Merry Christmas!

Saturday night the kids gave us strict instructions to set our alarm for NO later than 6:30 on Christmas morning. They were all three already awake, but waited upstairs for us to turn on lights and get the camera ready! When we told them it was finally time, they came around the corner all smiles!

Crosby found a box containing three trucks with trailers, Alexee had a fairy costume, and Rhett found the bigger bike that he'd been wishing for. Bogart also had some treats in his stocking, which Alexee helped him open.

We couldn't get this box open fast enough for C--those trucks were really tied in there, and he was so excited to start playing with them. He lost interest in looking at his stocking and other gifts.

:)

Rhett was proud of his new watch.

Alexee had asked for jewelry in her letter to Santa, and was pleased to find a rainbow necklace.

and a poodle backpack!

Rhett trying out his new bike--seems to be just the right size!

Santa and the elf must have liked the cookies...they only left a few crumbs!
The kids' gifts from us were under the tree in the entryway, so we went there after the Santa part of the morning.

They all got new snowboots.

Crosby didn't want to try on his boots at that time. He only wanted to play with his trucks.

Rhett had asked for a memory card for his DS. :)

sweet little braids

(We got her a new set of Disney princess board books and she loved them!)

Alexee put on her fairy costume and red flower bow and started coloring in her new coloring book.
Meanwhile Lane and I started on Christmas breakfast. We were excited to try out our waffle maker from L's parents--it worked great! We love it!

Breakfast was good. Unfortunately I got in a big hurry to finish up the dishes and forgot that there was a very sharp knife in the soapy dishwater. I was scared to look at my hand so I turned away and let L stop the bleeding and decide what to do. The cut in the middle was pretty deep, but L thought it would be okay to just "glue" them back together. He didn't have to work on Christmas day, but had a chance to use his ER skills anyway.

That afternoon we went outside to watch Rhett on his bike. It was a nice, sunny day--warm for December. R did great!

The kids finished the countdown to Christmas poster by placing baby Jesus in the manger.

Before dinner we took a family picture by the tree.

After we'd taken the first picture, we realized we'd forgotten to include Bogart, so we posed for another one.

Merry Christmas 2011!

After dinner we went out for a quick drive to look at Christmas lights before bed. We had a really nice Christmas together as a family. I'm very very grateful.