Christmas this year was extra special this year with the addition of Luke to our family. It made Christmas a little "untraditional" this year, but full of unique memories that I will treasure forever.
Like our first artificial tree that we put on top of the table so we wouldn't have to move furniture :)
This really worked out very well because the dr. had put me on bedrest due to high blood pressure the week before Luke was born and I was also so sick with a bad cough congestion so the chair beside the tree ended up being "my spot" and I had the table as a place to put my tissues, hand sanitizer & water on.
It also helped keep Jack from taking all the ornaments off the tree- even though he was quite successful with the lower ones.
We usually go up to the mountains to get a real tree, but since I couldn't ride in a car that long and be that far from home at 36 weeks, the kids went with Nana & papaw by themselves and were going to bring home a "small" tree like they had the year before for our front porch. Well, they couldn't find a small one, so we ended up with a 6" tree on our front porch, but I was still glad not to have all the needles on our living room floor.
I bought an extra stocking for the new baby in case the arrival was before Christmas, and I'm glad I did! I kept the black felt out of my sewing things when we went to get a few things out of our storage pod in Novemeber- including all our Christmas movies and all of Sean's Thomas the Train tracks & engine for a gift for Jack.
It's nice to be able to "repurpose" gifts a second time from Sean and we're very glad all those trains get to be used a lot!
Christmas morning was an early one for us with a newborn, so thankfully the kids let us "sleep in" to about 7:30 after we were up a few times with this cutie :)
The kids were, of course, excited to open presents, so we waited to eat breakfast until after that.
Brilee had been asking for a "puppy surprise" so she was super excited to open this present to find one!
The "surprise" is how many puppies is inside the dog, and whether they are boys or girls.
She ended up with 1 boy and 2 girl puppies and was so happy. Sean is hugging her saying, "Aww, Brilee, you got what you wanted!"
Lilly had been asking for her own light sabre to play with Sean with his. Tom boy through and through ;)
Sean got Minecraft books he'd been wanting to help him construct things in the computer game.
I somehow found the time to finish crocheting Lilly a special stuffed animal I had started before Luke was born. It's supposed to be a little girl dressed up as a bear. She named her Lovie.
She also got a stuffed Olaf that you can pull apart.
An owl purse I'd crocheted for Brilee
We found a great deal on lots of "green" toys for Jack. He got a dumptruck, submarine, and toolbox set.
The kids all got new slippers. They never keep socks on their feet, and I was tired of picking up socks everywhere, but they seem to keep these on better.
Sean had been asking for a crocheted dragon for almost a year. He absolutely loved it, and I'm so glad. He named it "sharp wing" because he says it's the type of dragon that can slice through the air fast with it's wings. (I had no clue what kind I'd made ;) lol)
Brilee with her "girl legos"
Fun Dip lip gloss
Those weren't all the pics, but there were way too many to upload here! The kids were eager to have breakfast after their presents, so Jon and I waited to open ours till afterwards ;) We usually have something homemade for Christmas morning- but this year we opted for canned cinnamon rolls- haha! Talk about a break in tradition- but they didn't care and it was EASY :)
Jack loved his tool set so much, he had to eat breakfast with them.
Then decided to eat them :)
Then, we headed off to Nana & Papaw's house (well, I had to come a little late with Luke because he woke up AFTER all the morning excitement to eat, then I had to shower). In usual tradition, we forgot to take pics of the kids opening up presents over there, except I did get a picture of Jon with his big present with his parents. The box was wrapped with a sign saying, "guess what it is" and some of the kids guesses were "a large hockey stick", " a huge light sabre", and I guessed a ladder. It ended up being...
A weed eater! His broke a couple years ago, so he'd been borrowing theirs for awhile. Now it will be much easier keeping the yard looking nice when we put the house back on the market in March. (ugh- dreading that)
Sean holding Luke
We went for a walk a few days after Christmas- it was beautiful weather. It was nice to get fresh air and vitamin D :) We walked up to the rock fountain park and the kids had fun running around
Jack's seat is the jump seat at the bottom :)
Some after Christmas fun with gifts- it was nice to have things to keep them occupied since it's been so rainy and dreary weather
We found a white IKEA bunk bed on Craigslist just like the girls' silver one we bought last year....so Jon found the time to move the girls' bed to the boys room and put the new one in their room and take Sean's huge homemade one out and put it in the garage for when he can get his own room when we get a new house. Their rooms look much better now, though you can't tell because they haven't made their beds up really neatly in these pics and the poor lighting from the dreary weather outside.
Jack absolutely LOVES his big boy bed :)
Then, Sean's birthday was December 29, and OOPS- we forgot to take a lot of pics that day. But, we started out by our family tradition of getting Krispy Kreme doughnuts for breakfast. Then, Jon took the older 3 kids to Inner Peaks to go climbing. They did much better last year and had somehow gotten fearful over the past year and wouldn't go very far :( Next year, we'll encourage a different activity.
He requested Captain's Galley for dinner, but since they are closed for remodeling, we got them shrimp from Showmar's instead. I had taken Sean to Publix to pick out a cake (even though he had wanted me to make him a Star Wars cake--sorry , buddy) and he picked out this deliciously HUGE cookies and creme cake.
Happy 8th birthday, Sean Robert! I love you SO very much! Sorry your birthday wasn't very exciting this year, but there will be much more fun in years to come with 4 younger siblings that will all be running around next year. You were so eager for years to have a little brother and now God has decided to give you 2 little brothers along with your 2 little sisters. What a blessing and also what a huge responsibility for you. We pray God continues to direct us to parent you to lead you in His ways and to always follow Him. Love, Mom & Dad
New Years Eve- totally boring parents here who went to bed right after the kids about 9:00 to get up with Luke a few more times during the night :)
Happy New Year from The Youngblood Family! It's been absoultely exhausting so far, but my resolution is to one day soon sleep again :)
