Hartsock Christmas

On Christmas day we all head back to Grandad and JuJu's to have lunch with the Hartsock side of the family. I think there were 18 kids there!!

Opening gifts...

Ella and Riley performing for MiMi. The big girls got microphones, but Ella had no problem testing them out:-) By the end of the afternoon we were all ABSOLUTELY exhausted...we took a family nap. Merry Christmas!

Christmas Morning

We told the boys they could not leave their room before we came in to get them. We were up around 6:30am waiting to hear some little noises, but we didn't start hearing anyone until after 7:00! When I finally came into their room Port said, "What took you so long?!?"

We told the boys they had to get Ella up, because she was still sleeping. Haynes was really excited to get her up!!

Ella was absolutely exhausted. She actually sat up, looked at the boys, and then laid back down! She really loves her sleep...which mommy is so thankful for:-)

Eventually they convinced her to get out of bed, and she couldn't have been more excited to find Daddy waiting for her.

The excitement on their little faces is really priceless!

Port did actually get his DSi. He didn't spot it at first, but after a little help he was beyond thrilled!

Haynes loved his new 4-wheeler, but really wanted to open the gift that has been sitting under Lolli's tree for the last few weeks.

The boys couldn't hardly wait, we took a breakfast/game break in the middle of gifts.

Ella loved her new little house, but let's be honest...the chapstick and chair were really the hit of the morning.

This is the before picture...

I didn't actually get an after picture, but just imagine.

Josh and Jenny win the award for greatest aunt and uncle! They stayed up and put things together, got up early for gifts, and slept on a blow up mattress in the nursery. We loved having them at Christmas morning to celebrate with us!

Our last gift to Port was a zip-line Brian had been working on in the back yard. The first few days of the project Brian was really confident. Christmas eve he came in and seemed a little disappointed...I couldn't quite understand why. I knew the kids would love it no matter what...

Brian warned Port he might want to put his feet up, little did we know that his bottom would hit the ground about half way through the zip-line! We have a little work to finish the zip-line, but don't worry the kids LOVE it! They've been playing on it all week and Port has even figured out a way to get all the way across the yard without touching the ground.

Christmas Pajamas

Yes...it is about 10:00pm at this point in the evening! We met Todd and Robin at my parents house to open Christmas pajamas that my Granma makes for us every year. Todd brought the kids this singing puppy. As you can tell they LOVED it!

Granma with the kids...it's really too late to ask for great pictures from the kids:-)

The girls...

The boys...

Thanks Granma for all your hard work! Ella's nightgown is especially beautiful!

Christmas Eve at Poppy's

We meet the Wright family on Christmas eve. We all eat together, open stockings, and exchange gifts. The boys were so disappointed because Hanna and Lilly were sick with the flu.

Ella loved helping everyone open their gifts.

Peggy bought the boys David and Daniel action figures. She couldn't have picked a better gift, they LOVED it!

Ella helped Amy with her gifts too!

Christmas Eve Service

We had a great Christmas Eve Service. Annamarie brought all the kids to the front to read the Christmas story. This is the only picture I got of the evening, but it was super sweet to worship with our community on Christmas Eve.

Christmas eve morning

JuJu gave the boys a gift early, so Brian put it together all night. When they woke up around 6 we had something for them to entertain themselves with for a while:-)

Once everyone started waking up we headed back to JuJu's to eat cinnamon rolls and get ready to head to the courts.

Trying to contain these kids gets a little harder each year. Their memory is getting better and we can't hardly keep them out of the courts!

We always take a daddy picture. We've officially outgrown daddy's holding their kids:-) Just wait...next Christmas we will have 3 more little ones!!

JuJu and Grandad got all the kids workout equipment. They all love playing on JuJu's so much she found the kid versions-they love it! (Just this week I asked if my kids were old enough to do cardio if they insisted on getting up so early...)

Everyone got sleds too! Let's pray for some snow!

One of the best parts of the morning is just letting the kids play with all their new things. They just absolutely love being together at Grandad and JuJu's. We are beyond blessed by everything Grandad and JuJu do for us. Thanks for all the amazing memories!!!

Hartsock Christmas Eve

We decided to go caroling this year. Kooper had the kids in alphabetical order and ready to go!!

Our first stop was Papa's house. We had to remind them not to ask for candy...that's "trick-or-treating"

JuJu got everyone matching pj's. You can tell that our crew is getting older...we actually got a picture of everyone this year!

JuJu got all the boys matching sleeping bags too! They were ready for our slumber party at Juju's!

While the boys got their sleeping bags, the girls decorated/ate sugar cookies. Ella LOVED this part!

Haynes decided to make some cookies too!

This year all the kids drew another cousin's name. Braxton drew Ella's name and got her another beautiful baby doll. She hasn't put it down yet...great job Brax!

Anna drew Port's name. It was so fun watching how excited the kids got for their cousins to open their gifts!

Preslee and Haynes had each other's names.

These kids don't get much cuter than this! We love our fun tradition of spending the evening together. We exchange gifts that night and all spend the night together. Our boys wake up the earliest by far, so we took them next door this year so everyone wouldn't wake up at 6 too!

Chrismas Lights on 72nd!

We went to dinner with the Benton's and Bauer's at Iron Star. We were all headed back to our house to watch a movie, but decided to stop and watch the Christmas lights. Kristin D. brought the kids these fun Christmas suckers and they have been dying to eat them!

We passed out the suckers and headed to see the lights off of 72nd street. The kids absolutely LOVED it!

Port Robert

My flash was extra bright since all the lights were out, we all thought this picture of Brian was funny! I just love cuddling with all our kids and singing Christmas carols! Then we headed home for an extended evening with friends:-)

Delivering Christmas Gifts

These are one of my favorite gifts I gave this year! I bought these fun containers at market, filled them with fun treats, made the bags and wrapped them up.

I took the kids to deliver gifts and this is the only picture that I snapped! The kids loved delivering them "by them selves" unfortunately there was only a few friends home when we dropped them off. Merry Christmas!

Week of crafts...

We decided to make some playdough for our cousins. Everyone got to make their own batch and choose their colors.

Ella chose green...check out that mess!

Port chose red!

Haynes chose blue...so predictable:-)

We also made cookies, pretzels, puppy chow, and so much more!