Christmas Day 2014

Merry Christmas!! While we had a super fun day, we are also mindful of the real reason we celebrate.. the birth of Jesus. I hope and pray that we always remember that first and foremost in our family.

This kids were up early despite getting to bed late (shocker..haha) and full of joy and excitement for the day. They were SO excited to open presents!

Harmonicas in their stockings... who's great idea was THAT? (oh, yeah.. mine. HA!)

Overjoyed with his transformer toothbrush!

Just what she wanted... :)

Bumblebee!!

These two brought me to tears with the ornaments they made for us.  They are so perfect!

Here is the video of the kids opening their "big" gift from Doug and I. The kids were SUPER excited to find out that we're going to DISNEYLAND!! To celebrate getting through the past 6 months we are heading to the Happiest Place on Earth in February and we can't wait! By the end of the day the kids had already packed a bag...haha!!

Puffed pancake.. it's what for breakfast every Christmas!

Cheers with sparking cider!

Enjoying their toys...

This may be my favorite photo of the day. The kids are waiting for their Aunt, Uncle, and cousins to get here, sitting on the hearth looking at a map of Disneyland! :)

Doug's brother and family, along with his aunt Mary came over for the afternoon. We had a lovely time hanging out with them, enjoying being together. 

Mitchell offered to help Matthew with his new lego's.. he's so great with my kids!

Posing with his uncle's wine. You probably had to be here to fully get this photo.. but it was pretty  funny!

We all went to bed with full bellies and full hearts! Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

Christmas Eve 2014

Merry Christmas Eve!! We had such a fun day and are even more excited for tomorrow!

We started our day by heading down to Salem to meet Doug's sister and family for lunch and to hand off our Christmas gifts. It is always fun to see the Sandau clan!

Cousins!

We headed home and then got gussied up and headed for church. The kids (us too) look forward to the candlelight service every year!

After church we headed down to meet our friends the Bjorge's for some Christmas Eve activities.. but not before I got some pics of my favorite people

We headed downtown to wait for our friends to get out of church. We had fun playing in Jameson Square (well... the kids had fun.. I was SO cold!)

We then hooked up with the Bjorge's and piled into their car to head out to Peacock Lane!

The third row crew!

Thankful for our dear friends...

One of our favorite displays!

Santa sighting!

We ended our evening with appetizers and hot cocoa and the kids went to bed super excited for Christmas morning! :)

Fun Christmas Visit

I really try hard to take pictures at Christmas time.. I know it is important to enjoy the moments but I also want to capture them, too. Today was a perfect example. After saying goodbye to my sister and crew, Doug's folks and his sister Debbie came up to celebrate Christmas with us on their way to the beach.. and I didn't get a single photo of them with the kids or us. Ugh...

BUT.. we had a lovely time with them and enjoyed our time together. The kids each got a lego set which was fantastic and Doug's mom was SO thoughtful and found a big box of lego's that DOUG had when he was a kid and brought them along for the kids, too!

The kids played with them for the rest of the evening and I am sure will play with them well. Apparently there is another box in my in-laws attic that once found will also come our way. The kids look forward to that.

Tierney Family Christmas 2014

Christmas with my family is always crazy and always a fantastic time. This year was no different! My sister, her boyfriend Eric and the kids drove over and stayed with us and we got together at mom's for fun day of celebrating!

To say my kids love their Aunt Michelle is the understatement of the year!

The first thing on the agenda when the kids got to Grandma's... count the santa's!! (My mom is kind of a santa nut...to put it mildly..haha)

Evelyn taking notes and keeping count.  I think it was almost 200!

My mom always has the loveliest tree... and the loveliest, giving heart to go with it!

My nephew Curtis... growing up too fast!

Eric made his famous stuffed mushrooms...let's just say they didn't disappoint! :)

So.... we decided to introduce the kids to one of our Christmas fav's...The Christmas Story.  We thought they would love it. Well... Evelyn was bored and Matthew cried every time the bullies chased the kids and especially when Flick got his tongue stuck to the pole. He was completely distraught. Poor kid. Parental fail at its finest! Maybe we'll try again in a couple of years....sheesh!

  The love these two have for each other is pretty awesome!

We love Grandma!

Matthew playing with Simon.. they truly are best buddies!

Kids table..eating super good grub!

Ready to read the Christmas story and open gifts!

We didn't plan the outfits... promise! But they do look cute!

My niece Regan has the BEST facial expressions. This is her opening our gift....

I think she likes it...haha! Love her!

...seriously love her!

All together now.. open!

She was super excited to get her Rupunzel lego set!

Grandma and Grandpa for the WIN!

Cole and his  new bow and arrow set.. he was super excited!

Hey.. it's me! And my boy....

Festivities continued into the evening...

The big boys talking shop...

Working on his legos

Matthew got a remote control truck from Grandma and Grandpa. It was so fun to see Curtis and Abby getting into it and helping him with it when we got home that evening. Matthew had SO much fun playing with his "big" cousins!

...and Evelyn set to work on her legos...which she put together quickly!

One final game of Headbandz before bed... fun time!

Another Tierney family Christmas in the books! Always sad to see it end... always looking forward to it again in a year!