Christmas Eve...after the kiddos go to bed

I love Christmas. I love the magic and the Spirit and every bit of it.  I love the giving and the loving and the selflessness that comes with doing for others.  

As a parent, Christmas is even better than I ever thought as a kid. 

We spent the evening listening to music, putting toys together. And wrapping. And wrapping. I kind of procrastinated that part! It was awesome, and I loved it. Although, next year I WILL wrap before hand so we can watch a Christmas flick and go to bed early!

Because winters are so snowy and cold and we are stuck inside for so long, we decided to get the boys a trampoline.  My dad and bros helped Jeff put it together and then we had some fun on it...as much as we could considering we had a ceiling to watch out for!

All wrapped up:

The tree:

The stockings:

Our little family:

 So excited for the a.m.!

Gingerbread Houses

 We loved making gingerbread houses on Christmas Eve!!

Everyone really got into it and did such an awesome job.  Yay for Christmas traditions!

Jeff helped him with the frosting, but Ryder did the rest on his own:

Grandpa & Tave worked on one together:

Nonny Kare & West

Mckenon working on his:

Shawn adding the details:

Tave & Shawn were in a competition for #1 house, so funny!

I was there, taking pictures and enjoying it all:

Our finished village, pretty darn awesome:

Family Christmas Celebrations

My parents were able to come out here for Christmas!

We were SO excited. Since my parents were coming, Shawn & Mckenon came too, which meant we would ALL be together for the first time in about 4 years, YAY! 

Then Shar & Trav ended up going to AZ (it was his family's turn to have them, after all) and Chels & Rob were going to CA. What?!  What turned into an Abreu family reunion fell short about 10  members. 

But we made the best of it and had a fun Saturday planned where most of the travelers overlapped!

First on the agenda was an activity out, MINI GOLF. It's always a favorite and was indoors since the weather was awful!  

Then we hung out and relaxed! We did dinner, gift exchange, and the reading of the Christmas story. I love my family and wish we had had more time with all of us. It is great to have most of us together (sure did miss Chels and the kiddos)

Uncle Mckenon playing with Ryder. These uncles sure are loved. (and I couldn't get it in the photo, but they were playing princesses...so funny!)

My awesome parents with 6 of 10 grandkiddos.  

I think it's safe to say, the gift exchange was the kiddos favorite part! 

Nonny Kare & Callen:

More gift goodness:

The boys were THRILLED to get Lego Hero Factory guys.  I love that they are legos that stay together really well. And the boys have hours of endless fun combining the guys to make new ones.  

Family time is the best kind of time. I just love the holidays.

We have some family pics we took on Shar's camera that I will post asap.

Tave's Christmas Party

I had a big, HUGE mommy mess-up. 

Weston gets invited to a lot of Birthday parties (due to school and sports, he just knows more kids right now). Tave was finally invited to a party. and not just any party- his best friend, Michael's. He was SO thrilled and couldn't wait and talked about it the whole week before the party. It was a BIG deal to him.  

But... I was actually out of town on the day of the party and completely FORGOT to tell Jeff (who wasn't around for all the pre-birthday talk) about it.

I realized that night that Tave had missed it and I cried. Really, truly.  I felt like such a bad mom.  

I hoped that he would forget about it and just didn't bring it up. But he knew it was on a Saturday and when the next Saturday rolled around he was so excited  "Mom! Today's Saturday and Michael's party is on a Saturday, is it today?!!!"  

Um, no....I had to tell him.  And he cried and I cried again. Boo. Bad moment all around.

Here comes the good news.  Since he's been missing his friends and we missed the party they all went to,  we decided to throw our own special Christmas party for Tave.  

It was a hit and we had so much fun:

When they arrived, we colored gingerbread people pictures:

Then we played  "Jingle, Jingle, Bell" (duck, duck, goose)

the kids came up with all sorts of Christmas things to say.  Like "Reindeer, Reindeer, Santa" and "Christmas, Christmas, Present"  It was hilarious:

After the game, we had a gift exchange. Everyone brought a gift and we played Christmas music while they passed the gifts around the circle. When the music stopped they got to open the gift they were holding. They loved it!

Then, the yummiest part - Cookie decorating! Everyone took it very seriously and worked so hard on their gingerbread people:

We had a great time, and most of all, it made Tave feel special to have his own little party with his friends. 

Definitely a win for this mama!

Callen: 7 months

Callen's Stats

Height: 28inches

Weight: 18+ lbs

Takes 2-3 naps a day, each 1-2 hours long.

Sleeps 12 hours at night

Callen at 7 months:

He learned to roll from his tummy to his back. 

He loves being on his tummy and pushes himself in circles to get to all of his toys.

Loves playing wtih toys and chewing on everything

Loves bathtime and splashing. He gets so excited when he hears the water running for the bath!

He tried food for the first time! So far he loves rice cereal, oatmeal, applesauce, and pears. Not a huge fan of sweet potatoes.

He celebrated his first thanksgiving and got to spend time with Grandma & Grandpa D. He also met Uncle Johnny & Aunt Rachel. 

Still babbles constantly and smiles all the time.

Laughs and giggles for his brothers and lets them hold him.

 He absolutelely LOVES his crib and nap time.  He has a snuggle blankie that he loves and MUST have when he goes to sleep. It's this cute little monkey attached to a blanket.

He sucks his two fingers when he sleeps or is tired.

He is so content and happy and just the sweetest boy!

Dear Callen,

This month we have been able to reflect on those things that we are most grateful for. You are definitely one of those blessings. We feel so lucky and blessed  and grateful that our Heavenly Father sent  you to our  home.  Your smiles and  happy personality are a joy in our home and help to bring out the best in all of us.

You are learning and growing so quickly and we truly  feel it in honor to be a part of that.  

We love you, our beautiful, sweet littlest man.

Love,

Mommy, Daddy, & the bros

Visiting Santa!

Santa came to visit us at our ward Christmas party. 

It was nice that we didn't have to wait in line to see him. And he was so kind and sweet.  

The boys were super cute: