Christmas

Christmas morning we thought surely the kids would be up early anxious to see if Santa had come.  But at about 6:45 we decided we better wake them since Matt had to be to work soon.  I wasn't sure Santa would be making a big stop, but boy was I wrong!  He came!!  I think Jingle may have fibbed to the big guy?  Here is what Sadi got:  

She got a bunch of La La Loopsey dolls and a tree house play set which we all got to play with, 

 She also got lots of Barbies.  You may have noticed in the first photo there was a Ken barbie that came with all of these.  Well as Sadi does not hold back what she is thinking EVER, when she saw that she said "Uh I DID NOT want this, here you go Chase" as she threw it to him.  Thanks Santa!

 Chase was thrilled when he found this super hero loot waiting for him.  He got 4 movies (The Avengers, Captain America, Thor, and the Green lantern).  Along with them he got every hero figure and an evil villain.

 But I think he most enjoyed all the masks and weapons.  We repeatedly saw him dressed as the green lantern,

and Thor.  He also got what he really wanted (although I didn't get a picture of it) a watch.  Not just any watch a cars watch which he was sure Jingle told Santa about because it was just what he wanted.

 I think Kelsey was thrilled the big guy thought she was good enough to get this pretty keyboard.

So as chaos broke out all day long, we got to listen to her practice her skills (I think she may have decided it is going to take a lot longer to learn than she had anticipated).  She is wanting to learn how to play one of the songs from the movie breaking dawn....maybe we should master twinkle twinkle first?  She also got new clothes and fun girl stuff. 

I surprised Matt with what he has really been wanting for a long time, an I-pad.  I think he loved it.

They  kids had fun opening presents from us later.  Which again Sadi did not hold back when she opened new pajamas we bought her and said "I didn't want this!  Can I open another one?"  Good thing we were redeemed when she opened a blanket (I had made each of the kids)and said it was just what she wanted.  They each loved snuggling up in there new blankies!

It was a crazy, noisy, busy day ended with great food and family!!  Merry Christmas!!

Christmas eve

This year Christmas eve was a little bit different for us because Daddy had to work all night.  So although our tradition is usually to play games, eat yummy food, and spend time doing Christmas things we changed it up a bit so we could all be together (as much as possible).  After all isn't that what is the fun part?  We spent the day together hanging out, and hey we got what I think is our first family photo of the year!

 Later that night we all headed to Daddy's work and spent the night...

 Bowling!!  I think Uncle David won every game, but we all had fun.  We ate dinner in the restaurant there and Daddy was able to eat with us (when he wasn't running out to fix a problem).  When it was getting late we left Daddy at work and headed home to decorate our cookies for Santa.  Sadi taste tested many cookies (to make sure they were safe of course).

 I think Santa got the most decorated cookies ever!

We watched a short movie and read our final Christmas book "Twas the night before Christmas", and then it was time to hang the stockings or for Sadi try it on once again to make sure it still fits!  I think in a year or so it will be time to get a bigger stocking.

And FINALLY it was time to dream of sugar plums and hope that Santa would come!

Saying goodbye

On Christmas Eve it was time to say goodbye to our little elf Jingle. He really has become one of the family.  His last few nights here of course he was still busy finding things to do while we slept.  Just 3 days before the big guys arrival he was found having a camp out with Woody.  They were roasting marshmallows over the fire.

 Just 2 days before Christmas he must have know the kids needed a little help being good because he brought them a treat with a poem which read:

With little elf eyes watching you,

There's not a lot that Santa misses.

So to help you be good today,

Here's a bunch of sweet elf kisses.

 And on Christmas eve morning he was ready to party with us.  He had brought his very own merry-oke microphone which turned your voice into an elf voice.  It even came with a very clever little music book that had elf lyrics to all the songs.  My favorite was this song which I thought was perfect for Sadi:

(Sung to the tune of Jolly old St. Nicholas)

Jolly old St. Nicholas,

tell me if you can,

Am I on the naughty list?

I'm afraid I am.

Seems to me it all depends

What you mean by "good."

I'm not really bad you see,

I'm misunderstood!

It was so fun having Jingle this year and the kids were sad to see him go.  We blew him a kiss, and told him we would see him next year!

The day arrived

What's scarier than Santa not visiting your house?  Well I decided it is this...

Kelsey got her drivers permit yesterday...yikes!  It's official she can drive.   Anyone want to take her driving, becasue I don't!!  How do parents do this?  I am to much of a control freak, I think Daddy may have to teach her.  Beep, beep, here we go!

He's watching you...

But who's watching him?  Our little elf Jingle is still getting into mischief EVERY night!!  I'm starting to wonder if he really is flying all the way to the north pole to report to Santa.  Here is what he has been up to this week.  We found him one morning in the freezer helping himself to some icecream.  (Sadi was not thrilled he borrowed her scarf to keep warm in there).

He had a shootout in the hall with the nerf guns.

I'm not sure if Sherriff Woody was keeping him in line or playing himself.  But, there wer darts everywhere!!

I think he was trying to wipe up after himself?  Did you know elf's pee green?

He borrowed a sweet ride and drove around...leaving skid marks all over the kitchen floor!!

He brought back a snack from somewhere, but then helped himself (I think he was digging for the marshmallows, so like someone I know).

I'm not sure if I should be worried, I think he and Barbie were on a date sipping hot cocoa?

He made a grappling hook out of candycanes and hooked it to the fan and was whirling around.

And this morning we found him with a huge banner reminding us....

Can you believe it?  Only 4 days left!! I hope we are ready!

Elf update

Many of you have asked what our elf Jingle has been up to so I thought I would update you on what he has been up to!  We have had a few quiet nights.  We have found him coloring in a Christmas coloring books using all the red and green crayons from every single crayon box in the house...

He enjoyed reading some of our Christmas stories from our Christmas countdown basket,

 He even brought us some cookies from the North Pole (Peppermint Oreo's), of course he ate half of them while he was waiting for us to wake up!

He made himself some popcorn and was watching a movie one morning (The movie Elf of course),

But recently well it's getting strange.  We found him under the tree playing Uno with the snowman.

I am undecided if they are friends or not because the next morning it was a war zone.  They had built forts with legos and were throwning marshmallows at each other.

And then this morning we found him "decorating" our tree with the kids underwear!!  Let's just say Kelsey was less than thrilled about this one, but Chase thought it was hillarious!

I'm really hoping Santa didn't send us a bad elf.  I think Sadi is getting more confident that her being bad will not interfere with her getting something from Santa.

Polar Express

Last weekend we took the kids to ride the "Polar Express".  It was a bit lame if I'm being quite honest.  There was no line like last year which was nice but it seemed the train barreled around the loop a bit fast.  Santa (who was to frumpy for even me to take a photo of) came in not really talking to anyone but merely throwing candy canes at everyone before heading to the next boxcar. The kids had fun, but I think next year we may skip this one!  All aboard...

Run, run, as fast as you can...

Last night we decorated gingerbread men (and girls and babies). When I saw these I thought these might be more fun than houses because you could eat it right away. Houses are fun but man do they get hard and really inedible. Sadi was ready to eat hers before it even had a button on it. She made sure hers was a girl with long hair.

Chase wanted to copy the box it came in exactly...just like him to want to follow the instructions. Matt did help him make some very stylish striped shorts.

Kelsey took her time making the perfect little ginger baby complete with bib and diaper.

These gingies didn't run fast enough to escape these hungry kids. Before the frosting had dried this guy had his legs snapped right off!

Elf news

Our elf Jingle has been quite the busy little elf!  We thought we would just be looking for him in a new spot each morning, what we didn't expect is all the mischief he would be getting into.  Only the second morning here and look at what he was up to...

Caught red handed literally (red marker in hand), he had drawn silly faces on all the kids pictures.  Here is just one of his masterpieces.  I do believe that little guy is covering his mouth because he was laughing!

The next morning he was in the kitchen helping himself to some hot chocolate and a whole lot of marshmallows that were strewn all over.

 Day 4 he had climbed all the way to the top of our Christmas tree and was adjusting the star....

And just this morning we found him swinging down a zip line he had made hanging upside down!!

 I do hope this elf knows the difference between naughty and nice or he may be giving Santa some bad information!

Traditions

So far it has been a busy December. Here are just a few of the things we have done so far this holiday. Each year we let our kids pick out a new ornament, I decided to take a picture of them with their ornaments this year because there is still a dispute about a certain ornament that quite frankly I'm not sure who's it is. I think this feud will continue for years. Kelsey picked a Breaking Dawn ornament, Sadi picked the cutest little ballet shoes, and Chase well...he picked the most sparkly blue reindeer I have ever seen.

I had told the kids that this year they could decorate the big tree however they wanted but they wanted nothing to do with it, they wanted to decorate their own trees with their own ornaments. So..Chase's tree (with a few borrowed ornaments).    

  Sadi's perfectly pink tree...

And Kelsey's tree which Chase was sure she "cheated" somehow having more ornaments than him.

This year we started a new tradion, one that I wanted to start last year but thought I don't have 25 Christmas books. (Thank you Tina for reminding me about the library...duh! I'm only there every week for Story time). So here is the gist, you wrap a book for each day of December and the kids get to unwrap a book each night to read.My kids absolutely love this!! And the funny thing is they like the library books better, Chase was mad when he opened one tonight we actually owned. He wanted to know why I tricked him.Another tradition we slacked a bit on the past few years is the parade of lights down in Gardnerville. This year I discovered there was going to be one in Virginia City so I bundled the kids up and we headed up the mountain. A really COLD night, but really worth it.

Tonight we wrote our letters to Santa. An excerpt from each Child's letter:

Kelsey: "I think I have been good all year for the most part, nobody's perfect. p.s thanks for sending Jingle, he controls the little ones."

Chase: "I have ben very good. I want a watch for Christmas. Santa I hope you are pruperd for Christmas becase its going to be very chilly."

Sadi: "I am very bad."

Honestly that last one was not prompted at all Sadi told me exactly what to write to Santa...hey at least she's honest!

We are hoping Jingle delivers them tonight for us when he flies to the north pole (stay tuned for elf news to come later this week he has been a busy little elf).

Lastly, everyone loves driving around looking at Christmas lights right? We do have ours up and the kids get excited every night when they come on. So in the spirit of Christmas we took the kids out tonight around the neighborhoods to look at lights. And as all Dennings do, there must be a winner and a loser. There were many winners, but I have to say on the street where there were so many amazing lights this one was ultimately the most laughed at thus named the loser. The picture just doesn't do it justice it looked like a sad droopy face.

If you haven't been out to look at lights near your house, I highly recommend it, we all had a good time, and a good laugh. And p.s. if this is a neighbor of someone you know, I'm sorry.