Christmas Day

6:36 a.m.... that's when they sent Jackson in to wake us up. I love that they send Jackson. I was the one who had to wake mom and dad up, ask if we could get pizza or go to a movie. Youngest always has to do that. They didn't even turn the light on.

Like always, the morning went by really fast, especially for how much planning goes into the day. 

The boys play PS4 with their cousins, Payton and Zander. They have a friend Clair who the boys play with too. Clair met a girl Snowie who lives in Hawaii. She sent the boys a gift. I have to say I was worried about this, but she is real and a she and the age she says. They got some nuts, hand sugar scrub, cards and a bag.  

Jackson's favorite gift was a Predator Neca and Domo Stuffed animal. Emery's was a Gel nail kit and LED lights. Camden's was his TV or Ghost Cube. Beckham's was his TV or Doughnut Head Homer Pop.

We just did snacks all day, played with what they got for Christmas and watch "Soul". 

Uncle Paul's family got a pool table for Christmas, so we went over to play a few games. I think all of the kids had fun playing. My team won the game I played, which is a huge shock, I am not good at pool at all. 

I remember doing things with Kiara when she was little, and now she is doing things with my daughter. I love seeing it and Emery soaks all of it up. 

My Grandma Nickles' had this dress that she wore. It was a one of a kind pattern. It was one thing I kept when she passed away. I love it, and it reminds me of her. My mom asked a little while ago if I still had it and asked to borrow it. Christmas I opened up a gift from her, it is Grandma's dress made into a bear. The pearls are also ones that she wore. She has one, and so do Emery and I now. I love it and love that now the dress isn't just in a chest, its out where we can always see and remember Grandma Nickels. 

Christmas Eve

We had a Boise Family get together the Sunday before Christmas. Grandma and Grandpa Arrington came down for dinner, a short FHE and gifts. This is my first Christmas ever to not be in Twin Falls. Even when we lived in Boise the first time, we went to Twin on Christmas Eve. It was good to be able to see family like we normally did. 

On actual Christmas Eve we went to brunch. We tried a place by us called Le Peep. It was okay, not bad not good. 

We came home and opened pj's and our gift exchange gifts. The kids have been asking all week to open them.

A friend from Texas sent the kids gift card and they sent Camden a maze that he had to do in order to get his card. He loved it. It took him a little bit to get it, but he loved the challenge. 

We played games throughout the day. We really just wanted a relaxing day.

We went to a movie with Paul and his family and a family friend of theirs. It was kind of fun to only have a few in the theater, and the owner (the family friend) turned the sound up a little more, which was fun as well. 

Beckham was kicked out of his room for the night. They kept joking that they are just going to 'accidently' open Beck's door. 

All the pj's. 

Emery and Jackson spent the evening in Emery's room watching movies. Cam joined them later. Beckham took melatonin so he could sleep. I'm not sure it helped him much. 

It was weird setting up with how open this front room is. However it was pretty to see from upstairs. 

Random

So this happened for Emery. She got all of her braces put on. I have no idea why we did two at once, but here we are. She still has to have the spacer in, until she gets a wire that is strong enough to hold the jaw. I think she looks super cute with them on. So far they have not been too bad for her. At first she wasn't sure how to show people that she got them on. 

Jackson had a few dress up days at school. He was set on an ugly sweater and loved the one he found. 

Since the trees have lost their leaves the dogs have been really annoying with animals outside. They see a lot of squirrels and freak out and cry when they see them. They will stand for hours just looking at them in a tree It was pretty cold this day and they stayed out for a while. You can see Luna, Eevee is in the back of the tree, she just blends in. The squirrel is on the biggest limb near the top.  I am ready for leaves to be back.

December... So Far

Time is going by too fast. Christmas will be here really soon, maybe too soon. 

After Thanksgiving we put up the tree and Christmas Decorations. I'm not a huge fan of this front room, but I do like how it looks right now for Christmas. 

We got a new tree. Our last one hasn't been open in 3 years. All of that it was spent in a storage unit or our garage. When we went to move the box in the garage there was a black widow, so big nope. I wasn't going to open that. I do like the tall skinny, especially with how tall the room is in this room. 

The kids wanted to make a countdown. We took what we had and made some. A little rough, but really all they wanted was a piece of candy each day. 

We made gingerbread houses. I hate making them, so the kids did them after school. I took so many pictures of them. I thought taking pictures of four little kids was hard.... No, teens and pre teens are much much worse. 

We went to a drive through Christmas light show. It was a super cold night, so this was the best way to see lights. 

The mouths would move to make it look like they sang. Kind of creepy sometimes, but also cute. 

Half way through we remembered we had a sunroof, so Cam and Jacks enjoyed the new view. 

After was hot chocolate at Uncle Paul's. 

It's been a different sort of Christmas season this year, but I think it's been good. Trying to figure out new traditions while keeping up the ones we loved. This may be our last year having someone who believes in Santa (I think Jacks knows and wonders, but doesn't say anything). I don't have the heart to tell him otherwise and I'm not sure I'm ready to not have any kids who are excited to see Santa.