Christmas 2012!

We had our first Christmas in our new home.  Nana and Grandma Marci (my Mom) stayed the night with us on Christmas Eve.  The kids didn't wake up to terribly early, which was nice since we were up late.  They were really excited to see what Santa had left for them and if they had been good.  "Og" our Elf was a big excitement for the kiddos this year.  This was the first year that they really understood the concept.  Every morning Sebastian would come running downstairs and start looking for Og right away and get so excited when he found him.  He and Abby would tell each other all month that Santa and Og were watching and they were going to be put on the naughty list if they weren't nice.  On Christmas Eve we had them tell Og goodbye and that they would see him next year.  We wanted to make sure that Sebastian wouldn't be heart broken Christmas morning when he couldn't find him.  It all worked out well and they realized they must have been good because they were filled with joy when they saw all of the gifts.  Santa left Gabe and Sebastian each a bicycle, he left Abby a power wheels car, and Austin got Chicago Bears bedding.  After looking at what Santa had left for them it was time to move on to family gifts.  It started out slow and organized and before we knew it it was complete chaos!  I don't even remember seeing them open up half of their presents.  It was crazy, they were zipping thru presents all at the same time while we were being left in the dust trying to get the toys out of packages.  We need to come up with a better system for sure!!!

Austin's favorite present......iPhone 5!!!

and Bam the unwrapping is done!

Austin set all of his stuff up on his bed for display.  He has done this since he was a little kid.  Unfortunately I didn't get to set up the little kids stuff, they were to quick to play with all of their toys bouncing back and fourth between all of them.

Winding down time while I prepare our yummy Christmas dinner.  I made my 2nd turkey dinner and it turned out fabulous!  Getting hungry just thinking about it.  

My Honey and me!

Christmas Eve at our house!

We had a wonderful Christmas Eve!  Everyone came over to our house for dinner and our traditional White Elephant Gift Exchange.  What a hoot!  We had 22 people participate in the exchange and had some great laughs!

We found these cups and thought they would be great!  They were a hit!  Scott loved them and planned to use them at a company party.  :)

Of course we had to use the picture of Vinnie again in some way and this is what we came up with.  Last year Mia opened the framed picture and wasn't to pleased.  Noah traded her and was very excited about his gift and displayed it on his desk at home.  This year she opened the present that had this T-shirt in it with the same picture, again wasn't too pleased.  Noah did some finagling so he could take the shirt from her and she could open another one, it worked.  He was now excited to have the shirt to go with his framed picture of his Cousin Vinnie.  BUT now it was Erika's turn to open a present and she stole the shirt right away from Noah.  :(  so sad..

Abby somehow got an oversized toothbrush..

We had so much fun and laughed so hard.

After everyone left we gave the kiddo's their Christmas Eve presents which of course were pajamas and slippers.

The kids went to bed and Santa came and did his thing.

Merry Christmas!

My baby is in the Nutcracker!

My baby girl loves to dance.  She had her first performance, The Nutcracker.  She was so thrilled to perform on stage.  She was super excited to get her hair curled and to wear make up.  She had a dress rehearsal which lasted for hours so she and her cute little friend needed to do something to pass the time by watching a movie on the iPad while waiting for their part.  Abby is so funny, she has a great smile until you tell her to smile for the camera and then it is completely forced.

I love this photo, it is a little hard to see but you can see Abby kneeling on the top step watching the rehearsal.

Here is the program to her first performance.  She performed in 3 different shows.  Monday, Thursday, and Saturday.

Opening Night..

This is a cast photo, Abby is in the bottom right corner.

Beautiful little Angel :)

Grandpa Jim, Nana, Grandma, Daddy, Austin, and I went to watch your performance.

Waiting to go on stage...

On stage...  (It was hard to get a good picture from backstage where I was standing)

Abby is the little Angel on the left of the small group.

She was really excited to receive roses after her performance.

She did great all 3 nights!  She loves dancing!