Becoming His 31: 2015

Christmas 2015

Merry Christmas Morning {2015}

1:19 PM

When we got home Christmas Eve night we set up all of Reaghan's "stocking" gifts for her to walk out to and see first thing in the morning! This was so much more fun than last year! Who knew one of the best parts of Christmas would be setting gifts out for your kids? : )

Christmas morning we took it nice and slow. Reaghan woke up at her normal time of 8:30am. We made her wait at the end of the hall way while Mark got the video camera ready...

She had no idea what was going on, but she seemed pretty excited about whatever it was that mama and dada were getting ready for.

Her first stop was her this little wooden choo choo train. And it was the gift that she kept going back to to play with all morning.

Second stop? Her baby doll. This girl loves baby dolls, so we got her her very first "big girl" baby doll for Christmas. She loves it.

And then finally her kitchen!!! I'm so glad we got her this because she can't get enough of it. We loved to make "soup" together now :)

Here are some more pictures of our morning together...

Mark really wanted a popcorn maker for Christmas, like a movie theater popcorn maker, haha but I was a little bit of a scrooge and didn't want him to have it because where on the earth would I put that thing in my kitchen and ugh, I didn't want to think about cleaning it...

So his second choice was a whirly popper and that was totally doable.

He was excited to get it.

Along with a bunch of seasonings, butters and kernals.

I asked for 5 pound dumbbells and some picture frames.

Reag sat in her high chair and ate breakfast and listened to music while we opened our presents from each other. It was a fun morning together!

After opening gifts we got dressed and got ready to swing by Mark's granny's for an hour to say hi and then on to my parents house!

I never take a lot of picture with my phone at my parents because Mallory always has her camera out taking nice pictures! As soon as I get those I'll finish up my Christmas posts with our afternoon evening at my parents!

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Christmas 2015

Merry Christmas Eve {2015}

1:19 PM

We had a beautiful, sunny, 80 degree Christmas Eve here in Hampton Roads this year.

It was strange, not at all Christmasy, but kind of fun. :)

Reaghan wore some festive pants in the morning until we got dressed to go.

We went over to Mark's parent's house, as per our usual Christmas Eve tradition, and this is what the first part of our afternoon looked like - swinging in the hammock in the sun and playing with the cozy coupe.

Joy to the World, the Lord is come!

These little girls were given so much that we had to open gifts in phases...

Mark and I have already agreed that we should set some limits for next year. ; )

After dinner we got the girls dressed in their dresses {sans the tights because it was 80 degrees!} and took some pictures of them in front of the tree.

I was so sad that we didn't take a family picture that night!

The girls got a little gas station to fill their cozy coupe up that will stay at BB and Tom Tom's.

They loved it!

They had fun helping each other open gifts.

Brooklyn was more in to the unwrapping then Reaghan was. She had to be convinced to start ripping at the paper. She also didn't understand why once she opened something, she was being asked to stop playing with it after only a few minutes to open up something else.

We are so grateful for all of the awesome, thoughtful gifts that we were given and that Reaghan received from the Poindexters! She loves all of them. She got new shoes, clothes, bath toys, wooden sound puzzles, books, a hand made bookshelf from her TomTom, play food to go with her kitchen set that she got Christmas morning and much more.

Overall these sweet girls were in great spirits the whole time and so much fun to give gifts to! {even though Reaghan slept for only 20 minutes that afternoon!}. We did something new this year where we sorted the gifts in to piles of each gift giver so we could focus more on giving and less on receiving. {unlike years past where we made piles of gifts for each receiver - does that make sense?} It was fun and the girls loved to help hand out the presents.

Reaghan and Brooklyn did struggle with the gift opening towards the end of the night just because there was a bit too much to open between gifts from aunt, uncles and grandparents. We didn't set out to give too much, but it definitely happened. And we don't really want it to happen again. Our parents always made Christmas "the best Christmas ever" without over doing it, for both Mark and I growing up and we don't mind showering our kids with gifts on Christmas - but there has to be a balance. We are going to keep this mind for next year and come up with a plan so that we can have time to open gifts and then have time to enjoy those gifts and let the kids play before the night is over. Especially since we'll be adding more kids, Lord willing, as the years go on.

You live and learn.

We gave the girls baths together at the end of the night and finished the time off with Mark reading them the Story of Christmas. It was a great way to end the night.

{We also changed them out of those fleece Christmas PJ's when we got home because, well, it was still 80 degrees outside!}

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Christmas 2015

Polar Express Event {2015)

8:53 PM

Mark's parents have a membership the the Norfolk Botanical Gardens and we get to enjoy all of the perks of their membership and the special events that the Gardens hold.

They put on a Polar express event this year that we took the girls too and it was a lot of fun!

We got a private meeting with Santa, made some ornaments, listened to the Polar Express book during a story time and then boarded the train {the little tram that the Garden's have} to take a ride through their Million Bulb light display.

Reaghan wasn't too sure about Santa, but she did give him a high five and accept a candy cane from him. I got her little Christmas outfit as a hand me down from someone and I just had to put it on her. I don't usually dress her up in over the top frilliness like this little candy cane outfit, but we were feeling particularly festive on this day! She totally pulled it off and I giggled all night at her little froo froo tutu. :)

Here are some pictures from the fun night!