i scream, you scream....

we all scream for ice cream!

We hopped on board the ferry to Bainbridge Island to partake in possibly the best ice cream I have ever tasted!  Even more fun to do it with friends!  Thanks for inviting us along, Hulst family!  :)

Celia, Jaelyn, Brooke, Kora, & Benjamin - all enjoying their ice cream!

Fun at the park before we headed back to Seattle.

Joy to the World!

Christmas morning the kids slept into 8am - what a welcome treat for me!  The kids ran downstairs to see if Santa had come...sure enough...the stockings were full!  The kids tore into their stockings and got some fun things...including much needed undies, snow in a can (!), dvd's, candy, socks (for Brooke), $10 from Great Grandma H, chap stick, gum (a huge favorite of the kids) and some other things.  Fun times!

Then after we got breakfast and showers for the day, we headed over to party central (aka:  Oma & Opa's house) for another round of stockings.  It's crazy...but Santa delivers stockings for the kids at their house too!

 Jaelyn and her angel ornament

 Ben's ready to see all the goodies in his stocking!

 Don't mess with this girl...she dove right into her stocking!

Jake & Ben's punching bag - they were a hit!

Our attempt at getting all the cousins together for a picture!

Back Row:  Elisabeth, Alexis, Jaelyn, Brooke

Front Row:  Emily, Benjamin, Jakob

Opening up her gift from Oma

Brooke getting help from her older siblings...although she didn't need them!  :)

Ben's tool set...complete with a chainsaw!  He was stoked to get this set.  "This is what I've always wanted"!

Finally...the rainbow loom she has REALLY wanted!

Christmas Eve

We celebrated Christmas as a family on Christmas Eve morning - it just worked out better to do it on Christmas Eve so we weren't in a hurry on Christmas morning.  I had originally planned on making a yummy breakfast for everyone...but the kids were uber excited to get to the presents under the tree and only wanted cereal - because it was faster!  Sounds good to me...although I did throw in some cinnamon rolls!

Presents are all wrapped and ready for the kids to dig in!

Ready for presents - but doing the obligatory sibling picture in front of the tree!  ha!

Brooke was hilarious this year - she totally got into unwrapping presents!  Quite a change from last year.  However, she not only wanted to unwrap her gifts..but everyone else's!  Needless to say, we opened up gifts a bit quicker this year instead of savoring each person's gift or else Brooke would have unwrapped them all!

Quite possibly Ben's favorite gift this year!

Brooke LOVES the new doll she got from her cousin Allie.  The doll goes where ever she goes!  

Feeding her doll some chicken!  :)

What a wonderful morning together....after presents then we were off to the movie theater to watch Frozen with all the cousins.  After a stop at the bakery...Oma insisted she get cookies/hot chocolate for everyone, then it was back home for a bit before we trekked back to Oma & Opa's house for dinner and then on to church to celebrate the real reason for the season.  Phew!  What a fun day!  :)

He came back!

Our Elf on the Shelf came back this year!  What fun to wake up each morning and see where he had moved too!  A couple times he was in the same place - but we think that's just because he caught cough and didn't want to fly back to Santa in the cold weather.  Jaelyn wrote a few letters to Santa and placed them by Scout so he would deliver them...and you know what?  The letters were gone the next morning...so Scout did his duty!!

Jaelyn wrote this note to Santa after meeting him at the Olson Christmas party.

Olson Christmas

Look you showed up at our Christmas party.....

SANTA!!

 Ben's reaction when his name was called first to receive his gift from Santa!

Ben is telling Santa what's on his wish list!

Jaelyn's thinking hard of what's on her list!

Brooke is checking this guy out!

All the cousins with Santa. 

Santa recited "Twas the Night Before Christmas" to the kids and then explained to them how they each had a special job to do on Christmas Eve....going to bed on time so that he could deliver the presents to everyone!  It was such a magical night!  :) 

Even Oma & Opa got a turn to sit on his lap!  :)

Me and my 'lil babes...so sweet and growing up to darn quick!  :)

Sugar, Sugar, Sugar!

We once again decorated Christmas cookies!  Oma made a stop at the bakery and got 6 dozens cookies and 2 lbs of icing...whoa!  It's a fun tradition to do with the kiddos...and this year we got to do it with Alexis and Jake!  :)

Sprinkles and more sprinkles!

We couldn't do it without these three!

The finished product!  YUMMY!

Jaelyn, Elisabeth, & Alexis