Below you will see some of my favorite pictures from our Christmas at home this year. It was such a magical day for the children, and a happy time for all of us!
This photo shows Avery, Courtney, and Chase displaying their gifts from Santa, first thing on Christmas morning. Love those happy faces!
I love this excited smile on Coco's face as she examines her gift from Santa.
And here is little Trey playing with his gift from Santa (with his characteristic intensity) while we get breakfast ready.
Here they are mining their stockings . . . don't you love the Christmas jammies? And Courtney is very excited to show me her Princess Bandaids that have Rapunzel on them. :)
And that's all I have time to upload for now! Stay tuned . . . there are more to come!
Did you know that Santa Claus himself attended our ward Christmas Party on Saturday night? Wow! He was delightful, of course. Nate took some pictures with his phone of our 3 littlest ones enduring the horrifying experience of sitting on Santa's lap to report that they had been good this year and to tell Santa what they wanted for Christmas (seriously, have our children EVER liked doing that?).
Sweet Avery, when Santa asked what he wanted for Christmas, replied, "I don't want anything in particular. I just want SOMETHING!" What a great kid! He's not at all greedy; he just doesn't want to be forgotten. Don't you just want to give him a squeeze?
Courtney and Avery were relieved to hear from Santa that they had made the "Nice List" (for a change--phewsh!). Poor Chase, however, seemed to hesitate about the whole thing, and in the end decided that maybe he was too big to sit on Santa's lap. Such a sad moment for Mom! However, the boy is huge, so his weight on Santa's leg may have been crushing enough to move him swiftly to the Naughty List . . . so perhaps he made the right decision. :(
Of course, this was Trey's first-ever encounter with Santa. And the picture you will see below was taken at the very moment he discovered that Mommy was not the one holding him. What the heck???? Poor baby! Still, thank goodness we got a picture of him sitting on Santa's lap for the first time ever! Hooray!
Our Little Buddy is 8 months old today and getting ready for his First Christmas! And, bless him, he really is getting his two front teeth (top)! Or, at least, as of today, he has one of them coming in already and will probably have the second one poking through by Christmas (that is my educated guess based on my many years as Mommy!). The little stinker is still giving me fits at naptimes, and refuses to be held by anyone but me or Nate (or maybe Chase) for more than 30 seconds, but otherwise he is completely and utterly charming.
He has a new smile that involves his whole face and a crinkled up nose that totally cracks me up . . . but of course I have yet to get a picture of it. He has great social interaction, loves to make really loud noises, and can pick up Cheerios with a pincer grasp. He still can't get them from his hand into his mouth, but it sure is funny to watch him try!
He is now sharing a bedroom with Big Sister Courtney, and so far they are managing their relationship as roommates very well. This is despite the fact that he often wakes up at 5:30am and babbles for half an hour before going back to sleep. Ah, she is so patient! His constant refrain, day and night, is "Da da da da da!"
His gross motor skills are coming along much slower. Our older kids were all crawling by this age, but Trey hates rolling over and isn't even close to crawling. He can sit up pretty well, though, and I really don't mind that his mobility is slow in coming. It means that we can leave the baby gates in storage for a little while longer, and he is not pulling ornaments off the bottom of the tree!
Finally, I am including the video below purely for fun, because it is the best song from my favorite Christmas special this year. I love it! Enjoy!
Married to one super freakin' awesome husband (Nate Merrill), Mom to 4 ridiculously beautiful and bright babies who are growing up way too fast. Chase (10) is witty, smart, athletic, creative, clever and fun. Avery (8) is funny, brilliant, easy-going, talkative, active, and thoughtful. Courtney (5) is gorgeous, independent, tender, dramatic, sweet, feminine and silly. And Trey is our perfect, chubby, delicious baby! I am privileged to have them with me all the time as we homeschool them. I am BYU educated with a B.S. in Psychology and a Master of Organizational Behavior Degree, spent many years as a Training and Human Resources professional, retired to be a full-time mom. Now I am very busy with family life, homeschool, church service, kids' sports, dance and music lessons, book club, Jazz games, exercise, etc., etc., etc. And, no, I am never bored.
