Not bad huh?

I didn't take very many pictures Christmas Day. Maybe another year? But here are the things the kids got this year:






For my own sake, a recap of Christmas. On Christmas Eve we went to Jen and Ben's like we do every year. We had a huge, delicious and filling dinner followed by a bunch of baked goodies for dessert. (Jen and Jill made a RR roast that I want to try) The kids played the chimes and for the first year you could actually tell what the song was. Next they broke the pinata and scrambled to gather candy. Then Santa came and handed out a present to every child. Santa got me a snuggie. I would have posted the picture, but I look too funny. Then we headed home, put the kids to bed and got to work. Most people keep a clean house all the time, but I don't like to be like everyone else. We spent a good hour or more cleaning the kitchen and living room before we got anything else ready.
Christmas morning started at 7:00. We were happy it wasn't any earlier. The kids lined up on the stairs, posed for a picture, then headed down to check out what Santa brought. We opened presents, played with toys, then had breakfast. I made some sticky buns and none of the kids liked them. Shocking. We spent the rest of the day playing with our toys. Pretty low key. Matt made a turkey for dinner and I made rolls, mashed potatoes and green beans. We played some more games then put the kids to bed. Then I tried out my new snuggie while we watched some episodes of Psych. It was a nice, relaxing Christmas day. Writing this it sounds boring, but I promise, it was fun. For reals.

Notice the resemblance?

Santa visited us at Jen's house Christmas Eve. I thought he looked a little familiar, and two of our kids thought the same thing. We were able to convince Nina that it was actually the real Santa and not her dad. Donovan revelled in the fact that he was "in" on the identity of Santa. A right of passage I guess. But Cameron found nothing familiar about him.

Pre-Christmas Festivities

I'm not going to add much extra to these pictures...





...except that after Cameron fell off the bench for the second time, we put him to bed. He wouldn't stop reaching for more candy. He never grasped the concept that the candy was supposed to go on the house. He kept trying to grab more to eat. That gluttonous Cam.






What a beauty.

more festivities

We also let the kids paint ornaments. With paint. By themselves.

Spending Birthday Money

I took Howie to spend his birthday money over the weekend (nothing like 3 weeks late) and here are a couple things he bought:

These lovely head lamps for himself and Donovan


And this nerf basketball set



When they were playing basketball in the dark with their lights on, I should have taken a picture because it was pretty hilarious. But instead, I reminded them that they were supposed to be in bed, took the ball and their lights and left the room. I am turning into quite the mean mom.

Don't leave out Cameron

He gets very mad. When I bundle up all the other kids to go out and play in the snow, I just don't think of Cam as old enough to let out there in the cold. After all, he did just learn to walk a month ago. He has let me know it bothers him when everyone else gets to go out and he has to stay in with boring me. I let him out one day this week and I think he liked it:



And he wore this jacket all the rest of this day and the next. Maybe he was afraid I wouldn't put it on him again.

Howie turned 6

Here are some of the pictures from Howie's birthday festivities:

At the family birthday party for the November birthdays, Howie requested a turtle bomber (from MarioKart). Thank goodness Grandma Bentley was in town to make it:



Howie loved the treasure hunt tradition



Hey Pam and Ben, Howie loved this 7-in-One Bakugan that you got him! Great job picking it!



Lots of fun presents



And of course, Krispy Kreme for breakfast.

Thanksgiving Pics

Here are some of our Thanksgiving pictures:

The "kids table". Remember when you had to sit at the kids table? Our kids probably sat there for like 3 minutes, then they were off, except the good boy Gavin.



Cameron had a rough Thanksgiving, this is where I found him most of the day, clinging to my legs.



We found some of the kids at the Wii.



The food was great, I just didn't have the most elegant presentation. And I didn't really care.



Matt took charge of the food. Seriously. And his turkey was delicious. Then he did the dishes. He pretty much rocks.



Jen made the awesome pies.



4 out of 7 siblings isn't too bad.



And Donovan's first 5K race. I was very proud of him, he ran the whole thing!

Oh yeah, soccer season is over

I wanted to play a little catch up. I never posted some of these soccer pictures.
Donovan gets so excited for soccer season to start. He seems to start out with tons of fire, then he kind of fizzles out by the end of the season. Donovan scored two goals in the first 2 games, then became a little more timid as the season wore on. His coach (who is wonderful!) is starting to teach Donovan how to stay in his spot on the field, which will be an interesting challenge. Here is Donovan's team:



Howie has the opposite experience in soccer. He starts out kind of timid, then ends with a bang. Howie loved to play and loved to socialize with the other kids on the field. Here is Howie's team:



Howie's team had an end of the year party at one of our favorite pizza places



This kept Nina busy for a while

Another date

We found out at 5:00pm that we could go to the Monday Night Football game that started at 6:30. We kicked it into gear and got a babysitter, got the kids in their pjs, got dinner ready and headed out the door. Unfortunately the Broncos didn't show up for the game, but it was fun nonetheless!



And this is the kind of picture you get when you ask a security guard to take it. He didn't feel it was okay to leave his post, or to even turn just a little. I guess we were lucky he did it at all. I guess we could have asked a drunken fan. Either way I'm sure it would have turned out the same!

A Wicked Date

When Matt and I were in New York with my family, we all went to see Wicked on Broadway. But if you will remember, we brought Cameron along as he was not yet 2 months old. Unfortunately, babies aren't allowed to watch shows on Broadway. Something about crying or being disruptive. The ushers there were as accommodating as they could be. They let Matt and I split a ticket. So I got to watch the first half while Matt kept Cam in the lobby, then we traded at intermission. And back to our date night. We have fabulous friends who took our kids overnight while we went to see Wicked here in Denver. It was fabulous, and I was finally able to have some closure. You don't know the suspense I was feeling!