Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve we began our night with the candle light service at church. Bella couldn't wait to hold the candles at the end! She did great this year and joined in the singing, clapping, and listened pretty well to the message. Benjamin on the other hand had to be escorted out by Brandon the bouncer! Maybe next year...



When we got home we put on our Christmas PJs and had our grilled KFC dinner! Then we finished the last ornament for our Jesse Advent tree. The kids loved opening the gift bag each day to see what the ornament was going to be. Bella did a better job this year listening to the devotionals and Benjamin loves to bow his head, fold his hands, and pray!



To finish up the night with a BANG, we sang Happy Birthday to Jesus and shared Angel food cake. This was also Grandma Carol's favorite cake so we enjoyed eating it in memory of her as well!

Gingerbread Party

Each year since the older kids were about 2 years old we've had a gingerbread party at Luke's house. Everyone brings some kids of gingerbread to decoate. There were houses, trains, clay houses, and gingerbread people even! The kids really just enjoy the endless supply of candy on the table and jumping on the beds afterwards! There were also some really cute reindeer cupcakes and stickers to do! Thanks again for being a great hostess Amie!




Erik and Benjamin had cupcake "phones" and were talking to each other! Too cute!

Family Christmas

It was a weekend of family Christmas palooza the week before Christmas. Brandon and I and the kids stayed with my parents to cut off some of the driving and to see them a little extra. We started in Jefferson City at my Grandma and Grandpa Sachse's house to celebrate with my mom's side of the family. Bella and Benjamin were full of entertainment and energy! It was quite fun because sometimes they are more reserved or shy. Today, they took after their father!

We enjoyed some Christmas music played by Matthew before opening gifts. Bella was so intrigued by the concert and the keyboard!

The boys!

Somehow my Uncle Rob got the nickname "Uncle Princess" that day and Bella of course loved that! Benjamin must of known he used to wrestle because it was on the minute we got there!

The kids with their Great Grandparents!

The ladies!

We enjoyed some cookie decorating with Gigi's house. The best part is eating them of course!




On Sunday we went to the Guier family Christmas in Sweet Springs to celebrate with my dad's side of the family. There were so many kids and babies running around it was hard to keep them all straight. This is Bella and her "new friend" Cassidy. Her 3rd cousin I guess. Her mommy, Caroline, and I are cousins and they reminded me a lot of us playing when we were young!

The Nativity

This was our first time to go see the Paul Messner puppet show of the Nativity. It was fabulous with larger than life puppets, sheep, and a couple of spitting camels! At first the girls were a little nervous (especially Sophie) about the people dressed as sheep, but warmed up to them soon. The show took place downtown in a beautiful Cathedral with old stone walls and stained glass windows. Gigi was supposed to come but she wasn't feeling to good, so Papa took out all the girls! Afterwards, just the girls went to eat at Blanc and we had a great time until the ride home! Bella was saying that her tummy still hurt and I thought it was because she hadn't eaten enough. Well, the beautiful night didn't end so beautifully in the car. She got sick in the car, but luckily slept through the night was has been feeling great ever since! What a memorable evening!

Little Blessings Christmas Program

Bella sang her little heart out at her preschool program this week. She was front and center with her class and had the biggest smile when she spotted us in the crowd. She was animated and loved doing the hand motions along with the Pharaoh, Pharaoh song. Benjamin was very concerned about where Bella was. I kept telling him she's up there with her class. He continued to yell out in an extremely loud and low voice, "Bella!" It was so funny! Bella heard him and started calling back, "Ben!" They are hilarious. They are so concerned with each other when we're out and about, but at home it's a continuous wrestling match. While on stage, Bella, of course got hot and removed her sweater and flung it over her shoulder. Afterwards we enjoyed some delicious dessert! I love Bella so much, and I still can't believe I have a preschooler! As many people refer to her, she's my little mini me!

The Polar Express

We spent last weekend in Branson AKA the North Pole with Gigi and Papa. The kids couldn't wait to ride the Polar Express train and go to the North Pole to see Santa! We did all the prep by reading the book and watching the movie endless times! Our fun weekend started out on Friday night in Silver Dollar City! The lights were incredible! We saw a cute Frosty show and the kids got to go on stage! They thought that was so cool! We rode the train there, got a ride on the carousel, and ate our first batch of popcorn! When we got back to the hotel we discovered Santa's little elves had left something! Cookies and milk! Even though it was near 10pm the kids woke up for this! What a treat!

We started the day out right with an amazing breakfast buffet with all the sausage Benjamin could eat! Then we went to the Amazing Pet Show and saw a lot of dogs, cats, and birds doing all kinds of amazing tricks! We grabbed lunch at the hotel and Benjamin took a nap while Bella went swimming with Papa. After Benjamin woke up, the kids got on their reindeer pjs from Gigi and we headed to the train station. You could feel the excitement and fake snow in the air! Yes, this was the complete Polar Express experience! We boarded our first class train car and found our seats as the engineer greeted us! They read the story over the intercom as the train started up. The engineer came around and punched their tickets just the movie. Bella couldn't wait to get her ticket punched! The waiters brought out hot chocolate with whip cream and sprinkles in our special Polar Express mugs that we got to keep. This was Benjamin's first hot chocolate and he downed it! He even had a whip cream mustache, it was so cute! We got a great view of the Christmas lights and then went to the North Pole where were saw Santa, Mrs. Claus, and the elves all waving and doing tricks for us.

Santa got on the train and gave the kids engraved bells that said The Polar Express on them. Bella said she wanted the Jessie doll from Toy Story for Christmas and Benjamin wanted a ball. They were loving this! We had endless refills of hot chocolate and cookies and even got a visit from the hobo doing magic tricks. We got back to the hotel and ate some wonderful pizza and the kids went straight to bed. The adults stayed up and played a game of phase ten, where I have to brag about being the winner! It's not too often that I beat Brandon in something, so this was fun!

Sunday morning we had another round at the breakfast buffet with the most scrumptious omelets and waffles. The kids got to go swimming one more time before we packed out bags. The hotel was so nice and was beautifully decorated for Christmas complete with a large display of gingerbread houses and Santa coming down on a rope from 10 stories up. The kids favorite part of the hotel was pushing the buttons on the elevator and using the key cards for the rooms! What an adventure is was staying in a hotel! This was the perfect way to kick off the Christmas season! Thanks Papa and Gigi, we love you!!!