Mele Kalikimaka!

I think this was the first year ever that Ryan wasn't laying wide awake in bed going "Can we wake them up now? Is it time yet? Oh come on, let's wake them up!"

Instead, Julia was wide awake at 2am and couldn't go back to sleep.

Jacob came wandering in around 3am, "Psst! Mom! Santa came already." "Uh huh, go back to sleep."

I finally gave up on the idea of sleep around 6am (hadn't gone to bed til 1:30am and then Skittles decided to attack our feet and hands ALL NIGHT LONG). Talk about bleary eyed Christmas morning! But I went ahead and got Marcus up since all the others were up and eyeing their stockings. Soon, they were all smiles as they gathered together to see what Santa brought them (Nintendo DS's).

Thanks for the AWESOME silly bands, Connor! Jacob's been wearing them all day long.

If you heard high pitched squealing, you know it was coming from a certain little girl who LOOOOOOVES stuffed animals! Especially when they come with their own portable home. Thanks, Hannah! (Hey, Nathan, please take note of Julia reading Maximum Ride in the background...she plans on using her Borders gift card to buy the next book already. She's read 5 chapters her book and is completely in love with it! Thanks so much!) Marcus opened a speeding race car from Kyle. He's had great fun zooming that around the living room and kitchen. Thanks, Kyle!

The next round of gifts they opened came from Granny Mac. Do you think Julia was just a little excited about her Harry Potter DS game?


Jacob could hardly contain his excitement. He's been asking for this game for a looooong time. Thanks, Granny Mac!

Evelyn was given Princess Belle complete with Belle's own castle while Marcus was given some Thomas the train trains to go along with a track. Thank yoooooooouuuuuuu!

Next came the gifts from Mema and Papa. Julia promptly asked if she could make chocolate covered strawberries and pretzels. She can't wait to make use of her chocolate melting pot!

Another princess castle! This time it's Cinderella...and the cool thing is that the castle attach to each other. :)

Jacob received the other game he'd been begging for (Star Wars the Force) while Marcus got a couple more Thomas trains. Thank you, Mema and Papa!

"WHOAAAAAAAAAAA!" Uncle Rob, the kids were digging this game all day today. It's super fun! And we love that four people can play together at the same time.

Thank you, Uncle Rob and Aunt Amity! These games ROCK! (And a HUGE thank you for the gift cards!!!!! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!)

Needless to say, it's been a very fun filled Christmas day. Once the gifts were opened, we all had some yummy breakfast casserole (made with milk). ;) McMom and Joycelyn will get that joke. :) Then the kids were playing with all their new toys all day long. We were able to talk to Ryan quite a bit and he even webcammed with us while the kids were opening their gifts (we webcammed with him on his Christmas morning and were able to watch him open his gifts from us. So special!). So we actually celebrated a bit of Christmas early on Christmas Eve. While Ry opened our gifts, the kids were able to open their gifts from their dad. Ry had sent them each a couple of books (Where the Side Walk Ends, I Spy Christmas, Twas the Night Before Christmas, ect) and in them were mini DVDs of him reading that very book to them. :D Talk about the absolute best gifts EVER! He even sent a Twas the Night Before Christmas book that had his voice recorded on each page. So we opened that book and listened to him reading the book to us. There were many tears, both happy and sad. But it was sooooo nice to see him on our tv, reading to each child. And then he was right there on the webcam, too.

We just want to say thank you to all our family and friends who have given us so much love and support. We love you all and are so grateful to you. Mele Kalikimaka!