And finally we are posting Christmas pics! Let me start by saying we had tons of cute pictures, and apparently opening presents is the best way to make our kids look adorable, because they had cute smiles the whole time. It was so hard just to pick a few pictures to put up, but I figured no one but me would want to look at a blog post with 50 pictures of opening presents…
I love this one because Oliver opened some underwear and Elora got some socks, and they both look totally thrilled about it. We found that no matter what came in their stocking, because Santa brought it, it was the coolest thing ever. Socks, toothbrushes, toothpaste… all super awesome presents. Gotta love that Santa guy.
Oliver bought Elora a DVD of Phineas and Ferb episodes. He was so excited to give it to her that he actually partially opened it to show her a few weeks before Christmas. But you can see she was still thrilled when she opened it, even if she wasn’t surprised.
We took the kids down to St. George to go to a dinosaur museum awhile back. They each used their own money to buy a toy or book from the gift shop, but Oliver was a little sad because he picked out a toy, but also really wanted a dinosaur egg, and didn’t have enough money for both. So Chris took Oliver out to the car and Elora used her money to buy Oliver an egg. She was so excited as she told the man at the store that she was buying the egg for her brother, and how surprised he would be. She could not wait to let Oliver open his gift on Christmas, and this was the most excited we saw the two of them on Christmas day. Elora is so sweet, and Oliver was so happy to get a dinosaur egg to hatch.
Oliver actually thought it was going to be a real dinosaur, and told Chris, “When my dinosaur hatches, he will come upstairs to find me. I will share my cereal with him and he can sleep in my room.” He was still happy when it hatched, even though it was a toy, and it still sleeps in his room.
I love the look on Oliver’s face.
Grandma and Grandpa got Elora and Oliver lots of art supplies, and they were pretty excited, especially Elora. Every day after school Elora gets out her new paper and crayons and markers and draws beautiful cards and pictures. Oliver has become very interested in coloring things the proper colors, so he asks lots of questions before he colors anything. He is also learning to write his name. He knows how to spell it and can write the first few letters, but then he gets tired of holding his crayons properly…
We got Oliver a playdough set, and it was a big hit with both kids. Here they are trying it out while waiting for Marion to wake up.
When Marion woke up, she was not real interested in opening presents, she just wanted to play with all the items already open and all over the floor. We finally got her to sit down, and she promptly stuck her stocking on top of her head. I think because it is red and white she thought it was a santa hat!
Elora and Ollie laughing about their funny creation.
For those who don’t know, Elora has two teddies that are the same, only one is her original teddy – named Dirty Teddy – and one is a replacement Chris bought when we were scared something would happen to the original. The replacement teddy is named Clean Teddy, and never got played with as much… hence the name. Elora decided that since Marion does not have a teddy, she wrapped up Clean Teddy as a gift for Marion. She was so excited to give it to her, and so happy when Marion unwrapped it. Marion looks a little confused, but just after this picture she grabbed the teddy and ran out of the room. Maybe she thought Elora was going to take it back!
Here is Marion with her two favorite gifts – Clean Teddy and her new toothbrush! Now she can stop stealing everyone else’s toothbrushes!
And she finally figured out that presents are pretty fun and came back to unwrap her last gift. She was pretty excited about her new duplo pet shop (and she is still holding her toothbrush…)
I don’t have a picture, but the kids also got headlamps and flashlights for Christmas. They LOVE them, and we often find them sleeping with their headlamps on and flashlights tight in their hands. Kids are funny, but we love them and had a great time with our kids on Christmas this year.
Elora’s best quote from Christmas after watching a show where someone got sad because they didn’t get a present they wanted, “Christmas isn’t about PRESENTS! Christmas is about LOVE and SHARING!”
After asking Oliver what Christmas is about, “Christmas is about Jesus’ birthday! Let’s make Him a cake and sing to Him!” And we did.
