Thursday, March 5, 2015

Christmas Day

So the big day finally came! Luckily our kids are not morning people, so we didn't have to get up too early. Plus they are too young to really remember what day it is, so they didn't ever bug us about going downstairs even after they did wake up. But after we reminded Leah that Santa had come, she was really excited to go see what she got. Here they are coming down the stairs.
Corbin loved his new car ramp. He played with it for quite a while before we could get him interested in opening up other presents.
Leah on the other hand was ready to tear into everything. Here she is checking out some of the things she found in her stocking.

My good friend, Janice, stopped by just before Christmas and dropped off presents for the kids. She is such a sweetheart! Here's Leah with the Cinderella doll she got from her.
It took Corbin a little bit to catch onto what was going on with all the presents. But before long, he was excited to open anything we gave him.
Somehow I knew that Leah would love this fairies shirt. And the Frozen walkie-talkies were something she asked for several times.
If Corbin wasn't fast enough at opening something, Leah was always ready and willing to help him out. Here is the Mickey Mouse he got from Janice. I love this picture of him. Giving Mickey a big hug was a genuine reaction. This kid loves Mickey Mouse.
It went really well with the Pluto that he got from Santa. He loves having both of them.

Frozen pajamas are always a winner with Leah.
Here's Corbin opening the Micky Mouse train that Leah picked out for him.
Checking out the stocking stuffers. He was so excited to find an orange at the bottom of his stocking.
Leah wanted picture of herself with things that she got all morning long. These are just a few of the pictures I took.
Here's a family picture in front of the tree with all our opened presents. I'd say we got pretty spoiled again this year, especially the kids.
After a pretty dry December we were surprised with a white Christmas. Leah was so excited to go play out in the snow. So I bundled up Corbin too and sent him out with her. This was probably his first real experience playing in the snow. Overall, I'd say he enjoyed it, except for the fact that he couldn't grab anything with the big gloves on his hands.
I was trying to teach Corbin how to catch snowflakes on his tongue. Luckily at their ages they don't last too long outside, but it was enough to satisfy them.

After our traditional Christmas breakfast (or more like brunch by the time we ate it), we got ready to travel up to spend a few days with my parents. The kids are always up for a trip to Grandpa's house and it was nice to spend a few days visiting with family up there.

And just like that, the Christmas season was over! Although I don't have any pictures from the rest of the year, we did have a fun Christmas break/New Year's too. It is so great that Ross gets so much time off from work. We were able to do a lot of fun things, mostly visiting with various family members. Ross's brother, Kyle, was in town and we did a quite a few things with them. We also got to see my friend, Lesley, and her family while they were here (except that most of their family got sick while they were here which limited the visits quite a bit). We had a couple of family parties that we went to and of course watched a lot of football games. But like all good things, the celebrating finally came to an end and it was time to get back to our normal routine of life. However, I'd have to admit that in someways having a normal routine again was actually nice.

So 2014 was a good year for the Leslies. We did a lot of fun things, had some great experiences, and were blessed abundantly. Now onto the great adventures that 2015 have in store, including the birth of our third child. It seems like "Life with the Leslies" just keeps getting busier and busier. But we wouldn't have it any other way.

Sunday, March 1, 2015

Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve, we had planned to go to Ross's mom's house. But due to some sicknesses in Kyle's family, we ended up at Stuart's house instead. One thing that I really enjoyed about being to together this time was that during dinner Ross and his siblings shared some of their favorite Christmas memories. Some stories I had heard before, others were new to me. Some of them shared about getting a special gift and others told of favorite family traditions. It was interesting to hear the stories told from their different perspectives. After enjoying a yummy dinner of various Mexican dishes, we did our annual reenactment of the Nativity. 

Our kids didn't want to dress up at all for the event. And Leah refused to participate all together. However, the other kids wanted Corbin to be the baby Jesus again this year. But he wasn't too excited about Brian playing Joseph. So Ross stepped in to play the part. 
Here are the shepherds "abiding in the fields."

I love this picture of Alex (as the Angel) announcing the birth of the baby Jesus.
And here's the shepherds being "sore afraid."

Now they have come to see the baby Jesus. Morgan made a great star shining over Jesus and his family.
Now the wisemen have come bearing gifts.

Here's a full cast picture at the end of the Nativity. At least we were able to convince Leah to join her cousins for this picture.
After the Nativity we opened some of the presents for the family exchange. And then enjoyed a delicious dessert. Norma had made their traditional Tres Leches Cake. This cake has become a family favorite. Many of us look forward to eating it each year. So, so YUMMY!!!

Next it was time to go home and get ready for a visit from Santa Claus. Here's all of the presents and stockings laid out. Now the hard part...getting the kids to go to sleep. 
Leah wanted a picture taken of her by the tree and presents before Santa came.

And here's what it looked like after a visit from Santa.
In case you can't tell, the lights are my favorite part of a Christmas tree. I think our tree had about 1000 lights on it. It always takes hours to get them on and off the tree, but I love the beautiful glow they create. So to me it is worth the time. Although, I think it would be nice if our next tree came with lights built into it. 
I always love Christmas Eve (sometimes even more than Christmas Day). I love being able to spend that special time with family. And I think the excitement caused by the anticipation of the coming day is so fun. Christmas Day always seems to go by so fast and feels like the end of the season. But Christmas Eve feels like the last night to really soak in the fun and sacredness of the season.