Christmas morning I was up before the kiddos so I started to get myself ready for the day. Then I heard Liam come into our room and the first thing he said was "Here mom and dad open your present!" He was so excited to have us open his sweet gift he made us. I was expecting a "Santa Came!!" but the fact that he was more excited to give was awesome!
The boys were very ready to open presents but Amelia was still sleeping so they waited patiently for daddy to wake her up and change her diaper.
Finally it was time to open up some presents.
Love Liam's excited face in background here.
New bike!
So happy about Star Wars legos
New motorized vehicle just her size
Yoda ornament
Star wars socks.
Shopping cart and this little lady loves pushing it around
Amelia wasn't into opening presents unless someone started it for her.
New camera
My boys
Playing with paper
Colin's new guitar (ukulele but figured it passes as a guitar for his size)
Amelia and her gifts
Colin and his gifts
And lastly Liam with his gifts
Liam just wanted a lego set with yoda and a back scratcher, ha! Santa seemed to find just what he wanted. Colin wanted a guitar and on occasion mentioned a bike. Amelia just wanted some girl toys, ha! It was the start to a great a day!
Christmas Eve was wonderful and laid back. We didn't have to be anywhere all day. So we cleaned the house a little, put a roast in the crockpot, and baked some cookies. Oh, and of course we watched some Christmas shows and listened to Christmas music.
These boys loved helping with the cookies.
Later in the evening Scarlett came over and they each built a mini gingerbread house.
We also had dinner, Amelia finished hers then crawled up on a chair and started eating her brother's. She really is a human garbage disposal lately.
After dinner and gingerbread houses we went next door to The Gallaghers' house for homemade hot chocolate and cookies. It was a lovely little evening.
When we got home the boys went outside and sprinkled the reindeer food they made at school on the lawn.
It was so cold they did it as quickly as they could.
Here is what the note said that was attached to the reindeer food.
Afterwards we laid cookies out for Santa. Liam purposely arranged the cookies so Santa knew these were for him. Liam was worried he might eat his gingerbread house, ha!
Then it was time to open their new Christmas books. Something we have done every Christmas Eve is let them open a brand new Christmas book to read.
Colin's "How to Catch Santa"
Liam's "The Jolly Christmas Postman"
and Amelia's "The Itsy Bitsy Snowman"
So we read all the books and put the kids to sleep so Santa could come visit.
Chris and I stayed up and watched "It's a Wonderful Life" and wrapped lots of presents. Disneyland put me a little behind but it wasn't too bad. Here is what Santa brought the kiddos...
...and the rest of the gifts including both sides of the family. We even were in bed by midnight! It was a lovely day and night. I love the anticipation of Christmas Eve!
The second day we tried to get to the park a little earlier but failed, ha! When we entered the park Mickey was hanging out so we decided to go say hi. While we waited to see Mickey, Chris ran over to Tomorrowland to get some fast passes for Space Mountain.
I pretty much love our picture with Mickey
Then the boys asked for a sucker so found some of course.
Once again we had to separate so Chris and I took Liam on Star Tours (an hour long wait) and G&G took the little ones elsewhere.
When we met back up, Grandma and I took the kids on the Story
book ride, while Grandpa met up with Michael and Chris attempted some fast passes for Thunder Mtn Railroad (which was broken down)
The girl and me
Eventually it was time for our fast passes, Sadie, Macy, Michael, me, Liam, and Chris all jumped on. Here was our picture, ha!
When we all met back up Chris and I took Colin and Amelia back to the hotel for naps. The park was SO unbelievably crowded that it just made sense. Liam stayed back with G&G and they had fast passes for the Star Tours ride but when they went the ride was broken down, ha! Luckily they said they'd honor the pass later when it was fixed.
When we got back the the park there were still a million people. Grandpa had gotten some fast passes for Thunder Mtn Railroad which was back up and running but we had to wait a few so churros it was.
Love these three!
Then it was time for Thunder Mtn Railroad which was Liam's favorite ride. Here is a little video
His smile was just the best!
Sassy girl
Family photo.
Kids with G&G
Once again we split up and Chris and I went to Toon Town with Colin and Amelia and the rest went to claim the fast passes from earlier. Colin wanted to go on the roller coaster that he had gone on the previous day. I was a little surprised and thought he might change his mind while we stood in line but he was ready to go! He even purposely screamed as we got to the peak of the roller coaster. It was awesome. Chris and Amelia played in Goofy's house while they waited for Colin and me. Then it was dinner time, which didn't go very smoothly. The park was so crowded and the kids were hangery. We did find a place but it took a bit of maneuvering before we could all sit together.
We were attempting to stay in the park until the D-Land 60th anniversary fireworks. Liam wanted a lightsaber Mickey sword. So we bought two for the boys.
But, the girl was not having it and she was insistent on having her own.
It was decided we would let the boys ride the carousel, get ice cream, and watch the fireworks toward the front of the park.
Amelia was already out by the time this plan was made.
This is how we felt
Anyway after ice cream, Colin crashed and Liam was close behind. Then they announced no fireworks due to the light sprinkle that had started. So at this point we had three sleeping kids to carry to the shuttle. I carried Liam and that was something! I thought surely he would wake up since I had to keep adjusting him because he is just so long anymore but he was completely out! Here is how we dropped them once we got back to the hotel, ha! Sleepy, sleepy boys!
The next morning we took our time leaving and made a stop at the mall for the teenagers and to let the boys run around a little in the play area but had to leave before I strangled some stranger's child who was behaving very poorly. All in all it was a good trip and I know Liam loved it! I think our next trip to the big D will wait a few years. That way we can all enjoy instead of having to divide and conquer so much and they will all be able to ride everything.
