Christmas and more

Here's the rundown of the past month and a half: (I have all the pics posted on facebook, so click here and here see them)

After Thanksgiving, Jess and I got together and made/decorated about 100 cookies, plus made 5 batches of rolls. We had a blast, but I have to admit, I'm so tired of seeing cookies :)

So December was a VERY full month! It started with a Christmas play at Church. Randy was Joseph, I was Mary and Kaelin was an angel. It was so nice to have the play early, so that more kids could participate.

After the play, we had a Winter Wonderland outside. There was a mis-communication and we were supposed to have lots more snow, but the kids didn't seem to mind a bit. They were just thrilled to see snow!

We had a fun Christmas Party with our friends the day after the Church play and then every night/day after that, we had plans. It lasted for 2 1/2 weeks!!! I was pretty exhausted, but this is my absolute favorite time of the year, so I wasn't complaining. Kaelin was SO excited about Christmas this year. She shares my love for decorating and baking for the holidays and I LOVE that!!! She is just so fun to be with. Her enthusiasm spilled over into Reece, and he couldn't help but get excited when he saw her excitement. I love the wonder and excitement in children over Christmas. We talked a lot about Baby Jesus this year and it really does make sense to Kaelin. She pretty much knows the Christmas story by heart now and it blesses us!

Randy and I decided to do our family Christmas early since my parents and brother were coming down for the week of Christmas. The kids were a little confused as to why we were opening presents early, but they sure didn't mind ;)

We loved having my parents and brother here. The kids really got spoiled and loved every minute of it. They cried and cried when we dropped them off at the airport to leave. It was pretty sad!

It was so nice to not have to go anywhere for Christmas this year. Last year, we did WAY too much traveling and we decided to just stay home this year. I have to admit though, I don't want to do it again. I really missed not going "home" to see my friends and extended family. It just wasn't the same. Hopefully, we will get to go "home" next year.

We had Christmas with Randy's side of the family on Jan. 2nd. Wow...did we have fun!!! The children all play so well together and had an absolute blast. Reece and Kaelin are so blessed to have such great cousins to play with. We had lots of time to just be together and play games, eat and play more games. Big families can be crowded, but it also means more people to have fun with. I love Randy's family so much!!