Family Christmas

This week was our Christmas week!  We made sugar cookies and invited the Kueckers over to decorate with us.  Noelle went for the full-sprinkle coverage.  

A little Veggie Tales after the Star Wars nerf battle had come to an end.  

Family Christmas morning!  

We had Pioneer Woman's baked french toast, which the girls helped make the night before, berries, and sausage.  This was after Luke's early morning trip to LeTu to finish turning in his grades.  He was fully finished w/ the semester by 8am and ready for family Christmas!

First family tree pic in our new living room!

Let the gifts begin!  Noelle picked out this search & find book for Isaiah.  It was the first gift under the tree and the first gift to be opened.  

She really loved seeing people open gifts from her - 

Smiling at Daddy - 

Noelle got a doctor's kit.  She's been in to playing doctor outside with a doll who gets sick or injured.  She's excited to have some medical equipment now and was extra happy to know she could take the items outside.  

The kids all got me candles and various kitchen equipment.  

Isaiah got Luke a coach's whistle.  

Noelle got Luke a gift certificate for the local cheese shop and she is super excited to help Daddy choose cheeses.  We hadn't been in until the kids and I went to get the gift certificate.  It was so cute and local - the owner new everyone who came in by name, he had goat's milk hot chocolate and mulled wine for everyone who came in, and a great selection of yummy cheeses.  We're glad to find such a cool little place in Longview. 

Slingshot and ammo for this guy!

Lucy opened her 2 favorite gifts first - Her own potty and then her own umbrella!!  She was beyond thrilled and carried her umbrella around for most of the day.  I'm writing this the day after our family xmas.  This morning, the first thing out of her mouth was, "'brella!?" She wanted to get it from the special place she'd put in (right beside her crib) as soon as she was conscious.  

Noelle's been longing for rain boots for quite a while.  They were right up there with an American Girl Doll on her wishlist.  We told her we were waiting another year for AG, and that was totally fine with her - rain boots is what she wanted most.  

Noelle chose a Dora book for Lucy.  It was very hard for Lucy to open gifts while sitting on her potty and holding the umbrella.  We had to assist her in opening her other things - 

Noelle also got some books and a cute little bakery (with the tiniest donuts, pies, cakes we've ever seen), and a butterfly umbrella.  

A soft bow and arrow for Isaiah.  He was pretty stoked to find that it whistles through the air. 

We did the Jesse Tree again this year.  I loved having a tree just for this.  

Isaiah got his first Lego Technic set.  It's definitely a step up in difficulty as there are some new pieces and functions that he hasn't seen before.  He spent a solid 4 hours putting this together - only taking a few forced breaks to eat, play a game with us, and get outside for a bit.  He was so proud to finish it and show us all the moving parts.  He asked me to take pictures from every single angle, then decided that a video presentation would be best.  Here are 2 angles - 

We are doing stockings tomorrow morning, which we've decided to fill with car trip things (shhh.. don't tell!) before we load up for our first Longview to CO drive.  How blessed we feel to have this time with our little 5 and then to be able to go to CO to do Christmas 2 more times with grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins!!