Merry Christmas Eve Pajamas!

(I'm backdating this, as it was suppose to be put up on Christmas Eve, but Matt's computer wouldn't connect to the internet!)

Merry Christmas! I'm grateful for the birth of our Savior and all that he did for us. I hope everyone feels the love their Savior has for them on this blessed day. Love, Matthew, Shaila, Malcolm, Quinn, Winston and #4 (expected around July 2nd).

I actually remembered to take a picture of all of us this Christmas Eve in our traditional Christmas Eve pajamas! (With my huge belly already at 12 weeks and 6 days!)

Our number #4! Expected to arrive around July 2nd, but we'll be hoping end of June, since Quinn's birthday is July 7th, and Malcolm's is July 8th! Here at the 9 weeks ultrasound, the baby was measuring 5 days bigger, so I'll hope it keeps that trend up.

Christmas 2010

I've just got to start off by saying, I hate all my Christmas pictures. I didn't get anything I just love and feel that really show what I enjoyed about Christmas. Didn't get any of our family we hung out with. Some of the pictures are so terrible in quality, I cringe. But I guess it's what I have to work with. Quite frankly, I didn't pull out my camera enough while home at all. I didn't get any pictures of the kids in the snow or having any fun with family. 

Christmas is always tricky for us having two families miles within each other. We want to see both of them and everyone wants us with them as well. So holidays are always way too busy, and we never really feel like we just get to hang out and relax, as going to the next place is always hanging on our mind. We never want to hurt feelings, or not spend unequal time with others, but sometimes that's just how it ends up being. We always generally spend more time where we're staying, as it's most convenient I guess, but then we have guilt not being with our other family as well. We are so grateful that we get to be with both families for holidays, but it also takes away from good quality time spent with just one side at a time. We weren't actually going to go home for Christmas, until I found out I was pregnant and ALL my stuff was back in Moses. So I wanted to go home and get the stuff I needed for pregnancy and the few essentials of a newborn. When I miscarried, we had already had the plans to go home anyways, and I really did need the distraction anyway, but we kinda wished we could've just stayed home together.

We spent Christmas morning at my mom's and Brianne's family was there as well. It's fun for the kids to all be together on Christmas morning. The kids alway end up with way too many gifts, even though we don't get them much, but they love it. 

 Winston is super excited about his "Cars" notebook that he got in his stocking! Love his expression.

 Quinn and his R2D2 stocking stuffer.

 Macy getting a Christmas snuggle from Pop!

 Matthew with his bacon jelly beans from his stocking. I think Winston is "enjoying" the smell of them! They smelt sooo strong and smoky bacon smell. I had no desire to even try them. Notice Matt's penguin jammies. Pop has this penguin joke thing about Matt, and so when Mom saw these, she just thought Matt needed him.

 Matt wondering what the heck he's going to want bacon lip balm for. Mom and I thought these were just hilarious, and had to get them for Matt and Pop! I love my hottie husband!

 Winston got a iXL from Santa. He calls it his DS, as the boys have a DS and he always wants his own. Since I didn't photo document the big boys Santa gifts, they got remote control monster trucks.

 Winston and his "Tron" motorcycle. I just love how he's showing it to me.

 This picture is horrible, but I just loved Mack's face and had to post it. They were pretty excited to get the Toy Story 3 DS games from GraMimi and Poppy!

 Quinn has been wanting Batman Lego for his DS since he got his DS, so he was super happy to finally have it!

 Landon, my little bro, opening his emergency underwear stocking stuffer. Also something me and mom just couldn't stop laughing about. We thought they were a rather hilarious gift for him.

 Landon also thoroughly enjoying his head massager from mom. I think these things really do feel like heaven, and as you can see, Landon agrees! You're a nerd Lando, though I love you sometimes!

Next, after some breakfast, getting a little fixed up, and seeing Leisha's family when they came, we headed over to the Hardy household for MORE presents and Christmas dinner. Yet, I only got 4 pictures worth sharing from there!

 Quinn with his new fleece pullover from Grandma and Grandpa Hardy.

 Winston is just really enjoying ripping into these gifts. I just loved this pictures of chaos from him.

 He's also wearing his new Batman shirt we got him. He loves Batman, or as he says, na na na na da da, so when I saw this shirt, I knew he's die to have it. I also found it in a teeny baby size, so I got one for my new nephew Wyatt as well!

Malcolm opening his pullover like Quinn's. He's looking enthused in this picture. Don't mind his outrageous hair! He was in desperate need of a haircut. Pop rescued me from having to cut all the boys' hair, and took them to see barber Mike while we were there. I miss Pop keeping the boys hair cut for me. I hate doing it myself!

Thank you to all our family for a wonderful Christmas and for spoiling all of us like always. We appreciate all that you do for us and love you all!

It was great to be home with family for a while. It was way too busy while we were there, as Christmastime just has a lot of family stuff going on, and we tried to fit way too much in a short little time. Next time, maybe we'll take it easy and relax more. We didn't plan our time very wisely!

2010 Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve we had Christmas dinner with my family. I wasn't very good at pulling my camera out at family get togethers at all, so mostly I just get the pictures of the kids and their cuteness. 

My beautiful momma at our dinner. Brianne thought it would be a good idea to let mom take it easy, so us girls tried taking care of dinner as much as possible. Mother still had to be busy in the kitchen the whole time, but she didn't have to do the majority of the cooking. Brianne, Leisha and I all did different parts of it. We kept it simple with ham, funeral potatoes, yams, rolls, jello salad, and I really can't remember what else, as it's been too long since then. Leisha did make pumpkin pies and we had one coconut cream pie left over from Milo's birthday festivity.

My adorable niece Nora Ivy! I could keep her forever. She is so sweet and let me hold her, and actually seemed to like me!

Sweet Winston with his crazy hair before Poppy took him down to "barber Mike" for a haircut. Maybe I should have combed my kids hair for Christmas Eve dinner, but they had been wearing stocking caps while playing in the snow.

Niece Nora again. This was a beautiful picture of her and her beautiful mommy Leisha, but Leish had her eyes closed, so she didn't make the final cut! Haha! Eyes closed in pictures is in the genes. Leish, I had two pictures of this shot and both times they were closed!

Landon and Grayson enjoying a little Christmas pop up book. Isn't it just so cute!

Two cute cousins "sharing" a book.

Santa Claus makes a special stop each year at GraMimi's house. The kids are always so excited to see him. Grayson was apprehensive to sit on his lap, so Santa just high fived him and gave him a gift.

My cute niece Jayni! She's such a cute little girl, just like her momma was. She looks very much like a little Brianne.

Malcolm looks like he's contemplating what he wants for Christmas, or maybe he's trying to decide if he was naughty or nice.

My cute Quinnie! He was the first to hug Santa when he walked in the door.

My nephew Mason looking like he's not quite sure about Santa and a little shy.

Winston would not sit on Santa lap. He was crying when Matt tried. Santa is very understand of these almost 3 year olds and still gives them a gift.

Winston is oh so excited about the treats inside the gift from Santa.

My sweet Nephew Grayson decided to warm up to Santa and gave him a hug.

Santa wanted them to know that he was the real Santa so he lets him tug on the beard. It was so funny, Grayson yank REALLY hard with a fist full! You can see Jayni's hand in there and she's barely pulling a finger full.

Jayni giving Santa another hug before he heads off to deliver toys to the rest of the world. 

After Santa came, we opened our traditional Christmas Eve gift of new jammies. Not sure why I didn't capture this moment, but I neglected to do so, and neglected a family pic in our Christmas jammies. I'm so annoyed with myself. We then headed to spend a little time with Matt's parents before the little tikes went to bed in anticipation of Christmas day.  

Malcolm's First Christmas Program

The first week of December, Malcolm's school had their Christmas programs. It was really nice, they broke it up into just a few classes and had like 3 or 4 different ones that day. My mom didn't work that day, so we were lucky enough to have her come along. Malcolm's program started an hour after he got to school, so since it takes nearly half an hour round trip to get there and back, we decided just to kill a little time and go do a little browsing at the grocery store nearby. Mom found some great deals, like a box of Captain Crunch for $.97. It was cool, too bad I didn't have my money with me. Mom also spoiled the kids and got them each a treat.

We were about a half an hour early for the concert, so we could get a good seat, and so we had to entertain the kids just for a little bit. Winston was a little tired, since it was nap time, so Mom just filled them up with lots of sugar, and then they were all wound up. Quinnie was really liking his candy necklace.
Can you tell? He's a funny kid. Really both the boys did really well and were just excited to see Malcolm up there.
Winston was a crazy messy boy. Notice he got a haircut. It was sad to cut off his long cute hair, but it was time, for now anyways. He looks adorable with his short hair and faux hawk again. But he looks so grown up and different too! Sad!
Malcolm was so cute walking up, he was doing his little embarrassed look, and playing with his tongue like he was embarrassed. This is right after they walked onto the stage and they are lining up.
Haha, by some of his friends.
Just a couple of days before, Malcolm told me how he was playing the tambourine at the concert. So cute! He was so very excited! (Sorry about the red blob in the corner. That's what happens when you're shooting between people.)
He did such a great job, and stayed right on the right beat the whole time. I'm so glad he's got some musical talent in him! Makes his momma proud!
He sang all the songs and knew all them well. At one point when singing Jingle Bells, he was louder then everyone else, but of course singing right on key! Good boy!
I love this kid! I can't believe how fast he is taking off in his learning. It's amazing how fast they can learn in such a short amount of time. I still can't believe we've started this stage in life. Great job Malcolm! We sure are proud of you. You were such a great performer.
They were videotaping the concert the whole time, and it was over, they said a Merry Christmas message to record to go on the local channel. It was so cute. This is all of Malcolm's class, with his classroom teachers on the sides, and his music teacher above. There might me an extra kid or two on the sides as well, that's not a part of his class.

Christmas 2008

We had a great Christmas. It was our year to spend Christmas with my family, so the majority of the time we were with them. Plus we were staying at mom's house. We still go over to Matt's family quite a bit too. It's nice to be so close that we get to do both, even when it is a chore to get everyone ready and out the door twenty times!

Every year my family has Christmas Eve dinner together. Generally we are all there, but this year Milo's family wasn't able to make it. Mom made prime rib, which I have to admit I didn't try. It didn't look or smell appetizing to me. I know I'm crazy, I hate it too! We had plenty of other things I filled up on though. It was all delicious!

I learned a new photography term here, so I had to try it with the Christmas tree lights. I love learning new things and of course, I love taking pictures to try it. Isn't digital great that we can see the results right away!?! Now wonder I didn't ever learn to use my film SLR!
This is my favorite ornament ever. It was given to me for my first Christmas from my Aunt Marlue. It has my name on it, and the bell has the year I was born. (Which we won't discuss anymore, since I'm now in denial that I'm getting older!) My mom still has it, and someday I will take it for my own tree. (Which I'm sure won't be anytime soon. I don't think my mom could part with it.)
La familia around the table for Christmas Eve dinner. Delicious! Since I forgot pictures for Thanksgiving, I had to make sure I got them this time.
The bigger kids sat at the bar so we wouldn't all have to squeeze at the table. I love Malcolm's face!
All the bro-in-laws together. I love Tom's look and the way he's holding his hands. Can you say Mary Kathrine Gallagher!?! Ha
Sweet little Emma. She's such a doll!
Santa made a surprise visit to the kids on Christmas Eve. They were so very excited. See Jayni jumping up and down? She's such a girl.
They each had their turn sitting on Santa's lap and getting a bag of goodies. Here's Malcolm.

Quinnie

My neice Jayni.

My nephew Mason.

My niece Emma Jay.

My nephew Grayson.

When Santa first came, Winston started crying until Matt picked him up. He was okay with him for a minute on his lap, but then he started crying. None of my babies like this kinda thing.

Then Santa had Malcolm pull on his beard to make sure it was real. It was and the kids were convinced. Although Malcolm was a little concerned that he was too skinny. But Santa explained that Mrs. Claus put him on a diet. In fact he said don't leave out milk and cookies, leave out fruit and veggies instead.
This is a cute picture of Jayni hugging Santa. She was so excited. She even gave him a handful of baby carrots for the reindeer.
Tradition is we open jammies on Christmas Eve. Here's all our family in our new pj's. Pretty bad picture if I must say!
The kids Christmas morning. They woke up at a decent hour of 7am. We forgot to have Quinnie go potty for bed and he woke up and peed his pants a little, so he had to change out of his new jammies.
After posing for the picture, they all dog piled GraMimi.
Winston hung out with Poppy for most of the present opening. He still seemed a little bit out of it.
Malcolm opened his first present from his stocking, stood up and posed for me. He was so much better this year then last. He didn't keep asking for more gifts, and he was very thankful for each one.
Quinn on the other hand wasn't being necessarily rude, but he didn't know that he only got certain presents. He opened a present for both Nathan and Kathryn, the silly boy. Here he is with his new Obi-Wan Kenobi Jedi Starfighter ship. Now him and Malcolm each have their own Star Wars ship.
Santa brought Malcolm a Little Einstein computer. It was a big hit with all the kids of all ages.
Winston with his new toy.
Man, that is one cute face!
Playing with the new toys. Quinn is playing on the box of food storage my parents teased us with. They had each of us open a box of food storage and said there were several more boxes, but then they took came in with another present and said that wasn't really our present. We opened a Wii. They got one for each family, beside Milo's who already have one. It's been fun playing with everyone. I wish I would have gotten some pictures of us all playing it together!
After breakfast, we headed to Matt's parents for the second round. Here's the boys opening Mouse Trap from Auntie Laura, Uncle Mike and Rose. It was a hit, and we already played it. Man that can be one long game!
A shot of the Hardy happenings and the boys with their new bat cave. They are loving that thing as well.
Winston was napping when we left for Matt's parents, so we just left him at my mom's. When we went BACK over for Christmas dinner, he got to open his presents. He really likes his new Fisher Price Barnyard. It was what I was wanting to buy him, but not wanting to spend the money on.
I just can't resist these pictures of him when he's looking right at me. I love that little man.
This picture is for Mike, my brother-in-law. He made this landscape lamp for Merle and Cynthia. It's made of copper and is really pretty, I mean cool. Merle mounted it in a rock and it looks pretty sweet. Merle called me before we came up and told me he wanted me to take a picture of it at night with all the snow. He really liked how it looked. So I ventured out all bundled up with my camera and tripod to try and capture what he wanted.
It was a little foggy out and the backyard looked so pretty with all the snow. I had to try to capture that as well. You can only tell it's a little misty in the upper left hand corner.
We had a great Christmas and we hope you all did as well. Now if only we can get our Explorer fixed so we can get home sometime in the near future! More on that later.