Christmas Day

Stocking presents even before Daddy was awake!

I sorta think Nana was just as excited as the boys!

Emmett really enjoyed opening presents this year and was excited for everything he got.

Snowshoes!

Playing a new game.

This is what either of them would do if they won...VICTORY!

The boys all got Angry Birds from Mark and Michael...perfect for my boys.

Those are all the pictures I have...I didn't even take one picture at Christmas camp this year. I'll see if I can steal some from Tammy or Linnea.

Christmas Eve

Breakfast at Gramma and Poppas with the whole family (minus you Condaps!)

Cousin pile!

Adeline and Emmett ended up enjoying falling over more!

While shopping at Anglei's one day Caleb spotted a bag of only juicy pear jelly beans. He wanted to buy them for Gramma because they are her favorite. He then said "Oh man, she is just gonna hug me and hug me." I prepped my mom and she was very excited for her jelly beans from Caleb.

Christmas Eve dinner with the ENTIRE Christiansen side of the family. (We had a Mecher party on Tuesday but I forgot to take pictures!!) Here is one of the kids tables.

Emmett took a 45 minute nap today (very short for him) and as a result was a wreck by 6pm tonight. So, we put him to bed right away. At around 8:30 Erik went up to check on him and he had actually just woken up crying. When Erik went to get him, Emmett threw up all over the tow of them...thus the bath on Christmas Eve night! We are pretty sure it was because of all the mucous he had in his throat and nose, he was fine after the bath. Meanwhile Jackson was coming down with a fever...he snuggled with Aunt Betty until we could get everything packed up.

Photoshoot!

Tonight before bed the boys wanted to take pictures with all of Nana's decorations. They posed themselves and everything...enjoy!

Next stop...Stroms!

Our first morning we hopped in the wagon and took a walk to town for some much needed Starbucks! Vanilla steamers and hot chocolates all around!

Another full day

We started our day with dentist appointments for everyone...Emmett's first.

Next up a visit to our ENT to check on Emmett's tubes. The doctor literally came in looked in both of his ears and said "we'll see you in another six months to make sure they are still in then." Brooke could have done that for me! But since it was so close to Christmas we did get a stuffed animal (not that we need anymore).

Then off to Winter Wonderfest for the rest of the day!

Caleb and Sklyar were watching the magic show and the magician called up 4-6 year olds and Caleb went right up!

As you can see we got to spend the day with tons of friends and family. All those grownups made it very easy to take kids on whatever they wanted to go on. And Adeline fell asleep on Poppas shoulders. A very exhausting day indeed!

After a wonderful brunch with friends we moved over to 4027 for the next few days.

First thing on the agenda, decorate the tree. It was kinda fun to be the visitors this time. I wasn't torn between going home to put the kids to bed and staying to hang out with family. We got to do both. The Mechers and Rummelhoffs came over often!

Cam took Friday off and had some extra help fixing their back door.

A busy day in Chicago

We arrived in Wilmette yesterday around 4:00, got settled in at Cam and Linnea's and then headed over to Wednesday night at Winnetka Covenant. It was great to see so many friends and honestly felt very normal being there...almost like we hadn't ever left! Our time in the Chicago area was split up staying at the Johnsons, my parents and the Stroms, we loved every minute of our time and got some good quality time with friends and family.

On Thursday morning I took the boys to the Shedd for one last time before our pass ran out (Gwen had school so they stayed home and Erik went to a coffee shop to do a little work). The boys enjoyed watching the Christmas Fantasea and I was surprised at how easy it was to have all three boys there. Such good troopers.

After the Shedd we met Erik, Linnea and her girls at the Zoo! Talk about a full touristy day! While we waited for them we went into the Conservatory which was all set up for Christmas with trains and poinsettias...so beautiful. The boys enjoyed walking around with the camera to take pictures, so here are their photos...

Gwen arrives!

The hippo was right by the glass today.

Winding down with some veggie tales after a fun filled day...love these kids!