Christmas (finally). . .AND a whole lot more!

We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas! We had a wonderful, yet busy time. A coworker happened to want to work Christmas Eve night, so I didn't even work the WHOLE week, which made it even better! We celebrated Christmas earlier in the week at Grandma Venita's, she got all of the kids a pillow pet (which they have been wanting FOREVER!) and we also did the Nativity.We had our own Christmas with the kids at our house Christmas morning. Lauren got a barbie house (which ended up being huge, much bigger then expected), a fishing pole, and stocking stuff. Courtney got musical instruments and bath toys. Brady got Lego's, an Erector set, a fishing pole, and stocking stuff. Then we headed to Grandma Jenny and Papa Greg's house for a yummy breakfast including Jenny McMuffins and other scrumptious stuff. Jenny and Greg got the kids pillow pets too! Brady sounds like a little info commercial for them now. The kids have LOVED them and even slept on them for a week. Lauren got a boy barbie (the beast/prince) and a barbie car. Brady got a Star Wars computer to play abc, math games, ect. Courtney got a cute little doll (she gave it a love too right after opening it - so cute!). They all got a cute outfit and new PJ's. Brock and I got a new cooler, family movie bucket and game. Papa Mark came over to our house later in the afternoon and brought some fun things too. Brady got this (see below) and a 2 little storm troopers. Courtney got some clothes, diapers and wipes. Lauren got some clothes, slippers, and Ya ya made a Tinkerbell blanket for her. The kids had a really fun time this Christmas, and we even had a lot less fighting for one day;)Then we had my mom, sister Elaina, Lance and their little guy Isaac over for a turkey Christmas dinner - my first attempt at turkey believe it or not. It was quite delicious, but made a lot of leftovers. I think I am done with turkey for a while;)

Other December stuff. . .

We celebrated Courtney's birthday at my mom's house. I thought she at least needed her own birthday cake for her first birthday! She had tons of fun eating it and making a mess of it. The cousins had a blast watching her too. We went on the Polar Express to the North Pole with other Make-a-Wish kids. Grandma Venita got to go with us too. We all rode in 3 huge tour buses, had lunch at McDonald's, and then boarded the train for a short 30 min ride to Santa's house where we had cookies, hot chocolate and Santa even got the kids a present!We made gingerbread houses (our yearly tradition) with my mom. The kids loved it and could hardly wait to eat some of the candy off of it.The kids had a blast when they got a secret gift for the 12 days of Christmas from a secret elf. It made the mornings quite fun!

Lauren and Brady both had their school programs. Lauren actually participated this time and it was SUPER cute! Brady did a wonderful job too, singing all the words and doing the actions too.

We had Lauren's star raising party at Make-a-Wish. It was a couple days before Christmas, so a busy time of year. I made a movie/slide show of Lauren's whole experience from just before her diagnosis, thru chemo, hair loss, then to our exciting finale. . .Disney World! It was a very emotional movie at the beginning and I couldn't help but bawl, but it was super exciting at the end. Her wish granters, Jan and Lindsay were amazing! They made yummy appetizers, brought drinks and a princess cake for the party. I think it turned out wonderful!