Christmas in Salem

I have no excuses for why this post has taken so long.  Anyway, the weekend after Christmas, we headed south to celebrate with our families.  We had a great weekend (plus a few days) and I'll just let the pictures do the talking :).
We opened presents with my family on Friday when we got there.  My uncle Bruce and his family got into town on Friday as well (from Virginia Beach).

A favorite of his!

She made this face every time she opened something.  I love it!

On Saturday, we went to celebrate with the Collier side.

LEGOs, LEGOs, LEGOs

This girl loves dogs.  Nora with Hank

Sunday, we had a get together with the Squibb family.  Lunch and the 5th Annual Rob your Neighbor!

Always a good time!

Grant, Nora, Katie- 2; Ethan (4), Josiah (5), Scout (4), Caleb (3); Haley (5), Finley (5), Paige (7)

The rest of the time was spent playing games, hanging out and eating.  

Jared and the kids in a heated Dance Dance battle :)

Grandpa Bob and my Pop deep in thought during their chess game.

While we were all in town, we took a few 'organized snapshots'.  I will post those soon.

Bathtime Kids

It is a treat when the kids get to take a bath in the big bathtub.  Last week, they got a treat :).  The loved it, which I think the pictures show nicely!

Happy New Year!

Christmas Day 2013

We had a wonderful Christmas at our house.  We stayed in our PJs most of the day, spent some quality time together, played with some cool new toys and enjoyed a delicious dinner (prepared by us!)
Ethan woke up first, around 7:30, came into our room and said "there are presents out there."  Kind of nonchalant-like.  Then he got in bed with us to watch some TV until Nora woke up.  So, around 8 am we made our way to the living room to see what we could find.

Ethan, checking things out.

Nora went straight for the plastic, dress-up high heels.  This girl loves shoes ;)

Opening stockings

Opening his Mario Kart game...and figuring out we have a Wii.

Such a helpful brother

Love her face here.  She was very excited about the baby!

Nora and baby Olive

Nora wanted to help Ethan with some Lego building.  Or....just wanted his chair.

She's such a ham!

Ethan and Daddy deep in the Lego 'map'

Mama and Ethan playing a little Mario Kart on the Wii

Merry Christmas from the happy Collier kids!!

Christmas Eve

Every year we attend a Christmas Eve service at our church.  It is one of my favorite parts about the Christmas season.  There is just something special about it that I can't quite describe!  Ethan came in the service with us and was very well behaved (which I expected), even for sitting by all his friends :).

Jared and I sat on either side of this clan for a while.  People who don't know us, probably thought we were crazy!  5 boys!

After the service, we had a few pictures taken of us, as a family.

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

We had our good friends, the Lloyds, over for dinner after church.  It was a great evening, and the kids wore each other out!

Nora(2), Kullen(2), Chase(3), Ethan(4), Brennan(5)

When our guests left, we found a note from Frank the Bank (our elf). It was basically a good bye letter, but it did say that the "no touching" rule could be lifted for a couple minutes so the kids could hug him and tell him goodbye.  It was sweet.  Ethan was sad to say goodbye and Nora asked where he was this morning.  They love their elf :).

Hugging goodbye!

After goodbyes were said, we got the milk, cookies and reindeer food out and ready for Santa.  We read the Bible story- the real meaning of Christmas, said our prayers and headed to bed.
We are so thankful for our family and most of all, thankful for the meaning behind all our Christmas celebrations!  Thank-you Jesus for the ultimate sacrifice!  HE is and always will be the best gift ever!

Festive Happenings

I'm not sure what prompted me to get a gingerbread house, but I bought one and Ethan was sooooo excited to make it.  Last week, we put the thing together.

This is the best I could get of both of them.  Nora couldn't take her eyes off the candy

The pictures might look lovely and cute...but it was kind of a nightmare!  Nora cried most of the time because we wouldn't let her just sit there licking all the icing and eating all the candy.  What's a fun Christmas activity without some crying and fit throwing?!?
Last week was also Ethan's class Christmas party...that I happened to be in charge of.  It was a lot of fun but I'm glad it's over :).

Working hard on the Christmas tree craft.

Stick the nose/carrot on the snowman!

Ethan, showing me his polar bear ornament he made.

One of the parents brought a refrigerator box, turned it on it's side and poked Christmas lights in the top.  The kids thought it was the coolest thing, EVER!!  They all had to crawl through the lighted tunnel. 

The students giving their gifts to Mrs. McDevitt

Mrs. McDevitt giving Ethan his gift!

The whole class crammed in the lighted tunnel!

Pre-School Christmas

Last night was Ethan's pre-school Christmas program.  It was short and so sweet!  Each class {3 year olds and 4 year olds} sang 2 songs and then they sang one all together.  I love watching these kids, since you never know what to expect.

Ethan's class with his teacher, Mrs. McDevitt

Close- up.  He did a great job!

Here's a little video of his class singing "Go Tell it on the Mountain"

This is how Nora was entertained during the program.  Aunt Amanda and cookies!

He is growing up too fast!  My 4 1/2 year old, sweet boy!