Our Quiver: Christmas

What a fun and busy week we've had! Uncle Jonathan flew in last Monday and was here through today, so that meant a lot of extra visits over at Papa & Grandma's house to get him reacquainted with his neices and nephews and vice versa. They adore their uncle and had a wonderful time with him all week. With the exception of 2 days spent at home because Tyler had a bug and then had to spend the next day recovering from it, we were over there the rest of the time. Thankfully, he was the only one who got sick and the rest of us were spared.

We decided to wait until Monday (yesterday) to celebrate Christmas. We did, however, let the kids open their stockings on Sabbath morning as the things they were getting would help keep them quiet during church (notebooks, pens, stickers, crayons, etc.). But since the are still 4 (for a little while longer, at least!) and 3, they don't know the specific date of Christmas, so they just went with what we told them and while we told them Christmas Day was on Sabbath, we also told them that we wouldn't be celebrating it until the next day. And after experiencing Christmas all.day.long, I'm very glad we did wait. Otherwise I would have been completely exhausted by Monday and that would have made for a very long week. As it was, it was a very long day, but it was a fun day too. Cameron slept in, so the other 2 got to open their presents without his eager hands and I got to take pictures...win-win-win for all of us. When we finished our time at home, we went over to Matt's parents' house and celebrated Christmas with his side of the family. And after a yummy breakfast, reading of Luke 2 (for the 2nd time that morning for our family :)), we opened presents. Then we headed to Matt's aunt & uncle's house about 45 away to celebrate with his mom's sister's family & her parents. We had a wonderful lunch, a relatively restful afternoon, stockings and then a couple attempted family pictures. After that, we came home so the kids could actually play with the new things they got that they had been 'itching' to do since that morning.

Anticipation of opening stockings...my 2 beautiful redheads :)

Family picture Christmas 2011

Crazy kids with Uncle Jonathan

My non redhead...semi-happy sweet Cameron

Momma and her boys

Christmas pjs!

Cameron's 'exciting' stocking...FOOD!

Papa & Grandma with their 5 grandkids :)

The whole Boyle crew 2011

LOVES his new Cars 2 cars

What a great uncle he is! Tea parties with the proper hold & everything!!!! :)

Friday night, Matt & I got to go to a wedding, by ourselves. :) Matt's 2nd cousin got married and our kids got to 'play' with some older high school/college kids from church. We all had a good time and even though it was a late night, the kids slept well and still managed to be pleasant the next day.

Not the bride and groom, but the people you probably know. :)

Today, I attempted to get our house back in some semblance of order, though that might be a lost cause, especially with new toys and such, but I had to try. My sister and her family are visiting my brother-in-law's family who live about 30 min away, so they came down and spent the afternoon/evening with us. It was a lot of fun (though a little loud and crazy at times, since we have a very small house and we added 2 more adults and 4 more kids to the mix!), the kids had a blast playing with their cousins (that they hadn't seen since August) and Matt & I enjoyed catching up with Chris and Colleen. They are hoping to come down again on Thursday, so hopefully Matt & Chris will be willing to watch the kids while my sister & I go out for a little bit. :) Either way, it will be good to see them again...