As I sit here writing I am just thinking how fast time passes! I just can't seem to wrap my brain around the idea that it is almost February of 2015! How does time get away from me like that?
Christmas was, once again, really great! The kids are so much fun the older they get! I love that they really enjoy all of the Christmas traditions! They are able to more fully enjoy the true meaning of Christmas too--meaning Christ's birth.
This Christmas we were able to spend a lot of time with our two families! Jordan, Jared's brother who lives in Japan, came home for the month and we spent a lot of time with him. The kids miss him when he is gone. We also got to spend a lot of time with my family. It was good to get all of us together again and just enjoy each other!
Christmas morning was a blast! I think I even heard Ryan say that she heard Santa Claus come down the chimney! We had the kids sleep in the basement family room so that Jared and I could set some things up in each of their rooms. Jared and I worked through the night practically to get our gifts for them ready... it was worth losing the sleep though!! We put a swinging chair in Ryan's room, and a climbing wall in McCallum's room! It was a big hit!!
The kids also got a lot of great things from Santa, grandparents, and cousins. It was a great time! At one point in the morning, Mac opened a box of power tools. Ryan took one look at the tools and said, "great, I can't wait till he cuts me to pieces!" I was giggling, however, once the batteries were in the saw... the first thing Mac did was walk up to Ryan and pretend to saw her arm off! I was laughing so hard when Ryan looked up at me and rolled her eyes and just said, "Told ya."
Ryan and Mac both got a dress up costume, Mac a knight, Ryan Frozen. Mac got a remote control car, the tools, some drums from Grammie and Papa, some cowboy boots and a skateboard from Nana and Papa, and a bunch of other things. Ryan got some books, a little bird that chirps, an art set, a Karaoke Machine from Grammie and Papa, a baby doll with clothes and other odds and ends from Nana and Papa, and lots of other fun things too. It was a big hit!
I got Jared this Axel bar. It's a weighted bar but it has a really fat grip so it is used a little bit different than a normal lifting bar. You cradle it in your arms for lifts often times... anyway he loved it! We also got a climbing rope and some 45 pound bumper plates from the Zollinger's to add to our little garage gym! It's awesome! Plus, Jared gave me a speaker to play music on in the gym as well as a sweet set of running clothes for the cold weather! Now I am set for working out in my garage gym all year round and I can still run the dog in style! Thanks Honey! (There are no pictures of me because I am always behind the camera!)
Yikes, the only pictures of me are some of the most terrible things I've ever seen! But look at those happy kids! So much fun and so much to be thankful for!
All the cousins on the Zollinger side going crazy over the gifts that Grammie and Papa gave them.
Mac in his cool new boots! Every boy needs some of these!! Thanks Nana and Papa
Ryan loved this little baby! She is such a natural little mommy! Every day before school she makes sure I am told to watch her while she is gone!
Jared and I got some tools from the Park's and a shop vac! That's going to really come in handy!
Even the dog was happy!
