Christmas (on the 16th)

Today (the 16th) was my official day OFF bedrest. So much for that. : P

Nathan and I were hard at work the 3 weeks prior trying to get everything done "just in case" something happens, again, so much for that.

Here are the kids on "Christmas Eve"

The kids woke up at 7:15ish but I was up at 5:45am making Strawberry Cheese Danishes (kids request)

They picked Blueberry Danishes for next year. I am going to make the blueberries inside I think.

The kids woke up RIGHT as I was putting it in the oven.

And this is what they SAW!

 From Left: 

(Girls Dress Up Station, Lego Table, Lucas's new Bike, Lap Desk for Scar and a GIANT Doll House!

 Most of those things were "recycled" more on that later! :)

 The kids usually check things out before they open, then we send them up to clean their rooms and make their beds and brush their teeth. Hahaha.

 More awesome stuff! Lucas kept saying, "I really needed a new bike, but I didn't ask for one because I didn't want to pick between a bike AND Lego's." Oh man it was so funny.

Nathan built the Lego table out of a table we bought the kids awhile back, it was broken from a Tot School incident and I put it in the basement to "fix" later. This was perfect! We painted the top added Lego plates and added railings underneath so that a tub could fit under it! Genius!

On to the loot! We didn't go crazy because I couldn't "shop" this year, so the kids got a lot of things that went with the bigger items. They didn't seem to care. :)

 Scarlett couldn't believe she got a barbie with red hair, that was "Oriole!" (Ariel) 

 Auntie Stef and Uncle Theo and Cousin Phil gave our family UDraw and Pictionary! These are so much fun!

 Bridget wanted a robe and slippers and pickles for her eyes. She got everything except the pickles. :)

 Scarlett is the artist in the family. I made her an art kit that was ALL color wonder stuff so I don't have to worry about my walls or furniture. :) She is free to use HER art supplies ANY time!

I had my mind set on making the kids this dress up cabinet.

So in the 11th hour we put it all together and I had picked out some clearance Halloween costumes for their new dress ups. 

Bridget got SpiderGirl and a Bride.

Scarlett got Rapunzel and Snow White

Lucas got Batman and a Robber/Jailman.

Here is a better look at the Dress Up Cabinet.

This is in my bathroom because that is where we hid everything for 2 weeks.

The kids were so mad that the bathroom was "broken" because they had to use the other bathrooms instead. Hahaha. Suddenly after Christmas - it was fixed. Amazing how that happened, huh?

 Lucas slowly assembling everything he got in his room with his table.

 Bridget the bride playing with the doll house.  I took better pictures of the process but if you look closely on the 2nd floor the framed artwork is Lucas's from Kindergarten. There are lots of fun details in this house. I will probably need to do a whole post on it because it took me 3 weeks of Nathan at school and me on bedrest to do but I am so proud of it! :)

Look! I was there - a week after having Mason and having fun with my kids. I really really missed playing with them!

We ordered Chinese Food for dinner - we ordered a feast - it was embarrassing but DELICIOUS.

Juliet loved everything we gave her!

 Then the kids plowed through their stockings.

It was a fun (week early) Christmas.

Why did we do this a week early? Well, we wanted to be with Mason for one and we planned on catering Breakfast for the NICU on Christmas day.  We also planned on spending the night, but, after going to the Witte's the kids were NOT having it so we visited him today and catered breakfast. We delivered the bird ornaments with treats and cards to the nurses and...got more comments on "the chin" haha.

We Skype'd with the Horn's, and had German Pancakes for Breakfast.

We played and had fun with our toys from last week.

I got a new smartphone, some cartridges, AND -Nathan built me a bench for the kitchen table 

(to which I replied "If you build a mommy a bench, chances are she will ask for a table to go with it)

I just need to pick the color to paint it. I am thinking Black to go with our new cabinets. Hmmm.

Nathan got a new TV and some clothes and shoes.

After naps, Nathan took the kids REAL sledding.

Hope you all had a Merry Christmas. It was weird celebrating 2 first Christmas's this year, but it was special having our whole family together. It finally felt complete and right. I just hope Mason continues to progress and that he can come home soon. :)