Christmas Break Recap

We felt so lucky to get two weeks off for Christmas break this year.  Olive and Kevin's breaks overlapped.  It was so nice!  We had a busy week of Christmas followed by a slow week to just enjoy some time off together.  I realized I never got my act together to get a post up about it so today's the day to recap Christmas break.

The fun started with Olive's class Christmas party.  It was pajama day so that they could take a ride on the Polar Express. Santa and Mrs. Claus came to her classroom and we had a great time partying.  I was in charge of the craft.  I made ornament kits for each child.  They decorated the trees with stickers and the teacher complimented the craft.  Which is always a good sign when you're planning a school party :)  She came home from school and we kicked off Christmas break!

 I love being in her classroom!

My friends and I got together for a fun, KID FREE Christmas lunch.  Two babysitters corralling kids meant that we got to enjoy some uninterrupted delicious food.  We just love this local pop up restaurant.

We did Christmas with friends.  I was asked to bring fruit so here's my fruit tree tray :)

Santa happened to be in our neighborhood a little ahead of schedule (wink wink he manages to come to our house early every year) and we had a great Christmas celebration.  The kids were thrilled with their gifts.

When Santa brings you EXACTLY what you asked for - you JUMP FOR JOY!  Fletcher got the Paw Patrol firetruck and Olive got a Barbie Dream Camper.

Christmas Eve at Kevin's parent's house.  We opened gifts, ate delicious food and had a fun night.  We also celebrated getting engaged 16 Christmas Eves ago.  We've lived a lot of life together :)

Christmas Day we headed to lunch at Kevin's grandparents.  They go all out with their decorations and the kids love it.  Dancing with Santa is a must.  Meals on TV trays.  Tinsel covered tree and spontaneous sibling snuggles.  Melted my heart.

Olive became super interested in checkers over break.  We played lots of checkers.

Christmas Day dinner at my parent's house.  My sis and my mom :)

This picture makes me so happy!  All the kids and cousins gathered around.  And my parents went all out decorating their house this year.

We had a yummy BBQ baked potato bar for dinner.

Austin had a policeman party to celebrate turning 5.  Obviously these guys were excited :)

The kids got some Christmas money.  They loved shopping for themselves.  I learned that I do not care for LOL dolls - any other moms feel that way???  So many tiny tiny parts.  Fletcher grew his fleet of construction and emergency vehicles.

My Dad's police department moved into a new building.  We headed over for a tour.  The kids love talking about bad guys/playing policeman and seeing Papaw in uniform.

These two nuts pretended to be Christmas carolers again and again.  Their play list was pretty minimal sticking closely to Jingle Bells and Rudolph.  Give them a door bell and an audience and they'd sing all day.

My brother invited us to visit him at work.  He teased the kids and told them he worked at a beard factory.  They thought it was hilarious and couldn't wait to see where beards were made.  Turns out that's not his job, but it was really cool to see what he does all day.  Keep up the good work, Ty!

Kevin's brother, Kyle, helped the kids build elaborate train tracks.  They loved it and were thrilled when Kyle gifted them all the trains to take home.

It was PJ Day at church the Sunday after Christmas.  The kids had been looking forward to it for weeks.  It was really sweet to see all the kids show up in pjs.

More trains.

More adventures.

Basically, my house looked like this for a solid week.  Toys everywhere.  Kids snuggling.  Kids fighting and lots of relaxing.  Good thing they're old enough to help clean up now.  It was a really great Christmas break!