Christmas

Okay, now on to the Christmas post.  I was tired last night, so I didn't do it actually on Christmas, but that's okay!  It was really nice to take things slow!  We slept in until 8 in the morning and then ate some pancakes for breakfast.  I had picked up some blueberry syrup from the Aldi that I really wanted to use!  Then I had my kiddos watch http://lds.org/pages/look-to-the-light?lang=eng .  It's completely awesome!  I wanted to make sure they remembered why we were even celebrating Christmas to begin with!  Then I finally brought their presents down from my closet and let them unwrap their two presents each.  We went from Leah up and they were pretty patient, considering!  They all really liked their presents, which is good!  I got to work on Christmas "Lupper."  We ate at 2 and again at 5 when my family got here!  Hurray for family!  It was hilarious when they came in!  They brought in a TON of presents and WOW!  Then we had a huge pile of presents and once again the kids were patient and waited until after we ate.  Leah managed to find a box that happened to be hers and she really wanted to open it before everyone was done eating.  So, we let her.  She had managed to find it all on her own!  And almost everyone was done eating anyway!  Then it became a crazy free-for-all and my living room was covered in wrapping paper and toys!  Craziness!  The adults opened their presents next.  I was very excited to see that they brought the presents from me there too, so I got to see them open their presents!  Hurray!  That's my favorite part, seeing people's faces when I give them a/some present(s)!  When things had cooled down considerably (after the knives were put away from opening boxes), I opened my presents.  I got a ton of Trixie Belden books!  I'm very excited!  Someday I'll have all 39 (I'm pretty sure that's how many were printed)!  I have most of #s 1-16.  Then a family from two wards ago had sent us some frozen food for when the baby comes, plus a blanket and diapers!  How sweet!  The Gammons are a Fantastic family!  They sent it down with my family!  So, I feel very blessed to have such awesome family and friends!  In order to try and thank the Starrs for inviting us over to dinner twice, I had my family come with us to carol them (it doesn't hurt that there are single male Starrs and my sisters are all single)!  So, I got to get in some carolling too!  We came back to have dessert and my Mint Cheesecake was enjoyed!  Scott, Chris, my dad and I played Seafarers of Catan!  Awesome!  Chris went on his mission and we haven't played it until yesterday (it's not a good idea for Scott and I to play each other)!  Good times!  The kids went to bed late again, but it was worth it to spend time with family!  I LOVE my family!  Now, I've amnaged to make it through most of Sunday and I'm super curious as to whether I'll go into labor tonight!  I'll probably take a nap everyday this week until I do have a baby, so I have that extra sleep if I'm in labor overnight!  Here's hoping that will be my next post!  And not the all my kids are sick, since that seems to be cruising through the town right now!

                 Ben got a TON of books!  He's so excited!  This one he took to church with him!

       Kira is pretty happy with her stack of presents!  Though she's already asking for slippers!

 Scott is absolutely thrilled with his present!  It's already attached to the sink in our bathroom, which makes it difficult for all of us to wash our hands in the bathroom...

                                                   My mom and her present!

                                                 Chris already has a spot for this!

                                                       Leah LOVES her babies! 

 The doll she got from me which was thrown aside for the babies she got from her mamaw.  Oh well!

                                Emma got moon dough.  Which will never happen again!

                                      Sitting nicely and waiting their turn in the morning!

                                   Part of the huge moon dough mess.  It NEVER ends!