The girls woke up to the "lasers" as Matisyn calls them, blocking the way downstairs. It's our way of shuffling the girls into our room so we can go down together. Since the girls didn't go to bed until late they actually slept in until almost 8:00. Too bad for me Lucas was up at 6:00 a.m. so it didn't give me any extra sleep! They were full of energy and excitement as they made their way downstairs. They got some fun things in their stockings this year, and that seemed to be Matisyn's favorite part. She took lots of time going through her stocking and organizing her items. She spent weeks after Christmas carrying them around in a bag wherever she went too. Emilyn was especially happy about Santa replacing the pink sparkle shoes that were eaten by a lawn mower when she left them at the park earlier this Fall, and also about the ladybug rain boots that are her current favorite color red. Their big present from Santa was a big dome climbing structure. (Matisyn had been asking for a beam, a bar, and a foam pit like at gymnastics, and Santa must have felt this was a close second to those items!) They had to stomp through the snow to find it, per Santa's instructions in a letter he left them, and also why he left the boots, and it was freezing. It made the big present a little anticlimactic because they just wanted to come back inside to the warm house and it was too icy to climb anyway. Hopefully they will enjoy it later this year. They both got what they asked Santa for which was a bell from his sleigh for Matisyn and a pink belt for Emilyn. Lucas wasn't very picky this year, but Santa brought him a red wagon for when he gets a little bigger, and some bottle accessories, Lucas name binkies, and baby toys in his stocking.
I tried to control myself and my spending and spoiling a little more this year. Our playroom is so full of toys it can hardly fit anymore, but they still got some fun things. Matisyn's favorites were a play dough ice cream set that she's been asking for for years and little Lalaloopsies. Emilyn's favorites were a set of little ponies and opening in general. Matisyn is happy to take it slow, and would really rather open one at a time and have a chance to play with it in between. Emilyn was an opening machine this year, and just wanted to open, open, open! We all went to the dollar store this year and the girls got to pick a present for each of us and for each other. We tried to control it a little, but they were still very creative. Matt got a pair of kitchen scissors from Emilyn and a mug with hot chocolate from Matisyn. I got a Dalmatian figurine from Matisyn, and a Dora brush from Emilyn. Matisyn got Emilyn a cheerleader megaphone and pom poms and Emilyn got Matisyn ice cream nail polish. It was cute to let them choose some special things, especially Matisyn that got into the giving part of Christmas more this year. I got Matt an ipod (his got stolen a while back from his car), some t-shirts, and a gift card to pick out some super fancy sunglasses. He got me the camera I have been dreaming of for months and accessories to go with it. I'm loving it so much so far. It's a mirrorless SLR and has fancy settings like the bigger camera, takes great photos and movies, but is smaller which I wanted since I take my camera everywhere! We got Lucas a few toys and some muslin swaddling blankets and bibs.
One of Matisyn's very favorite presents was from Grandma Karen. She got her an American Girl doll and accessories. Matisyn asked for the gymnast McKenna and has taken to her like no other doll she has been given before. She takes her all over with her, changes her clothes, and brings her to bed with her each night. Emilyn got a similar doll, but did not seem very excited. We decided since it is such a special and expensive present we would return her doll if she didn't want it. I still don't understand why, because she generally plays with dolls more than Matisyn. She just said she doesn't like her shoes and that she wants the SAME doll as Matisyn. That's Emilyn! Grandma said it was up to us, she just wants her to have something she'll play with. We'll probably order her a Kindle fire since she loves the ipad so much. That morning we were able to talk to Grandma Karen and Uncle Chunk over the internet. They were able to watch the girls open their dolls on camera, and we were able to dance with Grandma's dancing Santa which always makes us smile. We missed getting to be with them for the holiday so it was nice to get to see them in some form.
Grandma Barb came to visit later that morning. She wanted to bring some gifts for the kids and get to watch them open some presents. We loved getting to have her all to ourselves for a while. The girls loved their Cabbage Patch baby dolls and other toys from her and Papa. We got all set up for a special date night out, and Lucas got some fun toys like a glowworm and play mirror.
We had a great morning opening presents. In between we took a break for a waffle breakfast, before going back to some more present opening. We even made time that afternoon for a family nap. I'm not normally a napper, but with how much sleep I got that night, even I fell asleep for a while. It was a great family day.
No comments:
Post a Comment