Merry Christmas!

Christmas was great this year!  Santa came and the kids LOVED their presents.  We started opening presents around 7am and didn't finish until 3pm.   Victoria didn't open any presents for the first few hours because she was SO thrilled about her new Barbie doll house that she wouldn't stop playing with it.  Aryah was going strong for a few presents until she couldn't handle it anymore and needed to stop and play.  Mason did a great job being patient and taking his time.  We had a great yummy breakfast from Mommy and spent lots of time cleaning up barbie toys and playing games!  It was definitely a fun, relaxing family day.

Mason got a sweet hat!

Victoria playing with her doll house.

Aryah playing on Daddy with some new Barbies.

A scooter!

Matching robes with their names!

Aryah got an alligator sleeping bag, but all the kids had fun pretending to be eaten.

Fairies!

The destruction.

Going through her stocking.

Christmas Eve Party

For a few years now on Christmas Eve we've had a "loner" party.  A party for those without extended families to visit.  This year was a little on the light side with only 3 additional families; however, it was fun as always.  We didn't get many pictures this year, but the party involved lots of yummy food, a game of Gingerbread Man, and a gift exchange.   The Gingerbread Man game is getting more and more violent the older the kids get, but always the key ingredient to a fun Christmas Eve.

Mason and Daddy tracked Santa all day on the internet and got really excited when he made his way up to the United States.  Aryah, unfortunately, got an upset stomach (we think from too much candy) and threw up all over Daddy and Mommy multiple times during the party and during the night. 

Besides that, the kids slept good and Santa came during the night!

The kids, and Daddy, got new PJ's on Christmas Eve!  Aryah did as well, but she was asleep and didn't get to open until the morning.

SO EXCITED in their new PJ's!!

Mommy and Daddy were able to snap a quick picture after Santa had come before the kids destroyed the living room.

What the?

Going through the Christmas pictures...I found this.  Not sure what is going on, but everything must have been okay if time was taken to take a picture.

Ornament Selection

One of our family traditions is selecting a new ornament each year.  Well this year it didn't go so well.  The kids usually pick one and then fight us to hold and play with them as we continue shopping or drive home.  And against our best judgement...we let them.   Yes...sure enough, they lost one and broke the other.  So we ended up getting new ornaments for the girls.   Here they are:

Mason got a big shiny airplane!

Victoria got a Dora ornament...which replaced the broken ballerina.

Aryah got dancing shoes...which replaced the lost puppy dog.

School Parties

As if the kids aren't crazy enough with the holidays, their last day before the break was a fun-filled day of parties at school!

Christmas Time Photos

It's Christmas time!  The kids got new Christmas outfits on Thanksgiving, and we attempted to get a cute picture with them.  Here are the results:

Thanksgiving

We were fortunate enough to have family come down for Thanksgiving this year and while we had a little bad weather, we made the best of it!  We drove to Bastrop and explored the damage from the fire one day.  We also explored Austin.   Since we wouldn't be together on Christmas, we decided to put up the Christmas decorations and have our white elephant game.  It was a fun trip and really kicked off the Christmas season!

The biggest bowl of mac' she's seen!

Mason got a gun!