Christmas Day

Christmas morning, the kids woke us up around 7:30, and they couldn't wait to see their gifts. Keith woke Keeley up because he didn't want her to miss out on the fun family time.

The kids always seem to go to sleep on Christmas Eve without putting their stockings out, so the next morning, they are never quite sure where to look for their stuff. Sareny was excited to get a karoake machine.

Finley looked at the stuff in her stocking for a while before realizing the cool castle on the floor was also hers.

Sareny got this cool teeny-bopper magazine, featuring One Direction.

Sareny and Isaac's school had a holiday gift shop, and I gave them money to buy some presents there. Isaac especially was so cute--he was so excited for what he got me. Earlier in the month, Keith asked him if they needed to go shopping to get something to go with what he bought me there, and Isaac said, "No, I know she will love it!" On Christmas morning, he searched under the tree to find my present, and then sat and watched me open it. I gotta say, I was pretty excited to open it and see what it was!

It was a giant pink gem! I honestly don't think I have ever gotten a present that I love more than that one. What a sweet boy to plan so carefully for his mommy. I am always going to keep and treasure that jewel.
Isaac had also drawn Finley's name in our family drawing, and he searched to find his present to her and then wanted to watch her open that too.

Sareny and Finley both got dresses from Grandma Nancy, and Sareny was excited that hers was red. Actually, Keeley got a gorgeous dress from Grandma Nancy too, only I don't have a picture of it.

Finley got these adorable boots from mommy and daddy.

And then we were down to the last present. Isaac was acting a little bit naughty, and not too excited to open his last gift.

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Until he opened it up and saw that it was exactly what he was hoping for--an ipod touch!

Then he was a pretty happy boy.

After letting the dust fly from all the new gifts, the kids immediatly started trying out the new stuff. Isaac and Sareny both got these dinosaur excavation kits that came complete with goggles, and they all looked so cute!

The kids had fun trying to get the bones out.

The rest of the day was spent cleaning up from the melee of Christmas morning, playing with new stuff, and Keith and I worked on a puzzle. I had forgotten that we like to do puzzles together! It was a really nice, relaxing Christmas day.
Unfortunately, when I tucked Sareny in bed that evening she told me her throat hurt, and she ended up having strep throat. Isaac was just getting over pink eye, which Finley ended up with on Christmas as well. I couldn't believe we had two of the most contagious illnesses in our house on Christmas day! If you say either of those ailments, people will run the other way. We had planned on going up to Grammy Jo's house on the 26th, but had to delay til the 27th so everybody could get on medication.

That's what sisters are for

I love how well the kids play together sometimes. Finley loves to get down and do whatever her big sister is doing. They sat and colored together for quite a while.

Such good friends!

And then for something you'll never believe...we opened up the Cars! All 120+ of them. The kids arranged them into a long line.

We all picked out our favorite(s).

Some of our Lightning McQueens.

One benefit of opening them up--it is now far less important to me that we have every single one. In fact, the other day at the store we saw Burnt McQueen, and did we buy it? No we did not. Baby steps.

A clean toy room!

We have toys. A lot of toys. And lately, I have just been getting completely sick and tired of said toys being strewn from heck to breakfast all over my house. I don't know how so many of you out there manage to have it all together and keep your houses orderly and presentable, but this is something we struggle with over here. My kids can take a clean house and turn it into a CPS case faster than I can use the bathroom.

So it came down to this: either throw away all of the toys, or find some way to lock them away so that I can have control. We came up with the (rather expensive) solution of purchasing plastic bins with lids from Walmart and gigantic wardrobes with shelves from Ikea. And so, $600 and some serious hard labor later, I have a newly organized toy room.

Our new rule is they can each play with one bin at a time. If they want to play with something else, they have to clean up the first bin before they can get another out. And again, without the locks there is no way this system would work around here--not with these two around.

I am mad at how blurry this picture came out, but it is still cute.

Sareny's teaparty

Sareny had fun today lining up all of her toys along the top of the balcony. She said it was a teaparty. She was very careful and didn't even drop any over the edge. Some of her dolls were "lotsa tired" and were sleeping. Sareny was very proud of her work. Looks like fun!