getting in the way, it took us a LONG time to get out of the house. We ended up arriving in Houston at about 7 or 8 that night, tried to get everything settled, and then got the kids to bed.
The next day the fun set in. The morning was pretty relaxed - filled with lots of playing, and then later in the afternoon my sister Lori and her 2 girls, Avery and Addie, arrived. We really get a kick out of watching Avery and Payden play together. First of all they are both 2. Second they both have pretty strong personalities. Despite all that, they do have lots of moments where they play so well together. Then we get the occasional fights. Lori and I just laugh as it goes back and forth between the two as to who causes it and who wins. It really is hilarious watching them interact.
After a nice dinner of stew and homemade bread, it was time for the annual Christmas Eve events. Because it was getting close to bedtime for the kiddos and some of them were a bit restless . . . Taylor, Payden, and Avery . . . we had to shorten things a bit. We read the Nativity story in the scriptures, played our Night Before Christmas White Elephant game, and were handed our jingle bells to wear on Christmas day. It was REALLY shortened, but it was definitely needed because the kids were a LITTLe crazy and needed to get in bed at a decent hour.
After we finished all the activities, we ended as we always do - with a few pictures in front of the Christmas tree. After having EVERYONE here last year, it seemed so weird to have so few of us.
For the last picture, we always take a silly photo. When Payden heard this, she jumped out in front of everyone, spread her legs wide, and started making silly faces and silly noises. What a crack up! Unfortunately, she was too far in front of everyone to be in the picture, so we didn't get a shot of her.
After Lori and her kids left and before the girls headed off to bed, we had one more thing to do - get the cookies ready for Santa. While we got the cookies ready, Tom and David did the dishes. We decided we had to document this UNUSUAL moment. Ha ha!!
Meanwhile, we got the cookies out that we'd made earlier. We had tried to make sugar cookies, but the dough was too sticky to make into shapes and they ended up looking a little strange. Since the girls were unable to cut them out, they were eager to be able to ice and sprinkle them.
While Shelby and Taylor helped Nana, Payden got to play with her favorite person EVER - Papa.
With the cookies iced, it was time to write the note.
Shelby wrote the note and then my mom brought out this Naughty/Nice paper, and so Shelby
decided to write everyone's name on the Nice side of the paper, so Santa would know we'd been good this year.
With Santa's cookies in place, the girls headed to bed. It was then time to give Declan his breathing treatment. Poor boy. His first breathing treatment was a bit traumatic for him, but fortunately he got used to it after that. Even though I felt bad for him, it was a nice excuse to get some cuddle time with him.
The night ended with us finishing wrapping presents and of course . . . some Halo 3.
2 comments:
Fun pictures! I especially like the last one of you in the recliner...looking like you're finally getting a break! Hope everyone is feeling better now.
It is so crazy how often your kids get sick. We've been so lucky so far with Jack and I've only once taken him to the doctor because I thought he might have an ear infection, but he was fine. Maybe Texas makes your kids ill?
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