Christmas as a family of 5!

This post is long overdue!  Christmas happened 7 weeks ago already, so we'll take a stroll back and remember how fun Christmas was this year!

The kiddos were so excited to open presents!  Hence I didn't get a very good picture of them before opening presents....they were too excited to sit still.

This is the best we got

First we had them open their stockings.  Ava wasn't at first sure what was going on....she needed a little help getting things opened, but quickly caught on!  The boys LOVED their ornaments this year. Trevor got a soccer ornament and Evan got a popcorn ornament.  He LOVES popcorn!

Trevor's school offers a holiday shop for students to buy gifts for their family members.  Trevor was so excited about the gifts he bought for us this year.  Evan got a back scratcher, Daddy got a Steelers kleenex box cover, Ava got a stuffed puppy dog and Mommy got earrings.  

After stockings and opening Trevor's gifts, we moved on to gifts from Mommy and Daddy.  The first thing they opened were Angry Birds stuffed animals.  Oh my, their reactions were priceless.  Mommy scored a great deal on these larger birds at Kmart, and the boys were over the moon!

Ava was harder to shop for because she was still not really playing with many toys.  Because she loves music, I snatched up this "Band in a Box" for her earlier this fall.  I was right...it was a hit!  She quickly learned how to make sound on the recorder and the harmonica.  Her other favorite toy was a yellow rubber ball.

 The kiddos also loved their presents from Nana and Grampa Dennis.  Evan received these cool cars that spin and make sound, Trevor gift was a touch pad game and Ava loves her Ladybug.

By accident, the boys kind of found their big gift a few weeks before Christmas.  We tried to make up some stories about what they saw, but I'm not sure if they bought it!  So we decided to make them go on a scavenger hunt to find their last gift.  It was fun watching them work together and figure out the clues.  The first clue led them upstairs to search out a clue in a pair of shoes, and then in the bathtub. Next the had to figure out a clue was in the dryer and then their favorite hiding spot.  Finally they were directed to the basement to search foe their gift.

Don't mind Evan's crazy eyes...he was just really excited.
He had been asking for months for this set!!!!!

On Christmas Day afternoon, we made Jesus a birthday cake.  I found this cute Christmas Tree pan and cake mix set at the store, and thought it would be a fun tradition to start.  Ava helped me make the cake, we frosted it and topped it with red and green sugar sprinkles.  It was pretty cute.  We sang Happy Birthday to Jesus three times so they each had a turn blowing out the candle!

Christmas Day was spent relaxing while the kiddos enjoyed their new toys.  Trevor put his whole 4 headed dragon lego set together all by himself!  Evan and Daddy worked for two days to finish the Republic Gunship.  7 weeks later and those two sets are still intact!

What a blessing to have Ava home this Christmas!  Last Christmas, I bought ornaments and hung them on the tree in the hopes that she would be home this year.  Last Christmas, all of our paperwork was newly logged in, and we were fervently praying for a little one whose face we hadn't seen yet.  We continue to praise and thank God for the gift He has given us and how He has revealed Himself to us through our adoption journey.