A quick view of December

It is not like me to wait so long to post so now I am buried in family photos that I would love to share with you all.  So I guess this will just have to be a review of December in photos. We had a wonderful month of celebrating Jesus's birthday and had an extremely hard time adjusting back to "real" life. Joel was lost in a book and I was lost in a 2000 piece puzzle, and those acheivments were only possible if the kids were lost in video games and movies.  So we all had some habits to break on those first days back to school, work errands, and sleeping on a normal schedule.

 Finn loved sleeping under the tree.  I think he tore off more ornaments and branches than Josie and has been lost in finding a favorite place to curl up and sleep since it came down.

 Breakfast with Santa...not the most attractive or believable Santa we have seen but the kids were happy  no matter.  Josie has been obsessed with the idea of Santa constantly saying Ho Ho Ho and Santa coming! However when it came time to sit on his lap, we couldn't even get her to straddle the arm of the chair.  It took a lot of coaxing and a great big sister to get her in this picture.

 A new tradition for the Thorson family-the "minivan express".  Tickets were left out for them to find in the morning and they were beside themselves with anticipation the entire day.  Pajamas, cookies, and hot chocolate accompanied us on a drive around to see Christmas lights.

 Oh yes, and one hot conductor who did not want to be late!  The picture above was the looks on there faces when he showed up at our front door. It even surprised me!

 Christmas Eve was magical as we were sitting around watching Christmas movies and saw snow falling outside.  The kids were out in a heartbeat. It even piled up enough for Asher to build his 1st snowman since leaving Hawaii...however it was destroyed before we got a good picture...boys!

 Christmas Eve jammies :)

 Even though they know it is the one present they get to open, they are always excited for it!

 Christmas morning. Anna got American girl doll stuff and an IPOD shuffle so she has stopped stealing my phone to sing "Call Me Maybe".  Now we just have to hear it a million times as she walks around the house singing at the top of her lungs oblivious with her head phones in.

 Josie got a "neigh", my one amazing find at salvation army. She won't let anyone near her "neigh". And she cheers "Yee Haw" as she gallops away.

 Jesse was beyond excited with every gift he opened and especially happy with his Jake and the Neverland Pirate gear.

 Asher's favorite gift, something he didn't even ask for-spy night goggles.  He never takes them off!

My one picture of a stocking find (yes Santa hides are stockings). The kids were up at 5:45 and we instructed us to leave us be until 7am so the stockings were ravished by the time we got up (only able to wait until 6:30 due to excited screams-but they did leave us alone!). Upon coming down the stairs, they even told us where are stockings were hidden :).

So there you have December in a nut shell :). We also has a wonderful New Year's Eve reuniting with Hawaii friends.

 Anna didn't take the best picture but it will be cherished anyways.  It was such a special evening, like we had never left each other.

Even without being able to remember, the kids were fast friends. It was a crazy night as you can see the kids majorly outnumbered the adults.

Jesse made it to 20 till midnight....poor thing.

Here is to a great 2013! Happy New Year!