Our Christmas Eve started off early in the day. Uncle Ron and Mimi brought over their presents and played with the kids while I finished up some last-minute shopping. Uncle Ron babysat Ben and Emily for a bit which thoroughly exhausted him;) They loved their brand-new wagon from my brother and the toys Mimi gave them! My brother brought his dog, Sammy, too, which they loved even more than the presents=)
Emily and Ben picked out special presents for their uncle, daddy, Mimi and my cousin. Here's what Emily picked for Uncle Ron. Don't be jealous;) You, too, could have your very own resin
Scottie Dog by going to Dollar Tree.
Callie gave her new laptop a few cursory pokes before chasing the
dog around for the rest of the afternoon.
Ben picked this lovely train for Mimi
Emily got an
anima-tronic toy cat and a makeup kit. Can you tell if she was excited?
For Ben, ripping open the present is the best part. He got a cool construction kit that lets you build real things out of special foam pieces that look like wood.
Callie screeched and cackled over the "
Dogga". She loved playing fetch with him=)
Later that night, we went to my aunt's house to spend Christmas Eve with my side of the family! We haven't done this since my grandma died two years ago and it was such an awesome opportunity for our family. Everyone had an amazing time and it just felt incredible to be with my aunts and cousins again=)
Our favorite lady opening her present. Emmie got her a ceramic angel.
Emily was thoroughly spoiled by my aunts and cousin! Dress-up stuff, books, new Dora undies(that she's holding triumphantly above her head in the picture).
Benjamin had a
haaaaard time:( He was just in total sensory-overload and once his "Sensory Switch" gets flipped, it's so hard to help him calm down. He was a hot mess. Crying over everything. Upset that his presents came in
gift bags instead of paper. Wanting to play with his new games and not understanding why we wanted to keep the parts together. I felt really bad for him. He just couldn't calm down until we got him home:( This is a rare picture of him smiling, though!
Callie had a blast eating sweets, chasing the dogs, getting held by everyone and generally being adored by those in my family who have barely seen her over the past 1.5 years.
Here's a picture of my family, plus some random friends of my cousin Larry and some boyfriends and girlfriends;) Do you see the light orb in the open space next to Dan? I think that's my grandma's spirit getting in on the picture! She died in that house so it's kinda neat to think about it.
Happiness is a free-range baby at the park;)
The lovely view as we walked to the creek
Feeding the ducks
Callie wanted to dive right into the creek. She has no fear!
Be kind to our fine, feathered friends. For a duck may be somebody's brother.
Ben loves doing this=)
Hop-hop-hopping
It's impossible to get good shots of Ben. He's just so fast.
Callie has discovered the slide at the park!
Decorating my cake
Callie enjoying my cake
A failed attempt to get them to pose with me;)
A better shot, but minus my little guy:(
