Christmas Eve MORNING!!

Jingle left some surprises for the kids Christmas Eve morning!!

I had to work Sunday night and I wasn't feeling so good...cough and congestion so I ended up leaving work early to come home and sleep. I got up around 10 and put out the goodies from Jingle.

The kids were so EXCITED about all of it!! Max especially was excited about the game Pop the Pig. He has been asking for that game for some time now.

Emery was excited about the Dance Wii game. It has Bubble Guppies, Team Umizoomi and Dora on the front cover!! She couldn't wait to dance with all of her favorite shows!!

We played Pop the Pig together for a while and then....

We headed downstairs for a little DANCING!! Both games were really fun and we had a good time playing and hanging out together!!

I left the kids dancing and went and got a shower. When I came back out the kids were striped down!! They said they got hot. LOL Emery told me her diaper was big so she put it in the trash....Oh me....This kids are too cute for words!!

Starry Nights!!

Last Friday night (Dec. 21st) we loaded up in the van with Nana and Pawpaw and headed to Starry Nights!! It was the kids first time and our first time in years. I think the last time we went was when we first moved here back in 1997...or something like that....

Anyways...once we got started we let the kids loose in the van. We were going like 2 miles per hour so we figured it was safe and plus they could see the lights better that way! Emery stared off in Nana's lap and Max in mine but they quickly made their way up to the front with Daddy and Pawpaw!

Max sat with Daddy and Emery rode in the middle! The kids wanted the BEST view of all the lights. I think Emery lasted all of about 15 mintues before she was just climbing all over the van and playing around with buttons and lights! Ha!

Max on the other hand was totally into it and thought it was really neat!! There were defintely parts that were better than others but all in all it was very nice!!

A fun family activity together to get us in the mood for CHRISTMAS!!! In the middle of the light show there was a stop to get out and see Santa, petting zoo, a few rides and such but it was like 30 degrees out so we passed it up with a few of us already with coughs and runny noses....

"Jingle" and Rudolph Pancakes!!

Oh how I LOVE these two babies!! They have both just become the best of friends latley...Max crawled into to her crib this paritcular morning and was just snuggling with her!! I of course grabbed my camera and just had to snap a pic!! So CUTE!!!

Once we got up and moving Max noticed in the living room that our elf "Jingle" finally made his appearance! He was a little late coming back this year. About 2 weeks before Christmas to be exact....

But he came bearing a gift!! He brought the kids a little Nativity scene book to follow along with each day and add a new piece of the scene. It also had a short bible story and verse to go along with each day and piece. The kids had fun checking it out!!

Max wanted his picture with "Jingle!!"

Then the kids wanted to watch the movie "Elf on the Shelf"!! They didn't take their eyes off the T.V.!! They were busy learning about "Jingle" and what he can do!!

Our Elf was mischevious this year. He just came each day bringing a small treat to the kids...one day it was mini MMs...one day it was bracelets...one day it was Christmas gummies. Like I said just small treats to get the kids excited about Christmas!!

One of the last days before Christmas he brought the kids a Go Fish DVD. If you haven't heard of these guys you need to google them or pull them up the internet. The kids and honestly Craig and I too LOVE them!! They make learning about Jesus FUN and the music is really good!! Our favorite is Jesus Loves Me! It is an awesome arrangement!!

Watching the DVD...dancing and singing along!! Like I said it really is an AWESOME group!! Can't wait to get more of their DVDs or even see them in person!!

Thank you pintrest for this adorable idea!! We kind of changed it up a bit but it turned out so cute!! Max and Emery were so surprised!! Love Max's face in the pic above!!

Oh how I LOVE this time of year!!!

Our Gingerbread House!

Last week we made our gingerbread house together as a family!! I picked this kit up from Target and just grabbed a few more types of candies to add to what came with the kit.

I normally buy a pre built house but couldn't find one this year. So we had to put ours together first. The kids LOVED helping!! And we decided to opt out on the roof because the kids wanted to eat some of the house. Ha!! It tasted quite yummy but the smell was what we LOVED!!

So we put the house together and then went and played for a while. It said it would be set up in 30 min...however...the icing was still soft so we waited till the next night to actually decorate it!!

We all had a blast decorating it together!! I think Emery actually had more fun eating the candy than decorating but hey....that's part of the Christmas fun!! Candy.....candy.....and more candy!!

The kids really did a great job decorating!!

Like I said Emery had more fun eating rather than decorating....Here she is eating more candy!! I really have no idea how much she consumed that night....

Taking pictures with their house! So silly!! I meant to take a picture of the front side. We actually had a snowman and a gingerbread man that were having a snowball fight!!

Uh oh...there's a GOOD one!! I know I have said this a few times but I am LOVING my new camera!! Now to take a class so I can figure out all the fun things to do with it!!