Christmas week through my iPhone...(DSLR pics to come)

 

Watching a movie with grandma. We love having her living with us.

 

Grandma C sent Oak this dress. Oak immediately put it on and then wore it the next three days. Unfortunately she scraped off the sparkly spots all over the front of her dress and now it isn't so cute. But after she put it on the night she got it, she immediately went and put on her church shoes, did her hair, put on a necklace and bracelet and some lip gloss. Then she called herself Queen Beautiful.

 

Mac got a mad scientist kit from Grandma C. It is supposed to be a "gross" science kit, so all the experiments are done in a little toilet. 

 

 These were presents just from my in-laws and Oak's birth family. This is why we don't get our kids much for Christmas. We are very blessed to have so many people who love us.

 

One day Mac got out the play money and he made up a game to play. Without even knowing it he was totally working on his math skills. His game was laying out a bunch of money turned over so we couldn't see how much it was (the backs are blank). Then Oak and I had to pick 5 bills then he would count how much we each had and who ever had the most would get a big pile of money. He was doing great counting by 1s, 5s, 10s, 20s, and 50s. As a homeschool mom, moments like this make me smile. 

 

So the kids wrote letter to Santa since we never got to see Santa anywhere. I just had them write Santa Claus on the front and didn't even bother with a return address. But the mail man knocked on our door,  knowing where the letters came from and said they needed a return address. Then a few days later the kids got these letters back from Santa. So fun!

 

So this was the morning of Christmas Eve. I went to bed pretty emotional and woke up pretty emotional. It was one part parenting my struggling kids, one part missing my dad, one part not believing that my dad is gone and one part not getting to spend Christmas Eve with Hubs' family like we do every year. It just was hard! Oak had a rough morning and honestly I was wanting to do the same thing as she was instead of being a grown up. 

 

One night Mac couldn't sleep and he got a new flashlight so I grabbed the first book in the Boxcar Children series and had him start reading it to me with his flashlight in the dark. He read me two full pages. The next day we were about to go somewhere and he ran and got it and started reading to us as we were about to head out the door. He ended up reading two full pages again to us in the car on the way to the store and two full pages in the car on the way home. I just was so excited! I can't wait for him to always have his nose in a book. 

 

We had to make some cookies for Santa.

 

We usually go bowling with Hubs' family every Christmas Eve. Since we stayed home this year for Christmas because of my mom living with us and we knew it would be a hard holiday without my dad. But we decided to go bowling still. It was so fun!

 

We usually take a pic of all the grandkids after bowling so I took one of my two. 

 

For the afternoon we made up this veggie tray with some dip. It was SO yummy. I pretty much parked myself next to it. It was mostly gone by dinner. We ended up eating salad and chicken in pita pockets for dinner. It was yummy!

 

Decorating the cookies. They each only had the attention span to decorate two cookies each for Santa and one for them to eat. They were done after that. 

 

Oak's cookie for her to eat was hilarious. I am pretty sure she added more after I took the picture. She just kept on adding more frosting and sprinkles. It was a mess!

 

On Christmas Eve my brother sent us this picture. We can't put an official headstone in until spring and my brother couldn't stand to have nothing there so he made this marker and put it there on Christmas Eve. Isn't it beautiful?! 

 

Mom and I on Christmas Eve.

 

 We let the kids open one gift which was PJs. I thought that they would be disappointed, but they were super excited as you can tell. 

 

Grandma got the book Santa comes to Oregon and read it to the kids before bed. 

 

I woke up really early and found that Santa had come. It was 5am I could hardly stand waiting for the kids to wake up.  They ended up waking up about 6:15. The kids got exactly what they asked Santa for. Mac wanted Ninja Turtle Legos and Oak wanted a stick horse, cowgirl hat and lasso.

 

Waiting at the top of the stairs for every one to be ready to go down. They were so patient. And cute!

 

Mommy waited with them because I was excited too. 

 

Oak got this hat from her birth Aunt. It is an Elsa hat that looks like a crown and has her braid. She loves it!

 

And this is the Mac got from Oak's birth Aunt. It is  a Ninja Turtle. 

 

The mess after everything was opened. I always love this kind of mess.

 

Oak got a hot chocolate kit and mugs from her birth mom. She got right to work making some for her and brother.

 

Oak had me lassoed but needed a drink of her hot chocolate.

 

 

Another gift from her birth mom (I think). Elsa and Elsa blanket. She has layed it out on her bed every morning while making her bed since then.  I would say she likes it.

 

The kids wanted snowman pancakes for breakfast. Best I could do. 

 

This was pretty much the scene for the whole day. Mac put both of his lego sets together without any help. 

 

Oak had to go put her Elsa dress on and wear her hat and carry around her doll. Also Grandma C got her pink cowgirl boots. She has worn those non stop since she got them also. 

 

Then she switched to being a cowgirl. She had to find her belt to put her lasso on. So cute right?!

 

A family pic. Not the best but still my sweet family. 

My mom made a delicious turkey dinner Christmas Day. While we sitting down eating I looked outside to see that it was snowing and sunny outside. It was crazy! It only lasted for one minute but we can at least say it snowed on Christmas.

 

Oak went back and forth a few times between cowgirl and Elsa all day. 

 

Hubs got a few books and this has been what he has done non stop for the last four days. He has read a book a day. 

 

Mac helping Grandma dish up pumpkin pie.

 

So I was wanting to get mac some Snap Circuits, but I never fully decided. But Grandma C bought him the remote control version. It has been fun.

 

This is what my MIL bought me! It is amazing. We have been wanting a new one because the one we have isn't great. We have made smoothies for breakfast so far. Love the single serve smoothy parts. 

 

Day after Christmas we went to the Childrens museum. 

 

Mac loves the music room!

 

This was a new addition and Mac spent a good ten minutes just like this. 

 

One of the games the kids got in their stockings was Story Cubes. The kids thought their stories were hilarious. 

 

I also found a Star Wars Farkle game. Mac loves it. And have I mentioned that Mac is a math whiz. He just thinks mathematically and it just comes really easy for him. The Farkle game has been great for his adding skills. 

 

Saturday we had a hard time finding something do outside the house. But we ended up going to the county museum again. Mac has been asking to go lately. 

 

I was laying down with a migraine and Oak came up so I started reading her her new Fancy Nancy books. It was a fun sweet moment. She has been very emotional and whiney lately so I think the one on one will help a bit. 

 

The kids on Sunday. This pic shows their personalities to a T! Seriously!