Santa Came!

 I guess the kids were good enough because Santa came and brought presents to all of them!  (Also, that looks like a ton of presents, but it isn't, really- we just spread them out so they look impressive- it's all part of the Christmas magic!)

Bear got exactly what he wanted from Santa- a blue present and candy canes!  He was even happy that the blue present had duplo blocks inside for him to play with! (Also, note the basketball in his hand. We couldn't get him to put it down the whole time we were unwrapping...)

Santa came through on EJ's wish for her own bow and arrow!

Birdy got her very own Our Generation doll that she named Hannah.

Mom and Dad got Nerf guns. A mighty battle ensued and I may or may not have used one of my kids as a human shield in order to gather more ammo. Hey, a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do!

The easel the girls got was quickly re-purposed for target practice of all kinds. DMP also created a cardboard box shooting gallery in the garage playroom. Fun, cold times!

Birdy got another wish for a real tea set that she can drink out of. We had a little pre-breakfast (herb) tea party with Hannah and Bear.

Bear got a Thomas set where the trains run all by themselves! He and DMP have had so much fun making elaborate tracks for them for weeks now! Thanks Shellie Rabner for selling us the hand-me-down trains!

We got the best Christmas suprise- SNOW!  I wish we would have taken a pic later in the day- it really came down. We probably had an inch or so, which is a big deal in TX. The funny part is that we didn't even wear jackets the night before when we left to look at the Christmas lights!

This pic was taken about a week after Christmas, but EJ is thrilled with her new knitting loom set. Our friend Allie came and gave us lessons on how to make things. She has already made a hat for Birdy's Hannah doll with plans for many more knitted gifts to come!

We had the Elders over for Christmas day. It was fun- we had biscuits and gravy, because one of them has a family tradition of eating that on Christmas Day.  It was really good. We topped dinner off with even more chocolate fondue.