Our Family Christmas

Since we're traveling to New Mexico to celebrate Christmas with our families, we wanted to celebrate Christmas with our little family before we left.  We haven't been home for Christmas for some time now and we're just itching to get back.  Our little ones will become reacquainted with our family and even meet a few members that have since been added.  Plus they will get a chance to participate in all of the traditions that we were raised to treasure.  It will be a great trip full of memories and love!

Older brother couldn't have picked a better gift to give to his younger sister.

I take it that they like their gifts.

I can just bite him. Seriously he's that cute.

The scarf was a present that I opened before the picture was taken. I do not sleep with scarfs on. :)

Do you spy the rock on my left hand? Ethan scored that at his school store just for little old me.

I love Eli's face in this picture. 

It's as if he is saying, "They got me slippers. Why slippers?"

National Christmas Tree

Another family activity to celebrate the Christmas season included a visit to the National Christmas Tree.

It was FREEZING that day so we weren't there long, but we did get a quick a visit with Santa in and located the Christmas tree that was adorned with ornaments from our home state.

Elmer Antics and Advent Activities

 

Polar Express movie night

Had to be on that side of your neck?!

Eli woke up with a fever and had a strange golf ball size mass on the right side of his neck.  After an ER visit, blood work and an ultrasound, he was diagnosed with Lymphadenitis.  Even though antibiotics and Tylenol were ordered, Eli had to be admitted to hospital because the infected nodes were sitting right on the shunt tubing.  His Neurosurgeon wanted to make sure that the infection didn't cause his shunt to become infected and that the mass didn't grow in size.  Thankfully after three days, his fever was long gone, no signs of infection elsewhere and the mass had reduced in size.  We were sent home and after about 10 days on antibiotics, his neck is back to normal.  During the entire hospital visit, Eli was such a doll.  He is so sweet and just takes it all in without a fuss.  Except when he is getting an IV.  But who can blame him?!

Santa Clause was visiting the pediatric floor and he popped in to say hello!

School Breakfast with Santa and Musical Play

Pancake Breakfast with Santa

Musical Play

Ethan was a singing elf!!

Night at the National Harbor

      Now that we've entered the month of December, we have started on our advent calendar.  Every year we do something everyday to celebrate the Christmas Season.  Half of the items are fun activities that we can do as a family while the other half of them are things that we can do for other people.  On this day we got to do a fun family activity at the National Harbor. The older kiddos got to go to the ICE! event which is a huge building filled with amazing ice statues and ice slides. The younger kiddos got to walk (Lexie runs) around the harbor and look at all of the pretty lights on the shops and boat houses.  Afterwards we met up for the Christmas Tree light show and some yummy dinner at Potbelly.  It was nice to have one night where we weren't running from one activity to another, and one night where we get to be more like friends to the kiddos than boring, always saying no type of parents.

Elmer the Elf is back!!

This is the third year that Elmer has graced us with his presence.

 Being how he just got back from the North Pole,

 he had to start off the Christmas season with his North Pole breakfast. 

The kids love seeing him every day and I have to admit he is pretty fun to have around.

Only when he's not making any messes, that is! ;)

Snowman Pancakes with Grinch Santas

She leaned right over to kiss him which made me so happy that I had the camera out!

She loves her little brother and by his expression he loves her too! 

 

Rice Krispie Christmas Trees

Gobble Gobble!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving!  Our good friends, the Torres Family, were nice enough to stop by and spend their Thanksgiving with us. Buy nice enough, I mean they unwilling relented to my guilt trips and stopped by on their way to visit family down south.  It was a short visit, but we enjoyed it nonetheless. They're moving all the way across the country, so we had to see them one last time before they moved. It was a lovely Thanksgiving, especially since we ate pretty much the entire time. 

We had the normal Thanksgiving feast and the leftovers were abundant. 

Just a tid bit- Lexie was born on the 23rd of December. The hospital released me on the 24th of December so I could spend Christmas with my babies. Seeing how we were dealing with a newborn baby in the NICU who was about to have surgery and I'm recovering from giving birth myself, Christmas dinner was going to be the nearest Chinese restaurant that was delivering.  Come Christmas Day, Amanda delivered half of their Christmas meal to us. Isn't that the sweetest thing you've ever heard! She said it would be a crime to eat take-out on Christmas Day.  It still makes me tear up when I think about it.

Great friends are hard to come by, but once you have them you try hard to never let them go. 

( ^^ That was one of my lines that I used on Amanda into coming to see me ;) )