Christmas 2013

Christmas was SO fun this year and crazy busy! We had a lot of fun activities. We did truth in the tinsel with the kids for a 2nd time, which they adore. Truth in the tinsel is a daily craft and bible lesson walking your children through the story of the birth of Christ, it is REALLY good and I have really enjoyed it and so have the kids, even Reiter joined us for several crafts this year.We also took the kids to the Jellystone park christmas light show, which they totally love. After you drive through the lights there is a Santa Village that has farm animals and inflatables and a small train. Sofia and Reiter chose to ride the train and Averi decided to do the big trampoline with the bungee and loved it! We also hosted a "happy birthday Jesus" party! We had lots of friends come over and ate a cake with candles for Jesus, the kids exchanged small gifts with each other and they each did a craft. It was very fun and is a tradition we will continue! We also had our Elf on the Shelf. His name is "Jingle Bells" and the children think He is hilarious. We dont go all out with him but we do put him out every morning. Some of the things we really loved were having him make snow angels in powdered sugar, drive the Barbie convertible, and have a tea party with all of their stuffed animals. He really is a fun tradition! Averi was also in a Christmas musical with our church childrens choir. It was her first experience with choir and she did REALLY well. She was adorable and so grown up up there and did a great job. It was really fun and we are very proud of her. On Christmas Eve we went to the Christmas Eve service at our church that was very nice. Averi and Sofia went into the service with us and did really well.Our pastor gave each child a birthday candle to use the next morning and on their food before they opened their gifts. It was really cute the next morning because the kids all remembered their birthday candles (we had extras for our nephew addison and Reiter to use) and they used them on pop tarts before they opened gifts, it was very sweet! Christmas Eve night we went to Nashville and joined Kevins parents at their church for another service, which was lovely. Then went back to Nana and Papas and the kids opened their gifts from them, they are always royally spoiled by nana and papa and this year was awesome for them. The girls each got Nabis and Reiter got a train set with an automatic train- he loves it and Fischer got a small "tree house" that he can crawl through, it is his favorite toy! Christmas morning the kids opened a few more gifts at Nana and Papas and we headed to Kevins Grannys. I love Christmas morning at his Grannys. This was the 1st year without his peepaw and the 1st year in Grannys new condo but despite all of that it was a beautiful morning. The house was packed with Aunts, Uncles, grandparents and cousins and most importantly laughter. All of the kids received a ton of gifts and had so much fun! Lastly we headed to our home where "santa" had left the kids gifts. They couldnt run in the house fast enough! The girls recieved new Barbies and a Barbie Dream House and Reiter recieved a bike. Plus a few more things :) I really felt like we were able to soak in this christmas without rushing around and it was perfect! So thankful to God for his many blessings!