Christmas at Gee and PaPaw's!

Yes, I'm still wrapping up Christmas. Believe me, I want to bang my own head in to a wall! There are just not enough days to get all of our Christmas wrapped up!

The day after Christmas, we loaded up and drove to my parents house in Arkansas. The girls did great in the car, and since this was our 2nd road trip where they were pretty fabulous, I'm thinking we need to go on more! 

I think the original plan was for us to open presents on Saturday morning, but my mom ended up being off on Friday, and she could not wait to let the girls dive in to their gifts! She called my sister in law and niece to come up to the house (they literally live down the driveway) and we had Christmas for the girls!

DJ and I were ready for another round!

The girls could NOT wait to get started!

Addy Pearl was getting the hang of this gift opening stuff. 

Gretchen got Barbies and Princesses. Exactly what she wanted!

I was digging in my bag for my new Leopard print Coach purse!

And, DJ is over the moon for his new knives!

Megan got the big Doc Mobile that she has been begging for!

We got PaPaw to Blu-Ray DVD's, and since my parents are still living in the stone age and don't have a Blu Ray player, we bought them one.

I think DJ was most excited about his remote control car!

Meggie got a new princess baby.

Gretchen got a Barbie vacation house. Because, after all, those Barbies are going to get tired of the Dream House she got for Christmas and need a place to vacay.

For reals, Addy Pearl has got this Christmas thing down!

I found this super cute puzzle for Amelia (my niece) that has her name on it, and we gave her hair bows, a shirt, a Sofia the First toy and a Fancy Nancy book!

Once the presents were opened, the girls were all over Megan's Doc Mobile!

And Addy Pearl ditched the big girls to play with her own toy!

On Saturday, my mom and I went shopping in Little Rock, and then we came back home and I took a nap! My sister came over that night and we celebrated Christmas with her and my niece. I have no idea where my pictures are from that! I thought I had pulled them all off my card.

Adalyn woke up with a fever on Sunday morning, so we all decided to stay home from church. My brother called and suggested we take all of the big girls to see Penguins of Madagascar, so we left Addy with my mom and we went to the movie. After the movie, more naps were on the agenda, and then the grown ups went out to eat for my niece's 18th birthday while Gee and PaPaw stayed home with the girls!

Here's a super blurry picture of my sister in law and me!

DJ and I were so thankful for a "date night" and super yummy food at Mike's Place!

My sister in law and I with my niece! I cannot believe that she is 18! It makes me feel crazy old, and I love seeing the beautiful young lady that she is becoming!

Christmas Day

Santa was so good to us this year! We tried to keep Christmas on the smaller side, because we are taking the girls to Disney World this year! (I'll be blogging all about our planning over the next few weeks!)

Santa didn't arrive until closer to midnight because our big girls kept waking up in excitement! Just when we thought we were in the clear, one would wake up. I finally decided that I would need to sleep with Gretchen in order to keep her upstairs, and an hour later, DJ woke me up letting me know that Megan was in our bed and wanting me. DJ slept on the couch, and I slept with Megan. It was a horrible night of sleep for us both!

Gretchen woke up right before 7, so we woke up Adalyn and let the Christmas fun begin!

Santa brought lots of presents and a Cozy Coupe for Adalyn. He even fixed the girls' princess car!

Megan went straight for her Doc sleeping bag and the Cozy Coupe.

Then the little girls climbed into the princess car. Adalyn spent most of her morning in the princess car. 

Gretchen had tons of fun opening presents! She had great facial expressions full of excitement and surprise, and would proclaim, "It's just what I wanted!"

Both of the big girls got new Nike's and shin guards for when they play soccer this spring.

Adalyn got a new baby doll.

Gretchen got a new leotard for dance.

And a Princess Sofia game for her Inotab.

Megan got lots of Doc McStuffins toys!

Adalyn was still hanging out in the princess car!

Megan got Doc McStuffins pjs!

We saved the "big" presents for the very end. Megan got a Walking Doc Mobile- the one where Doc holds on and she walks while pulling her Doc Mobile.

And, Gretchen got the Barbie Life in the Dream House that she has been begging for since November!

To say she was excited would be an understatement!

Once the presents were opened we ate doughnuts and DJ sat to work putting the dream house together.

The Dream House was finally put together and Gretchen could not wait to start playing!

Adalyn tried crawling inside!

After lunch, the girls went outside to play in the "snow" that our elf had brought us for our North Pole Breakfast.

Then we went to the front yard to ride in our cars

We spent the rest of the day playing. DJ made smoked pork tenderloin for dinner, and we packed for our Arkansas trip.

Staying at home for Christmas was perfect. It was stress free, low key, and the girls were able to play and enjoy themselves! 

We hope you all had a Merry Christmas too!

Our North Pole Visit

The night before Christmas Eve, DJ and I decided to take the girls out to look at Christmas lights; a tradition that I look forward to every year! We get dressed in pj's and grab a snack, turn on Christmas music and drive around. 

This year, we decided to make a pit stop to the Bass Pro shop so the girls could see Santa one more time. Honestly, I just wanted a picture of them with Santa in their Christmas pj's. And, Megan had been telling us that the Bass Pro was the North Pole for about two weeks, so we thought it would be fun to take her. 

The girls were excited and ready to go! I made them "smores" and chocolate milk. 

The smores were just broken up graham crackers, mini marshmallows, and chocolate chips. 

We totally underestimated how many people had put off seeing Santa. 

The "elf" told us that unless we already had a bass pass, that we would not be seeing Santa tonight. He was scheduled to leave by 9 and would already be staying until 11! She told us that to ease the disappointment of the girls, that we could head over to decorate a cookie, see Mrs. Claus, and come back first thing in the morning. 

So, we planned on doing just that. The girls were able to decorate owl shaped gingerbread cookies. 

DJ helped Adalyn decorate her cookie. He got a little happy with the icing.

Gretchen did a great job decorating her cookie. 

Once the icing was on, we added red sprinkles. 

Meggie showing off her cookie.

Mrs. Claus made her way over to talk to the girls as they were eating their cookie. She also told us how crazy the holiday season had been. 

Mrs. Claus was so nice, so sweet! 

About that time, the "elf" found us and let us know that a family who had a 6:30 bass pass had left, and she kindly gave us their pass. She told us when we were finished eating cookies and visiting Mrs. Claus, that we could go get in line!

So, we tortured Adalyn with pictures, and Megan had warmed up nicely to Mama Santa. (That's what I ended up calling her, so Megan could associate who Mrs. Claus was.)

Mrs. Claus insisted on getting a picture with Adalyn when she wasn't crying.

Then we headed over and grabbed our spot at the end of the 6:30 line. 

We passed time by making silly faces, playing with the children around us, and looking at the Christmas trees. 

Adalyn also spent some time picking her nose!

Megan was a little terrified to see Santa once again. She kept saying, "He won't touch me?" So, I assured her that Santa would NOT touch Megan.

And just to be sure, she stood very, very far away from him!

DJ convinced her to stand a little closer, and that if she did, she'd get a prize. She promptly scooted over- anything for the prize!

Once we grabbed our Santa picture (Bass Pro gives one free photograph), we loaded back up in the car with our snack and went on a light drive. My friend had told me about a house that had lights synchronized to music, so we drove out to see the lights. I think we sat there for 15 minutes just to see all of the lights, and the singing Christmas trees. 

Once the light show was finished, we decided to call it a night and head back home so we could get ready for Christmas Eve! I blogged about our Christmas Eve traditions yesterday! 

Tomorrow, I'll be wrapping up our Christmas at home, and then finishing up the week with our Weltegram2014s and will recap our Arkansas visit next week!

If you're out and about tonight for New Years Eve- BE SAFE!