Merry Christmas!

This Christmas season has been so fun for our family. We decided that we would celebrate at home this year, and I'm so glad we did. It really was wonderful. It was the first time we've ever been home together, just our own little family. I was afraid I might feel sad not being at my parents house, so I tried to keep us busy all week. (I did still miss my family this Christmas, but I really enjoyed this Christmas with just us)

Monday- We did the Minivan Express family night
Tuesday- We delivered ornaments we had made to our friends
Wednesday- We attended Daniel's work Christmas party
Thursday- We decided to make some Gingerbread houses. We'd never done it and had a great time doing it.

Ava really liked decorating the houses. Most of the candy ended up in one place. Parker really just ate most of the candy. For every one candy he put on the house, he ate 5 more.

Friday- we went swimming at the Pullman aquatic center. We had a really good time splashing around in the pool. It was the first time we'd taken Colson to the pool and he wasn't quite sure about it, but he ended up loving it.

Saturday- on Christmas eve, we got ourselves all bundled up and took the kids ice skating in Moscow. It was hilarious.

I knew if we didn't put helmets on these kids, we'd end up in the ER for sure. So we put Colson in a back pack and off we went. (ps- I promise I'm not a totally lame wife. I did offer to wear Colson in the hiking pack, but Daniel said no because he was a good counter weight;-)

They have these cute little things that kids can hold onto so they don't fall on the ice. It would have been perfect if our kids could keep their feet under them, but no matter how hard they tried they just went everywhere. So they held on and leaned on Daniel while he pushed them around the ice. It was really funny. I was impressed with Daniel, he pushed them around for a good 45 minutes. Definitely a work out.

My family has a Christmas Eve tradition of having Fondue for dinner. We decided to continue that tradition in our own little family too. It's just too fun not to. We had our super fun friends over for the celebrations too.

Here's Max getting ready for the chocolate fountain. The Clayton's brought the dessert this year. It was a huge hit!

They brought marshmallows, pineapple & strawberries to dip in the chocolate fountain. It was so fun. We had such a good time with them. They are seriously funny people.

And here's Colson, checking out the beautiful Emma June. She is seriously the cutest baby ever! Colson thought so too;-) Daniel's family has a tradition of opening jammies on Christmas Eve, but we had our kids open them the night we did the polar express. So I made pillowcases for the kids to open. I may have been more excited about them then they were. But, I had a fun time making them, so I think I'll make it a tradition every year.

After Santa came, our tree looked full!

Colson was the first one up, so we decided to wake the big kids up too. It was 7 am already and I was excited! We woke them up and they ran straight to the tree.

Parker's super-P cape was a big hit. I decided to make this last minute.

And his train track mat was a huge success! He also got a new potty as we will be potty training this week. If you get a frantic text begging for relief from the insanity, you'll know why.

Colson got a lot of stuff too, including a Tickle Me Elmo. Really, that little face is gift enough for me! He is just precious.

And Ava girl got a new dollhouse! She was really excited about this. And she got a pink phone with buttons- just a toy mind you.

All in all, it was a great Christmas. We ate good food, went to church, enjoyed our friends company and will be spending more time with family this week. Being with our little family has been so special this year. I loved every minute of it. We really made some good memories this year and I hope 2012 is full of many more! We love all our family and friends and are grateful for the Holiday season that reminds us what is truly important, our Savior, family and friends! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!