Christmas Morning!

The excitement of Christmas morning. So fun. And by the way Jill is carrying her purse and diaper bag on one arm, talking on the cell phone and carrying her baby around. Too funny.

Christmas through the years!

2006

20072008 before our Christmas eve party. 2008 with Santa.. (Colton still talks about seeing Santa at Kashus' house..)

2009 Pre party..

2009 Post party.. Pre Bed time

2010 with Daddy and then with Mommy below.

Our first Christmas with Colton I wanted to start a tradition of taking a picture with Brian and the kids by the Fireplace because I loved how the decorations on the mantle turned out. I was successful in 2007 and 2008. In 2009 we had to be strategic with our tree location due to our new little helpers in our family so we had to move the location of the picture to by the tree.. also we should have shot the picture pre christmas eve party rather than post because you can see how happy Jillian is with me getting ready pre party... and well post party they were ready for bed. 2010 we did pretty good, just a little distracted... we shot Brian first so they all were pretty attentive, when it was my turn they were ready to open a present and eat some cookies. It is amazing to me to see how much as happened in these past years. Brian and I feel so rich to be blessed with these three little people. They are amazing.

Christmas Eve!

After setting out/eating cookies, we each opened one present, read some christmas stories and then we were off to bed. Ho Ho Ho!

Cookies for Santa.. and some other little helpers.

Colton drew a map for Santa to get to our house and helped fill a plate with goodies. Jace and Jillian filled their own plate and we were all ready for the big man in red to make a visit.

Baking Cookies!

So... when Colton was this age we baked together in the kitchen almost once or twice a week. Now with our two little ones I want to try to let them in on some of the experiences their big brother had. So I planned on baking some cookies. I did everything I could think of the night before to be as ready as I could without actually making the cookies. So I felt ready and very excited for the next morning and our adventure in the kitchen. Colton was around, he would come and go from the kitchen. Jace was mostly interested in playing with the water in the sink and Jillian was mostly concerned with eating the peanut butter. So we were off to a great start! Then we moved to cracking eggs which perked both of their interest and Colton's (he knows how to crack an egg because he has helped me so much before) so things are getting a little more intense but I still have control... We managed to crack four eggs in the bowl, one on the counter.. and one on the floor. So we mixed and mixed and I cleaned up the eggs. Then Jillian went to reach for the peanut butter again and I caught her from falling off the chair... just to look up to see Jace inserting the spatula in the mixer!!! I yelled Jace NOOO! and ripped the plug out of the wall. Then I screamed "no more cookies!" Jace was fine, Jillian got her peanut butter but Colton was heart broken and looked at me with the biggest saddest eyes and said Mommy "I am sad.. you yelled really loud." So I explained to Colton that Mommy yelled because I was scared for Jace and his Safety. I promised not to yell anymore and we did finish the cookies. How ever it might be a bit longer for our next adventure. I am still a little traumatized and Colton might be too.

Christmas with Grandpa!

Grandpa, Uncle Alex and Aunt Fallon came up to see us for Christmas and to do a gift exchange! It is so great to have a busy home around the holidays. We visited, ate some good food, watched some movies and taught Alex and Fallon how to use the Wii. We had so much fun. We even took a trip to mall to help Fallon exchange some of her Christmas presents. On a side note Alex was four and Fallon was two when I first met these guys. It has been amazing to see them grow up. Alex is very smart, polite and witty, I think he has an unconfirmed girlfriend so sorry to all the single ladies!! Fallon is sweet, beautiful and holds her own with the men in her family. Both of them are so patient with our kids too. We are so blessed to have such a wonderful family. Merry Christmas!

Snowman with the Littles!

We have so many pictures of our big guy with a snowman so I was so excited to get some of our littles. Usually by the time I get everyone ready to go out someone is ready to come back in and so I can't run out to snap a picture.

In the last picture Daddy hit Colton in the face with a snowball during their snowball fight. He ducked and dodged the first three and got nailed with the fourth one. Poor guy! Nothing some hot chocolate didn't fix.

Christmas Shopping

The Deatherage Family rarely goes to the Mall but this year Dad had a little Christmas shopping that could only be done in the Mall and I needed to get some clothes for Alex and Fallon so we made it an adventure. They had a little play area in the mall that was a big hit. My pictures are grainy because the lighting is awful so just look at the cute kids and not picture quality.

Decorating the tree!

Daddy is our Christmas decor extraordinaire. He turns our house into a beautiful home filled with the magic of the season. We even started a new tradition this year called "Elf on the Shelf." Our elf was named Micheal. He would sit in our house all day and watch to make sure we were being good and then fly back to Santa at night to report to him about the days events. The next morning he would hide somewhere new in the house and we had to find him. Micheal was a big hit.

The last item for the weekend was the lights. Colton loves the lights on the house and helped Dad every step of the way.