Daddy's Lil Helper

Couldn't resist posting this one...Daddy's Little Helper. :)  Tyler is all decked out in his hardhat, protective eyewear (Grandpa, Tyler's optometrist, would be proud), tool belt, suspenders and everything.

And this, is my last post of 2011.  2011 was a great year overall but I certainly am not sad to see it go.  Though I hate that another year down means my children are that much older, I am ready for the new, exciting changes that are going to happen in 2012!  Happy New Year everyone!!  I pray it is blessed and that each of the three of you that read this blog grow in the Lord in 2012!

When the Christmas festivities are over...

What does one tired Grandma do after all the Christmas festivities are over?  Why, wrestle the children of course!!! :)

 

 Mandatory break that lasted all of about 10 seconds

 

 Must be about bed time because Daniel took a break on his own!

 Grandpa has a better idea about how to relax after a busy weekend...time in the "hot pool!"

  

Oh how I wish we lived closer to my parents so we could enjoy that hot tub even more!  Oh, and be able to visit and be with family more of course... ;)

Christmas at Grandpa and Grandma Carr's

As my sister said so perfectly on her blog about Christmas at my parents house, it was mostly organized chaos. :)  Its not uncommon for it to take hours to open presents at my parents house and the more kids we add, the longer it takes.  However, this year, we kind of did away with watching everyone open their gifts one by one and ended up having several people opening at once which meant we didn't get to see what everyone got which was definitely disappointing to me.  But with kids everywhere getting into everything, it was kind of hard to pay attention anyway. :)  It was still absolutely priceless to be with my entire family, 15 of us, until my aunt and her family of 7 came to join us making the grand total 22!  SHEW! With Christmas being on a Sunday, it kind of threw off the usual grove of opening presents first thing in the morning which also limited our time available to open the gifts.  It was an absolutely prefect day though. I LOVED having church on Christmas morning and like my sister said, almost wish it was that way every year.  It was the perfect way to get the focus off of self and focus on the real reason for Christmas, the perfect Gift of God's Son given to us to be our Savior! The church service at the church where I grew up was wonderful and though I was sad my dad couldn't be there with us because my grandmother wasn't feeling well, it was nice to be there as a family.  So, after church, we all made our way back to Grandpa and Grandma's house which is where the organized chaos began. 

And, like my sister said so perfectly in her blog, all organized chaos became complete chaos once the nerf guns and marshmellow guns were opened.

Its all fun and games until someone gets a dart to the forehead! :)  Actually, this was put on her head by my mother but it was hilarious! 

Once Megan saw that everyone was laughing, she immediately wanted to put on as many darts on her head as possible. :)

She's been called the life of the party for a reason :P

Another hilarious thing...Cherith was given this abnoxious toy that when you squeeze it, it will sing another note to the song its singing.  Cherith LOVED it and would sing right a long with it, opening her mouth the exact same way the toy was.  I should have gotten a video because its soo much funnier to see exactly what she was doing.

All the little boys got these super cute matching recliners that of course, the big boys had to try out too

Megan, my little "life of the party"

Tyler and Daniel both got these cute little scooters.  Megan doesn't have the coordination yet but I bet she will by this summer!

Cherith's first lollipop

More darts gone bad :)

I am a horrible parent. I didn't get many of Tyler at all!  Taking pictures was near impossible so I am just thankful I got some at all!  Thanks to my parents for making it a wonderful Christmas, as always.  Hosting a total of 22 people for a full and DELICIOUS Christmas dinner is not easy and they did it all, while taking care of my grandmother as well, with ease.  At least, they made it look like it was "ease." :)  Tim and I are incredibly blessed to have such a wonderful, supportive, and fun loving family.  I just wish we could be closer to them so these visits weren't so few and far between.  But like my mom said, she has really liked this whole once a month thing we've been doing with coming for Thanksgiving and Christmas.  Maybe we'll have to make an excuse to go in January. ;)

Matching Christmas Pj's

Thanks to a friend of mine from WV, we had matching pajamas for the kids this year.  I take pictures of her daughter in exchange for handmade items.  I think I am the one getting the good deal here! :)  Anyway, the pj's were so cute and were big enough (as evidenced by the legs being rolled up on both of them) that I am pretty sure they will fit them next year as well.  So, I had her save a little extra fabric for baby #3 to use.

 

 

 

 

These were taken at my parents house on Christmas Eve.  I wish I would have gotten a picture of the MOUND of presents that literally took up half of the living room.  I figured we would be opening presents forever on Christmas morning!  With 22 people to buy for, there were a LOT of gifts!  More pictures of Christmas day to follow...

Christmas "Morning" at our house

 Tim and I have made it our goal to always be home on Christmas morning so that the kids can have the tradition of waking up at their own house.  It was a tradition I had growing up that I especially really wanted to continue with our family.  But with Christmas being on a Sunday this year, it kind of threw a wrinkle in things.  When ended up having our Christmas on my birthday, two whole days before Christmas day!  I can hardly believe it myself but it ended up being the perfect situation.  We weren't rushed at all to get finished before church or to start traveling and instead were able to truly enjoy our time as a family.  

The kids got up from their naps and came out, just like they would have in the morning on Christmas to see their new big toys. 

 Tyler got a tool bench and Megan got a super cute kitchen set.

 Though, they do love to share. ;)

 Daddy then read the real Christmas story from the Bible and we sang happy birthday to Jesus.

 Then, the kids sat down and awaited opening their stockings which had been filled and hung by the fire for at least a couple weeks and they never noticed!

 

 Megan didn't know what she was getting but she loved it no matter what!

 and hugged it for awhile before actually realizing there was actually stuff inside.

 Tyler getting his stocking

 I thought it was funny the first thing he pulled out was a new loofa (sp)...to which he promptly threw it aside. :)

 

 Megan needed a little help focusing so she sat with Mommy for awhile. :)

 Tyler got a new watch that he absolutely adores!  He literally wouldn't take it off for days!

 

 This is what Tyler did with everything we told him to hold up so we could take a picture.  Made it really hard to see his sweet face!

 Megan got some underwear in her stocking.  Made me stressed just thinking about the fact that she too needs to be potty trained some day.  I can guarantee she won't be easy like Tyler was.

 Tyler got some tools for his tool bench

 

 And Megan got some kitchen supplies for her new play kitchen

 

 She also got a baby that I just had to post pictures of her with...

 Those who know our Megan know that she is as far from a girly girl as you can get.  But when she opened her baby, she wanted it out of the box NOW and I literally couldn't get it out fast enough.  As soon as I handed it to her, she did this.

 It was like she knew the baby had been cold in a box forever and needed some lovin' and kisses. <3  She then laid down on my leg and proceeded to point out all the baby's body parts.  I think she might just be a good big sister after all. :)

 We, of course, had to get the toys broken in so Tim took Tyler into his room to work on his tool bench while I took Megan into her room to work on organizing her kitchen set.

 

 Tyler isn't really a kid that likes to play with toys very much but overall, he likes his toolbench and has played with it, especially the drill, quite a bit since Christmas.  Megan LOVES her kitchen set and continues to amaze me at her ability to pretend play.  She will take a cup and dump it into a pan and make sizzling noises.  Its so cute!  Especially when she wears her little apron. :)

After we finished all our festivities, we were able to skype with Grandpa, Grandma, and Great Grandma Schramm out in California so we could open the presents they sent us for Christmas. 

 The kids would run over and show them what they got.  It was cute and a lot of fun.  Definitely a tradition we will have to keep for future years!

Though having Christmas before the actual day and not even in the morning like I had hoped, we had an absolutely wonderful time as a family.  I cherish these times and anticipate next year already.