Christmas Eve and Christmas Day!

There is always so much excitement as a child building up to Christmas. I wish that excitement continued into adulthood. While, I still love Christmas, there is nothing quite like the anticipation you see in a child.
For Christmas Eve we invited my brother Chris' family, Natalie, and my parents to join us to celebrate.

We had soup and s'mores and brownies and then played games.  

We played the saran wrap game where you have to open a present wrapped in saran wrap with gloves and a hat until someone rolls the dice to take it and gets it open. The candy cane game where you see how many candy canes you can get on a plate in 1 minutes with your mouth, and the reindeer game where you have to be the first to blow up 8 balloons and make reindeer antlers out of panty hose.  

The kids had fun being silly.

All the Texas grandkids.  

Grandma and Grandpa with their grandkids.  

Our family on the night before Christmas. We sang hymns and read the Christmas story from the bible and had a fun night as a family.

The next morning Christmas arrived!!

I love the peace and quiet early Christmas morning when all you have is the light from the tree and you are waiting for the kids to wake up to see what Santa brought. 

The kids waited for Deck the Halls from Manheim Steamroller to play and they ran downstairs to look for the pickle on the tree. Several years ago someone told us that finding the pickle on Christmas morning was a German tradition and they gave us a pickle ornament and whoever finds it gets to open the first present. Ragnar isn't sure that it is a German tradition, but it is fun anyway. 

Deacon was delighted to find the pickle. 

The presents begin.. 

Channing got a vtech watch she wanted, a fingerling, lol dolls, squishamallows, bows, barbies and barbie clothes..etc. (its a lot of fun to buy for a girl her age ;)). Ella only had beanie boos on her Christmas list and a unicorn pillow. So she got both of those and a chrome book as well as she has to do most of her projects from school at home without one.  

Deacon got a hotwheels garage, paw patrol characters, a football, soccerball, and a helmet. Cavin got several games, a math game, Battleship, a snake game, an RC car, helmet, a paper airplane making book, canvas' to paint, and many other random fun things. Really they got their present a month early in a new room remodel and bunk beds.  

They seemed to be excited and I love their matching pajamas.  

The kids enjoy taking selfies.  

It was a nice morning together. It was the first time in 5 years we haven't had someone staying with us on Christmas morning, so it was kind of nice to just have our little family together.  

Ragnar unfortunately had to work the Rockets game that day, so we went over to my parents house and hung out and had a nice dinner. We put together a puzzle and played games. As you can tell, my dad was done with Channing's watch making so much noise! :) haha 

We had a wonderful Christmas and December flew by!

USU night!

When Ragnar heard that the Aggies were coming to play in Houston, he hit up his friend to get us tickets to go see them. We started the first night of the Winter break from school going to see them play against University of Houston.

They had a great first half and then didn't have enough in them the second half, so we lost. It was fun to see them again. They aren't quite the amazing team we had when Ragnar and I went to school there, but it did bring back great memories of going to all the games together in college. We love Utah State University.

Rockets Work Christmas Party

The last couple years the Rockets have thrown a Christmas party for their employees. Lucky for me, I get to accompany Ragnar. This year it was at the Post Oak hotel which is a very nice hotel downtown. We dressed up and went to party!

It is fun to go to a nicer event together as that is not typically our date nights. 

He has worked there for long enough that I know most of his coworkers. 

He won a money booth ticket so he got $61 in the money booth. 

This lady was playing an electric violin on stilts. It was a sight to see ;) 

We had a fun evening together.

Christmas Lights and Gingerbread houses

We got to go to a couple fun things this holiday season to help put us in the Christmas spirit. One of them was to go to a Live Bethlehem that a church about 20 minutes away put together. On the way home we decided to catch a fun home that is known for their lights and the kids enjoyed seeing that and being with friends. Unfortunately, right before we got their a child had gotten hit by a car and was killed so there was a lot of ambulances and life light as we pulled in. The kids tried not to be too distracted, but it was very sad.

Here was the entrance into the small Bethlehem exhibit. 

I really love Christmas lights and looking at them. I'm always sad at the end of the season when they are gone. 

We got to spend time with our friends the Clarks and the Browns. They are wonderful families! 

Three great dads with cute kiddos!

The Sunday before Christmas we made gingerbread houses as Cavin had been begging to. He loves to work on them.

As in years past, the girls did one and the boys had one. The girls is on the right and boys on the left.

Channing had a girl on the back of hers that represented her. She had "orange" hair ;) haha. We love Christmas traditions!

Basketball Game bonding!

My brother Chris and I were able to go to the Rockets game together on December 13th when the Rockets played the Lakers. Ragnar won 7th row seats from his boss so we got to see two incredible basketball players in James Harden and LeBron James compete. 

I always enjoy spending time with my brother and there is never enough opportunities with all the busyness of life. 

The Rockets won and it was a fun night to be at the game!

Spelling B-E-E

Cavin participated in the Eagle Springs Elementary spelling bee a couple weeks ago. 3rd-5th graders can participate and each class has two chosen to represent their class. Cavin was chosen in 3rd grade, the runner up last year, and again this year he participated. He enjoys competition and is a smart kid, so he has fun getting ready and practicing the words.

This year there were 36 participants. He was slotted to go in the 23rd spot.  

His first word was otters, then he progressed through to the 6th round with these words. Creatures, Perish, Tiring, Niece, and he misspelled Viscous with only 10 kids to go, and was eliminated. He was still pretty proud of himself and thought he did a good job which I am grateful for. He is an awesome speller. It is a whole different ballgame to spell on paper than with hundreds of people watching and spelling out loud.

A third grade boy ended up winning it all.  

I'm proud of Cavin for working hard and being eligible to participate and always trying so hard to succeed in school.

The Nutcracker Tradition

Every year since we have moved back to Texas, my mom has taken the girls and I to the Nutcracker ballet. We love the tradition and it always helps me get into the Christmas spirit. We went to lunch at Frey's which was delicious and then we went to a performance at Tomball High School. It was fairly well done. 

The girls love all being together and it's nice to have a girls day and do something other than go to a sporting event ;) 

Ella, Channing and their cute cousin Charlotte. 

We didn't have great seats, but surprisingly you could still see pretty well. It was a fun day and I am grateful to have it to look forward to each year.