Christmas {2011}

I can't believe how fast November and December went.  Before we knew it, it was Christmas!  My kids are at such fun ages, we had a blast! 

We had our normal Christmas parties.  We had the Rhodes party that was really fun, we played Minute to Win it games, our family came really close to winning:)!  Carson and I had his work party to go to.  That was really fun, it was fun to see the people that Carson works with.  It is good to see how appreciated he is and how much people enjoy having him around.  Closer to Christmas we had The Callister Christmas party with Carson's parents and siblings.  It was fun to see the kids be able to read their own parts.  The little girls did a great job at making up their own parts with the little people they had.  It was so nice having Christmas Eve on Saturday this year.  It was nice no one had to work, we could relax and have my parents Christmas party earlier in the day.

Christmas Eve was spent at my parents house with all of my siblings and my Grandpa Rhodes and Grandma Carlson.  The kids have so much fun playing with their cousins, they just can't get enough of each other.  It makes our time more relaxing because they are off playing.  Carson and I got a new tent, we are so excited to go camping this year!  Marcus wants to go to Sunrise where he went with my parents, he knows exactly what plot number he wants to stay at.

Since we were able to start at my parents sooner we were able to get home earlier and take our time doing our traditions.  I'm sure all kids are the same, but my kids are such creatures of habit.  They know the order then want to do things because we do the same thing every year, no forgetting traditions at our house!

This is their least favorite part, but we have to have a picture of the kids in their new jammies in front of the tree!  They were so cooperative this year... But they are oh so cute!!

We put the key out for Santa and then we sprinkled Reindeer Glitter outside.

We tracked where Santa was at, man he is one fast guy!  Only wish he seemed that fast at our house:)!

We had to be cute with Olivia's new ballet doll.

We wrote a letter to Santa and put our our treats and drinks and then off to bed we went!

The 3 older kids had a camp out on Olivia's bedroom floor.  We told them no getting up until 7:30!  Marcus at about 6:30 came in our room and we held him off until about 7:20 when we went and worked on waking up the other two, so at 7:30 they came in and woke up Payton and we were ready to go.

Carson and I always go out first to make sure Santa came, it drives the kids crazy!  It looks like he for sure made a stop at our house... 

So excited that they could barely stand it!

We had such an enjoyable morning with the kids.  Marcus was thrilled with his Green Machine, Magic Kit, his new Bat, is Axe body spray (that might have been the biggest hit), and his and Alec's Hurricane to share.  Alec was so excited with his Green Machine, the Creepy Crawler maker, his bat and helmet, and his Hurricane.  Alec also got a Science kit, when he opened it up he said, "oh yes, I can be a nerd!"  Olivia was so happy with her Jeep, Orbeez Jewelery Maker, and Webkinz.  Payton was just excited!  He loved his Jeep and cars he got and since Christmas he has been loving his potty seat (that will have to be post all in it's own!).  My kids didn't really ask for to much, so it was fun to see their faces on all of their surprises.  Like I said this year with their ages was so much fun!

After opening presents and eating our traditional breakfast casserole we got ready for church.  I hate to say this, but your first reaction is just wanting to stay home, but we were all glad that we went.  I love the Christmas program, our Ward has such a wonderful choir, music brings such a special spirit!

My kids weren't completely in agreement to get their pictures taken with their cute Christmas church clothes, maybe that is why it was so hard to get good pictures from them.  I think Alec was the only rock star that day and of course Payton was on his own terms!  {That is why there are so many photos of Marcus and Olivia because I needed to document how hard it was to get some what of a good photo, silly kids!}

 The kids thought it was so funny because Payton was standing by them and then he decided to run behind me and do funny faces and weird things with his hands, which is what we are always doing to get him to look at us and smile.  At that point he was done and he wouldn't even think about standing by the older three kids.

It was such a great day, filled with so many wonderful memories.  I am so thankful for all of my blessings and for all the love my Savior has for me and my family!  My children might make me want to go over the edge at times, but they are great kids, my family is the light of my life!!