Day After Christmas

We spent the day after Christmas trying to get back to a little more of a routine. Mike went back to work and me and the kids spent the day playing some more with our new goodies, cleaning up the mess and relaxing a bit.

What a difference a day makes.

 I think someone really loves her new baby doll Phoebe.

 Playing with the new (and old) Hexbug sets from Grandma Braska.

And once Dad got home, we decided to get out of the house a little bit with the Christmas money and gift cards we got. We hit up Target first to get in on some day after Christmas sales and get some storage totes and I ended up buying me some new dress pants with my gift card from Aunt Sue. I know, not that exciting but I needed some and they are super cute. Thanks Aunt Sue!
Then we took the kids over to Toys R Us to pick out what they wanted with their cash from Great Aunt Sue and their gift cards from Great Aunt Peg. They took a long time deciding, but Faith settled on a Princess Sofia suitcase and some Minnie Mouse play shoes that light up. Zaric ended up with a  giant stuffed Angry Bird and some new cars, Zaden opted for a Pirate's cove Matchbox car set and Caleb bought 2 more Skylanders characters and is saving the rest for later.  Thanks GAP And GAS, it made for a fun and much needed outing.

Christmas 2014

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. We had a pretty awesome day here. The kids slept in until nearly 6:30 for the first time ever then Grandma Braska was able to Skype in for seeing what Santa brought and to watch us open presents.  Here's what Santa managed to bring for the kiddo's.

 For Caleb: Skylanders Swap Force and 6 new characters and some storage containers. 2 New Mario 3DS games and an NFL Rush board game. Along with lots of fun goodies in his stocking.

 For Faith. A new dolly with a horse, a princess night gown, a Minnie Mouse 4 wheeler, a Cinderella doll and dress, a Doc McStuffin's doll and stethoscope, a Snow White Little People's house, a Minnie vacuum and 2 new movies. And lots of stocking goodies.

For the twins to share: Disney Infinity and characters and storage bag, 2 movies, Planes bath stuff and some hand propelled rockets. Then each received a football dress up set along with 3 new dress up costumes each. Erector sets, 2 Hot Wheels Lego sets and stocking goodies.
They had a good time checking everything out while Grandma watched on and Mike and I went through our stockings. Mine was filled with mostly candy and Mike's had a bunch of fun Superman stuff in it and a new CD along with candy of his own.
Then it was time to sort and open presents. We got loads of new stuff from everyone and the kids made a great haul (too much to remember and list). Thanks everyone! Along with some Christmas cash and gift cards. Then I made a yummy baked French Toast and bacon breakfast to feed everyone which they loved. 
Here's some more pics from the day of us trying out our new stuff and playing the rest of the day away. 

Here's a pic of the mayhem in our family room. Both a small fraction of the box mess and the playing all day mess.

It was such a great day then I managed somewhere in there to cook a nice ham dinner and we ate together in the formal dining room where I got to try out my new Dallas Cowboys wine glasses Mike gave me.

I was a great day indeed and even greater that it continued into Saturday when this present arrived late in the mail to me from Mike.

I love it and had been eying this exact one on their website for quite some time. So excited to wear it and show it off.

What a great, great year! Thanks to everyone that made it possible.

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve snuck right up on us this year. We spent the day doing the normal cleaning and prep, watching Christmas cartoons on tv and the kids played out back in the snow for a while. Then we spent some time making and decorating Santa's favorite sugar cookies.

We decided to save the big dinner for Christmas Day and had a nice pizza party together compliments of Pizza Hut delivery. Once dusk finally hit, we got to open up our Christmas Eve box together. In it were 2 new books, 2 new movies and new Christmas jammies for the kids. A nice way to pass the time until bedtime.

We watched the movies, Planes and Disney's Once Upon a Christmas and Caleb read the books to his siblings. Well the 2 of them that were interested anyway.

Overall a pretty good Christmas Eve, if I do say so myself. And I do!

That Pesky Elf! - How we'll miss you!

That pesky elf went right back to his ways after the kids returned from Papa's. He got into the dry erase markers and drew mustaches on our pictures on the calendar for one. 

Then when we woke up on the 23rd, we found him in the freezer where he was frozen. He was holding a note asking us to go see the movie Frozen and telling us that sadly it was his last day for the year. It was time to go back to the North Pole to help Santa get ready for Christmas.

So that's exactly what we did!  Right after lunch, we headed out the the theater to see Frozen.

We all loved it! The boys and the girls alike. 

 

Then after we got back home, I broke out the kit we had in the pantry to make some ninja bread cookies. They were super fun, but we were definitely challenged in our decorating skills a bit. Here's one Mike made and one from the kids.

What a great day to spend together and make the time until Christmas go by faster. Thank you Christopher Pop In Kins. We are already looking forward to your return in 2014!

The Weekend Before Christmas

The kids get an awfully long break this year, so Papa and Grandma were nice enough to offer to take the kids a couple weekends of it. They snuck away for the first time the weekend before Christmas and headed to Price for the weekend.
 Meanwhile, Mike and I enjoyed some much needed time alone. We ran errands, finished up some shopping, got some Christmas prep at the house taken care of and did some chores around the house. We managed to Skype into Grandpa Kelley's Christmas party in Omaha for our snow themed gift exchange. Then we also managed to get the majority of the Christmas cookies baked, and go out on a double date to dinner, a movie and drinks with my friend Amy and her boyfriend.
Here's a pic of Amy and I out on the town and one of our scrumptious cookies Mike and I made.

The kids cam back super happy and after we picked them up on Sunday, we also hosted a little get together here at the house with my friends Amy and Beth and some kiddos. We had some yummy food and cookies and watched National Lampoons Christmas Vacation together.  Us girls also exchanged gifts. I gave them both a funny desk calendar and I received some pumpkin bread and some body spray from Amy and a painted picture from Beth (the artist) that's now hanging on my wall.

What a great weekend. I can't wait to have another one this weekend coming up. Thanks again Papa and Grandma, you are the best!

Kids Christmas Program

The week before Christmas break was the annual sing a long at the boys' school. I was able to sneak away from work for a bit to go. I got to watch 2 cute reindeer and one handsome 4th grader sing us some songs. It was super cute. I especially loved Caleb's class singing the 12 dogs of Christmas. It was a nice change from all the usual ones we hear every year. Great job boys!