Christmas Day 2011

Paige and Sierra sleep down stairs and we did

not want them to wake up and come up stairs

and see the presents before waking us up so

we put the phone by Paige's bed so when she

woke up she could call us so Brandon could

go down and get them. The only problem is

Paige was too excited. I was sound asleep

when the phone rang in my room at 3:30 in

the morning. I had to explain to Paige that

the sun was not up yet and to go back to bed.

An hour later the phone rang again. I told

her again it was still too early. And she

hung up and went back to bed. Or so I thought.

She then called me at 6:00 and cried when

I said that I really wanted Owen to sleep a

little longer and to try to go back to bed for

another hour. She cried because she never

went back to bed after the first call at

3 in the morning. I felt so bad. She

was going to be so tired. So I

went down stairs to tuck her back

in and help her go to sleep. Now I needed

her to sleep more then an hour since she had

been up half the night.

After she finally fell asleep. Riley woke up

at 7:30 and was ready to open presents.

We brought the girls up stairs but

waited a little longer to wake up Owen.

The girls got their stockings that Santa

put in their rooms and brought them to

empty out on our bed.

Of course I want to snap pictures because

they are always so excited and smiley.

Owen was so good at smiling at the camera

but my camera light was too bright

for just waking up so he would just smile

and close his eyes.

I wish I had a better picture. We take one

right before they go into the living room

every Christmas morning. But it was out

of focus and Owen did not want to sit

down. In stead he just cried and realized

he was still tired.

The girls were thrilled about their new

Trampoline Santa brought them.

Owen had such a fun time opening his presents.

Almost everything he got was some how Elmo

related. He loves Elmo! When he opened a present

and saw a little bit of Elmo he would start squealing

with delight.

He just sat still for a while with each present

and just stared at it. He was content to just read

his Elmo books all morning.

He loved his tools and tool bench

he got from Santa.

He got right to work and knew just what to do.

I'm so glad we had church at 1:00 since

it fell on Sunday this year. That way

the kids could enjoy their presents a

little before they had to get ready for church.

It is always fun trying to get a good

family picture each year on Christmas

Sunday by the tree in our Sunday best.

We had to put Owen's Elmo stuffed

animal on the tripod by the camera

so Owen would smile for the picture.

I think it worked great!

I love this picture of my cute kids!

And I love my sweet Husband!

The rest of the day was being with family and

opening present after present. My kids are

so spoiled.

After church we went to my dad's house to visit.

Sierra is at the age where she loves anything

she gets.

Paige was so excited to get the Happy Napper

she really wanted. And for the rest of the day

she had to show everyone how it worked.

After my dads house we went to Brandon's

parents house to visit and have dinner.

Owen's expression in this picture

makes me laugh.

Grandma knows her grand kids all too well.

Riley was thrilled she got a magic kit. The rest

of the night she performed tricks for us all.

All the girls got remote control cars.

However Paige and Sierra had to take turns

since their cars were on the same control

frequency. It was fun to watch Paige's car

in the living room move to Sierra's controls

from the kitchen!