Christmas Eve

I need to call this - the blog with a million pictures. It took forever to download all these pictures onto this  post. But there were too many fun pictures! Christmas Eve was a blast!

Baby's 1st Christmas

A really happy baby

What a big boy

The pictures are kind of out of order but it will take me too long to organize - so they are staying in the order they are in!

These first couple pictures I think are from Christmas morning. The rest are from Christmas Eve.

We had a party at our house Christmas Eve. We ate Panini's, played games, read the Christmas story from the Bible, sang songs....and Santa stopped by!

Yum

Okay, seriously these pictures are really out of order. Ha ha

Kaylee and Rusty!

Ava, Carter and Kaiya

Board Games

Of course Kaiya is dancing

Emma led the music

This picture makes me laugh. My dad's face and Nate picking his nose. Classic

Kaiya also read a story

The boys

Santa!!

Never too old to sit on Santa's lap

Santa even brought some gifts

I think Kelton was a little overwhelmed by the craziness

Bye bye Santa! Jett waved goodbye

Kaiya's dad took her shopping for gifts for everyone. She did this the first time last year and again this year. It is super nice and she doesn't leave anyone out! She is very creative and really thinks about the gifts she gives. This is a space needle ornament for K & R.

Papa collects Nutcrackers and he loves to fish, so she got him a nutcracker who is fishing!

It was a long day and night but the kids got to bed at a reasonable time. The parents unfortunately stayed up way too late.

Santa came! Couldn't wait for the kids to wake up!

Helping Bake

Helping Mommy bake! Jett loves to help!

He does get an attitude sometimes. But who doesn't?

I think he learned this one from his sisters

Always has to be putting something in his mouth

Mock Competition

Here are some of the pictures from Mock Competition. The kids did a really good job and I loved watching all the dances!

Santa Pictures

I was really not looking forward to getting Santa pictures this year. Every other year when Ava comes to town a few days before Christmas (the opposite years we get pictures Thanksgiving weekend), I know it's going to be a huge line and a long time waiting. My friend Sandy mentioned they always go to the Federal Way mall and love the Santa there. I asked how long the wait usually was and she said hardly anything. I didn't believe it but I wanted to try. The Supermall Santa started to look a little ghetto to me and I was giving up on it. All the years we stood in line for hours was something I didn't want to do anymore.

We went on Saturday morning (Ava got here Friday night). It was honestly a wonderful experience! Cirdan and I were both very pleased!! The Santa actually talked to each kid and asked them what they wanted for Christmas. There were 2 families in front of us and we only waited for maybe 15 minutes. I even loved the backdrop! Jett didn't want to sit on his lap but he didn't cry. Cannon was a happy baby. I love when all of our kids are together! Crazy they are all ours.

Kelton and the Nye Party

Kelton came and stayed with us for about a 10 days in December. He was here for Christmas. It was super fun to have him here...especially since he will be leaving on his mission in April. Kelton has been living with his dad and his dad's family who is Jehovah Witness. He hasn't celebrated Christmas for many years. Probably at least 10? We loved showing him our traditions and hope he had a good time.

The kids love him. Kaiya and Kelton had an ugly face contest. Ha ha. I just found these pictures again and it made me laugh.

Right after he got off the plane Cirdan brought him to meet us at the Nye Family Christmas party. It was at the church across the street from my Grandma's. We had Chinese Sundae's and a white elephant gift exchange. This year since the family is just getting bigger we did it a little different. The kids sat in the middle and did the usual pick the gift or steal. The grown ups sat around the outside and read a story. Each time the story had the word left in it we passed to the left...when it said right....we passed right. It still took awhile but it was fun and always interesting some of the gifts that people bring. Also, Ava got into town the night before so she was able to also be there.