Christmas 2011

we had a wonderful Christmas this year! 

we decided several years ago that we were not going to travel on Christmas...with little ones it is just too hard and too overwhelming to spend the day traveling...

yammy and papa and grampy are always here in the morning to watch the littles unwrap their presents and then my sister and her family come over for a Christmas dinner.

although it is unfortunate that we can't see our extended family this really works for our family and i am happy for that. 

Santa came!

and filled all the stockings!

i love this picture.  the girls had to wait for yammy and papa so here they are eyeing all their goodies.  look at abbie's precious face.

once they were given the green light they were like little mice scurring from one thing to the next...i love a house full of littles!

then i realized i forgot to get the annual "stocking picture" so i quickly gathered them for a photo (levi wasn't having it so i didn't even bother). 

and then within 30 seconds they scurried away yet again...

sophie with her walking moxie doll horse.

levi had fun opening one present and then he was done.

ella with her DS...she was soo thrilled!

cowgirl jessie

sophie went over to feed her goldfish, lila, and found that santa had left her a new goldfish...who she later named "shiny"....she was beyond thrilled. 

i had to snap this picture of ella nicely organzing all of her presents...oh how i wish her organization skills woud rub off on the rest of the littles (and mommy!) :)

i was pretty sure santa didn't leave this mess...but who would of??

do you know, levi?

the babies playing in levi's new tent.

ella trying out her new makeup.

momma and her abbie.

the next....??? i really don't follow basketball so i can't put in a name right there...oops. the only nba players i know are from when my brother followed nba when i was like 10...spud webb, larry bird, dennis rodman, isaiah thomas...are you impressed scott?? :)

we had such a great Christmas spending it as a family.  we are so blessed. 

happy birthday, Jesus.

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve was spent relaxing and having fun. 

i told myself that i was not going to get stressed this year and guess what...i didn't. 

yay!

we started off the day by making our annual gingerbread house
apparently ella was pretty excited.

while the girls were busy making their house this little guy was supposed to be napping (don't pay any attention to the fact he was still in his jammies at noon!)
but apparently he was too excited to take a nap...i hear ya little guy-mommy was excited too!

then the girls helped me make these yummy treats

oops...those big huge sodas in the background just reminded me that the day actually started off with a sonic run...i think i may have a problem! :)

here we are before heading to church. 

even this picture of all the littles didn't stress me out...
ok...so maybe it did just a tiny tiny bit. :)

these two are so cute together...they truly melt my heart!

after church the girls discovered new jammies that santa had left.
thanks santa!

and here is the whole clan right before heading off to bed

of course i can't end this post without sharing the story of this...



my poor little abbie pulled at a stocking that was hung from a very heavy iron stocking hanger on the mantle and the very heavy iron stocking hanger landed right on her big toe.  the poor thing was in so much pain.  she called it her "bleedin toe"...

poor baby can't cut a break on christmas eve. 
two years ago she was sick on christmas eve and we didn't know until this happened during the church service

oh my sweet little abbie.

december days...

so what did we do counting down the days before Christmas you ask?

we

saw snow for the first time

and was so excited that we had to share it with sissy...

and yet another sissy.

we

spent time reading books to our little brother

we 

found Glee in our candy dish

and was so happy that we wanted to
eat breakfast right next to Glee

we
spent time playing "rapunzel meets rudolph" with a cute lil cousin

we
took a bubble bath

with three giddy girlies

we
spent time just being cute

and being silly

and lovin our blankie

we
spent time in mommas lap when we weren't feeling well


we
started a new tradition
an ornament from mommy that reminds me of each child
Sophie-a starfish (reminds me of this past summer when she found one at the beach)
Ella-a guitar (she has been asking for a guitar all year!)
Abbie-a spunky little puppy dog (abbie has been FULL of spunk this year!)

and a car for levi because  my little boy loves his cars!

we
fell asleep watching polar express for the 1, 546th time

and this is how the whitacre's spent their days
up until Christmas eve.