It's Like Santa Read our Minds!

Welcome to the most successful Christmas morning (and Christmas Eve, for that matter) ever experienced by this little family! Once our friends left the night before, the kids were excited and most importantly very cooperative about putting out the cookies for Santa and some cauliflower for the reindeer (we were all out of carrots) and going straight to bed. As a result, all kids were bright-eyed and bushy-tailed early the next morning. Although, true confession -- I'm the one who convinced Scott to let Ethan wake up all the rest of the kids by 6:30 since I was already up with the baby anyway. Hahaha.





The excitement and anticipation was palpable as the kids came down the stairs and into the Living Room to see if Santa had come. This was a banner year for the kids as each and every one of them got at least one thing that they absolutely LOVED and in most cases they loved all 3 things. As Grace said, "it's like Santa read our minds!" Hahahaha. Here is how the morning unfurled:

You wouldn't believe what a big hit the magna doodle was for Jane! (Or the play food [not pictured] she got -- all of the kids have been playing "restaurant" with it all week long).

Sophie was in heaven with the princess dress-up trunk she got.

Grace's piece de resistance was "Cookie -- the Playful Pup." It's what prompted the mind-reading comment. Hahaha.

Ethan was super stoked about these bad boys...

...and pretty much freaked out over THIS one.

Cute little Alex chillin' in the jumperoo.

Other highlights of Christmas morning this year were our delicious annual cinnamon rolls and the sacrament-meeting-only-edition of church a little later on. After church the kids played nicely together and with their new toys, Scott and I threw together a delicious chicken and sausage Gumbo, and we had some more friends over for dinner and games. Practically perfect in every way was the order of the day!