Chaos on Curtis: January 2016

Christmas was special and filled us up with lots of great memories.

During the day on Christmas Eve, the kids and I played Christmas games, read Christmas books, played with our nativity, made green popcorn and just tried to spend lots of quality time together. Christmas Eve night was church and then coming home to put cookies out for Santa and reindeer food all over the driveway. We read "The Night Before Christmas" and a story about Jesus' birth. We usually open gifts on Christmas Eve, but I wanted most of that day to be about Jesus and the reason we celebrate Christmas so we decided to hold off and do all gifts Christmas morning.

After the kids were nestled all snug in their beds...Tyler and I watched "It's a Wonderful Life" by the light of the Christmas tree. Christmas Eve is so magical for so many reasons, and my most favorite day of the year!

Ryder was the first one out of bed on Christmas morning, and if all he got was that blue light saber he

would have been just tickled.

Actually all 3 kids went for those light sabers first!

We ate cinnamon rolls for breakfast and had lots of time to enjoy our new goodies. Zoe and Porter love their stocking too, and Zoe quickly destroys any new toy Santa left.

We headed over to Grandma and Grandpa Decker's for lunch and enjoyed appetizers with the Deckers. We opened presents, played with cousins, and enjoyed the rest of our day there. I only got a couple pictures so next year I'll have to remember to take more.

Xander and Ryder wrestling

Christmas was so much fun and we all loved it. Ryder keeps asking for it to be Christmas again and he tells me he misses it. I'm happy to have our house back in order and be back into a routine but I'll be ready to celebrate it all over again next year!

This year we tried something a little different for the holidays. I didn't go home for either Thanksgiving or Christmas, but went home for an extended trip in between. When we go home during a holiday it is for 2 or 3 days max and such a short time for such a long drive. I knew Sawyer was going to have a hard time this trip due to his age and apparent lack of self-control and/or lack of ability to wait more than a half a second before melting down. The kid has seriously got to be the most impatient & stubborn kid I know. Good thing I love him because...I have too :) Ha, ha kidding sort of....

Anyways, I didn't want to force him to sit in the car that long for just a short visit so the kids and I went to Montana without Tyler. The drive was rough (as I expected) I mean I had to pull over in Castle Rock (you know 15 minutes into the trip) and eventually tied his Monkey lovey to his car seat with a cord from some random USB plug which he repeatedly wrapped around his neck...not sure what was worst Sawyer screaming or him wrapping a cord around his neck...it was a toss up.

Rilyn is a superstar in the car and will watch movies and eat snacks the whole way with little to no complaining. Ryder did really well too. He's not as interested in TV, but he informed me that he didn't care which movie was on because, "I just want to talk to you mommy. What should we talk about?" He wasn't joking either...he talked the whole dang way. I love conversations with my kiddos but seriously you get to a point where you just want to zone out and listen to a podcast for few minutes while trying to survive the boredom Wyoming has to offer.

Once we arrived at Grandmas and Grandpas we had a lot of fun though and had plenty of time to recover before we got back in the car.

We spent lots of time with the Nelson cousins. They even had a snow day which gave us an extra day together. It was the first snow day since before Tasha and I were in school! I didn't actually knew snow days were a thing until I moved to PA. Apparently, MaKenna spent the most time with us since I have mostly pictures with her. She really is such a great big cousin and so good with the kids!

We also celebrated Christmas with them one night. We played games, had hot cocoa and candy canes, and opened gifts. Mashaela was so sweet this year and bought everyone a special gift with her own money. Even Tyler got a cool Broncos calendar. The kids also got stuffed animals from Cyrus.

He gives them one each from his own collection every time we see him!

We got to attend a couple of the kids' programs too. We went to MaKenna's orchestra concert which was fun; although, 8:30 might be a little early for 5th and 6th graders playing instruments...just saying. And the younger 3 Nelsons had a Christmas program at church which was a lot of fun to watch. The kids loved it and Ryder still keeps asking for me to turn the radio station onto MaKenna singing. He thinks she is so good she is on the radio.

Rilyn loved every second of daycare, as she does every time she is there. She loves having kids around her all day, and Grandma of course.

We had fun unwrapping gifts with my parents. We were all spoiled as usual.

I took advantage of the kids dressed up in their Christmas best to snap a few photos.

Papa and Ryder even matched.

We didn't get to see my extended family much which is one disadvantage of not being there over Christmas, but both sets of my grandparents stopped in for a quick visit. I love that my kids have their great grandparents around. It is such a blessing!

The highlight of the trip was rollerskating. Cyrus had his birthday party at the skating rink and we were so excited to celebrate with him. It's nice when we make it to a Nelson birthday party! The kids had so much fun skating and got pretty good towards the end. Ryder was pretty funny thinking he should move his feet as quick as possible, which didn't work out to well. Rilyn was very persistent and by the end was skating on her own with the bars. It would have been very difficult to take them if it wasn't for my sister and nieces helping me with them and my mom holding Sawyer the whole time while he slept!