Merry Christmas!



Merry Christmas!!!! There is nothing that rivals the excitement and anticipation of Christmas morning!  Luckily for Kris and I, our Christmas Eve festivities completely wore out all 3 of our girls who slept until about 8.

The second that their eyes were open they were ready to head for the stairs to see if Santa had come.  

They must have been pretty good this year, because Santa came and he brought some pretty great stuff!

He had obviously received Riley's letter this year and clearly understood the importance of Frozen. 

The big guy also brought a new doll house for the 3 of them to share, 

A new playmat for Olivia and Piper's favorite....chocolate!!!!

 

We spent the morning as a family of 5, opening presents, playing and eating pancakes...it was a pretty perfect start to our day.

 

My favorite present under the tree is always the one the Riley makes for us.  This year was even better, because the special ornament she made was accompanied by a hand written card that she could read herself...Kindergarten rocks!

I arrived with my camera a couple of seconds too late to capture Piper, after all of the present opening just laying back on the floor, drinking her bottle and staring up in our tree so contented.  A moment I was so glad that I witnessed.  

Followed shortly after by this moment...I couldn't resist!

This is what a very sleepy baby looks like after all of the excitement from her very first Christmas morning....

 

After we peeled ourselves out of our jammies (and put clothes on Piper), we headed to back to Gigi and Pop's to just hang with family. 

It was a day spent reading, playing, working on puzzles and nibbling on cookies and fudge and being surrounded by the people we love!

We finished off a pretty perfect holiday with a yummy Italian dinner and family game night.  We also saved the best for last and let Riley Roo open one last present on Christmas evening...her American Girl doll.



 



I love everything about this time of year, especially having my sweet girls to celebrate it with.  We made lots of new memories and this year is made even more special by the addition of our sweet Olivia. 



It was an amazing Christmas and I could not be more thankful for our family near and far who surround us and our girls with so much love, we are beyond blessed!  



Christmas Eve

Christmas comes and goes in the blink of an eye and this years holiday season has gone exceptionally fast!  This is without a doubt my favorite time of year and I so wish that I could make this holiday last even longer, but that said, it's probably best that it doesn't because here we are on Christmas Eve and I'm pretty sure if the anticipation were to build any more my children would burst!  We're just looking forward to the next two days being filled with lots of smiles and time spent in the company of our favorite people!

Our Christmas Eve started with a Nelson family breakfast at Grandma and Grandpa's house. 

There was lots of yummy food, plenty of snuggles for Olivia and presents to open for an eager Riley and Piper.



 

 

Uncle Nick finally got the "butt flap" p.j.s that he has coveted for a long, long time...

 

After a lazy afternoon and some napping, we headed to church for the children's mass, which was made even more special this year with Riley singing in the choir.  Our little miss loves to sing and she spent 3 hours a day for 3 Saturdays in a row practicing with the choir to perform during the Christmas Eve mass.  She did a fabulous job! 

We continued our Christmas Eve celebration with a family dinner at Gigi and Pop's complete with Aunt Judi and Uncle John from Oklahoma.

Before changing into Christmas p.j.s I decided we needed a few pics of our girls in their pretty dresses.  I have decided with the addition of a 3rd child, it is nearly impossible to obtain a perfect picture of them all at once...

but these silly girls are absolutely my favorite!

Now enough of the posing for pics and onto the spoiling!

 

Who needs striped themed Christmas pajamas when your Auntie Kelly and Bunky Ryan give you the most perfect nightgown ever (Elsa from the movie Frozen is a pretty big deal around our house right now)?! 

 

Presents, shmesents!  Olivia was all to happy to spend her day snuggling and bonding.

 A new baby doll and stroller made this little mama one happy girl!

 

What a perfect day and now home to nestle our munchkins in bed and wait for Santa!

 



Santa Party!

This past Saturday was our annual Santa party!  This party is an event that I look forward to hosting every year, I love to see how all of these littles who were just babies when we started this tradition have grown into the goofy big kids they are today.  I also love that have added so many new little ones along the way who are getting to grow up with this Christmas tradition too!  This is the best possible Christmas jammie pic that I could get of my 3 goof balls pre-party.

 

This party has definitely grown over the years and it has evolved from an adult cocktail party with babies crawling around to an all out kid frenzy complete with cookies and hot cocoa. We were lucky to have lots of our favorite people there, but also a little sad that a few of the faces we love weren't able to make it.  The good news though is that the big guy was there!  Santa made his jolly appearance to listen carefully to Christmas wishes, spoil the kids with books and he even gave a special reading of 'The Night Before Christmas'

 

 Olivia's first meet and greet, she was clearly in awe :) 

Riley has come along way from her years as a terrified toddler when Santa arrived...

She was perfectly happy to sit with him and rifle off requests from her Christmas list.

Piper was a different story...she and Santa are not pals just yet.  Of course, that didn't stop us from plopping her in his lap for the obligatory picture.

An Olivia and Roo picture after Piper made a break for it.

Cute baby cousins with Santa!  We added 2 new babes to our family this year, Olivia and our little cousin Melody were born 2 weeks apart.

Story time with Santa and Piper keeping a safe distance

I completely forgot about the adorable photo booth props that I bought for the occasion until well after the kids were over photo ops, so Kris, Olivia and I posed instead. Oh well, next year!

Ho, Ho, Ho!!!!!