Ice skating

Zoe has been begging for what seems like forever to go iceskating.  Ever since she watched Frozen on ice.

Hope was pushed around by Kayli most of the time and loved it

 

Yiyi  was a bit too small to go around.  So she sat on the seal when it was around

Zoe loved it.  So much she wanted me to sign her up for lessons

 Zoe pushed Hope around a couple of times

 Chase brought a friend.  Chase was also a natural

 Hope had amazing balance on her skates, but put her on ice and she couldn't stand

 At the end Yiyi got to go around a couple of times

Christmas

We always try and make Christmas morning magical.  I LOVE setting everything up and making it just right for when they walk down the stairs.

 

 

 

 The first thing the kids see when they walk down the stairs. 

 

 

The girls loved their matching chairs with their names on it.

 

 

 Sister Zoe was photobombing

 

 

 Hope being silly

 

 

Zoe loved her new bean bag chair with her name on it

 



Chase got what we was hoping for a remote control car that could go 40 plus mph

 



 Yiyi did not want to leave her chair

 

 

 A new soccer ball from grandma and grandpa

 

 

 Parker got two pairs of new shoes.  He will be styling in the New Year!

 Another item off his list, a drone.  This one even takes video and pictures

 

 

Opening presents is hard work

 



 

Now we have matching jackets mom

 



 

The boys had fun riding the wiggle cars around

 

 

 Then it was time for pictures my favorite part.  But getting a good one now takes patience.  Too many kids all doing different things so I can't be too picky.

 

 

 All in all is was a blessed relaxing day with family.

 

 

Christmas Eve

 I'm going to attempt to catch up but face it six kids and now back to work is making it impossible to keep up.  I want to change things up a bit.  There is a blog I love to read and I'm going to make an attempt to try again.  The truth is Facebook is so much easier than blogging and this mom doesn't have much time so Facebook it usually is.  Plus at this point I think I'm the only one that looks at the blog so it's really more of a keepsake for the kids when they get older.

So back track to Christmas Eve.  We were going to head to Portland to celebrate at my brothers families new house.  So my mom and dad decided to have the kids open their presents early so that we didn't have to bring them up to Portland also.

 

Yiyi really was getting a hang of opening presents.

She and Hope both got new easels that we are hoping

to use this year.

 

 

 

 Helping each other open one of the gifts they shared.  Paint brushes and chalk and erase markers for their new easels!

 

 

 

 

 

Zoe got a new warm scarf, gloves and a hat

Chase was excited to finally have a turn.  We always open in order from youngest to oldest and it's sometimes hard to wait your turn!

 



 

 

 Parker was next

 

 

And lastly Conor.  They all also got to open one present from us.  New pajamas for Christmas Eve night.  This has been a tradition for many years.  Conor got a new star wars pair.

 

 

 

Then it was off to Portland

 Traffic was light and we got their a bit earlier than expected.  So we had some wine and relaxed.  It was nice having both set of grandparents there with us.

 

 

 My mom and Brother.   My brother wore his ugly sweater for a bit but it didn't last long because it was itchy.

 

 

My nephew watching cartoons waiting patiently for us to say it was time to open presents

 But first we had to eat and then clean up

 

 

 

While the kids played

 Then it was finally time for the presents.  Yiyi loved it!  But Aunt Anna's wrapping was a bit hard to open.

 Zoe was opening hers no problem though.  She got a new curling Iron she was really excited about

 

 

 Chase got a remote control car.  He was so happy.

 

 It was a clothes year for Parker.  He got some new shorts.

 

 

 The kids gave the adults and extra hand

 

 

 

We couldn't miss the opportunity of getting a picture of all the cousins together with their grandparents.  The little ones were difficult to get to smile and when they did as you can see they closed their eyes.  Oh well.

 

We ended the night with a visit to a house that had a music and light show.  It was pretty amazing.  We always enjoy our time with family and tonight was no different.  Sean and Anna hosted a delicious Christmas Eve meal and fun festive games!