Christmas Vacation in Mountain Home

We spent the week after Christmas in Mountain Home visiting with my family. Uncle David had driven over from Colorado and Aunt Laura was home from BYU. It was so fun. Although we missed Aunt Sarah, Uncle Johnny and Maxers. 

There was a lot of time spent in the bounce house.

Sure loves these two crazies of mine. 

And Tucker kept trying to figure out how to crawl. He succeeded in learning to scoot forward and he's really good at scooting backwards.  

Tanner also took Bailey on lots of rides on the gator. He got so good at driving it and Bailey loved it. 

Here is one of her just grinning and as her brother drives her around. 

Laura and I went to see "Into the Woods" together one night. It was fun to spend some one-on-one time with her. Love that sister of mine.

And I met these oldies but goodies for lunch one day. We ended up at Sonic for old time's sake and had to document the event. I can't believe it's been almost 10 years since I graduated from high school. Crazy. 

 I also got to get together with two of my best girlfriends from high school. Adrian brought her three girls over and Jaime met us at my parents house too. We went to dinner together and got to chat and catch up. So fun!

While I was gone to dinner, this little man got to try spaghetti for the first time. He apparently loved it and ate sooo much. 

Tucker also enjoyed nightly snuggles with Nanny. Each night she would give him his bottle and then rock him to sleep. They both fully enjoyed it. 

Tucker doesn't let me rock him to sleep anymore. He just wants to be put into his crib and left alone to fall asleep on his own terms. But he loved rocking with his Nanny, so this was a rare treat for both of them. 

Nanny and Papa bought some new toys for the basement and they staggered the opening of those gifts so that we opened one almost every day. These hippity hops were a big hit. 

My kids were way better at these things than I was. I seriously don't know how they don't fall off more often. I couldn't stay on mine. 

Love this pic of Tanner. 

Another big hit were these "squigz". They are so fun. Little suction cup toys that stick together so you can build stuff. Tanner loved these. 

Papa and Tanner happily played with these together more than once.

We had a great Christmas vacation in Mountain Home, but I think the kids were ready to get back to their beds and their toys. 

Merry Christmas One and All!

Merry Christmas. This is the sight we woke up to this morning. Santa found us and the kids couldn't be more excited.

 Chris and I woke up before the kids. I was too excited to sleep. So we woke up and got all ready for the day and then I started breakfast. At this point it was past 8 am. We couldn't believe the kids were all still asleep. Finally I made enough noise in the kitchen that Tanner woke up. I saw him and said "Merry Christmas Tanner! Lets go open some presents!" and looked at me really confused and then said "I just need to sleep for a few more minutes that I will be ready." Then he went back to bed. I literally laughed out-loud. Finally around 8:30 am, all three kids were up and we got to start Christmas. 

After it finally sunk in that it was Christmas morning, the first thing Tanner did was run and see if Santa ate his cookies by the fireplace. He was relieved to see there was only a bite or two left on the plate. Then it was onto stockings. Tanner was so happy that Santa brought him the "Bumble Bee Mega flip" he asked for. 

And Bailey was so happy that Santa found the "Tiana Magic-clip Princess" she asked for. 

But she promptly moved onto the other things in her stocking. She really loved her new princess toothbrush and her "Sofia the First" panties. 

Tanner was also thrilled with his new superhero toothpaste and toothbrush. 

Tucker's favorite stocking stuffer was the baby toothbrush. It must have felt good to those poor swollen gums and it did just the trick because that kid cut 3 teeth today. 

Tanner was so excited for Daddy to go through his stocking. He stood right next to him the whole time and "Eww and Ahh'd" over everything. It was so funny. 

Then we started to open presents. Tanner got the transformer he wanted for his siblings and he was so happy. He kept thanking Bailey and Tucker. Tanner also got a "Millennium Falcon" from us that he loved! Then he got some books and and some costumes from us as well. I'd say he had a great Christmas. 

Bailey also had a great Christmas too. This girl loves books so she was thrilled with her new "Pinkalicious" books and her "Big Sister Bailey" book. 

Then she opened her present from her Mimi and Grandpa and fell in love. They got her a set of Disney prince and princess figurines. She loves that each of her princesses has their matching prince. 

She also opened some mini toddler princesses and costumes from us. 

I gave Chris a book, a guided fishing trip and then "12 Pre-planned Dates" for the year. I think he was pretty excited about the fishing trip but the dates had him smiling. We have a hard time going on real dates. The more kids we have, the harder it seems to get. So now, we have gift cards and sitters arranged for one date each month. It's going to be great!

Tucker-duck got board books and sippy cups. Oh and he got his first Christmas tree ornament. 

He really loved the wrapping paper. He just wanted to play in the paper and ribbons the whole time. 

Mimi and Grandpa gave Tuck a little farm toy that Bailey and him love. 

Then we had breakfast. Aren't these pancakes cute?

They were a hit with the kids. Even tucker had a whole plain pancake. 

After breakfast we loaded up the car and headed over to Mountain Home to see the rest of our family. I had packed us all up the night before so all we had to do was change out of our pj's and get in the car. It made for a relaxing Christmas morning. 

We got to Mountain Home just in time to open presents and then take naps. Nanny and Papa got the kids the "Living Scripture Stories" on DVD. I am so excited for this. We had these on VHS growing up and we watched them EVERY SINGLE SUNDAY. So I am hoping my kids will love them as much as I did. 

After naps Tanner got to try out his cousin's Christmas present. They were too scared to drive it, so Tanner took full advantage. He loves it so much! 

Meanwhile, Tucker got some lovin' from his Aunts and Uncles. 

I'd say this boy had a pretty great FIRST Christmas. 

I love this picture of my boys and their Aunt Laura. So cute!

We had a delicious Christmas dinner with the whole family (minus Sarah, Johnny and Max) and then visited until bedtime. Oh and the kids wanted one more ride on the gator before bed. Bailey loves that Tanner can drive her around. She kept asking "Tanner can you give me a ride on the gator." It was adorable!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. I know we did. 

So Merry Christmas from the Herbs!