Merry Christmas

My kiddos woke up so much earlier than I was hoping. We had such a late night I was hoping for eight or so. Kent was up for an hour in the middle of the night and he and Maggie both woke up about seven. We called Grandma and Grandpa Davis to let them know we were mostly awake and hung out until Corb woke up. It only took him a few more minutes before he was up and ready to go so we did their Christmas Eve puzzles to wait.

 As soon as my parents got to our house Kent dove right in. We had to pull his present away for our annual Christmas morning photo.

 Maggie loves her Barbie Salon. All she wants to do is do their hair, so it was perfect.

 Corbin was so worried he wouldn't get his stuffed animal dog, but Santa didn't disappoint. Corbin was putting all of his gifts in one big pile and I handed him a shirt he had opened and he told me, "Clothes aren't worthy of my pile." Ha, I was dying!

 Kent liked his teddy bear, but he liked Corbin's dog even more.

Kent got an rc and a mini inside trampoline. I don't really know if he likes them or not because all he really wants is whatever everyone else is currently playing with.

Matt and I gave Corbin and Maggie desks, they were a huge hit! They are such crafters.

Corbin was initially more excited about the doll house at first sight, but she warmed up. This was mine and Shannon's doll house from when were younger, I repainted it and modge podged some new paper on the back.

 Note to self for next year, don't worry about making sure your kids have enough stuff to unwrap, put every single present together that requires assembly!!! My kids had a rough hour or so after presents because it was assembly time.
 The rest of the day was spent at Matt's parents and then mine. Matt went home to nap Kent and missed out on most of the fun, sadly. He didn't have a voice all day though. It is so awful that he always loses his voice for weeks after he gets sick.

We truly are so blessed! I feel bad that my kids have so much and aren't as grateful as they should be, but hopefully with time. I am grateful for Christmas, my family, and especially my Savior Jesus Christ.

Christmas Eve

 My kids were so excited for Christmas and Christmas Eve this year. The day started out rough because I wanted a clean house for Christmas and that was wishful thinking. Corbin told me that Christmas Eve was supposed to be fun and it was the most boring day ever. All he wanted to do was play games, so we did play a little Christmas Charades and a cotton snowball game. He was a little happier after that. 

We went to my parents and ate dinner with them and Steph and Joe's family. We played a little charades there to, but the kids mostly just played, it was nice.

The Jenkins' Christmas Eve doesn't start until eight so we headed over there later. Grandma Jenkins read her two Christmas books to all the kids.

 She even bought a little book for Kent that Grandpa kept him entertained with during reading time.

 The kids got to open their new pajamas which were darling. Poor little Kent's belly was quite accentuated in his new jammies, but cute none the less. They also got huge floor puzzles that we saved for Christmas morning so we could go get our kids in bed.

 All the kiddos in their new jammies.

 My kids went to bed surprisingly well on Christmas Eve this year. After setting out milk and cookies, it was ten o'clock by the time we got in bed. 

I was glad they fell right to sleep, though. Corbin has had a hard time sleeping for at least a full week because he has just been so excited about everything.

Sledding

Shannon and Jed invited us to go sledding with them at a park right by our house today. My kids had never been before so we were super excited. They loved it! Kent not as much, but it could have been because it was nap time, and the first time we went down he got sprayed in the face with fresh powder and was freezing. So Kent and I only stayed about an hour, but Corbin and Maggie got to stay and play with everyone else.

We loved spending our day in the snow with cousins!

 Kent didn't mind watching from below while eating his lunch.

 Maggie was a complainer that couldn't make it up the hill alone, so these awesome boys pulled her up.

 Even Rusty got in on the fun.

Party #2

My Grandpa Davis always has his party the Sunday before Christmas. Maggie looked so pretty in her Christmas dress that I made her stay in it all day. I told her Santa would think she looked to pretty if she kept it on for the party.

Everybody wanted in on the picture in front of the tree. I'm glad a got it at the first though. The party got so wild with running children everywhere that my kids were a hot and sweaty mess.

This party is my kids only chance to see Santa every year, and sadly he is not very exciting. He barely talked to Maggie and didn't even ask her if she had been good or what she wanted for Christmas. She was fine though, at least he gave her an awesome Barbie that she wanted. Although afterwards she did ask me why Santa didn't say Ho Ho Ho. I was wondering the same thing!

Kent did much better than I thought he would. He didn't want to stay long, but he did sit long enough to get a cool truck.

Corbin was great hopping up on Santa's lap. Lately he has been my little poser. Any time he sees the camera he will stop and smile for me. He got a batman hacky sack.

I think I get this same picture every year. Oh how I love this crazy emotional daughter of mine!

Christmas Party #1

 For my family Christmas party, we always have it at Steph and Joe's house. I love this party. We ate dinner, read the Christmas story with the songs, played games, and exchanged presents. Always such a great night. I think this crazy was trying to be like the T-rex on his shirt.

 We played a candy bar game that when you rolled doubles you could pick a candy bar from the middle or steal one from someone else and it did not go as planned. Maggie was crying because she wanted what Spencer had and Spencer didn't want to give it to her. Corbin was crying because he didn't want to put any candy back into the middle. So maybe it was just my kids that didn't like the game. Maggie and Spencer ended up splitting both candies in half and sharing so all was well. 

 I love that we exchange $10 gifts between cousins. Maggie loved her stuffed dog.

 Corbin was thrilled about his color your own puzzle. He was so excited to give Grace her present too. He thought of it and  picked it out all on his own, some new clothes for her American Girl doll.

 My parents gave all the kids games that night too. Maggie loved Kerplunk. Corbin told me he didn't like his game (Jenga) and I told him he had never played it and he would love it. Later when we were talking about it, he said, "Mom, I have played it at Malcolm and Ellie's sleepover. It's the game where you stack the blocks and have to take one off and put it on top and all I want to do is take the top one and no one will let me." As his voice got higher and faster with stress, I realized he had played the game, but he still has enjoyed playing it with me and Maggie. It must be less stressful than all the older cousins. 

Golden Spike

On Saturday, Matt took Corbin and Maggie out for the afternoon while Kent napped so I could get things done around the house. They were supposed to go to the desert, but they ended up at Golden Spike. The kids came home so excited because they had so much fun. The highlight was definitely the smashed penny they each got to take home with them. I am not sure exactly what they did there, but they did get to see the cool trains and a spiral jetty.

Matt is such an awesome dad, always taking these two to do the funnest things. 

Corbin got the be the rangers helper and he was pretty excited about that.

Sadly, I ran out of tape and didn't accomplish much while they were gone, but I still enjoy my time.

Christmas Village

 Our family has been sick for months. Matt pierced his eye with a nail at work, then got an outer ear infection. I was sick for a few days. Our kids had terrible colds and coughs, then Corbin got a terrible fever. I feel like we haven't all been completely healthy for way to long, and it is draining. We have had some tired ornery kids. Matt is going on 24 hours of working right now, so tonight I needed an out, I couldn't stay home any more. I took my kids to the Ogden Christmas Village. Corbin was so mad at me, he did not want to go, but we went anyways. 

When we got there my kids were so cute. Corbin and Maggie really wanted to push Kent everywhere, which was okay until we were in the middle of swarms of people with Kent being steered in every direction. 

 They all had so much fun, even Kent, regardless of how he looks in every single picture. 

 

 Kent was able to escape the stroller to snap one picture. He did surprisingly well in the stroller all night though, he was content just taking it all in.

 They wanted to see Santa so bad, but I refused to wait in the line with all three kids alone, so we settled on the train ride, which they loved almost as much.

On the way home we were talking about how much fun we had and Corbin told me "Mom, that was way funner than I thought. I thought we were going to just walk around all the streets until we found Christmas lights we liked." I obviously didn't explain very well what Christmas lights we were going to. It was the perfect out for our night, and the perfect weather.