where our love grows: CHRISTMAS DAY IN THE MORNING

The kiddos were so excited to come down Christmas morning to see if Santa had brought them presents. We left him cookies & milk the night before and the girls were amazed to find that he had eaten all the cookies and drank the milk. Hollyn was actually a little disappointed..."Mommy he eat them alllll!" Guess she was hoping for a nibble. LOL! When we visted Santa Hollyn was very specific and asked him for a PINK flute. We finally figured out that what she wanted was a recorder like Andrew's. Jessa Li told Santa she wanted a drum and Josie said a piano. Apparently the girls were planning on heading out on tour as a band! LOL! So that morning the girls were extra excited to see that Santa had come through and found the perfect gifts for them! Andrew was excited to see all his suprises too! He loves Lord of the Rings and could not believe how many awesome things we found for him! It was a beautiful morning and so relaxing. We opened stockings first then enjoyed some cinnamon rolls for breakfast...yummo! Then Daddy read us the Christmas story from Luke 2 and we sang Away in a Manger and Happy Birthday to Jesus as Andrew opened up the Christmas Box to place Baby Jesus in our nativity. We are so blessed to celebrate the birth of our Savior and King! He is the reason for this season and we cherish these moments with our family to show each other love by giving gifts. With no place to go, we were happy to leisurly open all of our gifts and take the time to play with the kids and their new otys. We ended the morning with the girls following a toy "cookie" path down the stairs to the playroom where they found a new kitchen! They LOVE playing with it and we were so happy with how easy it went together! David was very sweet and gave me some brand new running shoes, my favorite perfume, and the complete collection of "As Time Goes By" which is one of my favorite old BBC shows! I was so thrilled! David was also very happy with his new Cubs sweatshirt and t-shirts and a mini Polaroid video camera which he has already used so much to capture little fun moments with the kiddos.

Merry Christmas!

Our family tradition: a new ornament every year. Andrew really liked the snowman made from a basketball, baseball, and soccerball. So cute!

The girls decided to play us a duet with their new instruments. Jessa cracked us up! She began by hitting the sticks together three times and then saying... "Hit it!" ahahaha! Have no idea where she learned that but it is PRICELESS!

Hollyn was sooooo excited! She LOVED it! She also is a hoot! She was playing with Jessa & me the other day, we were making some "music" - Jessa was drumming, I was rocking the maracas, and Hollyn was on the PINK flute, we stopped the jam session, and Hollyn shouts out, "Let's take it from the top!" Where are they getting this stuff?!? Seriously, they keep me giggling!

Can you tell we had to wake Andrew up to open gifts? The girls could not wait any longer. LOL! I think this must be a sign that he is beginning to enter the years of sleeping in past 7am. YES! Just hoping we can get the girls on that schedule soon too. :)

My loving husband and devoted father reading us the Christmas story.

Before Christmas break, Andrew's teacher allowed the students to earn "Christmas bucks" to use at an auction to purchase prizes for themself or family members. Andrew was sick with an ear infection, so he ended up having less chances to earn "money". The day of the auction I told him I knew that he wished he had more and that it was okay to not buy for us, but he could buy things for himself as he had earned the money by doing so well at school. My sweet son listened to my heart, but his heart was led in another direction. He decided to use ALL of his money on gifts for the girls and me. I was so teary-eyed and could hardly believe how blessed I am to have a son who thinks of others first and loves me so completely. He was soo excited for me to open this treasured gift full of fun things - lotion, shower gel, lip gloss. What a sweet boy! He didn't understand why I was crying and smiling at the same time. I told him, "There called happy tears buddy! Mommy is overwhelmed with your thoughtfulness!"