Lessons of Giving

We went shopping today at Target. A few people had sent money for our toy drive for the hospital, so we headed to Target as a family to shop. We still needed some Play-Dough and Legos, so focused there, but grabbed a few other items as well. 

What warmed my heart most, though, was when Conner on his own asked if he could use his gift card to buy a gift to take as well. I was so proud of him, and happy when the other two followed suit. Made our day to see giving being part of their lives. 

Christmas

We had a great Christmas. The kids woke up around 6:30, so we were happy it wasn't too early. However, Alexis immediately started talking about an elephant and M&Ms as well as Tinkerbell paper, which tipped us off she had already been downstairs snooping!

The kids were excited to see what Santa had brought. Conner opened every square box looking for his Wii from Santa. Gavin was super excited about the candy canes (the only thing he had asked for for Christmas). 

We ate breakfast of Brian's dad's casserole and Laura's mom's Swedish rye bread. The kids had helped make the rye bread, and Gavin put his own tough on it of a clump on top, so we chose his loaf to eat, and he was proud. 

We spent the day playing with new toys. Brian getting the best job of lying on the couch and being the patient for the doctors. Although he did have to endure a lot of shots! Such a great Christmas!

Christmas Eve

We attended the Children's service at our church. As part of the service, they had live animals as part of the stable. After church, the kids could pet them, which the kids thought was pretty cool. 

I thought them handing out glow sticks for the candlelit portion of the service was genius! A great Christmas Eve service. 

We then went home and made our own pizzas followed by the cookie, milk, and carrot traditional arrangement. Then off to bed to let sugarplums dance in their heads. 

Star Wars Trash

We celebrated Christmas with Papa and Mimi (Brian's parents). The boys got light sabers, and Brian made them the most adorable Star Wars costumes out of trash bags. Coming from a person who isn't star war crazy, I think he did a phenomenal job!