Christmas day

It only took me a week-pretty good considering! And a warning in advance-the following post contains LOTS of photos. That happens when you have so many kids (and a camera) you love.

The kids were really good Christmas morning and were quiet until 7am. They came in to wake us up and it was then we realized that Luke and Laurel were STILL asleep! We had to actually wake them up, but I'm betting that won't happen again!

Gee, do you think he's ready to see if Santa came?

So what did Santa bring them? Well, after observing them, through his magical ways, he found that he saw the kids playing on the outdoor toddler toys an awful lot. Because he is such a nice guy, he brought them each their very own big wheels for outdoor play. Yes, even the 10 year olds! Assembled too!

They took a spin around the hall and then outside.

The big kid had to give it a try as well........this happened later in the morning.

After taking the big wheels for a spin, we established seating arrangements, played present delivery and then stopped to eat breakfast-STRUDEL.....mmmmmmmmm.

Eric and his 'sinky' pillow-AKA a feather pillow.

This is the second year that we have had each of the kids draw the name of a sibling and then choose a gift for them. Laurel happened to draw Luke's name and he LOVED his gift...can you tell? Unfortunately the remote to the car didn't work properly so we have to *hopefully* exchange it!

G and J got Legos and other stuff too.

Luke enjoyed a Toy Story themed Christmas this year. We gave him this talking Woody doll and he also received other Toy Story toys from family.

Laurel got her very own American Girl Doll. She has named her Cassie and seems happy to tote her around. She's never been big into baby dolls so I was hopeful this would strike her fancy. So far, so good!

After we finished our Christmas, we made our way next door to enjoy Christmas at Nana and Papa's house. GG was there to celebrate too. This is the look I gave Bill

after giggling upon finding out he was taking pictures of THIS.....what a sweet husband, taking pictures of my posterior side for posterity! Dork! (I know, TMI, but this is my blog after all!)

We got the veggie lover a veggie steamer. I told her not to worry about inviting us to dinner if THAT was what was used to cook it!

G showing GG something on his DS.

What a maniac-kind of reminds me of jazz hands, no?! He's wearing his blanket he got from N and P. Each of them got their own.

Last year my mom gave all the kids quilt squares with a note saying she was going to make them a quilt for their beds. 5 quilts....is she crazy? After months of measuring and cutting and working with each child to lay out their quilt, this was the nearly finished product (imagine 5 of them laid out) with a note telling them that all she has left to do is attach the quilt tops to the under parts, edge the quilt and they'll be bed ready. Each quilt will be a cherished memory!

My parents, bless their hearts, found a set of 4 Zhu-Zhu pets to give the kids. Why 4 you're asking when obviously we have 5? Well, Gregory has his very own LIVE hamster, so the other 4 got the zhu-zhus. They love them!

One of our gift giving traditions is to purchase some sort of tool for the 3 older boys tool boxes. We figure that by the time they move out they'll have a pretty sweet collection and Bill can go borrow their stuff!

It kind of makes me laugh when people ask 'so did you have a nice relaxing Christmas?' It makes me want to ask them....'have you ever been at the zoo at feeding time?' Of course it's a nice day, one we look forward to-but at the end of the day, this is what we do-

Hug, wipe our brow, and realize that the day after Christmas will more than likely be even crazier.....'can I open this, can I play with this, MOM, he's touching my this, DAD, can you tell him to get out of my room because I'm building my new Lego set'......yeah, that kind of stuff...!