Christmas came quickly as it always does, and we were off to Minocqua in no time to celebrate with the fam! We made it a few days before Christmas and had time to help bake cookies and spend some time outside!
Dan, David, Korey and Jaxon came up, and we got a quick visit in with Grandma and then Grandpa!
We celebrated Jake AND Jaxon's first Christmas together! Surprisingly, we're all clean and showered on Christmas Eve - even with only two bathrooms for 10 people! Getting ready is one thing. Getting everyone to look at the camera and smile is another.
After church and dinner, Soph left her note for Santa (written by me but signed by Sophia herself). The questions had been on Soph's mind for weeks as Christmas drew near. She really hoped Santa would answer them!
As tradition would have it, the adults stayed up and exchanged white elephants! The 2011 White Elephant Winner? Korey's high school cheerleading plaque! I'm sure dad will enjoy it for years to come. Ha.
Later that night, Santa came! Seems like he spent a very, VERY long time organizing presents under the tree to make them all fit in the living room. Silly Santa.
The kiddos woke up in the morning, and presents, breakfast and more present-opening ensued. A few highlights from Under-the-Tree 2011:
Soph's Dora backpack!
And her makeup kit. Christmas quickly became a makeup party. The guys were such good sports and all looked really really pretty by the end of the day!
Jakers was thrilled crawling around and over the presents and got not one, but two walkers! But I think he had the most fun bumping around the exersaucer when Jax was inside!
A little downtime allowed for some actual playing with presents and playing around! We love our family!
The next day, everyone had to head back home and to work, and Soph and I did our own work putting together a gingerbread house! (That was really fun to do but fell apart about an hour later! Oh well!) Love you Soph!!! Merry Christmas!
Jakers was such a doll at his first Christmas! He was crawling everywhere and constantly smily - which is pretty much his nature. Just about everything makes him happy. And he looked so handsome in all his little winter clothes! Merry 1st Christmas Jakers!
Christmas Eve Day we flew our way back to Mexico and had our own family Christmas the next morning (in the sunshine)! Soph got a home-made vanity with all the fixins (and yes, that IS my bedhead she is about to make beautiful with bows and clips)!
And Jakers got an authentic Rayo McQueen (yes, that is Lightning McQueen's name in Spanish!) ride-on car. Which he loves. Not so much to ride, but to push around.
Merry Christmas little family!!! LOVE YOU!
