Christmas with Mom

Every year we have 4 Christmases so right now we are half way done. We had Christmas at my Mom's Saturday night. The kids were forced to eat their dinner because all they wanted to do was open presents. Finally after giving Ella every dipping sauce my Mom had she finally ate her "Chicken" (really it was turkey but she calls it chicken) and realized it was really good. The food was very delicious, Thanks Mom. Well then the kids opened their presents, which they had all of them open in no time and were off playing with them. Ella was extremely excited about her Belle Barbie and horse present, and Hudson loved his Little People Dump Truck. Then after awhile we put the kids in their new jammies and made the long, cold trek home.

Neir Family Christmas Card 2008

This year Gramma & Grampa Neir had their picture taken with all 23 grand kids. I am not sure which picture they chose but John took over 100 pictures (and no I am not exaggerating). But they turned out pretty good with that many kids in one picture.

Our Family Christmas 2008

Santa's Crayola Christmas Village

Hudson, Ella & Santa

Ella in the Crayon House

Say Cheesy

Hudson loved going down the slides

He would go down them over and over again

Ella telling Hudson to go this way

Going down the big sidewalk chalk slide together

One little Train Conductor

Two little Train Conductors

This picture is not staged, she really was this excited

Hudson loved the trains and were sad when they were gone

Trains at Union Station

The kids in front of the 60' Christmas tree

Ella wanted to get her picture taken with this

We took the kids to Crown Center yesterday to see Santa and the Crayola Christmas village. They both had a blast playing around on the slides, tunnels and little houses. For the first time Ella wanted to sit on Santa's lap so we decided to get their pictures taken. Hudson started crying right away but it didn't last long and Ella did really good and even told Santa what she wanted for Christmas. Then we went to eat at Fritz's Railroad Restaurant for lunch. Both kids absolutely loved the trains but Hudson would get all sad when he couldn't see the train anymore. Since the kids both loved the trains at the restaurant we went to see the trains at Union Station which again of course they loved.

When school is cancelled we..................

... make a gingerbread house and sugar cookies. Even though she only goes to school for a couple of hours three days a week, she was sad when school was cancelled today. We had been trying to find time to make a gingerbread house, so today worked out perfectly. This year instead of making a gingerbread house from scratch I definitely went with the box kit. It was so much easier and faster and Ella had just as much fun. She is so sweet the entire time we were decorating the house she kept saying "this is so much fun momma". I let her decorate the house however she wanted and when we were done she tried to take a bite out of it. I stopped her just in time.

Christmas with Dad

The kids ready to get their presents.
Hudson enjoying his dinner

Opening presents

Her new puppy

Thank you, Papa!

Hudson really enjoying his presents

Happy Birthday John!

Brent had to break dance for a minute, as part of the game we were playing.
Go, White Boy!

Then his very next turn he had to stay posed like this for two rounds.

Ella, Alex, Tristin, Austin, and Hudson

We had our Christmas/Office party at my dad's house. After we ate dinner we opened up Christmas presents. The kids were pretty excited about opening presents. Except Ella was confused that she got to open presents on Daddy's Birthday.

Hudson was just happily sitting at the table by himself eating dinner while all the other kids were opening presents. Since it was John's birthday we of course had a birthday cake and sang Happy Birthday.

Once the kids ran off to play with their new toys the adults played Would you Rather?. Poor Brent won the game but he had to break dance for a minute and stayed posed for two rounds. So he definitely deserved to win the game. It was a lot of fun and the kids always have a great time playing together.

Merry Christmas from "The Office"

Dunder Mifflin

Toby, Pam, Michael, Jan(?), and Dwight

Dwight excited he got a Ipod
Michael excited about his gift

We had a "The Office" Christmas/Birthday party. Everyone was suppose to dress up like characters from the show. It was actually a lot of fun. We felt pretty nerdy but it was hilarious to see Brian dressed up like Dwight.

Happy Birthday John!

Happy Birthday to a great husband and father!

Ella's First Christmas Program

Slide show before the program began.

Ella at the microphone saying her line.
Ella hugging her teacher after successfully saying her line.

Ella's best friend Alyssa giving her a high five after Ella said her line.

Ella singing "Clippity, Cloppty"

All the kids together to sing one final song. (Ella's front row center)

Ella enjoying her cookie reward.

Last night was Ella's first Christmas program. They had probably 100 3-4 year olds. But they split them up with 3 year olds going first and then the 4 year olds. Then they all came back together to sing one final song. She was one of the few kids in the program that had lines to say. We worked on her line over and over, just hoping that she would not forget it or freeze in front of all these people. She did a great job and said her line very loudly into the microphone and very clearly. I was such a proud momma. After she got done she smiled and waved at me. I could tell she was very proud of herself. Then of course she sang the songs really well. After the program was over there was a cookie reception to reward the many kids for making it through the program. It was so great to see my little girl up there singing. Our little girl is definitely growing up.