The Blankie

All of my kids have "blankies".  Max is no exception. However, with Max, he never really attached to any blankie in particular. He was fine cuddling with any blankie we gave him. Then one day when he was about 5 months old, his Great Aunt (his birth mom's aunt) sent us this blanket in the mail. I pulled it out of the package and showed it to Max. He immediately loved it. He loved the texture and feel of it. He was just so happy to be holding it. I let him sleep with it and play with it. He just loved it so much. It became his official blankie. He won't sleep without it (we've tried once when it was in the wash)- he woke up every 30-40 minutes until we got the blanket out of the dryer and gave it to him. Then he slept peacefully for the rest of the night. He really loves his blanket. He is so attached to it. I am happy because it is from his great aunt and I want him to always know how loved he is by everyone- and he is! He is so very loved!

Some Christmas gifts

Some of our favorite Christmas gifts that the kids got this year are pictured here. Olivia got these twin baby dolls. She named them Daphne and Fred (from Scooby Doo). She has been taking great care with these babies. She especially loves giving them baths and changing their clothes. Gloria got a lot of shoes and clothes this year. She asked for Ugg style boots, and so she got a couple pairs. She also asked for Toms and got a couple pairs. She did not ask for jeans, but she desperately needed a few new pairs, and so she got a few pairs of those, too.  She was thrilled to get new clothes and shoes. Cami got Barbies and Polly Pockets. She loves to play with Polly's and Barbies. She was thrilled to have new cars and clothing for each of those. Grayson got some new shoes.... mostly he wasn't too thrilled about them but he left his shoes out by the trampoline when they were BRAND NEW and the dogs chewed them up... he has been wearing older, dirty shoes for the past 2 months. So, while he didn't ask for new shoes, he did get 3 pairs of new shoes. Hopefully he won't leave them outside this time!!  On the plus side, he also got a pair of Wheelies (I think that is what they are called)! He loves them. They have wheels on the bottom and he can wheel around. He has been having a fun time trying to learn how to use them. He also got some remote control cars, which he loves. And some BayBlades. We have been having fun with them. Max got a ton of toys and he has been enjoying playing with them, but mostly he has enjoyed having his brother and sisters home to play with him all day every day!! I truly love having the kids home for Christmas Break. It is fun to have them around all day long. They are such great kids!!

Better than a doll!

Olivia got a new stroller for Christmas. She immediately put Max in and began strolling him around the house. It was really a Win/Win situation, Max LOVED being pushed around and Olivia loved pushing him around. I remember when Gloria was little and did the same thing with Grayson, she put him in her doll stroller and pushed him around and around the kitchen island.  It's fun to see Olivia getting the chance to be a big sister also. 

Sibling Gifts

Growing up, for Christmas each year, we would draw names and then buy a gift for the sibling whose name you drew. It made sense, there were 6 of us kids and it would literally break our poor little piggy banks if we had to buy gifts for everyone. Not to mention the creative power it would take to make each sibling a gift, something that I am in very short supply of. So, it worked well for our family to draw one siblings name and that is who you got a gift for. We usually tried to keep our names secret until Christmas Eve, when we did our sibling gift exchange. It was a fun tradition, a tradition that I have carried on with our kids. Especially now that our family has grown to seven and may grow to eight before the next Christmas. 

So, on Christmas even, along with opening the traditional pajama gift, we also open our sibling gifts. Here are some pictures of the fun gifts the kids received from their siblings. Cami got a Barbie from Grayson, which she loves! She is definitely my Barbie girl. She can play for hours and hours. Max got some cars, which is so fun to watch him play with. He actually makes the car sound "brrrrr" as he zooms them around on the ground. He also got an "Imaginex" figurine. That was given to him by Cami (I did offer a little help with the actual decision of what to give him... I am a sucker for the imaginex play items and I- I mean- Grayson and Max collect them). The boys actually do love to play with the castles and ships that we have bought them. I love to see them in the room playing together, Max more likes to eat the figures while Grayson plays, but they are both happy and that is what is important! Gloria got some small animal figurines from Olivia. Olivia knew just what to get her because we had seen Gloria trying to decide if she should buy it for herself.  So, Gloria LOVES her gift and has found the perfect shelf for her figurines. Grayson got SKYLANDERS from Max. It was not hard for Max to know what to buy for his big brother... Grayson loves SKYLANDERS and was thrilled with his gift. All in all, it was a successful gift exchange. We had a great time and enjoyed the gifts all day long. 

The kids looked so cute in their pajama's. In the past I have gotten matching ones, but this year I had found these cute ones on Cyber Monday. And they were such a good deal, I decided against paying the higher price to get all matching and coordinating ones. I think they all looked super cute and they were all comfy. 

Days 11 & 12

On Day 11 we got the game "Rubber Neckers", which is a perfect game for traveling! And we do A LOT of traveling, not just on vacations, but every single day!! Every where we go is  a long drive... so this gift is GREAT!!

On Day 12 we got PILLOWCASES!! We LOVE LOVE LOVE pillowcases from Grandma. The kids put them on their pillows straight away, well after they played potato sack races they put them on their pillows straight away.

We loved the 12 days of Christmas this year, Grandma and Grandpa. The kids looked forward each and every day to opening the gifts and we thought of you all season long!! Thanks so much. We love you both!

day 9

Another game from Grandma and Grandpa!! Yay! We love games. Thanks so much. We love you.

day 8

Jishaku. A fun game that my kids love and have been playing every day since they got it. Thanks for the game Grandma and Grandpa, we love it.

max

I just wanted to quickly post some pictures of the cute boy. He suddenly seems to be growing and developing so fast. He can now take 3 steps at a time by himself. He is getting so good with his fine motor skills. He understands so much of everything we say. He is just so fun to be around! We love this kid.

Day 7

The kids got some fun books for Christmas! Max got a board book about being reverent. Olivia got "I Love to See the Temple", Cami got "Snow Angels", Grayson got "The Oak Tree" and Gloria for "The Girls Book of Manners".  They all love their books. Grandma and Grandpa picked just the right ones! Thanks Grandma and Grandpa!