Christmas all year round

Yes. We are jumping back to Christmas so that I can document it.

Before we left for Utah, I took some pictures of kids sitting on Santa's lap for some friends, so Craig brought our kids so they could see Santa. Calder wasn't sure at first, but then he had no problem telling him exactly what he wanted - bowling ball and pins and a scooter.

Adelaide wanted nothing to do with him.

We spent December doing Christmasy things - every day the kids would open our little countdown box, and there would be an activity for us to do.  We learned Christmas songs, made treats, colored pictures, went Christmas shopping, etc.  The kids and I loved it!  We went Christmas caroling to some people in a nursing home, and that was a lot of fun.  Calder really sang out on the songs that he knew. :)

We drove to Utah for most of the holiday season.  The drive was ok- we made it there in one piece!  But we did get a later start than we had planned on, plus an unexpected 2 hours of additional drive time because of traffic and bad weather that we hit in Wyoming.  But we made it!

We got to spend time with both sides of the family. which was wonderful.

I always love the annual Slagowski family Christmas party.  Even though both grandparents from that side have passed away, we still carry on the tradition.  Santa comes every year, and it is the same Santa that has come since I was a little girl. (well, obviously, because there really is only one Santa...)

Calder knows that Santa brings fun things.  So he is willing to grin for a picture in exchange for a present.

Once again, Adelaide wanted nothing to do with him.

 Santa gave Calder and Blaze lightsabers. Definite win.

Calder proudly played with his lightsaber for the rest of the evening.

 We have a new tradition with my side of the family now - everyone sleeps over on the night of the 23rd, and the Christmas Eve morning is when my parents give gifts to all of us kids/grandkids.

Adelaide is obsessed with puppies.  She loves this little stuffed animal she got from my parents.

 Another big hit - the binoculars!

 The best gift of all was the castle.  Calder spends hours playing with this thing!  I love toys that he can play pretend with.

 We drove up to the Maughans that evening and had helped cook dinner.  We decided to do a crab boil this year.  It was so much fun!  We boiled crab, shrimp, potatoes, corn, and some spices.  When it was done, we dumped it out on the table and ate with our hands.  Not your typical fancy Christmas Eve dinner on nice dishes, but it was delicious, and a lot of fun!

Craig's sisters helped us play Santa and wrap gifts and get stockings ready.

Calder is anxiously waiting for when we let him go into the living room.

So excited to see what Santa brought!!

Going through stockings

 It was so fun to have so many of Craig's family there: Matt and Marie, Alexis, Annie, Carin, and his parents.

Calder happened to get just what he asked for!  Adelaide gave him a little bowling set, and Santa brought him a scooter!  He was thrilled.

Good thing Grandma Maughan's house has a nice tile hallway so he could ride his scooter all morning!

Calder also got a lego starter set, a football, and from the Maughan's he got some hot wheels track and cars.

Adelaide got a play kitchen!  I was so excited for her to get this!  But since we were travelling, we left it in the box and so she didn't really get excited about it until we got home and put it all together.  Both kids are quite the little chefs.  She also got some puzzles from Calder, toy food for her kitchen from Grandma Maughan, and a giant stuffed panda bear.

Christmas with kids is so much fun!

It snowed all Christmas day.  It was perfect!  So we got to go out an enjoy the snow.  It was Adelaide's first time playing in the snow...last year she was too little for me to take her outside in it.

She mostly liked the snow.

There is a hill in their backyard that was perfect for sledding!

We all enjoyed sledding!

Calder had a blast!

We had to catch him at the bottom of the hill so he wouldn't go into the road.

We all had so much fun playing in the snow!

We also drove out to Hardware Ranch to see the elk.  Annie and Grandma Maughan came with us. 

Waiting to get on the sleigh.

We got to ride in a horse drawn sleigh/wagon through the herd of elk.

Calder loves making faces for the camera...

Ha. I love this kid.

So many elk!  The kids liked to see them, but weren't quite as amazed as I hoped they would be. :)

Close up of Adelaide.

Group shot!

Calder got some big time air walking back to the car!

Proof that Adelaide happily went to someone other than me or Craig.  It doesn't usually happen...

Snow ball fight with Grandma!

Adelaide thought the idea of throwing snow was hilarious!

After a few days at the Maughan's, we went back to my parents house.  Angie and her kids came and spent a few days with us.

One of the favorite games the kids play at my parents house is hide and go seek with their headlamps.  They turn off all the lights, and then after they hide, they turn off their headlamps.  Then the person who is "seeking" leaves their headlamp on to find everyone else.  Usually it ends up that the kdis just run around with headlamps on. It is pretty cute.

Adelaide and Kenzie wanted to wear headlamps this time, too!

Movie time with cousins!

For new Years, Craig and I got to go on a date (woohoo!). We went ice skating at the Olymipic ice rink which was so much fun!  Then we picked up some delicious gelato from target and headed back to my parents to play games with the fam.  

We also got to go to the zoo with my mom and Craig's sister, Megan.  It was so much fun!  The kids loved seeing all of the animals, and it was fun spending time with Megan and Avery.   

We decided to break up the drive home and go to Arches.  We have some friends (shout out to Jessie and Cole!) that live in Moab that met up with us.  It was so good to see them!  The red rock against the clear blue sky is always so stunning.  The snow made it a fun experience - we were't expecting it to be so cold!

 The boys (Calder and Jack) had a great time running around and climbing together.  Calder told me that Jack was his best friend.

 It was so nice to get out of the car and hike around.  And it was so nice to see and chat with some old friends.  It is good for the soul. :)

Mountain climbers

After Moab, we expected a quick 5ish hour drive to Denver where we planned to have dinner, swim in the hotel pool, and spend the night.  Once again, we hit unexpected traffic.  Except this time, we sat for 3 hours on the highway, when we were only about 30 min outside of Denver.  That has a way of dampening your spirits.  We made it to Denver in time to grab a quick bite to eat, find a hotel, and crawl into bed.  It was so great to make it back home to Arkansas.  Christmas was wonderful. Our trip to Utah was wonderful.  I love to see family and spend time with them!  But it is always so, so nice to make it back home.