Babysitting Wyatt

Mark, Wyatt, and Makenna
Wyatt loved the singing dancing Frankenstein

So Cute!

My friend Jenn was in town with her family over Christmas break. It was so nice to see them because they live in Washington and we only get to see them once or twice a year. They asked us if we could watch Wyatt while they went out to dinner with Jenn's family and we jumped on the chance. He is such a happy boy and the kids had such a great time with him. I kept trying to get him to like me, but of course he liked Matt better. Matthew had him cracking up. It was super cute! :) We can't wait to spend time with them again.

Christmas with the Neighbors

Baby Grace, Audrey, Makenna, Ben, Josh, Mark, and Lilly
Ben and Makenna

Audrey and Mark

Audrey, Makenna, and Grace

We had a gift exchange with our neighbors on the 23rd. It was so nice to be able to spend time with everyone. We haven't all seen each other since the weather started getting cold. We had such a great time!

Christmas at the Johnson's

After Christmas morning at our house, we went to Church and then we went to Matt's parents house for our Family Christmas with them. Mark and Makenna had a great time opening even more gifts. Mark got a new Knight comforter set, which he loves, and something he had been asking them for called beoblades. I had never even heard of them, but he loves them. Makenna got a very pretty Cinderella Musical Carriage that has her picture in it, and her Aunt Marci made her some great headband holders. It was a great day!

Mark's Gift

A pencil holder
A picture Mark drew of Me, him, and Matthew

The note inside the card, "I love you mom and dad." :)

Here are some pictures of the gift that Mark made for us for Christmas. It was so sweet. I love that he didn't all by himself. :)

Christmas Morning

Our Tree Christmas Morning
Waiting at the top of the stairs

With her gift from Santa, a Rapunzel Doll

Mark's Santa Gift...A Halo Remote Control Tank!

Pretty Pretty Princess

Sorry it has been so long since I posted last. I have been working more hours and with still recovering with my leg, I am just exhausted by the end of the day. I have been asleep by 8:30-9 every night. I can't stay awake for anything. So I apologize for the long delay. I will try to keep up better.

With that said, We did have a nice Christmas, however, Makenna woke up with a cold and it proceeded to get worse throughout the week turning into a double ear infection the day before New Years. It was rough for a while, but she has hung in and made the best of it.

Here is the video of the kids coming down on Christmas morning. You can see that Santa was gluten free this year and on a diet and Santa's helper stayed out that night and forget to eat his midnight snack, so Santa's helper ate the cookies later and told Mark and Makenna they must have looked at the plate wrong, because the cookies were eaten and they said, Oh yeah, you're right. :) Whew...that was a close one.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE! WE HOPE YOU HAVE A BLESSED HOLIDAY AND CHERISH EVERY MOMENT. LOVE TO ALL!

Christmas Eve

Our Family
Mark and Makenna with Grandma and Grandpa J

Mark and Makenna with Aunt Marci

The Johnson Family

Setting out cookies for Santa

Putting the cookies and milk and carrots by the fireplace for Santa and the Reindeer

Happy Christmas Eve Everyone and Happy Birthday to my Dad! :)

We had a fun filled day today. I ran to the store bright and early to pick up a few last minute things (and take a couple things back) then when I got home the fun began. We cleaned the house, we made sugar cookies, Mark and Makenna sprinkled the Reindeer food in the yard (which Mark directed them to start at the street and lead up the grass to our house so they would know where to go), then we made a 7 layers taco dip, we watched the Steelers game, took naps, then took showers, got ready for Church, went to Craig and Judy's to drop food off and make a Rum Punch, then stopped at Aunt Jamie's to see her, Ryan, and Grandma and Grandpa Gannon, then to Church, then back to Craig and Judy's for the Christmas Eve gathering, then home to put out milk and cookies and milk and carrots for the reindeer, then FINALLY bed. WHEW! What a day! They loved making and decorating cookies. That was probably the highlight of my day at least. Well...that and the nap! They have never gone to bed so good before though. I wish every night was Christmas Eve night. :)

Sitting with Santa

Mark with Santa
Makenna with Santa

Makenna with Mrs. Clause

Grandma H and Mark

Mark and Makenna got to sit on Santa's lap and tell him what they wanted for Christmas, which was exactly what they had just written on their lists to him. Funny back story: We have an Elf on the Shelf in our house this year, who the kids named Sleighbell. He watches them to see if they are naughty or nice and reports back to Santa. Well, we let the kids know if they are bad, Sleighbell will take their stocking back to Santa. So the other night Makenna was so bad, that the next morning, her stocking was gone. Silly me, thinking she would be upset about that. She was not. She just had this smirk on her face. So while we were in Pa, we got an "email" from Santa letting her know that she is on the Naughty List. Again, she was grinning ear to ear. However, when she sat on Santa's lap, she looked at me like, what should I do? So I gave her a nod letting her know that she could tell him what she wanted. It was pretty funny.

Letters To Santa

Mark with his letter
He wants a Halo Remote Control Car

Mark with Aunt Barbara about to mail his letter

Makenna with her letter

Makenna wants a Rapunzel Doll, a Camera, and Princess Figures

Licking the envelope to Santa

While we were at my parents house, there was a special Children's Christmas Gathering at their Neighborhood Clubhouse. They got to each write a letter to Santa telling him what they want for Christmas. I was so proud of them for each writing the letter themselves. Makenna has gotten so much better at writing lately. She did write her "S's" backwards, but she still did a great job. Mark's item was something I wasn't expecting. It was on his original list to Santa, but not something I thought he really wanted that bad. It will be an interesting Christmas Morning!

SNOW!

All 4 kids playing outside together
Smiley Makenna

Beautiful Madison

Charismatic Makenna

Madison, Mark and Makenna plotting against Uncle Doug

Mark's Eyes Open! So Blue! He Really Does Have Eyes! :)

Photogenic Mark

Stylin' Tyler

Snow! You could hear it throughout the house when the 3 older kids saw it start to fall. It was just a light dusting, but it was still snow to them. They were counting the minutes until someone would let them loose in it. Well, I must have checked the weather forecast a million times before we left and never once did it say snow, so did I pack their snow boots...nooo....why would I do that? Luckily, Bethany had some rain boots of Madison's so Mark had to suck it up and wear some pink leopard boots. (He would kill me if he knew I told anyone that. :) ) Anyway, it was shortly forgotten when they got outside and starting playing and making snow balls. Tyler loves to be outside, especially when the other kids are out there too. Poor Doug was nominated to go with him, so he became the older kids target for snow ball practice. They worked really hard on building that one huge snowball. (Mark had the girls running and getting him snow for his master plan) And when the final moment came, Doug made sure I had the video ready b/c we thought for sure it would come crashing down on Mark's head, but Tyler must have had other plans to save his dad and ended up taking Mark out. It was hilarious! But that didn't stop them and they all proceeded to attack Doug... Even Tyler. It was too cute. They should all thank Doug for being such a good sport. :)

The Boys!

Tyler showing Bryce and Mark his new vacuum
Mark, Tyler, and Bryce

Mark and Bryce

Mark loves having other boys around. He is such a boys boy and loves to fight and wrestle so that kind of play doesn't always work with the girls. He had so much fun playing with Bryce and Tyler. Bryce is like a big brother to him and Tyler is like a little brother to him. He is rough and tough with Bryce and sweet and gentle with Tyler. I was so grateful for the time they all spent together and can't wait until next month when our newest boy is added to the group!