Christmas Time!!

I cannot believe Christmas is already over. It seems to take forever to get here and then its over before you know it!!

This year was so fun with the kids getting older and completely understanding the whole Christmas thing. We stayed super busy over the Christmas holiday which just makes things so much more fun. On Wednesday the 23rd, we had a little Allen Family Christmas party. We typically get together to do Brenley Bear's. They are bear's we put together that she gives to the babies in the NICU at the time of Christmas. Its been a tradition of hers since she was little since she was one of those little babies at one point, in the NICU at Christmas time. Very neat!

But it gave us some opportunities to get some group baby shots which was fun.

Here are the three youngest Allen babies. They are all getting so big.

Brecklynn just loves to stare...

The twinners :)

I just love this shot. First Steve's face, Pat dying from squatting with two little ones, and all the kids faces.

GG

So Christmas Eve to me, didn't get exciting until the afternoon. Curtis got off early which was nice and the kids took a long nap which made it so much easier to get the day over with. About 5ish, we ate Lasagna for our Christmas Eve dinner and then told the kids after they took baths, that they got to open one gift. That got the excitement started. They didn't quite grasp that it was a designated present that they had to open so Ridge kept grabbing presents from everywhere to try to open. But eventually we have them their gifts. Cambree was so funny. I had hers in a box and she opened the paper to the box and got so mad. 'Its just a box' she yelled and almost threw it down. We kept explaining, open the box. She finally got it and saw her new PJ's in there. After Ridge saw Cambree's he was more excited to see his. Brecklynn is wearing Cambree's Christmas pj's from her first Christmas. Fits perfectly.

After they put on the PJ's, we went and looked at lights. This was so fun this year. The kids loved seeing the lights, and we started a game of 'finding Santa and reindeer' in the yards for Ridge and color of lights for Cambree. Made it more fun. We were gone for about 1 1/2 hours. Then we got back and the kids set out cookies we made earlier and Cambree reminded me that we needed milk for Santa. We also put out our reindeer food. So we were all set. The kids got in bed, but like any kid on Christmas Eve, they were excited and couldn't fall asleep for what seemed like, forever!!

Finally about 10ish, thanks to our friends Chace and Rachel, we started putting all the gifts together and getting the presents out. Seeing all the things laid out and the gifts under the tree, made me think I really spoiled the kids too much...and I probably did, but I forget what I get until its all under the tree like that. Oh well, it will keep them occupied right?

So the kids all got a new kitchen, Cambree got a new bike, Ridge got a race track and Brecklynn got a jumparoo thingy.

Here's Brecklynn Christmas morning. We were up first together. Ridge got up about 6 but we pulled him into bed with us to get some more sleep :) Brecklynn woke up about 7:15 and that woke up Cambree. She came out and saw her bike and got so excited. I told her to go get daddy and she ran to Curtis and I could here her telling him and Ridge that Santa had come and given her a bike. Ridge came running out and saw what he got too. So fun to watch their expressions.

They were occupied with their big gifts and stockings for awhile. We even took a shower break for Curtis and I and then continued opening gifts. Now in my family, we were always told to stay on top of the wrapping paper as we opened gifts. We had to put our paper in the garbage after every gift. Well Curtis' family always left everything out all over, and then took a picture under it. Hard to watch a mess like this get bigger and bigger, but it is a cute idea too.

So here Curtis instructs them to lay down as he covers them with paper. They were amazingly cooperative with the idea.

All covered.....except some little feet :)

They are supposed to then, POP out but they didn't quite understand. There's always next year.

Here's Cambree trying out her new bike. She caught on SUPER fast!!

After breakfast, we headed over to Granny and Grandpa's. This is a shot we got of Grandpa. Just a sweet picture of him. We love him so much!

Group shot of all the kids.

I just love Brecklynn's faces in these next couple. She's so easy going I love it.

We had a wonderful Christmas. And amazingly, here it is the next day and we are all put back to pre-Christmas already. Toys are all completely put away, Christmas torn down (minus lights outside because it was too cold today) and we're ready to start 2010. I can't wait to see what happens next Christmas with 3 older kids to enjoy it with. I'm loving it more and more! Hope everyone else had a Merry Christmas and an even better New Year!

Merry Christmas

Here's our attempt at getting a family Christmas picture. We'll have to try again when everyone is in good moods :) They look ok though. Hope everyone has a Merry Christmas!!

Polar Express Christmas Party! Lots of posts and pictures

So after days and weeks of planning, our trip to the Polar Express party finally arrived. I had been prepping the kids for awhile about this party and they were so excited. I was anxious about all the preparations for it. I really wanted it to feel like they were on a train as best I could :) So here is the set up:

I wanted to lay train tracks down on the sidewalk but completely ran out of time. Oh well :)

As they each arrived, they received a ticket to ride the Polar Express.

All Aboard the Polar Express!!

As the kids arrived, they all got their tickets and sat in their chair and colored Polar Express pictures. They all looked so cute in their pjs and they had each brought little blankies or teddy bears for the ride.

After the train was full, we read the polar express.

After the book was done, they left the train for a bit, to go on a scavenger hunt.

When they returned, the train had transformed into tables for them to enjoy chocolate milk and doughnuts.

Reindeer Food and Book Exchange

After our refreshments we made some magical reindeer food. The kids really got a kick out of this. We explained that just like Santa, the reindeer need something too to eat. So they each got to take some home to sprinkle on their lawn or rocks (or as one pointed out, on her dirt :) on Christmas Eve.

We then opened our gifts. I was surprised at how gentle and controlled they were with unwrapping their presents. It was very funny to watch them open their gifts.