Christmas 2012

We opened our gifts on Dec. 23rd.  We had all been sick with strep throat the week before and Spencer and I were still feeling a little badly so it was an added benefit of doing everything at home a day early was that we didn’t have to rush to get ready to leave to go to Illinois.  We really did it because we wanted Thomas to have time to play with his gift.  More on that in a minute…

Tyler’s gift to Sammie- a fun new winter hat and scarf.

One of Sammie’s gifts to Tyler- he loves those magnetic eggs.

The kids kept helping Spencer open his gifts.  It was really sweet.

I didn’t know what mine was- I had to read on it.  But once I read I was super excited.  It’s a Jam Box- a powerful speaker that can connect via Bluetooth to your smart phone or iPod and play the music around the house.  I love having music on around the house and now all of my music is on my phone or Sammie’s iPod.  This is perfect and I’ve used it almost every day since Christmas!

I got Thomas and Tyler the same tools.  Tyler was so excited to get “grown up” tools.

Sammie’s big gift was getting her ears pierced.  I put together an ear ring tree in the shape of an S and filled it with ear rings.  She was so excited.

Tyler’s gift from his cousin Ari.  Needless to say he was thrilled. 

Other than the weird face Tyler insists on when posing- he was actually super excited about his Ningago DS game. 

Spencer had an Angry Birds Christmas.  So funny.

For Thomas big gift this year the kids and I saved our spending money for a few months and got him a chrome book!  He was so surprised because our budgeted amount for each other was WAY less and he didn’t understand how we bought it!  I kept a little bit of money each week aside for this, Sammie contributed her babysitting money and allowance and Tyler even contributed his tooth fairy money!  It was so fun planning this huge gift for Thomas and surprising him.  I think it meant a lot that we each contributed all we had extra so he could have this.  Sammie said it’s something she’ll always remember- working together to make this happen.  I figured it up and I think the kids contributed about $40!