Christmas in Fresno

My two sisters and all of our families. Wow. This was a tough picture to take.

A little more formal.

My Dad and Cheri came up on Saturday from Bakersfield so we got to visit with them then. My Mom and Len were out Friday and Saturday so we got to visit them also. It was a crazy and busy visit.

Eli.

Nathan.

Colby.

My two sisters. Don't ask me what they're doing here.

Brayden, Andrew, and Keira posing for a reindeer picture.

Look how big Andrew looks in this car.

Besides the very last picture, all the rest of these are from when we were trying to take pictures of the 7 kids. Yikes!

At least they all love each other. :)

Once we got back home and Gabe and I started cleaning up, this is where we found the kids. They were each hanging out with their big gifts from us. We were so happy to see them like their gifts so much.

Christmas Morning at Home

What a fun Christmas! The kids were both so excited. They're at a great age for Christmas fun. Keira loves her new bed and stayed in it almost all Christmas morning. Here she is opening up her stocking.

Andrew opening his.

Sunglasses from Santa.

Andrew literally asked for a Starbucks card so Santa got him a $5 card. He was really excited to get it.

Andrew got a new toothbrush and used it to clean his new T-Rex's teeth. The T-Rex was his big gift from us. He loves it!

Keira with her new chapstick, which has since been confiscated. I walked into the bathroom and saw her taking a big bite out of it.

When you roar at the T-Rex, it roars back at you!

Andrew picked this out especially for Keira. I think it makes her look like such a big girl... and a princess.

She likes it too! (Looking into a mirror.)

Here's what boys do with girls' toys. Also, Andrew is wearing the crown that Keira gave him. He asked for one specifically from her and I couldn't find one so I had to make one out of an In-n-Out hat, construction paper, sequins, and glitter glue. It was kinda fun doing an art project on my own.

Keira is using as many of her new gifts at once as possible. She's "wearing" her new jammies, playing with the fairy wand, and brushing her teeth all at once!

We had a fun morning opening up prestents and then got our things ready to go up to Fresno. Stay tuned...

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve night was really nice at our house. It was just the four of us and we enjoyed some fun Barber time. We had beef stew for dinner and then lit a fire in the fireplace. We then lit candles and sang some Christmas songs. It was wonderful!

I know Keira is hard to see here, but I love her little round belly glowing in the fire's light.

There's something about holding a candle that calms a child down. It's amazing.

Keira was actually still a little hyper, but much calmer than usual.

Andrew was so proud of being able to hold the candle by himself. He knew it was a privilege.

Andrew getting things ready for Santa's visit. He had his letter to Santa, cookies, and milk all set for him.

Each of the kids decorated a special cookie for Santa earlier that day. Andrew's is the green gingerbread girl and Keira's is the heart.

All set for bedtime!

Extra Christmas Eve energy.

These were their big gifts from us. I made Keira a sheet and quilt for the toddler bed that we got down for her. You'll have to wait for the next post to find out what Andrew got.

All wrapped up and ready for Christmas.

Happy Birthday Andrew!

Gabe asked Andrew to give him a smile that showed all of his excitement on his birthday and this is what he got.

Andrew talking to Gram-Gram after opening all of his presents. It was really sweet because the whole time he talked to her, he held on to the dinosaur she gave him. He now sleeps with that dino every night.

His presents included dinosaurs, maps, read-along books, trains, a Davey Crockett hat and more! At 4 years old, he is a silly boy with an awesome imagination. He desperately wants to know how to read and is working towards that right now. He still would rather be with me than anyone else and doesn't like it when Gabe and I are gone. He has an excitement for life and is almost always happy. He loves to read his Bible and mine and he is starting to ask more theological questions. He believes that dinosaurs will be in heaven and that his dad knows everything. He's a pretty awesome kid.

Two nights prior to Andrew's birthday, we went to our church's Christmas program. It was a great program and my kids made it through the whole drama. As soon as Gabe got up to speak, Keira yelled out, "Daddy!" and started jumping up and down. That's when I decided it was time for us to go. :) We came home, lit our candle that we got at church and sang, "Silent Night" together. It was a sweet ending to a good evening.

In this past month, I have gained such a greater appreciation for our kids. They are such wonderful and special little people. Gabe and I love them so much and we are so blessed to be their parents!

Merry Christmas Eve!

Merry Christmas Eve everyone! Here's Andrew reciting "Twas the Night Before Christmas." (We didn't even realize he had it almost memorized until we started reading it to them tonight.)

More December News

The kids and I made oat-gingerbread cookies a couple weeks ago. Here they are frosting them.

Keira did more licking than frosting.

Andrew did some pretty good decorating. This is something my family used to do every year growing up and I love being able to pass this on. I was so happy to find a good wheat-free cookie recipe for Andrew.

These are the "ginger bread houses" I wrote about in my last post. The kids had so much fun with it. I guess it's always fun to eat a craft you made. This is Andrew's finished project.

Here's Keira's. Again, she did more licking than building.

And mine! (If I look sick and tired here, it's because I was.)

Gabe and I were trying to discuss something without the kids interrupting. It was getting difficult so we finally just put some Mickey Mouse on the laptop for them to be entertained. They look pretty into it, don't they? When it was almost over, we realized we had accidentally chosen one in Spanish! They never even noticed. That's how amazing Mickey is, I guess.

This was our first fire in our house. The kids loved it. Contrary to how it looks, Keira is not about to fly out of the rocking chair.

I guess this pic belongs in the last post, but oh well. They're cute!

Gabe took the kids out to the mall and then to dinner the other night. I was so sick, I was completely out of it. Gabe and I both caught the flu from Andrew (who had it last week.) It was a bad one! We're both still trying to recover. I haven't been able to talk much for the past several days because of it. We're hoping Gabe's voice will be ready for preaching tomorrow night and Sunday morning. Please pray for him!

All dressed up for church. I just thought they looked nice that day.

Keira on the potty.