Merry Christmas - Stocking time!

Christmas morning we woke up (thankfully the kids slept til 7am!) and we raced downstairs to see what was in their stockings. I popped in a french toast dish that I had made the night before - unfortunately the smell was much better than how it tasted. I think I put too much cream cheese in it. Oops - I thought it would be a good one b/c it had my mom's check mark by it (meaning it is good!)

Excited to see what treasures they had in their stockings!

One of Jaelyn's comments during the morning, "how did Santa use the same wrapping paper that you used, Mommy?!". (He must like to shop at Costco like mommy! Ha!). Another side note: we sat on Santa's lap this year and then the next day saw another Santa at Snowflake Lane in Bellevue who had a pretty weak beard! Jaelyn noticed that and stated, "Mom there is something different about this Santa." I asked her what she thought was different and she explained that the 2nd Santa had a bell necklace and the 1st one didn't. Phew - I diverted that one! Well, until the next day she said, "you know mom, that other Santa we saw had a different looking beard". Hmmm...what do I say to a 4.5 year old?!? Thankfully she didn't need much of a reason and was happy with what I came up with (I honestly can't remember what I said, though!)

10 $1.00 bills made it into each stocking - thanks to Great Grandma Holwerda!

Checking out all his loot - complete with Cars band aides, a toothbrush & mementos (which he scarfed while we were at church!)

Byeman Family Christmas

The Byeman Christmas was Christmas Day, in the afternoon - perfect for the little ones to get a much need nap before more craziness began!

Somehow Santa brings the kids (and us big kids) stockings at Oma's house!! Too fun!

Oma gives an ornament to each kid every year - Jaelyn collects angels and Benjamin collects Santa's. What a great tradition!

Ben had to take a pit stop while he was opening up his stocking to eat some of the chocolate!

The dreaded harmonica - just imagine 5 kids running around playing the harmonica they got in their stockings. "Beautiful" music!

Superhero Benjamin contemplating his next move!

What fun! Matching gifts to dress up in! (Plus Jaelyn is clutching the doll/purse/bed carrier that Tante Janny made for the girls!)

Superhero's Jaelyn & Benjamin to the rescue!

The annual calendar we make for Oma & Opa - such fun to look at all the pictures of the kids!


Here are the best pictures of all the cousins together....this one is without Emily because she decided she didn't want a picture taken......

and this is the other one....Jakob decided he had had it with the pictures. Oh well! Tis the season of life we are in!! :)

Our family Christmas Celebration

Our family Christmas celebration started off with a yummy breakfast: egg/sausage casserole, muffins, fresh fruit & OJ. The kids downed their breakfast and were eager little beavers to get to unwrapping presents!! Thankfully the kids didn't mind doing a little photo op before they opened presents - here are a few fun ones:

Jaelyn - 4.5 years, Benjamin 2.5 years old

Ben got to start off the festivities of unwrapping the gifts. Boy, I LOVED how he opened each gift up. I wish I would have recorded it because his comments were so cute. He was super pumped and wasn't afraid to show how excited he was!

Seeing his firetruck for the first time! "Ooohhhh"!

Seeing her play mobile doll house! Very excited!

After he opened up his red vest he exclaimed, "This is what I've ALWAYS wanted - yayyyy!" Precious! :)

Not sure who had more fun putting the new train stuff together....!

Thanks, Papa! Endless hours of fun will be had with Thomas the Train

The rest of the morning/afternoon was spent playing with their new toys - - what great Christmas Eve!

Christmas Eve Party

We headed over to Oma & Opa's house for a Christmas Eve dinner! It was scrumptious - she always does a fabulous job! And then to the kids' surprise, they were able to open up their Christmas gift from Oma & Opa!! They thought they were going to have to wait until Christmas Day - so they were VERY excited!!

Figuring out what she unwrapped....

Happy to get her play mobile RV camper to go along with her house she got earlier in the day!

As you can tell from his expression on his face - he was stoked to unwrap matchbox cars!!

Figuring out how it all works!

Elisabeth (obviously NOT a fan of getting her picture taken!), Jaelyn, & Alexis

Elisabeth got these pink walkie talkies- boy were a huge hit!!

Christmas Cookie Decorating Extravaganza!

Our 3rd annual Christmas Cookie Decorating Extravaganza was today! Oma got the sugar cookies from Hancock's Bakery (yum!) & I provided the frosting & sprinkles. It was a fun/crazy morning! Thankfully the best Auntie's in the world - Karen & Nancy came over to help the kiddos make a mess! Here are some pictures to highlight the morning (before my camera battery died, oops!)

There is always room for a few more sprinkles, right?!

Auntie Nancy assisting Benjamin with his cookie

My OCD son who needs to have his hands clean at all times had this hand towel beside him to whole morning!

Yummy!!

Ya gotta sample the cookies!

Love, Love, Love this picture of Jaelyn & Auntie Karen!

The Nutcracker Ballet

Jaelyn & I went to the Evergreen City's Nutcracker ballet with Auntie Sarah & Elisabeth today! And much to our surprise - - Kora & Celia were at the same performance!! So much fun!

Very excited to see the performance! She sat on the edge of her seat for a good chunk of the performance - she was mesmerized by the dancers!

Jaelyn & Kora

We even danced and twirled our way the to the car at the end of the show!

A great intermission treat - candy kabobs!