Christmas Day

In the words of my mother, "I have never met two people as tech savvy as you and Mack who have so many problems with computers".  Amen to that!  I can't blog from my computer now because the button to upload pictures has disappeared on Blogger on my computer.  If anyone knows a remedy for this problem, I would love to hear it.  Consequently my Christmas morning pictures are on the other computer, but they weren't really that impressive anyway.
We do have video of the children walking out Christmas morning.  This is basically how it went.  Reese and Jessenia repeating "What?"  "What!?"  "WHAT!?"  over and over again.  Brisbane ran over and tackled his trampoline.  Reese ran up to Brisbane's stocking and dumped everything out, thinking it was his.  When the adults told Reese that was Brisbane's he ran over to Jessenia's stocking and dumped it out.  When he was once again told that it was not his, he was lost.  Completely oblivious to the bike with the large bow and his stocking.  The kids had tons of fun opening their presents.... and then the gift envy began.
Mack and I had a good Christmas too.  The best part was that after the awful pictures I took of the kids' Christmas program we decided to break down and ask for a swanky new D-SLR camera.  We were not disappointed.  All of my readers will now be able to see my adorable children with even more clarity.
But the highlight of the day was having all of my siblings home.  This is a pretty big deal.  We have not all been together since the Christmas before Brisbane was born.  My oldest brother, Paul, had never met Reese and Jessenia.  And my brother, David, had never met any of my children.  David also had just returned from a tour of duty in Afghanistan two weeks before and we were all so grateful that he made it home safely.

 Brisbane and Grandpa were my first victims with the new camera.  My Dad thinks Brisbane looks just like him.  What do you think?

 Jessenia asked Santa for three things:  a Princess toy, chapstick, and a doll.  He delivered!  She loved her hair styling doll.

 Candy!?  Yes, please! (Sidenote:  The kids each recieved a candy cane of Reese's Peanut Butter cups in their stockings.  Reese picked up one and asked me to open it for him.  I told him that it wasn't his.  He pointed to where it said, "Reese's" and said, "Look, it says Reese David ________".  I then had to explain that the candies were called Reese's and that even though it had his name on it, those were indeed still Jessenia's.)

 Reese asked for three things also:  a train, cars, and Finn McMissile (From Cars 2).  Santa delivered again!  Plus he brought him this sweet bike!

 "The Brothers" arrived after present opening and after a brief introduction Reese plopped down on the sofa next to Uncle Paul.  "Why are you so pokey!?" Since his own father can't grow facial hair, it is a valid question.  These two spent the next fifteen minutes sitting on the sofa with Reese rubbing Paul's face and Paul showing Reese pictures and maps of where he lives and where he is moving.  Five minutes into it I heard Mack say, "You don't have to answer every single one of his questions".  But Paul did.  I am pretty sure in Reese's eyes he achieved "Coolest Uncle" status.
There was some dinner and general toy playing after that.

 Reese took a short spin outside on his bike.  After that I thought the evening was over, until I walked into the house to this:

 Aunt Melanie and Jessenia got stuck in that tunnel!

Reese didn't want to be left out.

We hope that all of you had a very Merry Christmas this year.  We sure loved spending time with a small part of our family.  It was a very blessed year for our family and we felt the Savior's love this holiday season as we experienced the joy of Christmas and the love of Christ's birth through the eyes of our children.