{cHrisTmaS wiTh BirtHmoMs}

We were so lucky to see 2 out of 3 of our birthmoms at Thanksgiving and were lucky again to see 2 out of 3 of them at Christmas time!!  It is official.....my kids are SPOILED ROTTEN!!!  They really are the luckiest kids on earth because they don't only have their families that get them presents, but now they really have 3 MORE families that love them and get them presents!!  Crazy!!  Our birthmoms and their families are all so sweet and if they get a gift for one kid, they get a gift for all of them!!  How lucky are we!?!?!  :)

We saw Jayci and her family on Monday after Christmas!  They brought a huge bag of gifts for the kids!!  Mark passed the gifts out to the kids....

Ayden got some more dinosaurs!!  He was in heaven!!  :)

Jayci got him a BYU shirt that was signed by the entire football team!!  How cool is that?!?!  Definitely a gift that Ayden's cousins would be jealous of!!!  So fun!!  :)

Zoe very patiently and carefully opened up her gifts....

Jayci and Maddix....

Jayci's mom and sister, Lori & Jaydin....

We love these guys and always have a great time visiting with Jayci and her family!!  :)

Crystal came all the way to see us on Wednesday with her mom and her sister!  Ayden is such a lucky kid that she would drive all the way from Central Cali for a few hours visit!  Again.....a HUGE bag of gifts was brought!  I joked with Ayden asking him if he was SURE that he was THAT good this year!!!  Hmmmm....I don't know?!?!!?  :)

Ayden and Crystal....

They LOVE Crystal....

Ayden, Crystal, Zoe, Kyra & Janine....

Thanks to these special birthmoms for coming to visit us!!  We really do love having you around and hanging out!  We always love getting to see you and letting you hang out with the kids!!  :)

{saNTa}

We had a couple visits with Santa this year!!  Unfortunately, neither of them were what I expected!!  Both times that we "ran into" Santa, we were out and about running errands without intending to "run into" Santa.....so the kids were not dressed and ready for pictures!!  I finally decided after the 3rd time that I should just accept the fact that this may be the best we get this year.....so here it is....

We also were lucky enough to get a visit from Santa to our house a few days before Christmas!!  Santa came to visit all of the families with kids in our ward at church and it was such a great idea!!  Unfortunately, on our night for Santa to visit, he came about an hour early and Zoe and I were out shopping....so Ayden was the only one that got to have Santa all to himself!!  He had just come home from a bike ride with Jeremiah and was still in his bike clothes!!  (***My vision was to have all 3 kids in their Christmas jammies when Santa came to the house.....DARN....I failed AGAIN)!!!!

We went to Color Me Mine because I bought a Groupon a few months ago!  I let Ayden and Zoe pick out something for their birthmoms to paint!!  It was really hard to let them do this all on their own....I wanted to take over and make them look perfect!!  But in the end, I think the fact that they are COMPLETELY their own is what will make their birthmoms love them the most!!  They picked out the pieces, the colors and did everything themselves!!!!

Ayden picked a Rudolph plate for Crystal....

And Zoe painted a little flower for Lydia....

I should've taken an "after" picture because they really did look much nicer than the "pre-cooked" version!!  The kids were SO proud of their work!!  And this turned out to be so much fun!!  I think we will find ourselves back there very soon!!

{cHrisTmAs dAy}

Christmas morning seemed to come so fast!!  Maddix decided to be the first one awake!!  He just couldn't wait any longer to open his presents!!  :)  He was up at 5:00 am and I decided to take advantage of that and get in the shower and get ready for church before the kids woke up!!  This year was tricky since Christmas fell on a Sunday and we had to be in Fullerton for 9 am church with Jeremiah's family!  I can't remember the last time I woke up Christmas morning and didn't stay in my jammies to open presents!!  It worked out great and Jeremiah and I were both ready for church before the kids woke up a little after 7:00!!

They came out with jaws dropped and knew that the big man had been to their house!!  They started rummaging through the gifts to see whose name was on which gifts!!

Sweet Ayden was even excited to see oranges in his stocking!!  :)  This was a fun Christmas for Ayden.  We really tried this year to teach the kids to be thankful for what they have and what they get and not just expect more and more!!  We encouraged them to do 3 things every time they got a gift....1.  say thank you  2.  say something they like about the gift they received  3.  give the person a hug.  Ayden did really well with this on Christmas Eve at least....as the days went on and he continued to get more and more gifts, it was harder to remember the 3 steps!!  Oh well...it is a work in progress!!  :)

Zoe was not so impressed with the cuties left in her stocking!!  HA!!

It was so fun to watch these 2 together!!  They took turns opening gifts and were so patient when it wasn't their turn!  They commented on the gifts that the other received and were there to help each other out!!  I love moments like this....

Ayden was super excited to get a skateboard this year!!  He thinks it is going to help him practice so he can become the best snowboarder ever!!  :)

And ALL kinds of dinosaur things....which is really all he asked for this year.....dinosaur EVERYTHING!!!

Zoe was excited about all the girly things she got!!

She doesn't know much about Cabbage Patch Kids....I think this gift from Santa was to Mommy too!!  Santa must remember that Mommy liked Cabbage Patch Kids when she was little!!  Zoe may just have to share this one with me!!  :)

It was really fun this year to take Ayden and Zoe shopping alone to pick out gifts for each other and for Maddix.  As much as I wanted these gifts to be all my idea, I had to sit back and let them pick out EXACTLY what THEY wanted to give the other person!!  Zoe was really easy....she walked through Toys R Us with the boys on her mind and she was looking for something they would want....she didn't get distracted at all by the girly things!!  Ayden struggled a little more with this concept....he tried to convince me that Zoe wanted dinosaurs and Star Wars guys and legos!!  After FOREVER, I finally got him to focus on what ZOE would want!!  He ended up with a Disney Princess tea set......PERFECTION!!!

She was thrilled....she loved the gift!!  Here is Ayden showing her all the pieces that are inside....

Zoe got Ayden a container filled with pretend McDonalds food for their kitchen....I would've never bought it myself, but this is what she picked out!!  It turns out he was really happy about it and they have played with it a bunch since then!!  :)

And just so I can remember, Maddix got Zoe Squinkies, he got Ayden the Smurf......Ayden got Maddix 2 rattles, Zoe got Maddix a soft taggie blankie!!

Thanking each other.....

After we opened all our presents, we got the kids ready for church and rushed out the door by 8:30 am!!  Impressive on Christmas morning if I do say so myself!!  The house may have looked like a tornado blew through, but at least the 5 of us looked halfway put together!!  :)

After church, we went to Jeremiah's parents house!  Zoe and Natalia wearing their matching dresses from Grandma Brenda.  Zoe loves having a girl cousin since she has all boys on my side of the family!!!

My 3 cutie pies.....

We weren't there long and the kids were already wanting to bust open their stockings!!   I agree....the stockings are the best part!!

The kids were VERY eager.....getting all the presents passed out.....

Ayden was super excited to get this BIG dinosaur!!!  Did I already mention that everything involved with Christmas this year for Ayden involved dinosaurs?!?!  :)

Zoe got a cute ballerina dress up outfit, which she loves and has worn a ton already!!

Kirt, Steph (and Thor)....

Branden, Laurel & Natalia....

Grandma Brenda & Grandpa Gary....

Ayden is so into things like this.....he is gonna love this book!!  :)

Maddix loved his books too!!  Ayden and Zoe were excited to help Maddix open ALL of his presents this year from everyone since he couldn't do it himself!!

And the BEST thing about Christmas is that the kids are distracted for hours and hours and hours and days and days playing with all of their new toys.....

And the second best thing is that all the adults get to lounge around, eat, talk, watch movies and be lazy.....

....and some of us were lucky enough to sneak a nap in!!!  LUCKY!!!

Christmas dinner.....photography by Ayden!!  He took a bunch of pictures and this is the best we got!!  He kept getting mad at people that weren't looking or were making faces!!  HA!  I'll have to remind him how irritating that is next time I take his picture!!!

What a wonderful Christmas we had this year!!  I can honestly say that it was by far my favorite Christmas Eve and Christmas Day to date!!!  It must be because my family is complete and Jeremiah and I got to enjoy our 3 little bundles of joy!!!