CHRISTMAS!

We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas! We sure had a great time here. I must say this has been our most fun Christmas yet. It is so fun now that Katie is old enough to really understand what's going on (I say that every year, but I think this year it's actually true!) And even though McKenna didn't quite get it, she sure was excited and loved all the presents. EVERYTHING the girls got was a huge hit which made it so fun. Even though Christmas is not all about the gifts, we feel extremely blessed to have had such a wonderful Christmas for our children. They were very lucky to get everything they wanted and more!

Here are some memories from this year's Christmas:

Christmas Eve

opening presents on Christmas Eve

Christmas jammies & Christmas book!

writing letters to Santa to leave with egg nog & cookies

"Dear Santa, I love you. And I love McKenna..."

so excited for Santa to come!

Christmas morning (7:30 am)

waiting patiently for everyone to be ready...

evidence that Santa was here!

Santa brought a kitchen!
He also brought...

a princess tea set for Katie &

a new baby & stroller for McKenna

fun new games -

Old Maid,

Matching,

Jenga (from the Yuans - thanks!),

Candyland

Katie's craft tool box from Gran Jensen - HUGE hit

the much anticipated Princess Book!!!

Little Einsteins stuffed dolls set - Katie picked these out herself for McKenna and she LOVES them. Way to go Katie!

McKenna discovered candy canes and VERY sticky fingers

new coordinating comforters for the bunkbeds - a very ambitious project for Mom, but she did it!

Princess dolls - Ariel, Snow White, & Belle

(thanks Elena and Grandma Hopkin!)

Elmo Live!!! McKenna's new best friend!

rhythm instruments from Grandma Hopkin - so fun!

beautiful books from GG Jensen - Polar Express & Puff the Magic Dragon

As you can see, we had VERY happy children Christmas morning. We managed to get through the day with only 1 breakdown! Impressive! After we opened presents and played for a bit, we went over to Dave's Aunt Sandy & Uncle Bruce's house for Christmas brunch. It was so fun & sure was fun to spend part of Christmas with family. There we had delicious food and had fun playing Christmas songs on the chimes. The girls even participated - Katie on chime #7 and McKenna conducting!

That evening, after much needed naps for mom & the girls, we went to our great friends Jason & Erica's house for a delicious Christmas dinner. We had prime rib (yum!). We then played Old Maid and the Wii. Very fun night - more time with family :)

The girls then stayed up until almost 10:00 playing in the playroom with all of their new toys. They were playing SO WELL together I didn't dare break it up.

We had such a great day. I love Christmas and love it even more than ever as a mom. It is so fun watching our girls get so excited and happy. That is the best Christmas present for this mom.

And we were SO THRILLED to hear the news that baby Maya Yuan was able to go home on Christmas Eve. What an amazing gift for Amy & Arthur! Merry Christmas you guys!

We love you all and wish we could have spent a part of the holiday with each of you. We hope you all had a very Merry Christmas as well!