Christmas Morning

**CAUTION: LONG POST AHEAD**
This year was our first Christmas 'by ourselves'. Every other year we have been with family. But, it was kinda fun to have it be just the 5 of us. We didn't get up until about 8:30. Michael was the first one up and, amazingly enough, only dumped the stuff out of his own stocking and left everything else alone. Smart kid.

So, when everyone got up we went through our stockings. The girls were excited to find in their stockings Disney figures... for Emma, Sleeping Beauty characters & for Katelynn, Cinderella characters. Michael is loving the Hot Wheels from his stocking.

Then, on to presents. Scott had the ingenious idea to get a box designated for each kid for them to put their gifts in after unwrapping them, to help keep the clutter under control and ensure no presents were accidentally thrown away. Awesome idea. I've never seen the floor so clean on Christmas morning! And any morning since Christmas, for that matter. ;)

We took things at a really relaxed pace and had the kids put their new toys in their box before unwrapping another one. At first I was getting a little..what's the word..I dunno, impatient or panicky, like "We need to get this going! We don't have all day!" But, then I realized we DID have all day and that there was no problem with drawing it out and enjoying it.

Katelynn showing off part of her IKEA kitchen playset (she loves to "cook"):
Barrel of Monkeys, anyone?:
Daddy helping get more gifts out from under the tree:
Taking a break to play Candyland. Yes, we actually stopped in the middle to play Candyland!:
Emma & Katelynn opening their special gift from Grandma & Grandpa Robertson...although I have a feeling it's mostly from Grandma:

A new baby!:

Time to get started taking care of them:

Scott helping Michael with the "Let's Go Fishin" game. He loves this game! Oh, and he's wearing his new dinosaur underwear. Very important. He calls these the 'Dinosaur Roar' undies:
Emma showing off one of many Disney shirts:
The girls have been way into princesses lately, so when I found these puppies I was excited:
Daddy smiling with his Bobby Flay cookbook:
I got Scott this fun game called "Ticket to Ride" that some friends of ours turned us on to:
Naptime in the tent for the babies. They are covered up with Emma's blanket:
A picture of Daddy, then Mommy. Why are there hardly any pictures of Michael, you ask? Well, he HATES having his picture taken. He throws a fit and turns away. A shame, really. He such a cute kid. :

Other gifts of note... We got a digital picture frame from Scott's parents. I got Scott "The Happiest Millionaire" soundtrack. (If you have not seen this gem, you must see it!) and a T-shirt that says 'Doctor' on the front, then 'Almost' on the back. We got the kids several boardgames.

And I got this baby:
I love this camera with every fiber of my being! Ok, maybe not that much, but a whole heckuva lot! I had been hinting for months that I wanted a new camera, but had given up hope of getting one 'cause I knew it was kinda out of our budget. But, then, "WHA-LA!!" I actually got one. Now you will be seeing more pictures & better looking pictures, because I can actually use this camera without everything turning out fuzzy or too bright or dark. YESSS!!!

So there you have, it folks. Hope you had a wonderful Christmas!