17 Days Since Christmas

Guess it's time to say something about it. It was nice, it was busy, it went too fast. :( The Holiday didn't come without its challenges. Our schedule was jam packed. We started the celebrations off at my Grandma Lynda's Christmas Eve party. Before we left we let the kids open their first present: Christmas Pajamas! I did not make them this year. I found a good deal on black Friday and thought to myself, "Your sewing machine hasn't been out since Priya was born... you better buy those!" So I did.

Priya went for the bow right away. Then she refused to let it go and it had to go with her in the car seat for the ride out. They're ready for the party!

This picture makes me so happy. My 3 rowdy high school age cousins were so fantastic with Porter. They were sitting on the floor in a semicircle cheering and playing with him. He would run full speed across the room and pick one of them to tackle and tickle at the last minute. As you can see he didn't enjoy it at all.

P got a little too warm in his jammies so we switched it up. It's a good thing because he had to take a very important phone call that was apparently pretty hilarious because he was talking and laughing a lot! My family members who have never seen him do this before were dying with amusement. He's a cute kid that's for sure.

My Grandpa Bruce and Porter disappeared and this is where we found them. They were having fun!

My family is amazing and they orchestrate a service project for the local homeless shelter that we work on each Christmas Eve. I would like to say I contributed, but aside from my donation I wasn't able to help with all the kid chasing I had going on.

P chatting with Grandpa Lynda and proof that I was at the party. I'll try to remember to post our Christmas letters from this year. It was fun writing letters for the kids. I'm excited to read everyone else's. I felt bad during the reverent part of the party because the majority of those in attendance can be quiet, but my children weren't despite our efforts. I just felt like we were ruining that part of the party. Sorry, fam!

Decorating the birthday cake for Baby Jesus. Now I'm craving Texas Sheet cake. I always love hearing Grandpa read the Christmas story to us. I've heard it every Christmas Eve since I can remember.

The rest of the night and well into the morning was spent wrapping. Ugh. I was so excited to go to bed. But the gifts turned out lovely.

We didn't do the come down first thing Christmas Morning to open gifts because we had church at 9a.m. (sluffing was not an option, I sang in sacrament which was nice because we were on time) and with the kids being up late for the Christmas party the night before it just wasn't going to happen. I really think that we should have Church EVERY Christmas no matter what day it is. It was so lovely, uplifting and if that were the only thing we did to celebrate I would have felt completely fulfilled. When we got home Priya needed a nap and the wait was killing me, but the kids were oblivious. With Priya asleep we went to work on our special Christmas Breakfast. It has changed every year to our kids current favorite. This year I did a variation on Puffy Pancakes (thank you Pinterest) and Porter really liked them. Porter learned to use a fork while eating puffy pancakes, which is a special little memory for me.

This is P enjoying some treats our neighbors brought by after church. Isn't he cute?!

Puffy pancakes.

He discovered bacon, he's a fan. There ya go Grandpa Randy. After Breakfast it was FINALLY time to open gifts!

(The Best Part of this picture: Priya's quietly curious face and her clench on one of her favorite gifts!)The kids got a ton of books. YAY! With the books they got from us and others we added 35 books to our already large library. I'll be adding some bookshelves to store them all. I'm also excited because we now have enough Christmas books to do a storybook advent next year! Okay, I'm done geeking out over children's books.

Just what she wanted. Look at those beautiful eyes! Also I love her Christmas dress, love it!

"Wow!"

Things went a little slower than we're used to because gifts had to be opened and played with immediately with Porter.

I'd say she got it. What about you? Still has her girly ball rattle in tow. :)
I love this face. Originally we had planned on purchasing an I-Pad for Porter, but we couldn't agree 100% that it was the right thing so we didn't purchase one. The kids got lots of books and 2 toys each. Nothing extravagant, but they were very happy with their gifts and we came in $500 under budget.

Aaron got a new running companion. He loves it and it gives him the ability to better monitor his heart rate and many, many other things during his runs. This is a comfort to me because now he'll be aware when he's pushing himself too hard just because he gets carried away by how much fun he's having. Or like tonight when he ran not completely recovered from a respiratory illness. Hopefully it keeps him in line and helps prevent injury as he prepares for his marathon this year.

I got a pea coat. A darling pea coat that I only payed 40% of retail cost for, yes that makes it so much sweeter to me. I love this coat. I had a Christmas budget I got to decide how to spend, but I've been so happy with the coat I haven't really wanted to spend the rest.

Aaron and I exchanged little surprise gifts with each other to try and keep that fun spirit as part of the Holiday. :)

By this point we were quickly headed into late afternoon and it was time to head to the Aaron's parents for Christmas dinner. Dinner was fantastic. Nothing better than good food, company and a warm Christmas feeling. Do I have pictures of the best part...No, boo!

As Priya drank her bottle we were buried alive in gifts. Did I mention how nice it is just being with family. So nice!

Lots of fun gifts! But really the best part was being with family. Miss Priya chilling with Grandma Judy.

We headed home for some rest before we had another day of Christmas with my parents. Something AMAZING happened the day after Christmas: 5 of my 6 siblings were able to come spend the day together! We missed my Brother Landon who was sick. We rarely get to see each other all at once, it was so nice! My parents had some big plans for us up their sleeves. We had a yummy small town breakfast at Virg's (where we found out there soon will be another cousin in the family! YAY!) Congrats Steve & Heather! Then we headed into town for some bowling. I had such a good time. We enjoyed each other's company a lot and the kids were really amusing. Grandpa even took them through the arcade.Clapping for himself.

Oh how I love my Children!!! He's just so stinkin' cute in this picture!

We headed back to the house because some of the Loganites had to head back for work. Little did Porter know that his Aunt's Kaleena & Baylee and Uncle Couper had decided to spoil him rotten this year and they were giddy about it. While we were in NY these 3 got Porter all to themselves and a plan started to brew in Kaleena's head. His very own rocking Horse! The pictures really speak for themselves.

Ryder taking a ride on the new steed. Ryder and Porter played SO well together. Ryder is a super sweet boy. He and Porter ran all over the house laughing and having a great time. It was so wonderful but it also made me a little sad that Ryder lives so very far away because I wish it were possible to get together with them more often. :( Ryder was such a good influence on Porter. He had Porter RUNNING as fast as he could. That may not sound like a big deal, but running with good form for a 2 year old with Down Syndrome is a big deal. We may have to figure out a way to get them together more often. At least every few months.

It was a full and fantastic Christmas! I have loved reading about your Christmas as well. I do read your blogs still, it's just usually on my phone so I don't comment as often as I should. Still love you all!