Christmas Part 2

On Christmas Eve we have always had the tradition that the children swap gifts with each other.  It spreads things out and makes their gifts a little more special.

 

Matthew is very good about spending time with his little brothers.  He really enjoys Malachi now that he has gotten a little bigger.  He bought Malachi his first very own bat! :o)

Myles was quite proud of his Superman t-shirt.

One of the many things I miss about McKenzie being home is hearing the girls sing together.

Christmas morning the kids have always come down together to open their stockings.  It was special that McKenzie got to be here and that Daniel joined the crew this year.

Macheus got Annie's Organic Gummies!!!  That was ALL he cared about! :o)

Marc usually cooks a big breakfast on Christmas morning.  We changed things up a little bit this year and fixed a breakfast casserole.  McKenzie and I flew all over town trying to get donuts on Christmas Eve.  Krispy Kreme closed early and we ended up with Kroger donuts.  The kids didn't mind.  They only get them about once a year, so they thought it was great! :o)

It is always funny to me that children latch on to one gift (and it is often times the most unlikely one!)  This year Myles absolutely loved his Charlie Brown Christmas ornament that we put in his stocking.  He is still talking about it!

One of Mariah's favorite gifts was her "Growing Up Duggar" book.

Little Macheus in his Christmas jammies!

 

 The weather was perfect for playing outside!

My sister and her family came down for Christmas.  The girls headed out to the barn to saddle up the horse.

A little boy's Christmas isn't complete if he doesn't get some Cowboy stuff and a new gun!

                              Headed to the barn with Grandpa.

                                                        A full house!

Macheus kept disappearing and we followed him into the laundry room.  He had discovered the sugar cookies!

Malachi got a new bike!  He has always ridden Matt's old bike, so he was pretty excited!

 The girls with their cousin Carrington.  I think they stayed up half the night!

 

Well, there are literally hundreds more Christmas pictures. I left off the pictures of Christmas night when everyone started arm wrestling. It was LOUD and very competitive. We had a great time with our family and made lots of memories.  I think one memory I will never forget was a late night walk with my sister and Mariah.  Oh the conversation that we had..... :o)  This is just a little of what Christmas was like at our house.  I am  glad that the hectic schedule is over and I enjoy cleaning up my house, but it is always a little sad that another Christmas has passed.

Christmas 2014 Pt. 1

Ok, my OCD is coming out.  I am posting part one of my Christmas pictures after the New Year, but I am cheating and changing the date on this post.  I will continue posting like this and changing dates until I get caught up.  My blog serves as a journal for me and I like it to be accurate!  I know..... a little strange! Earlier today I went back and read posts from years past.  I laughed and cried at all of the different things I journaled about over the six years that I have been blogging on here. Some of the pictures on this post won't be great quality.  I am ok with that.  I am not looking for my blog to be perfect.  It is just important to me that I can go back and relive memories made with my family.

 My pictures have been such a mess.  I have my camera, my phone, Marc's phone, and when McKenzie comes home her camera!  There are pictures everywhere! :)

 

Right before Thanksgiving we celebrated Marc's birthday.  I already did a post for his birthday, but I have been so terrible with my pictures that I never posted any of the actual day.  He requested fried fish for his birthday and red velvet cake.  Works for me because I hate fish!  I skipped supper and could eat cake guilt free! :)

 

 

  Macheus was in the bed when we had cake and McKenzie and Daniel hadn't gotten home yet for Thanksgiving.

 

I was so excited that it worked out for McKenzie and Daniel to get to stay after Thanksgiving.  My girls and I always go shopping on Black Friday.  We never go early, nor do we expect any great deals.  It is just a fun day for us to go out and spend the day together.  I used to go with my mom when she was still alive.

 

 

We're off!

 

                                                                
                                                         

 

We shopped 'til we dropped! :)

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The Saturday after Thanksgiving we put our tree up.  It is always chaos but the kids have a blast.  Macheus broke three ornaments before we finally decided he needed to go to bed! :)

 

 

Matthew gettin' all artsy on me! :)

                                                           Sweet boys....

This is just a random picture of Macheus coming down one morning.  He ALWAYS drags these stuffed toys around!.

 

Watching a movie with Grandpa.

 

We changed things up this year and skipped the gingerbread man. Matthew helped the little boys decorate a gingerbread train.

 We went to two different Christmas parades.  I loved that one of the local public high school bands played Christian Christmas music!  There were also lots of floats with nativities on them.  I love the south! :)

Waiting on the parade to start.

 

On December 18th my dad celebrated his 89th birthday!  I took some of the kids for a visit to celebrate with him.  My mom used to always make him a homemade coconut cake.  I made one last year for him and he cried.  I decided that I would make one again this year.  He was excited and said,  "Tastes just like mama's."

                                       He looks pretty good for 89 doesn't he!? 

We addressed his Christmas cards while we watched Christmas movies.  He wanted it to be fun like when grandma was alive so we had lots of treats! :)

The next day we met my sister and her kids to eat out. This is seven of his sixteen grandchildren.

Mariah with her cousin Clayton.  They have always been buddies.  I didn't realize how much she had grown until I saw this picture.  They are only four months apart.  I know he will be glad when they are teenagers and he passes her up! :)

Carrington and Macheus.  He loves Carrington and she loves him too! :)

                                                  My "big kids".

                                                  Madeline and Grandpa

 A few days before Christmas I got the bright idea to take the little boys to see Santa.  We don't "do" Santa, but most years I try to get a picture just for fun.  I was a little nervous about taking them out because of so much sickness going around, but I was armed with my Burt's Bees spray!

He was the sweetest "Santa" I think I have ever seen. 

The worker talked us into doing a family shot.  I didn't dare tell him that this was only part of our kids. :) 

McKenzie and Daniel were supposed to come home the weekend before Christmas but Daniel got sick and it delayed it a couple of days.  McKenzie was so bummed (and we were too!)  I took Madeline out shopping one night and we texted this picture to McKenzie. :(

 

 After lots of TLC by McKenzie with herbs, oils and lots of other good stuff Daniel was better and they arrived at our house late one evening.  It was a dark rainy night and we were SO glad to all be together!

 

 Ok, that is all for tonight.  I will post some more tomorrow..... and Yes, I will be changing the date on that post too! :o)