a morning to remember.

One of my favorite things about Christmas morning is watching the kids wake up, race downstairs with huge smiles on their faces and then jump up and down as they see the gifts under the tree. This year wasn't that. At least not from everyone. Carter fell asleep on the floor of our reading room cuddled up with his blanket and peter pan doll, Lucy quietly crept downstairs with a look of happy confusion (where is Carter mom?!?) and Simon slept in a bit after being woken up several times throughout the night with a sick big brother in the bunk below. 

So, we decided to hold off on Christmas morning traditions, turn on a movie and cuddle up on the couch. And, actually, I sort of loved it! Having time to cuddle up in jammies with a big blanket and put off the gifts was perfect. Carter took a well deserved nap, Simon finally woke up and joined us on the couch and we just relaxed. It might just become a new tradition next year. (minus the whole vomiting child part!)

 Carter finally made his way downstairs and laid on the couch during presents. He had just enough energy to lift up his head when it was his turn to open gifts while the other kids tore open their presents. Poor guy.

 We managed to get a few smiles in and even enjoyed the morning with my parents who came later in the morning after breakfast.

 Santa did well this year. He somehow brought the exact pink, sparkly, sequenced pillow Lucy was hoping for, a baseball helmet and batting gloves for Simon and a new sports book for Carter. Perfect!

 More lounging...it was a constant theme all day for this big kid.

 We made our way down to Matt's parents house for round 2. Luckily Carter perked up a bit more and was able to play Santa while we opened presents.

 Even though Carter got sick again later that night (and again the next morning...ugh) it was a good day. Time spent with family, lots of delicious food, plenty of relaxation and more family pictures than we'll ever need. Here's hoping for a happy, healthy new year!!

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twas the night before Christmas 2018.

Is it possible to ever have too many family pictures in front of the Christmas tree?!? 

We weren't able to attend Christmas Eve service this year so I had the kids get all dressed up for church the day before Christmas Eve. Any excuse to get Carter out of athletic shorts, right?  And Lucy is never upset to wear a sparkly dress!

 Christmas Eve was spent with my family, relaxing at home, eating all the cookies and cheese and appetizers and finally letting the kids open up a few gifts.

 It was a great afternoon spent with family. The weather was beautiful and we even snuck in a family walk to play basketball with the kids. Last year at this time it was snowing so even though we didn't have another white Christmas getting outside for some fresh air felt pretty wonderful.

 After my family left the kids chose their cookies for Santa, Carter put out a big glass of water (ha!) and they laid their Santa letters down by the fireplace before bed. We cuddled up and read the Christmas Story and Twas the Night Before Christmas before tucking them in....all giddy and excited for the next morning.

 Matt and I relaxed for a while on the couch before heading to bed and....when we woke up...Santa had come!

 Well actually, that's not really the true story. We woke up to a sick kid, crawling on the ground in our bedroom, in tears about a stomachache. This then led to hours of vomiting, more tears, lots of laundry and sanitizing the entire house. No kid should ever be sick on Christmas! I felt so awful for Carter. We started a huge pot of coffee and prepared for a very interesting morning. Definitely a memorable start to Christmas 2018.

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our final advent activities.

To round out the final days leading up to Christmas we finished off some of our favorite traditions. First up...Evergreen Lights! There is a local church just a few miles from our house that puts on quite a Christmas Light Show every year. It's complete with lights set to music, videos, a train village, free cookies and hot cocoa, a light maze and more! Every year we all love spending an evening there, letting the kids get a cookie and dance to the music as they watch the lights sparkle. This year we met up with Lucy's best friend and her family which made it even more fun! The best way to celebrate the first night of Christmas break.

 Later in the week we headed down to North Pole at the Fair. This was our 2nd year doing this and we'll be sure to visit again next year too. A huge building full of different rooms and activities for the kids before a reserved meet and greet with Santa, hot cocoa and more cookies, plus lots of crafts. The kids loved it and we had another successful Santa picture!

 We relaxed in the afternoon before bundling up to make our way over to Holiday Lights at Wild Waves. We still had a few free passes from the summer to use and the kids were excited to ride more roller coasters in the dark. Unfortunately it wasn't great. Most of the rides were closed and Simon's beloved carousel broke down after only 1 run. Not the evening we had hoped for but the kids made the best of it.

 The next morning we headed out to the theater so the big kids could use up a birthday gift card. Such a cute movie and the perfect way to relax before a busy Christmas weekend!

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