Christmas 2014

We celebrated Xmas yesterday. It was really fun this year and pretty easy to shop online. The babies and I got up first and waited for the sleepyheads to come down.

 Santa ate the gluten free peanut butter cookies :) And some of Susan's homemade cranberry oat cookies (they are really good!)

 Frankie was the first up--he was excited to touch the pretty wrapping paper.

 And then he ended up giving the floor tile one of his forehead kisses :( got a little knot on his head.

 ~All four of my babies~

 Olivia really wanted a bike. I told her maybe its in separately wrapped pieces and she needs to build it. Lucas really wanted a crane and wrecking ball. And then he remembered, he also wanted the new mario wii stuff...we only had the old wii. Of course John obliged, out of fear he would traumatize his 5 yr old son by not buying everything on his list...jk. Lucas is a good boy and is excelling in school. He also points out when girls are showing too much of their skin :) (for example, the little mermaid).

 Thanks Uncle Kevin & Aunt Mary for the awesome huge Mario decal! Can you see his excitement
?!

 Such a grateful little boy. Sweetest kid I know. He loved his nintendo shirt too.

Thanks Uncle Kevin & Aunt Mary for the squishy blocks!

Lucas really wanted the Home Alone movies---he got a collection of all 4 :)

 And of course he got some puzzles--500 pieces.

 Olivia got these cute shoes to go with her new dresses I found on Zulily. Makes her look like a little woman! I love these:

 Frankie helped Susan open up her gifts :) He loves clothes too.

 Knex Mario cart cars. Another cool zulily deal.

 Susan got John some men's face wash- he already tried it and likes it. It's called Billy Jealous lol.

 Lucas was really happy to see Santa remembered he wanted a stuffed Yoshi doll...that came all the way from China.

 Lots of board games to play

 This is the gift Olivia bought for Lucas. He bought her a cool case of art supplies and jumbo coloring books.

 This is a hopscotch rug. She played with it a lot yesterday.

 She wanted a toy vacuum..but why would I spend money on that? I bought her a real handheld vacuum so she can be doing something productive. She likes it and wants to clean the stairs already.

 Thanks Uncle Kevin & Aunt Mary for the barbie and horse. She said this was her favorite gift!

 Susan loved the Bill Murray shirt I got her. :)

 He got his precious crane---it is pretty cool too! Really big and remote controlled too!

 We found this Olivia's House Lego set on sale online. This "friends" line of Lego products is what saved their company when interest was waning. They figured out how to market to girls. I loved building my little lego beachhouse set when I was little.

 Frankie loves his farm house and animals. He kisses all of them too!

 Lucas is the most grateful little boy--he really liked getting these new clothes from his Godparents Eileen & Chuck. They fit great too! More pictures later :)

 Here's his wrecking ball----which is what I used to call him because his big old head was always banging into things.

 Thank you Eileen & Chuck--she loves all her new dresses.

 John is ecstatic that Susan bought us a new knife set. They are very good quality and all steel (no plastic handles that break off) Thank you!

 Surprise! Santa hid the bikes in the workout room---he delivered them from Gma & Gpa in CA.

And then, John went and lied to me. We said we were only buying gifts for the kids. We don't usually buy xmas gifts for each other, but last year I cheated and got him a heavy duty paper shredder. This year, he bought  me a beautiful Epiphone acoustic/electric guitar :) 12 years ago he bought me my ovation..our first xmas just out of high school. He spoils me!

We got Susan these workout bands. She used them right away :)

 L & O's godparents bought them some cute clothes :)

 F & E's godparents got them cute clothes too !

 Thank you TNT for this beautiful Divine Mercy bronze statue!!

 I didn't get pictures of all my mom brought because I was getting the potatoes ready and taking a shower, but she brought lots of goodies and toys :) Thanks mom!

Tim was so awesome--he played every single toy and game with Lucas! He started teaching Lucas how to play chess with his new mario set. I predict Lucas will be a pro soon :)

The girls had a little chat:

She had me paint her nails with her new gluten free (veg/fruit based) natural nail polish :) She looks so mature!

John's fried turkey and chicken, and Tim's baked ham were delicious. All the fixings weren't bad either (all gluten free!)

Susan made a deal with her bosses to work tomorrow instead of today (friday) so she got to spend it with us :)

Again with presents! Tim and Teresa hauled a second Xmas batch of presents in to spoil us with.

Olivia loves these Brother Francis movies. She asks to watch them and learns the songs...and retains the lessons from them better than her religion book from Kolbe teaches,

Eustace's first Rosary!

Frankie loves his blankie-dog! Kisses it and everything.

We got them this frame with pictures of them and their godson, Francis :) Hope to make a second one with Eustace next year!

Susan found this cute gift box with owls (Teresa's favorite!) and baked them a batch of her homemade cranberry oat cookies. They loved it.

My mom came over with gifts, goodies, helped cook and care for the kids, despite having had her hair dyed purple from some blonde box hair dye that went wrong. She was so worried about it but didn't have time to re-dye it, so she generously spent all her time and energy on us til she went home at night and had to stay up to fix it since she worked the next day. We told her, worst case scenario, she could just get a nose-ring and embrace the purple hue :) But thankfully she was able to fix it and get the blonde she wanted from a recommendation by Susan (a color correction product called "Color Oops!")

He was doing a little glamour shot pose with his elbow :) He finally ate enough to stay awake for a bit and look around.

Fun with Jenga

Lucas got this huge crane. Pretty cool toy. 

We had a wonderful Christmas and thank everyone for their love, prayers, cards, gifts and well-wishes for Eustace's birth. Very grateful for all our faith family and friends, and we look forward to an even better 2015!