Christmas in Arkansas

Christmas 2012 was spent in Arkansas with Chris's parents.  The whole Wise family, plus great-grandma Horne, was there.  It was a little hectic, to say the least, with 8 kids under the age of 7, but we had, fun, too.  

Madison and Jaxon had their fill of hot chocolate, which they both love.  One chilly morning they ate breakfast on the back deck.

Madi helped grandma make her famous orange rolls.

We did the traditional nativity re-enactment.  Jaxon was a shepherd, Madi was an angel, Colton was a wise man.

Chris and his brothers shot things in the backyard, cause that's what boys like to do.

We did our annual grandma's fishing.  The kids always get fun little gifts.  They love it. 

We made a homemade gingerbread castle.  Uncle Steevo designed it, Aunt Cristina made the dough, I cut it out and assembled it, and the kids decorated it.

Jaxon insisted on making his gingerbread man a superhero!

Christmas eve all the big kids had a sleepover.  Uncle Stephen chaperoned.  I thought it was funny when I went upstairs to check on them, and they were all in the same position, biggest to smallest.

Christmas morning the kids were beyond excited to see what santa brought. 

He did not disappoint.  Colton got his "riding car," Madi got her American Girl doll, and Jaxon got a spiderman clubhouse!

After 5 hours of opening presents we finally finished and we all took much-needed naps.  Santa was up late!  Then we all went bowling.  The kids loved it, of course!

After Christmas we had 4 days to wait until Uncle Sean got home from his mission.  (Why they couldn't send him home before Christmas is a mystery to me, but whatever.)  So we explored a super awesome cave. 

We went ice skating, and afterward I made a new rule that no one in my family is going to ice skate until they are 5.  Jaxon and Colton were horrible, and my back about broke helping them around the ice.  Madi and Austin had fun!

But they are super cute kids and I love them.  Poor dad had to go back to Texas to work for a couple of days, so he missed all the fun.

Elisa and I made silly faces.  She's my only niece, so she's extra special!

I took the kids to see Monsters Inc. 3D, which wasn't really that amazing, since we had all seen it a million times, but the kids desperately needed to get out of the house!  They do look pretty awesome with their glasses!

Colton spent every waking moment in his cozy coupe.  Literally.  He ate breakfast in it every morning.

We had a little snow on the day that we went to Pea Ridge, which is a civil war sight near Bentonville. It made the terrain absolutely gorgeous.

And we all went swimming.  I don't know how Uncle Stephen keeps ending up in pictures with all the kids and him.  I guess he's a big kid at heart.  He is a pretty great uncle.

Madi played her duet with grandpa one night.  It's so sweet to watch them play together.  

And finally, Uncle Sean came home from San Diego. Horray!

We didn't get a picture of the whole extended family cause corralling everyone is next to impossible, but we did get a pic. of Grandma and Grandpa Wise with all 6 of their kids together.  It was fun to all be under one roof (most of the time).

After 11 days in Arkansas we headed back to Texas, where we did absolutely nothing exciting for new years, we were beat.  It was a fun, exhausting trip.