Christmas 2009

Although this post is a little late, I guess it is better than never! We had a wonderful time celebrating Christmas this year! I was on bedrest still and was originally supposed to be working so it was a nice surprise to be home with my family instead.

We started our celebration on Christmas Eve at our house. Our tradition is to have hors d'oeuvres on the 24th. We certainly didn't run out of food! We had shrimp cocktail, crackers with cheese and meat, fruit, veggies, little smokies, spinach artichoke dip, buffalo chicken dip, and sparkling juice. Then we headed over to my parents house to open a few gifts. It was a very relaxed and laid back evening.

Nikki and Tom made it safely to Grand Forks after a brush with death as they drove through the night to get here. They hit a patch of black ice, spun a number of times in a circle and ended up in the ditch. We are VERY grateful for the guardian angels watching over them and Tom's super strength to push them out. Even though we had to share them with Tom's family, we still had a blast! We miss them so much and it has been quite an adjustment to not see them very often so it was such a blessing to spend that time together.

Here are a few pictures from Christmas Eve:

Jonah so excited to see Nikki and Tom

Mom, Jonah and Nikki snuggling on the couch

The boys opening a few presents at my parents house. They weren't as excited about the new clothes as they were about the new addition to their nativity!

The boys got new pjs from my parents and had to wear them for the rest of the gift opening. They of course were sure that everyone needed help opening their presents too!

Christmas morning we (Richard, myself, and the boys) spent together at our house. We had cinnamon rolls (which weren't as good as our traditional Christmas egg bake, but were a good substitute due to the excitement from our pre-term labor).

The boys were also very good about taking turns to open their gifts and were so excited about each thing! They impressed us with their great attitudes and simply enjoying each gift they opened, never expecting more. They are growing up so fast!

Here is the traditional "before opening stockings on Christmas morning pic"

This picture is one of my favorites. I fortunately had a large majority of my Christmas shopping done this year before I was placed on bedrest. The boys actually were with me when I bought some of it too. Jonah noticed me purchasing this little lego set, which I told him was for another little boy and he spent the rest of the shopping trip saying that he sure wishes that was for himself and how much fun that little boy will have with it. When he opened it he was literally jumping up and down with excitement and I we were the best parents ever after this!

Our present to the boys this year was legos. They have recently been playing with the legos I had as a little girl at my parents house and really enjoying it. It was fun to watch their faces light up when they opened it and how excited they were to start building!

Richard and I were able to "play" a little too and help them build things for their lego city. I must say that I am pretty excited to do this with my boys! I never imagined having boys after being from a family of all girls and even though I hope to some day play dolls, barbies, or have tea parties with a daughter, these boys have opened my eyes to a whole new world...from superheroes to being rescued by a solider and now to legos!

We pretty much spent the rest of the morning hanging out in our pjs and playing with the boys. We also enjoyed watching the snow start falling. (Little did we know that we would be getting 25 inches of it and stranded across town for a few days). We headed over to my parents around lunch time and spent the next few days eating, playing, laughing, and just being together. It was marvelous. I spent 99.9% of my time sitting on the couch, with my feet up and relaxing!

Nikki and Tom joined us later in the day and we had them to ourselves for the rest of the evening. We had a delicious meal together, opened some more presents and played a few games.

Here is a few pics from our meal together

Here is a fun picture of me and my boys before opening presents

Nikki and Tom snuggling before opening presents

Nikki and Jonah putting together one of his new lego sets. Jonah and Elijah were in heaven the whole time with both aunties, and grandma and grandpa!!!!

Due to the snow, we ended up spending the next few days at my parents house. It was wonderful to see just be together. We were supposed to have a big Christmas get together with my Dad's side of the family, but it was cancelled due to the weather. We were sad we didn't get to see everyone, but it was nice to just keep relaxing together.

Here is a fun pic of my three boys reading a story before nap time one day.

The boys were able to have a sleepover with Nikki and Laura the night before Nikki headed back to Montana. It was so fun for them and fun to hear them talk about their sleepover too! We were pretty sad when Nikki and Tom had to head back to Montana, but soooo glad we got to see them for a few days! I am also excited that Nikki is going to try make a trip back this way in March after our baby is born!

Here is a picture of me at 30 weeks...one of my best Christmas presents by far...still being pregnant!