First, I'd like to thank everyone who sent us wonderful Christmas cards--we loved them all, and any with pictures are on our fridge (all others are on display around our house!). I obviously didn't get a family card out this year, but hey, one of these years I may surprise myself and do it! I always want to, but it seems like from Thanksgiving to Christmas ends up being a blur. Anyway, the above picture is Annie helping to decorate the tree, which she really enjoyed (she also enjoyed removing the ornaments and trying to hang them in her hair, unfortunately!).
Here are the kids decorating. This beautiful tree was a gift from some dear friends of ours, who actually got a tree cutting permit and drove about 30 minutes north of us to cut it. We have really enjoyed it.
More decorating...
This picture isn't obviously "Christmas-y", but cute none the less. We got about 1 1/2 feet of snow about a week before Christmas, and Annie and Simon had been out with the older kids playing in it, but had to come in to warm up by the wood stove. We are SO enjoying our wood stove!
The kids are very serious about decorating their gingerbread houses--we always do one for the boys and one for the girls...
More concentration--this is serious cowboy stuff!!
OK, these next two pictures are a little out of whack, as they were taken after all the presents had been opened, but I'm too tired and lazy to rearrange them, so here they are! Here's Jonathan helping Simon put his Bionicle together; he's such a nice big brother, very kind and helpful.
Lydia is opening her and Adrienne's new dollhouse furniture and family; they've had lots of fun playing with it!
Here's Elijah on Christmas morning, unwrapping the guitar strap he'd asked for...
And here I am with one of the nice gifts Elijah gave me--I know it's not great, but none of the other pictures were any better (besides, it's early and I was tired!).
Here's Adrienne opening a Crayola activity tub, while Lydia waits to open one of her gifts...
Annie LOVED her stocking full of candy!! And we used an old dog stocking because it was smaller than the others and we didn't give her much candy. However, what we did give her was too much, because by noon she was crying non-stop and had to lie down for a nap. Next year I am definitely waiting to give them their stockings until at least after breakfast, maybe even lunch!!
Here's Simon opening the present he wanted most, a Lego pirate ship...
Jonathan was really excited to get the ipod Nano he's asked for, but didn't think he'd get...
Here's Aaron with a gift from Jonathan...
And here's Annie with her activity doll. She loves to try to button shirts and snap anything she can find with snaps, so we got her this doll so she could practice ;).
Here's Simon unwrapping a gift from Jonathan (a Nerf gun)...
And here are Simon and Annie, before the present unwrapping frenzy began, whew!! We had lots of fun this holiday season, but I a little relieved that it's all over! I think I've felt more overwhelmed this holiday season than I usually do, because I am almost five months pregnant! We are very excited about welcoming our seventh baby in May, but in the mean time, I'm a little more tired than usual :). Anyway, I hope everyone's holidays were nice, and I am going to enjoy the heck out of this little one and a half week lull we have left before school and sports start up again!!
First, I'd like to thank everyone who sent us wonderful Christmas cards--we loved them all, and any with pictures are on our fridge (all others are on display around our house!). I obviously didn't get a family card out this year, but hey, one of these years I may surprise myself and do it! I always want to, but it seems like from Thanksgiving to Christmas ends up being a blur. Anyway, the above picture is Annie helping to decorate the tree, which she really enjoyed (she also enjoyed removing the ornaments and trying to hang them in her hair, unfortunately!).
Here are the kids decorating. This beautiful tree was a gift from some dear friends of ours, who actually got a tree cutting permit and drove about 30 minutes north of us to cut it. We have really enjoyed it.
More decorating... 
This picture isn't obviously "Christmas-y", but cute none the less. We got about 1 1/2 feet of snow about a week before Christmas, and Annie and Simon had been out with the older kids playing in it, but had to come in to warm up by the wood stove. We are SO enjoying our wood stove!
The kids are very serious about decorating their gingerbread houses--we always do one for the boys and one for the girls...
More concentration--this is serious cowboy stuff!!
OK, these next two pictures are a little out of whack, as they were taken after all the presents had been opened, but I'm too tired and lazy to rearrange them, so here they are! Here's Jonathan helping Simon put his Bionicle together; he's such a nice big brother, very kind and helpful.
Lydia is opening her and Adrienne's new dollhouse furniture and family; they've had lots of fun playing with it!
Here's Elijah on Christmas morning, unwrapping the guitar strap he'd asked for...
And here I am with one of the nice gifts Elijah gave me--I know it's not great, but none of the other pictures were any better (besides, it's early and I was tired!).
Here's Adrienne opening a Crayola activity tub, while Lydia waits to open one of her gifts...
Annie LOVED her stocking full of candy!! And we used an old dog stocking because it was smaller than the others and we didn't give her much candy. However, what we did give her was too much, because by noon she was crying non-stop and had to lie down for a nap. Next year I am definitely waiting to give them their stockings until at least after breakfast, maybe even lunch!!
Here's Simon opening the present he wanted most, a Lego pirate ship...
Jonathan was really excited to get the ipod Nano he's asked for, but didn't think he'd get...
Here's Aaron with a gift from Jonathan...
And here's Annie with her activity doll. She loves to try to button shirts and snap anything she can find with snaps, so we got her this doll so she could practice ;).
Here's Simon unwrapping a gift from Jonathan (a Nerf gun)...
And here are Simon and Annie, before the present unwrapping frenzy began, whew!! We had lots of fun this holiday season, but I a little relieved that it's all over! I think I've felt more overwhelmed this holiday season than I usually do, because I am almost five months pregnant! We are very excited about welcoming our seventh baby in May, but in the mean time, I'm a little more tired than usual :). Anyway, I hope everyone's holidays were nice, and I am going to enjoy the heck out of this little one and a half week lull we have left before school and sports start up again!!
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