Christmas Day!!

 First take a look at Luke's face.  That is so hilarious!!!  I promise he was happy all morning--see...

 What a great day we had.  The kids were up at 6:30--yeah!!  We got to sleep in a little bit.  Then it was a mad dash to the stockings.

I love how they get so excited when they open each other's presents.  They are so happy to give to one another and I love the time they put into it. 

 Seth gave Kathryn a webkinz (those girls love their stuffed animals!!) and Luke gave Sarah some clothes for her doll and a super cute note he made all himself.

 Seth has been anxiously waiting for this book.  It has taken quite a bit to keep him from buying it himself (and he already finished it tonight--crazy kid!).

 The rest is mostly just for posterity sakes...

The rest of day was filled with playing with our stuff, putting a puzzle together, dancing with Just Dance, reading, taking naps, and have a wonderful Christmas dinner.  We invited a man over that is really trying to change his life.  He has three kids he is raising and it was good for my kids to meet them and see that life is pretty good and their are a lot of people out there that need our help.

It sure makes me so grateful for this time of year.  We always watch "The Nativity Story" (if you haven't seen it, it is a must watch and buy--so well done) and it really helps me remember why we celebrate.  We have tried to focus on service a lot more with the kids and I think they are learning to love it and it makes me so happy. 

Another favorite about this time of the year is the wonderful music.  This has been the song we have played over and over and over and over.  We absolutely love it!!

We hope you had a wonderful Christmas just like we did.

Christmas Eve

We had our 7th annual Christmas Eve party with our friends the Barfusses.  A friend brought over some Christmas hats and the kids had a great time trying them on.

 They used them to be a secret elf to a neighbor.

 We ate some pizza and salad, had a white elephant gift exchange, and sang Christmas songs while the kids played on their violins.

 Then it was time for the Nativity Play.

 Sarah and Makayla were our angels.

 Seth and Luke were our wisemen.

 Kathryn was Mary, Braden was Joseph, and Maddie was the donkey.

 Then it was time to head home and open our last "12 days of Christmas Polar Express" (which the kids have loved--Thanks Grandpa and Grandma!!).  They got pajama pants and were so excited to get to bed and see who was going to come.

I love to see their excitement and joy in the Christmas season.  They make it so magical for all of us!

Sledding on Christmas Eve

 We made our traditional pilgrimage to the South Hills on Christmas Eve. And what a great time we had.  We met up with some friends and played our hearts out for 4 hours.

Luke loved the snow--can you tell?

 And he was even brave to go down the hill with us quite a few times.

 One of our favorite things to do was make a train of intertubes as big as possible and go up as high as possible and just cruise down the hill.  We did pretty good until a little boy decided to run across the way at the last minute and we totally took him out.  Thank goodness he was okay.

 Sarah had her best buddy with her and was totally in heaven.

Seth and Logan thought it was a great idea to make a jump at the end of the run.  One lady went flying off and made a spectacular landing.  Made the boys day.

We had a tent set up with soup, cookies, and hot chocolate (and really so we could warm up a little bit).  Kathryn had a great time with her friends at least until they found the van with a movie in it and we couldn't hardly get them out of it.

What a great day we had having so much fun with family and friends.

Christmas Clothes

 All dressed in their Sunday duds and ready to go to church.

 Not so excited for the pictures, they were a little cold.

Somebody got glasses....

 About a month ago I went into Kathryn's classroom to pick her up a little bit early from school.  Her desk is in the back and as I opened up the door to her classroom I noticed she was sitting up front writing some things in her notebook.

As we were leaving I asked her why she was sitting up there.  She said that she can tell there are words on the board but she can't tell what the letters are.  Oh man!! The Beus eyes have happened to Kathryn.

We took her in several days later and sure enough she is nearsighted.  Not terrible right now but bound to get worse, especially since she is starting so young.  

Her glasses came in yesterday and she is very excited.  Oh the things we get excited about when we are kids.  Now here's to hoping we don't lose, crack, break, smash, or destroy those glasses all that often!

So cute!!

Visiting Santa

 We had a special visitor show up to our ward Christmas party.  Luke was very excited and waited in line for his turn.

 He told the big guy all he wanted for Christmas was "legos". Every time we ask him, he gives us the same answer.  Sweet--that's easy for us.

 These two girls on the other hand will definitely not be getting what they asked for.  They both asked Santa for a puppy.  No way--draw the line there.  They thought they were pretty clever but the lady will not be giving in on that one.

They are all pretty excited for Christmas--now it's just keeping them occupied for 6 more days with out pulling out all my hair!!

Looking at the lights

 We made our annual trek to the South Hills to look at Christmas lights.  The kids were very excited and it gets more pleasant every year to take them--much less whining as they get older.

 The place was decked out as usual and had many things to look at.  The village is always amazing to see all the different things going on.

 And of course we have to feed the camel.  It wasn't busy at all when we went so the kids didn't have to wait for a turn and the camel was very happy to see them.

 Aftwer wards we sang Christmas songs all the way home (much to Seth's dismay--we made him sing with us instead of reading his book), even with lots of made up verses because we couldn't remember them,  and then came home to homemade hot chocolate (which is absolutely amazing--the recipe will be posted in the next couple of days).

Yeah for Christmas!!

Visiting with Santa

Our ward party was last weekend.  As part of it a special visitor showed up.  Luke was excited but a little wary and was happy to wait in line to see the big guy.

 Here he is telling Santa that he wants a "really cool Lego set" for Christmas.  That boy and his legos.  That's all he tells me he wants every time I ask him, which is awesome for me.  I know exactly what to get him!

 The girls on the other hand will definitely not be getting what they asked Santa for Christmas.  They both asked for a puppy.  I am NOT doing that and have told them that many times already.  I guess they think if they ask Santa then maybe I will give in.  Boy are they wrong...not giving in on that one!