a christmas get-together.

we got together with jason's family on the sunday evening before christmas.  those cousins always have a good time when they're with each other.  they decorated some cookies for santa and by the time the decorating was done there was enough sugar and sprinkles on those cookies to put even santa into a sugar coma.  but the creativity was definitely present.  the cousins also acted out the nativity.  ava and eden were the sweetest angels, jack was joseph, and, well, jonah was a shepherd who kept sneaking away to the bowl of peanut m&m's up on the counter.  that's my boy.  we ended the night with a little gift exchange.  jonah received a remote control lightening mcqueen car that sort of made his day.  we had a great time visiting with family and eating lots of delicious mexican food and reflecting on the true meaning of christmas.  love the holiday season.

christmas sunday.

christmas sunday.

december 22, 2013.

christmas sunday is one of my most favorite sundays of the year.  and i was really hoping that we could be on time to church since this was going to be our last chance to try and make it to 8am church before the opening prayer.  (we haven't been on time the whole year that i can remember, minus maybe the one time when we had to say the opening prayer).  well, it didn't happen this sunday either.  we were all ready to go but of course we had to stop and take some pictures in front of the tree in our sunday christmas best.

i am so blessed to call these kids mine.  they are great kids all with great personalities.  jack had just gotten glasses and was so excited to wear them and show them off to the world.  it's funny because now that the newness has worn off, i barely see him in them at all.  anyway, we were again late to church, only by a few minutes, but i don't regret it.  having pictures of my kids together (looking happy) is a little more important in my book than saying we were on time to church.  and now it's a new year and we have 10am church so our goal of making it to church on time might be a bit more achievable.

caroling, hot chocolate, donuts, santa, etc.

^^^not sure why jack looks so grumpy here...^^^

^^^but this donut sure seemed to cheer him up.^^^

^^^another donut lover with some of the best eyelashes around.^^^

^^^i'm pretty sure eden believed that this was the real santa. she did't want to let him out of her sight.^^^

we continued the annual breinholt tradition this year with a monday night filled with caroling through neighborhoods aboard a hayride followed by hot chocolate and donuts.  (and lets not forgot conversations with santa claus.  eden spent a good ten minutes talking santa's ear off.)  my children look forward to this night every christmas season.  they get all bundled up and cozy up with their cousins as they bring christmas cheer to so many.  it really is a feel good experience and i'm thankful for jason's side of the family for all their efforts to put this thing together each and every year.  i know my kids will remember this tradition for like ever.  we heart christmas time.

eden's princess birthday party.

^^^jack was trying to sneak into the party as a red headed rapunzel. brothers.^^^

^^^a good looking group of princesses.^^^

^^^everyone was so excited to have cinderella as the guest of honor.^^^

^^^she can give some pretty great expressions.^^^

eden had such a fun birthday party thanks to her guest, cinderella.  she kept all the young princesses busy with so many activities. she first taught them some princess etiquette and then read them her story and sang some songs followed by a crowd favorite, face painting.  lastly, she crowned eden as an honorary princess and did pictures and autographs with the girls.  she was a hit and so was eden's party!

it's always a good ending to a party when the birthday girl tells you that she had the best birthday party ever.  it makes all that cleaning and preparation worth it.

church breakfast with santa and mrs. claus.

the best kind of church parties are the kind where you can roll out of bed and show up in your jammies. our ward christmas party this year was a breakfast with santa and the mrs. and i hope they continuous this idea for the years to come because with all the craziness the holidays bring having something low key like this is just what you need.  plus the kids love it.  this also happened to be the first of many encounters with santa claus for my kids this holiday season.  it seemed as if we kept running into the man dressed in red over and over again as you will see in my posts to come.