The Christmas House

"The Christmas House" is something my kids talk about and look forward to all year long! The past three years we have gone to the same house at Lake Lure, but this year it was booked. My mom found a wonderful place in Pigeon Forge with 11 bedrooms, 2 outdoor hot tubs, a theater and an indoor pool! That was a hit with the kids. We used all 11 bedrooms and had a great time with both sides of my family. I think we had 26 people total, that stayed for various lengths of days. My family stayed 4 nights (3 for Ben) and it was a wonderful, relaxing time. I rarely feel like vacation is vacation, but the ratio of adults to children was much greater than we are used to, so we had a real vacation. I read, played numerous games, watched football and just had a great time with family that I don't see often enough. 

The kids thought it was so cool having a swimming pool right beside the living room.   

Aubrey, Braden and Kate. These three entertained each other the entire time. Ben and I said we missed the kids because they were off having so much fun.  

 Ben was the fun parents that actually got in the pool. It was heated, but I much prefer the hot tub! :)

Sutton had a huge fan club at the cabin. Nikki had never met him and seemed like a natural with the kiddos! 

Nikki's husband, Chris, enjoying some Kinex. Tyler was so sweet to bring his entire collection to Braden. He is really enjoying them. 

Best buds! These two are 18 days apart and play so well together.  

Nikki and Tyler all smiles before playing Ticket to Ride. They had no idea what they were getting into playing a game with the Blantons! :) 

GrandJan bought these cute numbers for the kids to decorate and then take a picture holding the number of their age. My sweet three year old! 

One night we all played (or watched) Catch Phrase. We laughed so hard! I love when everyone is involved. We also all ate dinner together every night. Sweet times! 

Love this one! Gotta hate when the buzzer goes off in your hand! 

Laura making my favorite treat, buckeyes! I don't even want to know how many I ate. 

Decorating gingerbread men with GrandJan. 

On Sunday there were lots of good football games on. The Panthers and the Falcons was a must watch for these Carolina and Georgia boys. It was awesome having a theater in the house. The kids especially loved this room. 

Watching the big kids swim. It's hard to be the baby sometimes! 

I never made the kids nap, so this was my attempt at "watch tv and rest your bodies!" 

Someone was very tired! 

Papa and his grandboy! 

Our last full day Braden woke up with a low fever. He seemed to feel fine and had no other symptoms, but I hate when the kids are sick...especially when we are hanging around other kids. Eeek! Sorry, everyone! 

Movie and popcorn! 

The kids literally spent hours in here watching all their new DVDs they got for Christmas. 

Present time. 

Amy and Jessica

Now stocking time. Caleb looks thrilled to have his picture taken! 

Holding up their ages. Sutton's is a roman numeral. :) 

You can't get coloring stuff in your stocking and not color immediately. 

Becky was the brave parent and got "in" the pool on the last day. By in, I mean her feet! 

Sutty and Tyler watching the big kids swim. 

The view from our cabin. I love the mountains. I love Christmas. I love my family. 

Christmas Day

I think I say this every year, but this was definitely one of my favorite Christmases. Maybe I'm contrasting it with last year when Ben had to work December 24 - January 1 and the kids were sick and it just wasn't the best. This year we had nowhere to go. We went to Nashville earlier in December  and are spending this weekend with the Jolly/Denison crew so we were just home all day Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. I loved it! I didn't take great pictures. It is so hard to enjoy the moment and take pictures. But in the years to come I won't care about that, I will look back and think this perfectly captures life with kids that are 5, 3, and 1! Oh what fun!

Not a great picture, but here is our house decorated for Christmas! I always wanted to have wreaths on the windows. But after all that work, I may just leave them until next Christmas!

I learned my lesson on stockings. I only put as much candy in them as I was willing to let them eat that morning. It was plenty and they didn't have to beg all day for more and I don't have tons of candy hidden in the pantry. 

"Santa" came! 

Somehow I don't have a picture of Braden and his Narnia castle, but Kate's dollhouse and Sutton's train track are big hits with everyone.  

Sutton wasn't even up yet and the kids were already enjoying his gift. 

 Pencils!

Round 1 of candy. 

Trying out the light up yo yo. $1 items are always a favorite! Kate told someone her favorite thing was her notepad...yea, the $1 one I got from Walgreens on a whim. Kids! 

Cholula! 

Sutty likes destroying the train track or taking the train off of it. I knew he would be too young but the reviews were great and said older kids loved it and can set it up and change the track. So true! A great family toy! 

Kate and Braden bought for each other this year. Kate helped pick out this huge Ninja Turtle for Braden and he was delighted. 

Kate asked for a watch so Braden helped me decide which one. She seriously only asked for a watch. Once we were in the toy department at Target and she saw a Cinderella doll and said, "Well, could I get that AND a watch for Christmas?" Sweet girl is so easy to please. That, and she doesn't really play with toys. 

My big surprise! So excited.  I'm currently blogging from my new MacBook Air. 

Another "favorite" of Kate's...her beloved pink Bible. I know she is years away from reading it. But I have this same small Bible in gray and she carries it around the house all day. She will go in the play room and say, "I'm doing my Bible study" and then flip through the pages. I think it's the size she likes. So, no, she is not super godly or anything! But she is cute doing her "bible study!"

 Later in the day she was found like this "reading" her Bible.

Braden got a Leapster two years ago and it has been a coveted toy around here. Kate was so excited to get her very own pink one.  

Ben thought Braden would be ready for the game Battleship. He still needs some help, but he had a blast playing it and keeps asking to play. I'm not sure I have the patience needed to play with him. ;) 

Sutton's stocking stuffer. How cute is he? 

My little gamer. 

I stayed up really late on Christmas Eve making sure the house was clean. But look at this kitchen by mid morning. I told Ben that was the down side of going nowhere and having no one over for Christmas...no one to share the work.  However, we ate really good so it was worth all the prep and cleaning. 

Watching the Litte Mermaid. 

The new "quality" time! This is considered playing together, right?

It was such a pretty day we had to go outside and play for a bit. It was chilly

but no one seemed to mind.  

This boy has my heart! Okay, they all do, but gosh he is so cute sometimes! 

Everything can be turned into an adventure.  I love this boys huge imagination! 

Bouncing on the trampoline!  

I hope you can zoom in on this picture. I looked out the window and saw Kate driving around the front yard in the jeep chatting on her toy phone. At one point she stopped and appeared to be having a very serious conversation. She is so funny! 

We woke Sutton up at 6 to eat dinner. Christmas is exhausting!

After dinner we had our birthday party for Jesus. This year I made Pioneer Woman's Red Velvet cake. It was so yummy! The icing she uses is called "The Best Icing I've Every Had." We disagreed! Ben prefers cream cheese icing on red velvet. Still good and I'm sure Jesus didn't mind. ;)

Our good friends, the Andrews, moved in a house about 100 yards from ours this summer. They had no plans for the day either, so we went over after dinner to play. We knew it would be chaos....6 kids under 6, new toys, lots of sugar, and mine didn't nap! It was crazy, but a fun crazy! The adults even played a game...it just took twice as long as usual. 

Isaiah shared his brand new toy with Sutton.

Friends on Christmas! :)