Christmas is my favorite time of the year! I love the lights, the music, the decorations, and most of all the increase in love and kindness felt throughout the world. The past few years we have done the 12 days of Christmas, which has been a lot of fun and has really helped in feeling the Christmas spirit. This year we talked about it early in the month and selected a family. . . and then mom dropped the ball. I let the first day come and go and it would have been the 3rd day of Christmas by the time I remembered. Oh well we thought, next year. However, can I just say that it made a difference. It just never really felt like Christmas :( Well, next year mom will not drop the ball!!

Still, Santa did make his way to our house, and Matthew was so excited to finally get an electric toothbrush!

Santa brought Matthew a remote control car, what a lucky boy! He also got a "pro scooter", as he calls it, although I am not entirely sure of the difference. This he tells everyone was from his Aunt Carrel (go Carrel . . . you sure are earning lots of brownie points this year!) See, Walmart had the best price for this scooter and was one of just a couple stores even selling it. However, all the Walmarts anywhere near here had been sold out since Thanksgiving. So, Carrel saved the day by finding one and shipping it to me. The kids all recognized the box and new it was from Carrel so on Christmas day when I told Matthew it was for him he figured it was from Carrel. He doesn't quite understand that I paid for it, just that she sent it to him. Oh well. For now, Carrel is the favorite Aunt.

Amee wanted anything to do with gymnastics. She told Santa she wanted uneven bars. Instead he brought her a new leotard and an outfit and beam for her American Girl doll. Tom and I gave her a balance beam. She will have to wait until she has her own house for the uneven bars :)

Zeke is getting so big and is more concerned about style these days that he is about toys. Santa brought him a new pear of football gloves, very nice ones I might add. And from mom and dad he got new basketball shoes and clothes. He also got the new Madden 25 xbox game. He did not think he was getting the shoes and he was very excited!

Now for Sami, she only wanted two things. . . Beats by Dr Drey and Ugg boots. . . well, she got one of the two, Beats. The Uggs will have to wait until they are the only things she wants (I however did get a pair of Uggs and I am sure they will find their way to her room). Santa brought her jewelry, which she was happy about, and surprised as well.

Sami loves musics, and that might be an understatement. If she is not listening to music she is playing the piano. Sometimes I get the feeling that she can't function without music. Needless to say, she was very excited about her headphones. I have told her that I am going to do random bedroom and bathroom checks, and if they are not clean then I take her headphones until they are clean. This is going to be fun!

Jake is such an easy boy to please and he never really wants much, haha. Actually, he has learned that we won't buy the kinds of things he really wants (iphone, laptop, ipad, etc.) So he just tells us to buy what ever we want. He did tell us he wanted the new NBA2k14 and Call of Duty, Ghost. . . so that is what he got, along with some new basketball clothes and socks.

Matthew riding his scooter around the house like it's a race track! Our house has lots of doors, making it a perfect race track around the kitchen and piano room. . . connected by the laundry room. Matthew will literally do circles around the house on his scooter. Which is fine with me as long as it has not been outside. Once he takes it outside he will no longer be allowed to ride it through the house. Hopefully this day will come sooner than later. 

Merry Christmas everyone!!!! We love and miss you all!!!

We have recently celebrated Matthew's 6th birthday and Amee's 9th birthday. I am not much for letting my kids have birthday parties, but since Matthews birthday was on a Friday I let him invite a couple of friends over to play. Amee was such a fun sister and played all sorts of games with the kids. 

As you can see Matthew asked for a Minion cake. It was actually very easy and fun to make. All of his friends were impressed, which was fun for me :)

Matthew is getting so big and he is so full of life. He loves doing anything on wheels, with a ball, or with his brothers. And he can always seem to amaze me with his natural instincts and abilities. He is also so sweet and loves to make others happy. 

Thanks to Amee Matthew got breakfast in bed. This is something I used to do, but it has become more difficult on school days over the years, but Matthew was so excited that his sister thought to do this for him.

This is a video of Matthew LAST year, 2012. It is not the best recording, but still fun to watch. At the end you see him stand up on his motorcycle. In this video he is 4.

Happy birthday Matthew!!

And Amee, what to say about Amee. She is such a happy girl and is so kind to everyone. She is so forgiving of others and just wants to make others happy. She is also very brave and trusting. She will do anything you ask her to do, even if she is unsure or scared. She will try just about anything when we are at the lake, and just takes crashing in stride. 

For her birthday Amee wanted cheesecake, which Sami made. She is becoming quite the cook. I am sure you will all be so impressed with our singing!!!

Happy birthday Amee!!!

And what would Christmas be without ginger bread houses?????

Even Zeke and Sami had to do one. . . . and I of course helped. This is one of my favorite holiday activities. 

I need a better camera on my phone :(