Christmas Eve we went to a family service at church. So special to celebrate the birth of Jesus with a lapful of curious babies! We came home and Auntie Amanda brought us some yummy cheesecakey goodness! Within minutes, someone had obviously snuck themselves a taste.
It really wasn't too hard to figure out who. She was caught red handed. And faced.
It was suuuper easy to get the babes down for the night! They were in bed by 8! Noah and Hope thought it would be best if they slept together in Hope's room.
He came!!! Because He came!!!
Emmy is usually the first up in our home. Not the case Christmas morning as we had a sneaky big sister waking up her brother long before the sun came up. Emmy was not thrilled to be awoken from her slumber. But, she's got food, a new chair, and life is good!
Noah seriously could not take his eyes off his new batman toys. Amazed that Santa loved him enough to bring him his 3 most desired gifts!
Gogo was a big hit with big sister!
Noah picked out this batgirl costume for Hope! She loves it! I'm sure they will be a fantastic duo!
Santa left us clues all around the house for a big surprise!!! The last clue was to unwrap our windows that our silly elf Charlie had wrapped up like a present two nights earlier!
It was a trampoline!!! What?! Mommy and daddy were a little concerned that Santa didn't leave a net! Would you believe he put a net up this week while we were on our trip?! Thanks Santa!
So then, we loaded up (a very concerned Noah... Umm, we are leaving all this awesome stuff we just got?) and headed to Arkansas! So Christmas day included about 6.5 hours of driving. Notice who still won't sleep in the car! And yes, she is facing forward. Busted. But hey, I bet we have the only 7 year old still in a 5 point harness.
We made a special stop in Van Buren this year. Papa Roy is sick with cancer, and John really wanted to see him on Christmas day. I'm so glad we did. This picture made it worth it.
I know I have said many times how sweet and caring and concerned Hope's heart is for others. This is my favorite Christmas story this year. Hope needed to pick out and purchase things for all 17 people in her extended family. She just needed to. So I did what my genius sister does, we went to the Dollar Tree. She carefully, with zero coaching, bought for everyone. Things like makeup for Julia, batman Pez for Noah, a chess game for her daddy. But the best was for Papa Roy. She bought him Kleenex because she wanted him to feel better. Oh dear goodness, baby girl. How I wish love could fix everything because there is enough of her love in that box of tissues to cure that cancer.
We also got to spend time with Mama Fae and Uncle Jamie and exchange presents on Christmas day for the first time!
We headed to little rock and met up with my whole family at my mom and dad's our crazy family Christmas is my favorite tradition. There are tons of presents in that living room, covering the floor, but even more love! More pics when I post camera pics!
We stayed at Ninny's until Friday! I loves being able to just hang out and catch up with everyone we miss so much. We took over Julia's room again, bless her heart. Which meant I got to snuggle with my favorite boy every night.
We had several girl day outs, including our annual trip to Dillard's after Christmas sale, lots of teen/tween shopping, and some yummy cheeburger cheeburger.
We went back to VB to spend the day with John's parents. We were happy to hear Papa Roy had been using his kleenex and they were helping him feel better!
Uncle Sam came for a visit too and we wet to City Park.
We got home late last night and today we are doing what we look forward to every year. Just hanging out and playing with our new toys together. I love my little family!
Merry Christmas!!!