Our Holly Jolly Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas this year spent with both of our families! It was such a treat to have all of my family here this year to celebrate! With so many fun celebrations, I, of course, took so many fun pictures! I took a bunch of video too! I put some of them in this blog post- completely unedited due to my annoyingly malfunctioning laptop! And I am having major issues uploading so I'm giving up on getting some of the others posted! Bummer!

But I think you'll get the jist of our incredibly fun Christmas in the photos and video below...

Nolan made this ornament for us at school! I will always love it and treasure it as the first school made gift we've been given by our little boy!

He also made this snowflake for us at Awana with pipe cleaners and beads.

Eckabee had fun watching the boys each day and reporting to Santa about their behavior each night. He came back every morning and appeared in a new spot. Here are a few places the boys found him...

drawing silly faces on our Santa photo

making snow angels on the kitchen table

eating our Christmas cookies

We spent Christmas Eve morning with Mark's family.

our first photo as a family of FIVE

We ate breakfast together and then got to open up stockings.

Heath was excited to get more Toy Story guys!

Uncle Brad finally got to spend some time with Brooks!

Then it was time for PRESENTS!!

Nolan and Heath both got these great sleeping bags from the Syers fam! Nolan loves his and has even taken a few naps in it in his bedroom!

Brooks got a Gentle Giraffe sound machine from Cohen.

He was thrilled! Ha!

Heath got this Emperor Zurg action figure! He loves pretending to make him shoot and does some great sound effects with him!

And Nolan got the Army guys he'd been wishing for from Oma & Opa. He was so excited when he opened them that he hugged the bucket over and over again! It was so sweet!

As soon as we got home he opened them up and played with Grandpa who had just arrived from Chicago! Grandpa and Nolan set them all up and Nolan learned all about each army guy and their specific job. They played this together every day while my Dad was here!

We went to church in the late afternoon and then headed back to Mark's parent's house for dinner and carol singing.

Grandpa and his new grandson

Nolan and Brady were excited to sing some Christmas carols.

Heath helped Oma play some songs on the piano!

Having fun "reading" from the carol book!

Brooks got lots of snuggles from everyone!

Aunt Sue and Mark sang carols with gusto!

Nolan helped out too...he added some extra low notes to the tunes!

And of course midway through Jingle Bells...look who came to visit...

Nolan with Santa (a.k.a Uncle Dave)

Heath actually really liked Santa this time!!

And even little Brooks got to snuggle up with St. Nick!

Brooks got this bib as a Christmas Eve gift from Santa! It is perfect because all three of his Aunties were there...and they are all HOT!

A pic with my sibs!

Later that night when we got home, Nolan and I put out cookies and milk for Santa and we left some carrots for his reindeer too!

The next morning we all woke up bright and early (7 a.m.) to see if Santa had come!

And he did! Nolan got these cool new sunglasses in his stocking.

And look what Brooks got in his!

Heath was THRILLED to open up this Buzz Lightyear gift from Santa! He LOVES the same one that Payton and Brady have and was so excited to finally have his own! He was smiling so big and jumping up and down he was so excited!

I didn't get a picture of it, but Nolan did the same thing when he opened up his "Evil Dr. Porkchop" toy from Auntie Mal. As he was ripping the paper he caught a little peek at what was inside and when he saw what it was, he began frantically tearing the wrapping to get to it! The joy on their faces as they received exactly what they wanted was just amazing! Love celebrating at these ages!

My parents got the boys this awesome train table that we set up in the basement. We scored an excellent Black Friday deal on it at Toys 'R Us!

The were surprised to see it!

And they've already played with it so much!

It has even become an Army guy hide out!

We enjoyed a nice Christmas Dinner together with my family. We each had a part of the meal to prepare. Mom- pork tenderloin and mashed potatoes, Mallory- asparagus, Me- cheesy california blend and Christmas jello, Tyler- rolls and wine, Dad- liquor, Mark- warm caramel apple dessert! It was delicious and fun to all have a part in it!

We set up the camera and took a family picture later that evening!

Brooks wore jeans for the first time!

And of course, we played the Pickle Game!

Nolan and Heath played the first round.

Nolan found the pickle! But both boys got an extra gift from Santa!

Then it was time for the adult round...

Mallory won! Her extra gift from Santa: a jar of pickles and a McDonalds gift card!

We spent a lot of time on Christmas weekend playing with all of our new toys.

Tyler bought Nolan 2 new Batman action figures for Christmas: Green Lantern and Catwoman.

Heath having fun with Grandpa! Grandpa was being silly and making him laugh so hard!

Playing Zingo...Nolan's new game!

Nolan sportin' his new Woody p.j.'s from Auntie Mal!

Here Heath is wearing his Buzz p.j.'s that Auntie Mal got him for his birthday! And he's playing on our new Wii...a family Christmas gift! Heath got a Toy Story Wii game from Uncle Wes and Auntie Cara and he loves it. He still needs help playing, but he thinks he's pretty cool waving the controller around.

My sister brought her Just Dance and Glee Karaoke games and we spent a night dancing and singing with my family! I can't wait to get these games too...they are a blast and great entertainment!

We also got a Wii Fit and this Nickelodeon game with Dora, Diego, and other characters the boys love! It's been fun to teach them how to play! And I'm hoping to work out a bit with the Wii Fit while I'm on maternity leave to shed some baby weight!

I surprised Mark with an ipad for Christmas! He was really shocked! He has been wanting one for awhile, but I kept telling him it was unnecessary and too expensive. But my MacBook is dying so it actually was a good time to make the investment.

It has been a fun addition to our family and the boys enjoy playing on it too!

Heathy drawing

Nolan creating a Winter picture

We had such a blessed Christmas full of presents and family and laughing and joy! And we are so thankful for the best gift we have received- the birth of baby Jesus, our Savior.