Christmas Day

The kids were finally both asleep.

And Santa finally arrived.

So pretty and colorful!

What a lovely display of gifts. We are so thankful for our family and friends who sent packages to us and the children.

Finally it was morning. Julianna was the first one up and discovered the presents. We waited for 30 minutes or so for Mason to wake up but Julianna eventually insisted we go wake him up.

She was so excited, and he was so sleepy. He didn't want to get up.

But once he discovered what was in the living room he perked right up!

Awesome doll house from Santa.

Lots of toys.

Fun stuff from Aunt Carrie.

Julianna enjoyed finding all of the America Girl stuff from Nana and Papa.

Mason also found some tools from Santa.

He quickly put those to use on the doll house.

Julianna liked her owl canvas to paint. This girl loves a craft project!

Nee Nee and Pop Pop sent a book where they recorded their voices. The kids recognized their voices right away.

We took a break from gifts and got dressed for church.

Daddy and his girl.

Love that smile!

Mama and her boy.

After church we finished up opening presents. Shew. The kids wanted to play with everything as it got unwrapped. It took forever and was so much fun to see how excited they were.

After a fun day the kids tested out their new bathrobes and got ready for bed. We are so thankful for all of the wonderful things we received. The church service was great as always. The kids had a birthday party for Jesus in Sunday school and made adorable crafts. We had an awesome Christmas Day.

Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve we had some friends over for dinner. Dawn's husband is deployed and her Mom and Dad are out visiting. It was a really fun time and Ike, the chef, made an absolutely delicious dinner. Turkey, a roast "beast", mashed potatoes, sweet potato caserole, broccoli salad, mac and cheese, and more! Yum, my mouth is water just thinking about it.

The kids all enjoyed watching the train go around under the tree.

After dinner Joey and Julianna got to break the wishbone. Julianna won. :)

Then the kids did a little gift exchange. As you can see Julianna was thrilled with her gift!

Then it was time for Jesus' Birthday Cake. That is the "reason for the season" after all. I was very proud of Julianna this year. She really didn't seem all wrapped up in the Santa aspect and really remained focused on the Jesus part. That of course made me even happier to give her the gifts on Christmas morning. We say that we give gifts to each other as another way to celebrate Jesus' birthday. She spent all of Christmas Eve morning making birthday cards for him. Our church has such an excellent program for kids and she is learning so much. I couldn't be happier.

Mason was pooped from all of the excitement. He fell asleep in his chair at 5:45pm. I didn't know what to do but decided to just put him down. He missed out on some of the evening's ceremonial activities but I guess he needed it. We had to wake him up the next morning at 7am. Julianna couldn't stand staring at all of those gifts any longer.

Since Mace was already in bed Julianna got to put out the cookies and milk. Also an apple for Rudolph. Julianna said he likes red apples because they make his nose glow even more red. ;) (I was out of carrots so I was glad she was satisfied with the apple!)

Before getting in bed Julianna and Daddy looked up the Santa Tracker to see where he was. He had just finished delivering in Atlanta, GA so we knew it wouldn't be TOO long. Off to bed...

Christmas Sillies

Can you tell we have watched the movie Elf a time or two this season? Merry Christmas!

We have a NEPHEW!!

Ryan Arthur Redmer was born on December 16, 2011!! Chad and Sara are both very excited to have their little baby boy here with them for Christmas. Ryan was 6lbs 4oz and born via c-section because he was breech. Sara is recovering well and both parents seem to be settling in to parenthood very nicely. Chad has finally changed a diaper! I can't wait to meet him and kiss him all over. I love baby lips. :)

J U L I A N N A

Julianna's school had their Christmas Musical last friday called "The Jingle Bell Jukebox." It was so cute and she loved being on stage. I don't know where she gets that from. ;)

Here is the whole group. Her school is K-6 so it was quite a span of kids. The little ones kept up with the big ones and they all did a fantastic job. After the first week of practice the little ones were all calling it "The Jingle Bell JUICE Box." I thought that was hilarious. Of course none of them had any idea what a jukebox was.

Doesn't she look pretty?! Her friend Mackenzie is right next to her and they loved that their dresses matched. They were not exactly the same but very similar. Not planned but they sure did love it.

Daddy was so proud of her after the show.

Look how excited she was to open her little present for doing a good job.

Picture time after the show.

This was her "rockstar" pose. LOL

The girls.

We were very proud of her first big show. She did a great job. She knew all the words and all of the motions and was not nervous at all. My little performer!

This week she received an award at school for being a good problem solver.

Here she is with her "Complex Thinking" award. Smarty pants.

These are 2 of her favorite friends from her class. They are so silly together. They were all award winners this semester. Grace received one for being a "Good Citizen" and Isabella's was for "Quality Work." :)

This one made me laugh because they were all saying "I'm watching you" to each other and doing the motion with their hands. It was so funny. I am so happy that she loves school and is doing well. She enjoyed all of her after school activities this first half of school. I am excited to see what she does for the second half. She loves her friends and her teacher. I am so happy for her. Love my girl.

M A S O N

This face makes me melt. I love his bright eyes, his silly smiles, his crazy dances. He is hilarious. He is all boy. And he's MINE! Look at his eyes in this picture. His right eye has a small fleck of brown. I can always see it in person but not usually in pictures. Just one more thing that makes him special. He is Mama's boy. But not my "big boy." He says he's still a "baby."

He is so funny.

Especially when he's with his friend Connor. These two are a trip together. If one goes, the other follows. 2 peas in a pod. They go to school together and his big sister is one of Julianna's friends so we see them every day. It's cute to see him actually have a little friend.

But even though he says he's not a big boy he is definitely not still a baby. After putting it off for weeks we had to finally turn the crib into a toddler bed. He was consistently climbing out, usually with 3 or 4 stuffed animals in hand and we were afraid he was going to hurt himself. I worried that he wouldn't sleep that way but he has done great. He doesn't climb out any more than he did before so at least he is safe now.

He looks pretty excited about it!

Getting so big is exhausting. This is something new for me. I can count on one hand the number of times Julianna has fallen asleep somewhere other than her bed or her car seat. This is a regular thing for Mason. He falls asleep on the sofa, floor, and regularly his chair while watching a movie. I love my little guy. :)

Beat Army!

With fans this cute how could they not win?

Look back to last year. What a difference a year makes?

He was just a baby with big chubby legs and cheeks!!!!