A Merry Christmas Indeed!

This year was everything we thought it would be.

It exceeded all of our expectations.

The festivities actually started a day or so before as we went down to Mesquite to visit with my sister Jenn and her boys. As usual, Layton was a dream with Kurt. He never leaves his side and the twinners LOVED running down the hall with Aden.Can we talk about how much I love these two girls? And let's talk about how skinny my sister is getting! Good job Jenn. You're an inspiration to me. I'll get there. Someday. Until then, I'm happy just to relish in her success.

Later that week, we had dinner with Chase's Aunt Karen and family. Once again they spoiled us with amazing food, yummy treats and the kiddos very first Christmas gifts. They gave Kurt a Cars puzzle mat. He has never actually watched the entire movie. He just likes Mater. He affectionately calls him "MeMe" .

After he opened it, Weston and Veronica showed him how to build a tower.It's a right of passage for boys. He loved it. Then they helped him put the puzzle together. "Night Guys!"
The twins were confused as to which was actually their gift; the wrapping paper, the bow or the darling electronic books Karen found for them.
Thanks again Porras family!

On Christmas Eve we went visiting family and then even though it was well past his bedtime, Dad broke the rules (gasp!) and let the Big Boy stay up late to help make honey cookies.
Look how good he is at folding his arms when the BOSCH is on. Thanks for that tip Miriam!
After that we skyped with Grandma Julie and Grandpa Kurt in Pennsylvania. Vance thought seeing Grandpa Kurt dance was the funniest thing he'd ever seen. Kurt's really catching on to it and he loves skyping with "Mema and Papa" as well as Shay and her family. I wish we could have Christmas all together, but I'll settle instead for a impromptu family reunion this summer. I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

This year we saw a whole new type of Christmas. The kind where you see for the first time Christmas through the wide eyes of your first born.

Kurt was a little bewildered at first but soon caught on. He woke up later than the twins (another indication he hasn't quite jumped on the Christmas train yet). So I watched the squirmy ones on their brand new slide (Thanks Grandm....I mean Santa!) while Mom and Chase went to get him. Hence the reason he is suddenly wearing 6-12 month pants. Needless to say, I quickly found the package of new pjs Santa had left and he opened that one first.

Video Kurt on Christmas Morning

That morning was quiet and peaceful. We actually had to pull Kurt away from a toy or two (he kept getting everyone's toothbrushes that were opened and hording them for himself) and redirect him to another present. This year we had to be on schedule to be on time for church. It kept us moving, that's for sure.

The twins loved their activity cube. I can't pull Vance away from that or the slide. This one is a mover and very, very busy. I love to see the concentration on his face. Priceless.
Dad was helpful in unwrapping the boys' toys. Kurt got this remote control car from "Papa Bill" (Great-Grandpa Shillig) and I'm not sure who was enjoying it more....

I may or may not have had to tell Chase to give the controllers back to the little ones.

Kurt loved it! The first thing he did was utilize their new slide and took it off roading.
It also served a second purpose of entertaining Mr. Move It. Vance couldn't get enough of it. Never mind the fact that he couldn't actually catch it. It didn't matter. Can't blame him for trying!
Video of Vance chasing the rc truck

We helped each other open gifts and enjoyed them together.
I had found a tutorial on Pinterest (more on that later)showing how to turn your photos into coloring pages. I printed out a bunch of them and put them in some heavy duty sheet protectors. Couple that with these new fa-dangled dry erase markers and you have a great quiet book! I took some of Kurt's favorite photos of him and dad and the excavator, the kids in their Halloween get up and just some fun ones of family members, mixed with some church and construction pages and put them together in a book.
He loved it! He sat right next to me, would color on his page and hand me colors for mine. "Mom. De-da (draw) tactor. Yellow? De-da Dadda purple". Yes sir. It was so fun and I'm quite impressed Once we were done we wiped the pages clean and left them to enjoy again and again (though I will say the crayons made a bit of a mess in your hand).

Other than that, the kids played with their activity cube, the trucks and I had to peel them away from the slide just to get them ready for church.
Even after church was over they each made a beeline to it. We are for sure getting good use out of it. Even if we're still learning not to "help" our brothers and sisters go down the slide.

The kids were so warn out after a big morning of gifts, play time and an hour of church. We had to put Sissy in her highchair by the door so that Kurt could entertain her while she ate just so she wouldn't fall asleep on us.

Video of Sissy's funny lunch

All in all, it was a very merry Christmas indeed!