Christmas Day

 On Christmas Day, we went to Mammaws during nap time and arrived in time for a delicious late lunch!  She had been cooking for days and had enough food for an army!  She got the girls charm bracelets and the most beautiful wooden jewelry boxes.  Those will be such special things for the girls to keep forever!  They had fun running around and playing with their monkeys and anything they could find.  Mammaw lets them play with whatever they want, haha.

They LOVED their new dress up outfits.

 After a fun visit we headed home and put the girls to bed and then played some games at Meme and Pop with the gang.  Thanks to Mom for staying over at the house with the girls.  I only got this blurry picture, but I am posting it anyway because for the first time ever, the boys SMOKED us at pictionary.  Fun times. 

Christmas Eve at Gammy and Gampy's

 

This was truly the best Christmas ever.  Or at least in a long time.  The girls were finally at great ages to all enjoy opening and then play together while the rest of us opened.  Every holiday is fun with kids, but this one was less chaotic in a noticeable way.  I wasn't worried someone would fall or eat wrapping paper or miss their bottle feeding.  All four girls were just so precious together and entertained themselves SO well while everyone else was opening presents.  I just laid in bed not even believing it went so great.  Such an answered prayer of GREATNESS!!!!   These pictures all speak for themselves and don't need captions.  A wonderful time of family.  Celebrating each other.  Celebrating thoughtfulness.  Celebrating the reason that we are all here and together.  Such a fabulous celebration.  

 These sweet cousins came back the day after Christmas to play with all their new toys together and have a yummy lunch of leftovers!  Love watching their sweet relationships grow--one of my greatest blessings.

Christmas at G and Pa's

 We went to church with my family and headed over to G and Pa's still all dolled up.  I loved these outfits on the girls and thought they looked so cute and Ross and I's outfits weren't too shabby either.  Yeah for good family pictures!  We were all so excited for our first Christmas celebration. 

Amelia was pretty excited about playing with her buddy, though!

Aunt Jessalyn and Brant

Barbara had the MOST delish spread of brunch foods that you have ever seen.  I don't see how she always outdoes herself but MAN it was good.  And her table was decorated to perfection with this cute owl tree.  Loved it all!

As I gorged on plate after plate, she kept the girls busy reading them books.

New clip on earrings!!  Sparkly hearts.

HAHA the girls got Frank this present and he ripped into it like a wild man.

Jessalyn got Amelia this playdough dentist set and she was elated.  She said she had been wanting it forever. 

Mae Mae got right to work using her new colored pencils.

This was the most special part of the day.  Ross has had his eye on an old truck at his Mammaws FOREVER.  It was his Uncle Dennys and he has had dreams of getting it drivable again. His Mom and Dad presented him with the original title in Mammaw's handwriting and the truck is his.  This was such a special moment and made me so happy for him. 

 After the fun, we loaded up to head to Silver Dollar City in the freeeeeeeeeeeezing cold.  I honestly had to suck it up because everyone was excited but me, haha. 

Amelia's smile NEVER left her face.  This kid is a champ in cold weather.  It just doesn't bother her!

 The Frosty show was SO cute.  Frosty had to come to life with the kids help and then it snowed magic snow and Amelia and Elise were ON STAGE.  This incident has prompted Elise to tell people that she performs in shows at SDC, lol. 

 We warmed up in the candy shop and Elise decided she was too cold to watch the parade, so I graciously (hehe) stayed inside with her and we watched from the window. 

 Then we headed to eat at Steak n Shake and ended our awesome day/night. A great time with the Halsted crew!