A Whole Lotta Christmas

So, apparently, when you add a kid to the family, the amount of toys entering your house on that child's first Christmas home goes up by about 500%, rather than what you might be expecting! All of the kids got so much this year. While Dave and the boys were in NC last week, I got rid of sooo much stuff--freecycled a lot, donated a lot, threw away a lot. I thought I'd cleared out enough old to make room for the incoming toy bombs. But what a schoolin' I got yesterday! I actually almost broke into tears last night when I found myself sitting in the middle of what looks like the aftermath of a toy store explosion.

The boys wanted "Snuggies" so badly, and Santa came through!

Some other favorite gifts:



The boys got rollerblades and pads, so there has been some seriously bad skating going on in the house for the last two days. But the fashion statements that go with the skates are so worth the frantic skate-stomping action:


Santa heard through the elves (or maybe I've just yelled loud enough for him to hear it at the North Pole) that the kids have been jumping on the furniture pretty much constantly since the weather has gotten colder. So he came through with an awesome gift the whole family can benefit from--a moonbounce! It's 7 x 7, which is the perfect size to fit in our toy room. I have thoroughly enjoyed being able to say to the kids "Why don't you go in the moonbounce until I finish . . . ."


Marley stole some snuggles with Papa Jerry

Cousin Shane helped Marley practice for her Vanna White audition:


Poor Casey threw up on Christmas Eve morning, as well as today. At least Christmas Day was vomit-free for us.

Slightly out of order here, but on Christmas Eve, we brought out the bag of junky Halloween candy from trick-or-treating and the kids used it to make some "holiday houses". It was fun, and after one sticky, ooey-gooey slice, the kids had no interest in eating it anymore, which is great. The process was much more important than the end result. I like those kinds of projects!


Keller's holiday house included a fish pond and car in front!