Christmas Day!

Gifts from Santa...

And the aftermath!!

Unfortunately no pictures were taken during present opening time. It completely escaped our minds to do this. I guess we were having too much fun taking turns opening presents. Everyone came downstairs together at 7:30 a.m. and after two hours of opening/playing with presents, we enjoyed a nice breakfast and lots of relaxing for the rest of the day.

Of course the best gift of the year was this sweet little girl!!

She melts us all with her adorable grins!

Her inquisitive little stares are pretty darn cute as well!!

Landon got a snowboard and Abby got a bike as their big gifts this year. We knew the weather would cooperate for only one of them to use their gift around Christmas and so far Abby has been the winner in that department. She loves her new pink mountain bike with GEARS!!!

Unfortunately we have had no snow so Landon will have to wait a bit to try out his present. We have enjoyed a very mild December so far...not sure what January and February will bring though!

Twas the Night Before Christmas...

Awwwww, Christmas Eve finally arrived!! I love Christmas Eve. I think it's such a magical time and I actually enjoy it more than Christmas which is saying a lot. I just love all of the fun traditions and anticipation that Christmas Eve brings!

Here is Mary and Joseph during our Nativity scene...

The whole crew together! Landon had no interest in being Joseph this year but Nolan filled in nicely. Landon decided he wanted to be a Wise Man. I thought he was busy making a crown to wear but nope, it was a fancy armband instead...because every wise man needs a cool armband!! It was also special to have our own "Baby Jesus" this year too to play the part!

Then we opened pajamas and attempted to get some normal pictures of our crew...well as normal as we can get with four kids 8 and under!!

I love this picture below SO much!!

Then it was time to open up the family game!!

Yeah...Disney Pictopia!! We have played this game several times already and it is a big hit!!

After playing our new family game, we made a treat for Santa and his reindeer, sprinkled reindeer food on the lawn and got in bed. Amazingly all three of the older kids were asleep by 9:30 p.m. (Landon is usually our night owl) so Santa's helpers were able to get a head start on getting everything ready for Christmas morning. Such a fun night!!

Christmas Activites

Gingerbread House

Things got a little carried away during our Gingerbread House making session...

 I think Abby was going for the "St. Nick" look!

Merry Christmas!!

Maylie's First Christmas!!!

Our Girls!!

Merry Christmas!

May your days be 

VERY MERRY AND BRIGHT!!!

Sleep Like a Baby!

There is nothing sweeter in the world than a sleeping baby and naps after church are the best!

I just love this little face...

Especially when I can capture her sweet dreams!

Maylie Girl

Soon after the luncheon, my sister Natasha left to go back to Virginia with her family and took Tami and my Dad with her since they would be flying out early the next morning. We enjoyed a few more days with everyone else before they had to head home too. Maylie had her two-month appointment on December 8th and got her first set of shots which made us both cry! She is now just over 11 lbs (50th percentile) and over 24 inches (which is actually off the chart). She is definitely our longest baby so far!!

Grandma Julie really enjoyed all the smiles she was giving her during her stay!!!

Nolan got some extra Grandma attention too while the other kids were away at school.

But sleep was a little hard to come by since they were stuck in our closet while their rooms were occupied by guests. Nolan climbed onto the couch one afternoon and feel asleep like this next to Jason. This hardly ever happens so we knew he must be REALLY tired!

Some more smiles for Mommy!!

Maylie has also just discovered how amazing and tasty her hands are too!!

Maylie with her "Lambie!"

And what happens when things get quiet for a while...he called himself a "scary pirate!!"

Scary indeed!!

Maylie's Blessing

Maylie woke up on December 7th really not feeling well. She had red puffy, eyes and was coughing pretty hard which in turn was making her projectile vomit. Honestly, if we didn't have so many family members in town, I would have postponed her blessing day. But regardless of how she was feeling, she was a trooper through it all and still looked so beautiful in her little, white blessing dress!

Such a sweet little girl!

The whole clan...

Our little family of six...

The Call side of the family...

The Cleveland side...

And the star of the show!!

After church, we had a luncheon with all of the family that had traveled to be here for the blessing and Abby even did a little piano recital for everyone's enjoyment.

Her audience in rapt attention!

She even wrote a little song about Maylie for her special day. Here are the lyrics...

"Maylie oh Maylie my sister dear.  

You are a close friend to me so near.

You're on your way to heavenly father you know.  

You took a step to heaven so close.

Now I hope you'll live the gospel of Christ. 

And you will be good and you'll be nice.

You're such a good sister you're such a good sister. 

Blessed from Christ

in the power of the gospel."