Our Christmas Trip to PA 2019

Once all the gifts from Santa were unwrapped, we put all our luggage in the car and took off for Pennsylvania.  The weather was absolutely beautiful and we were all excited to be with family!

Kyron getting his feet tickled by Janna

I really enjoyed my time with Janna.  We had lots of great conversations, Mom had the perfect idea of playing "Loaded Questions" with her, she also had a braille UNO game, and she showed her goofy side quite a bit, too!

 One morning we set out on an adventure to see a model train exhibit--complete with a Pittsburgh Steel Mill!  Eliana was in HEAVEN!  She exclaimed, "This is the best place in the whole universe!"

Mom and Dad treated us to a pizza buffet lunch after the train exhibit.

It was so fun watching all the cousins interact

Andrea won Aunt of the Year and played a guessing game with Lillian for at least an hour!

Grateful Geoff has a clan to enjoy Monopoly with!

Grandma and Grandpa also treated us to a movie (and popcorn!)  Hylie and I went to see Frozen 2 with this good looking crew and absolutely LOVED it!  I really enjoyed sitting next to Hylie and watching how she responded to the twists and turns of the plot.

The grand parents and great-grand parents sure kept their status of professional spoilers!

Lillian was beside herself when she opened her very own camera!

Eliana got some super cute new pets!  This is her little puppy "Shell".

Hylie is now learning about 'screen-time' and that it counts even if it's with her watch!

We're so glad we got to spend time with Jared, Genevieve, Leah, Kaitlyn, Hyrum, and Amy.  The flu held them back for a few days, but we're so glad our paths crossed (even if for only a day!).  Jared was also a trooper during his kidney stone experience once they got here.  Talk about a memorable Christmas!

Christmas Morning 2019

The girls were extremely excited to find that Santa did indeed make it to our home.  Kyron was thrilled to be part of the action even if he had no idea how everything magically appeared.

Make-up?  Really?!  Once again, Hylie had to be informed it was for fun at home only...but she handled it well!

I bet you didn't know Captain America had ballerina pajamas!  ha ha!

Family Gift Exchange

The Monday before Christmas, we decided to exchange family gifts so the kids would have some time to play with their new things before we headed to Pennsylvania.  It was a wonderful day, the kids seem to love all their fun surprises, and Geoff even surprised me with my very own headlamp so I can have better light during my house projects! 

We also enjoyed talking about what we can learn from the events of Christs birth and had some nice discussions with the kids.

Hylie was in utter disbelief that we actually got her the 'disco ball' earrings she wanted.  She even handled it well when we told her they were clip-on and for dress-up only!

Kyron loving the gifts AND the attention

Our 9 foot Christmas Tree

Now that we have these crazy high vaulted ceilings, our little 4 foot Christmas tree was having a hard time filling up all that space.  Last year Hylie kept commenting that we had the smallest tree she had ever seen. I had been watching Craig's List for quite a while and finally found the gem of a tree.  Nine feet of magic and wonder! I didn't say anything to the girls because I wanted to see their reactions to this evergreen (well, fake evergreen) giant.  As I was setting it up, Hylie would come by and say, "Is that the same tree from last year?"  Even after I had to have Geoff come in and place the last piece on top because it was way too high for me, Hylie came by with her head cocked to the side and a puzzled look on her face, "Mom, come on, just tell me, is that the tree we had last year?"  Really??  This thing is wider than our old tree was tall and she's not sure if it's the tree from last year?  Ha!

The kids loved decorating the bottom half and even started clustering the ornaments and referring to them as 'families'.  I let them have their go at it, then I did some 'adjusting' that night.

Lillian working on one of the ornament 'families'

Kids watching Dad in action

Christmas 2019

I love the excitement Christmas brings, the traditions associated with the holiday, and the time to reflect why the birth of Christ is such a joyous occasion.  I just wish Christmas came without deadlines, ha!  For some reason, this year Christmas felt very rushed and so extremely busy--and I cut more out than I have in a long time.  We we didn't make Christmas Cookies, no cards were sent, I bought a Gingerbread House kit and it is still in the box, and the only handmade gifts I did this year were pomegranate seed jars--and I didn't even paint all of the jars like I have in the past.  I also didn't keep up with evening devotionals every single night, but fortunately I do feel our children understand why we celebrate Christmas and more importantly, they understand that the Savior is an extremely loving and important person in our lives.

Below are the pictures I took with plans to print them out and put them in their little wood-house stocking holders...never happened.  But what did happen was time with family, thinking of others, and celebrating the Christ-child.

Now that Kyron can sit...

With the birth of each child, Geoff's mother's dear friend Mary Ann Rittenhouse would send an adorable name bench.  Our kiddos love them and I've enjoyed capturing pictures of each child with their cute little bench when they're sturdy enough to sit (or almost sit...Geoff was kind enough to assist when I got too impatient!)

Since Kyron LOVED to lean forward when he was learning how to balance himself in the sitting position, I wasn't able to take pics until December of 2019 when he was full-blown sitting up!  It was worth the wait!  Such a cutie!