The Newton Family: 2012

Newton Christmas

A few days after Christmas, we headed to Ken's mom's house to Celebrate Christmas with his side of the family.

Ayden with Grandma Newton & Uncle Daniel

and more presents...

she must think that presents are a daily thing now!

Daniel & Ayden playing with his new remote control cars

Elyana had lots of fun rolling around with her toys. She kept rolling under the coffee table - silly girl!

Christmas on the 26th

On the day after Christmas, we had my mom & Frank and my brother and his family over for dinner and to exchange presents.

I think Violet was eyeing Ayden's present.

Knowing what Ayden asked Santa for, my mom gave him a million dollar bill.

He was so excited...

...until we told him it was fake. He was pretty bummed!

It's a good thing he had more presents to cheer him up!

Like these cool sunglasses!

Christmas Day

We headed to my dad's house in the afternoon on Christmas Day. It was lots of fun - the family has grown from one grandchild (Ayden) to five in just over a year!

Reese, Violet, & Elyana are all about 3 months apart

My beautiful niece, Violet

There were more presents for Ayden...he had fun helping to open the babies' presents too

Christmas Morning

Elyana and I were up at our usual time of 6:30 on Christmas morning, but we had to wait for Ayden & Ken to wake up before we could have any fun!

Santa came!!

She knows exactly what to do!

All ready to dig into the presents!

tastes good!

Ayden helping me out with my stocking

After all of our stockings, we opened the rest of the gifts under our tree - we are all so blessed!!

After presents, it was time for our traditional breakfast of cinnamon rolls!

she didn't get cinnamon rolls this year - she got a nap instead!

Christmas Eve

I just love our Christmas Eve traditions...

The obligatory family picture in front of our tree before we leave for my grandparent's house.

I got them both looking at the camera! Even if Elyana looks scared.

When did he get so old?

And baby girl....

...she loves standing up these days!

At my grandparent's house, we always have ham & potato dumplings for dinner (traditional norwegian food), and then head to church. With 28 in our family, we now take up about 3 pews at church. After church, we head back to their house for presents and lots of yummy treats.

This is our attempt at a cousins picture - easier said than done

The girls

Nana & Papa with three of their four great grandchildren

Matthew, Dominique & Violet

A family picture with my mom, step dad & his son, Preston

It was way past Elyana's bedtime, so we put her in some Christmas pajamas and got a couple of pictures with her presents before putting her to bed.

Ayden showing off his new legos to Nana & Papa

Violet had lots of fun with all of the ribbons, bows, tissue, and wrapping paper

He loves his cousin Violet!

Ayden's favorite part, of course, was opening presents!

Another wonderful Christmas Eve, and we are already looking forward to next year!

Pre-Christmas Fun

The weekend before Christmas was a busy one! We had dinner out for my birthday two nights in a row (!), followed by dinner out for my brother's birthday! We still found some time to hang out around the house...

Decorating sugar cookies is a must!

I had a little photo shoot with Elyana in her Christmas pajamas and Santa hat. I got a few good ones. She loved the tree and kept trying to put the lights in her mouth.

Happy Birthday to Me

We went out to dinner at BJ's for my 33rd birthday!

My cuties

This was the best picture we could get....crazy boy!

We stayed out a little bit past Elyana's bedtime. She gets super cuddly when she's tired!

Santa 2012

I took the kids to see Santa at the beginning of December. For a week, Ayden had been saying that he was going to ask Santa for $1,000. I kept telling him that he probably need a backup plan in case Santa couldn't do that. Well, I was right. Santa said that he does not bring cash or gift cards. Ayden's back up plan was a marble track set.

waiting in line

As usual lately, Ayden has a harder time smiling in pictures than Elyana. I can't wait for this phase to pass....

Elyana was very curious about Santa - she even pulled his beard!

Seven Months Old

Oh, Elyana Paige, you are so much fun at 7 months old! You laugh all the time, especially at your brother. You love to eat any baby food and devour your bottles. You can sit like an expert now and sit in carts and high chairs at restaurants. You can scoot and roll all over the place, but no crawling yet. You can stand with us helping to support you. You are still an awesome sleeper at night, but your naps are a bit inconsistent. You had your first cold this month, and you definitely do not like the ~~booger sucker~~ nasal aspirator. We love you so much!!