Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas from our family to yours! We spent Christmas with Mike's family in Chamberlain. We were able to snap a few family photos. I thought they turned out pretty well!

We usually open presents on Christmas Eve. We decided to go to church first, eat, and then open presents. The kids were itching to open presents all day.

Mark and the kids organized the presents into piles. They were pretty proud of themselves. They handed the presents out to everyone when their turn came up.

We decided that we'd buy one toy for each kid. They have so many toys already and I'd rather buy them things that we can do as a family. One of their presents from us was a family pass to the Washington Pavillion. They have a lot of neat activities for kids. We will also get them a pass to the pool this summer.

We let the youngest go first and the oldest go last. Lucky Riley! She was pretty happy with her wedding Barbie Dolls from Mom and Dad.

Mia received some cute clothes from Grandma and Grandpa.

Ethan put a light saber on his list. It lights up and makes noise. 

Uncle Mark is a Lego freak. I think he passed his obsession to Ethan. All Ethan talks about are Lego's.

Mike is obsessed with the Miami Dolphins. Doesn't he look cute?

I'm obsessed with make-up. Thank you Mark for the new Naked 3 eyeshadow!

Grandma and Grandpa bought the kids the new Disney Infinity game. They've had fun playing it so far. 

I gave each of the kids $20 and let them pick out presents for each other. They had such a fun time buying presents for one another. They were even more excited to watch each other open them. Mia had Ethan and she bought him a Star Wars mask and a Spiderman DVD.

He really liked his presents!

Ethan had Riley and he bought her the Frozen dolls, Elsa and Anna.

She really liked her presents too!

Riley had Mia. She bought her a doctor's kit and a little Doc McStuffin sign that she can write her name on.

Mia also liked her gift! We will definitely do this again next year.

Grandma and Grandpa bought each one a sleeping bag and a set of pajamas. They used their sleeping bags that night. I thought they were a really neat gift!

Riley saw this Cinderella dress-up kit at JCPenney's and carried it around the store. Grandma Andrea told her she couldn't buy it for her that day but surprised her with it for Christmas.

Mia is also starting to get a little into Lego's. Mark bought her some Lego's to put together.

Mark bought Ethan a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Lego set. 

They all received coloring books and markers. 

Tom and Andrea bought me some coffee. One of my most favorite things ever!

The girls are obsessed with sharpie markers. I bought them a huge package thinking they could share. It looks like it's going well, right?

Mike and I bought Mia a mermaid Barbie set. She saw it at Target and just had to have it.

Mike and I bought Ethan a TMNT Lego set. He absolutely loves putting Lego's together.

Christmas went really fast this year! We went ice fishing for a bit while we were in Chamberlain. (The kids and I lasted 10 minutes. It was pretty boring.) Mike and Tom were out there for a couple of hours and caught one fish. We ate some good food and relaxed the entire weekend. Before we knew it, it was time to head back. I hope your holidays were fun and relaxing!

Party Time!

 Ethan and Mia wanted to celebrate their 6th birthday at a pool. We decided to rent a room at a local hotel with a cool kid pool. The kids had a blast swimming.

 Ethan was getting pretty good at walking across the floatie things. That's him sitting on the wood log. He liked to hang from the rope and then start swinging back and forth. He'd then knock every single kid off the floatie things that happened to be hanging onto the rope. It was pretty funny.

 Both sets of grandparents came along with Steve & Sarah, Uncle Bernie, and Billy and Rachel.

 The kids were brave and went down the water slide. Mike and Steve were at the bottom to catch them.

We went to Hy-Vee a few days before their party and I let them pick out their cakes. Ethan wanted a cupcake cake with the Avengers on it. Mia chose a cookie cake with Ariel. I thought they both turned out well. They were happy with their choices.

We ate pizza while the kids were swimming and then went back to the room to open presents. Everyone was so generous. They each got a fishing rod.

They also got some art supplies. They love coloring! 

They were pretty pooped by the end of the night. They all slept really well. We woke up the next morning and went swimming one last time and then headed for home.