Christmas 2015

Christmas 2015 was a special one for our little family. I did not want to travel with a newborn during the holidays so we opted to stay in Chubbuck and start our own traditions. We talked to Kate about Christmas and she learned about Jesus and why we celebrate Christmas, but she also caught on to the idea of Santa very quickly. Christmas Eve we had pizza and watched a movie together on the Love-Sack. When it was time for bed this girl was way too excited to sleep. Our power also went out right before bed time when she was helping Joe wrap my present. We had to pull out flashlights which I think energized her more. She was so excited and curious that she didn't fall asleep until 1030. Harvey must have sensed her excitement and he wouldn't go to sleep either. 

Christmas morning arrived and Kate woke up early and was ready to open presents. We thought we had a few more years of sleeping in on Christmas but boy we were wrong. 

Santa brought each of the kids one gift, he brought them each a horse on a stick thing.

Kate is obsessed with Disney princesses right now. She has known all of them by name since before she was 2 years old, so naturally this little girl needed a princess backpack.

Santa pancakes

 We bought a trampoline for our family at the beginning of Novemember, Kate was with us when we bought it and she knew that she had to wait until Christmas to get to jump on it. When she was little we use to pass her over the fence to our neighbors who had a trampoline. This little girl was very excited to get one. Oh did I mention that we set it up in our garage. We have an extra deep 3rd car garage that we don't us except to store some things, and thought it would be a great place to keep the trampoline in the winter. This winter has been so cold here in Idaho, and some days it is too cold to jump even bundled up in our snow clothes. It has been a fabulous gift for our family to enjoy.

Joe was a trooper and started setting it up Christmas Eve after the kids were asleep. I love that on the box it said "Some assembly required" They were not joking, he stayed awake for the next 4+ hours getting it to the point where Kate would be able to jump on it in the morning. Tom and John came over Christmas afternoon and helped put the netting on it. We have learned that the 3 most dreaded words for a parent to hear on Christmas Eve is "some assembly required"

Johns parents and siblings came over Christmas day. Kate loved having someone to jump with. She literally jumped all day. When one adult was tired they would switch out another adult who would go jump with Kate. Kate said some pretty great things that day. At night she told me that jumping was hard, and that jumping made her legs tired. She slept very peacefully that night so the trampoline did its job of wearing her out.

trampoline in progress

Family picture

Kate went to the dollar store and picked out a gift for Harvey, this smart girl talked me into getting him 2 firemen hats. 

He is so small that his Santa hat doesn't even fit him

His size in comparison to a Christmas stocking. Not his Christmas stocking, I'm working on his stocking and Kate's still.