Catching Up

We have a lot of catching up to do! This was Josiah's first Christmas. He was so excited! We decorated early this year and let kids have a part in everything. We took rides around our neighborhood to look at the lights and finished those rides with a hot chocolate before bed. They loved the lights and always had to compare them to our own house and light display. They'd say, "That one's WAY better than ours!". I guess Scott has his work cut out for him next year when he does our lights!:) I was in the throws of my first trimester and feeling not so wonderful. I was tired and got sick in addition to the "morning" sickness I've had really bad this time. I spent Christmas Eve on the couch with fever while Scott headed off to church with all five kids. I really hated to miss that but I didn't have the energy to get dressed. I just felt miserable so I laid on the couch and watched Rick Warren's Christmas message on Fox. It was nice to have that quiet time to reflect on Jesus and to get perspective before the craziness of Christmas Day came. Our normal tradition of church and a Chinese food dinner was passed up this year. I don't even remember what we had for dinner Christmas Eve. I was out of commission this time around, Scott even did the baking Christmas Eve night! I think he got to bed around 2:30 am after he assembled everything and got out their "big" presents. What a guy! Noah kept waking up and at some point, I think around 3 am, he started waking everyone up to open presents. We sent him back to bed and the little kids fell back asleep without incident thankfully. They finally got up around 6:30 am and were so excited that they weren't sent back to bed! They had a great time opening gifts and loved what they got. Josiah was a pro at opening presents. He loved it! At one point, he saw the Thomas the Train box and got so excited. He was in a frenzy to open it. When he finally got it open he said, "Taadaa!". Really precious. He loves Thomas! He was thrilled with his train table and plays with it all the time. Jack got Spike the Dinosaur. He went nuts about that. I hated to buy that thing, thinking he'd only play with it for a few days and then it would lose it's appeal, but he still loves it! Kaia loved her pink leapster and it is being used a lot! Luke got a bike again this year. He's our bike collector. Last year a retro stingray, this year the BMX style mongoose. He likes all the styles! He takes such good care of them that they still look new. Noah got the RC car he was begging us for. I can't tell who likes it more, Scott or Noah! One really sweet thing- Luke, who just pulls at my heart and always has, wrote the sweetest and saddest note to Santa. We always leave a note with the cookies and milk. Luke's note said, "Dear Santa, I know I haven't been good this year but I'm getting four presents. Could you please bring me my big present?" I saved it but can't remember everything else it said. How sad is that! He's such a good boy, I don't know where he gets this stuff! I guess from my threats the week before Christmas that warned them that Santa doesn't bring presents to kids who don't behave !:) Hey, what can I say, the boys were fighting and driving me crazy! I won't do that again!

We were able to see my brother Logan who is home from Iraq. That was great! I really miss him being around. He's such a sweet guy. He took Noah and Luke bird hunting. They still talk about going hunting with their Uncle Logan. They were laughing about how funny he is just the other day. We had all whole family together for a pre-Christmas dinner with Logan and his wife, Jen. It was so nice. We spent Christmas Day with Scott's family and had a great time as well. We really are reminded of how blessed we are to have each one of you! It was a wonderful Christmas and we love having our family around to share it with!