Blog catch up

I have been playing catch up recently on our blog….so if you are interested in seeing some newish adventures that are actually older adventures by now, you may need to scroll down and find them.  A busy fall has gotten the best of me. 

Christmas Day 2012!!

Its 7:30……time to wake up!  Merry Christmas morning! 

Charlie-Dasher is all ready for opening presents:             The tree has some mystery envelopes for Carter, Hanna & Jake:

 

SANTA definitely came:

Santa brought Hanna an i-touch, Carter a Kindle, Jake and Josh new 3D ds’s and Cole got a hand held Leapster.  Everyone was pretty darn Happy!  Especially Jake and Josh.  They were thrilled to get “3D” ds’. 

 

I wrote down several quotes from Christmas morning as it was going on and I’m so glad because the kids said some really cute things!  For example;  After opening his 3D ds, Jake exclaimed:  “I think this is a dream-this is a very good Christmas so far”!  Later on in the morning, he said, “I saw these guys in the store, “YES!”, I wanted these” (Halo guys).  Reading these quotes and looking at the pictures again totally makes it seem like it was yesterday.  It makes this blogging so worth while! 

Hanna opened up a case of Happy Hippos,  Cole saw them and exclaimed, “HAPPY HIPPOS!, You have to share those right???”

Carter got Hanna this cup on our Italy trip in November.  Its fun how it leans like the tower…..Hanna drinks hot chocolate every day after school so quite functional too.  This hug for Hanna was a gift to mom and dad:

 

Hanna got this 3D puzzle for Cole who is a puzzle master!  Jake opened up a Lego calendar for his wall below:

 

Carter got all of these awesome large Bionicles for the boys.  They were so excited! 

 

Josh opened up some Trio and said, “TRIO!! Yes, Yes, Yes!”  When Cole was playing with this toy later on he said “Look Spain is getting killed!”  (the bad guy is named Bane)

A new awesome Deutschland jacket for Carter:

 

Harry Potter legos for our Harry Potter kid.  And Josh is back to his 3D ds. Glad you like it little man! 

 

“Look, its like a movie”, –Josh (playing his DS super Mario 3D land).  All these two boys wanted to do all morning was play their DS’s.  They had to be torn away to open more gifts!

 

Last year Jake and Josh got robes for Christmas and for some reason, Cole obsessed over them wanting one of his own…..so this year he opened this one up and said, “Hey a ‘rope’, just what I wanted.  Now I have my own!”

 

Carter got lots of teenager gifts this year.  He got a skull ring and said, “Okay.  That’s awesome!”  He also loved his Adidas soccer sandals, new sweatshirt, Deutschland hat, and BYU blanket. 

 

Cole ate lots of Chocolate before we got to our traditional Aeble Skiver Breakfast…then he had stuffed chocolate Aeble Skivers!  A chocolate kid for sure.  He said after seeing his M&M candy filled cane in his stocking, “Chocolate, Chocolate- Santa gave me a different one”!  (all the kids had some sort of candy filled cane)  Later he said, “This is the Awesomest Christmas Ever!!”  He was just full of funny quotes, at the end the kids opened up posters from Deseret Book to hang in their rooms.  They are the “Who’s Your Hero” ones.  Cole took one look at this present and said, “Oh this is a boring one!” 

Jared got this Radiology Nuts and Bolts dude from all the kids.  They were soooo excited to give it to them. They found it at the Rhine Ordinance Barracks Bazaar and had to get it for him.  It’s a patient getting X-rayed, and the Dr. Reading it on a computer.  Fun for his office!  Jared also got some new BYU clothes and new suits for church.  I got new Photoshop software and new website software for my photography blog as well as a new jacket from Eddie Bauer.  

 

So I didn’t get pictures of everyone else’s piles but here is Jakes: Legos, Harry Potter wand, new baseball training outfit, Batman toy, books etc…

 

Our favorite gift to give this year went to Carter, Hanna, and Jake.  The envelopes on the tree contained coupons for airplane tickets to America to see Grandparents, cousins, Aunts & Uncles, and friends.  It was awesome to give it to them.  The little boys and I were already going to see baby Vivian.  As it got closer I decided that Jake needed to come along.  He had been crying to me recently about how he is never old enough to stay up late and do the things that Carter and Hanna do, and now he was too old to go on this trip and has to stay home to go to school.  (Poor middle child, do you feel his pain?)  Then Jared came to me and said that Carter and Hanna were going to feel so left out and that we needed to bring them too.  I agreed.  When we booked the flights, because it was two different reservations, the kids needed an adult to travel with them.  So we added Jared!  Now we were all going!!  So Christmas morning they got to open that up.  Jake jumped up and down and said, Yes, Yes, Yes!  Carter and Hanna looked at us in disbelief and then got huge smiles on their faces.  There is no better gift than giving the gift of seeing family. February 16th can not come fast enough!!  Such a very Merry Christmas at the Chugg house this year. 

Christmas EVE full of Traditions

The Johnson’s were great hostess’ and indulged us in our tradition of acting out the Nativity.  Its so much easier doing it with another family so that there are enough people for all the parts.  They are all so very cute together. 

Jake was a little apprehensive about putting his arm around Emily, but he’s a good sport and eventually caved to threats of “Santa is watching”. 

   

Next we decorated Christmas cookies for Santa and to eat ourselves.  Yum!  The Johnsons have mastered the art of making sugar cookies after trying several different recipes.  I believe they finally found a winner! 

         

Hanna’s sugar cookie Santa Claus:

WE LOVE OUR CHRISTMAS KIDS:

 

We headed back to Schwedelbach for our own traditions at home.  We always let the kids open up new jammies and one other present from one of their siblings.  This year Josh and Cole got Mario jammies, Jake got Darth Vader, Hanna got red and white Ho-Ho-Ho’s, and Carter got BYU bottoms with a white shirt. 

 

Nest we read the Night Before Christmas and headed to bed with excited visions of Santa and Christmas Morning Memories dancing in our heads!