Levi and Allison: Christmas 2013

I love Christ, so celebrating his birth has always been fun for me. Getting gifts is pretty cool, too. But truly, I love the Christmas season. I find great pleasure in giving gifts to people. Truly, I love it. And I'd be lying if I said it didn't benefit me, as well. I get such a rush out of buying/making/giving people things! I find it so rewarding. So anyways, this Christmas was a great one!

After working tirelessly for several weeks, I finally finished my Fall semester classes! Woot woot! My reward for doing well this semester was making December "Crafting Month." From the day I was done with classes, I've been crafting.

I ran into an Etsy shop called PillowCottage. She makes the cutest pillows, so I wanted to try making some. Levi and I don't have a Nativity, so I decided to make pillow version. I think it ended up pretty cute!

I made some pillows for mine and Levi's moms, but I didn't get pictures (face palm). I'll take some and upload them.

Walter loves peeling his own clementines! He gets mad at me if I try and help him. He's becoming so independent!

Here he is helping me shovel after one of our first big storms! I'm in charge of snow removal at our condos, so I'm lucky that Walter enjoys helping me since it takes over an hour.

His reward for helping me is warm honey chamomile tea! Mmmm

Another thing Walter loves is his elderberry syrup! We have is every day. He gets so excited when I ask if he wants some.

Yum, yum, yum!

Big news! We took off the side of Walter's crib so he now sleeps in a "big boy bed!" He loves getting ready for bed now. It's been a hard transition, because we have to stay with him until he falls asleep. The first two days took about 1-2 hours to get him down for naps and bed times. He's much better now. There have been a couple times where I'd go check on him and he's rolled onto the floor and just continued sleeping. So silly. He also comes and gets us each morning now for some morning snuggles before we officially get up. My baby is growing up!

We had a party with my dad's family and Walter got to play with his cousin, Stella. We wish they didn't live so far away! He had a lot of fun playing with her...and the dolls she had received for Christmas...Mostly the dolls.

For Christmas, I made everyone Goat's Milk Soap. It's been on my bucket list for quite a while now and I finally was able to get the supplies to do it! It was a lot of fun. I also made some coconut oil shampoo bars. Those were a little scarier, and I burned my arm with the lye, but they ended up great, as well.

Levi got a nerf gun for a work "party." I don't want Walter playing with guns, so he only got to shoot a few at the wall and then the gun stays at work.

For Christmas Eve we went to Levi's grandma Analee's house for carols and dinner. She's the sweetest woman and loves her grandkids so much. We always look forward to when we get to go out and see her.

Walter and Esther acting like they own the place.

Opening gifts!

An alligator!

Levi and Logan sing the "Hobbit" song all the time when they're together. It'd be annoying if it didn't sound so good, haha. I love that Levi's friend he can act stupid with is his brother. It makes me happy, because there's nothing more important than family.

After we got home we got started on Walter's gift...a toy kitchen! We got him the Melissa and Doug kitchen. It took both of us about an hour and a half to complete. I love that we picked a wooden one. The plastic ones have too many bells and whistles, and we didn't want that.

Walter has LOVED it!

Levi asked for a couple weeks what I thought my gift was.

"Sweat pants?"

"Lame. No."

"A Jesus picture?!"

"I can't think of a more stupid-lame Christmas gift than a Jesus picture."

"...Well I wouldn't mind one..."

The day before Christmas, Levi brought home my gift. He had to load it into a van and have his friend, Andrew help him carry it inside. I was nervous that Levi had gotten a big piece of furniture, because we have no where to put something that big...He told me not to touch it, because it was heavy, so I didn't. But when I opened it, I saw that my husband had trolled me!

It was exactly what I had wanted. He knows me too well. I love this picture of the Savior. It's beautiful. Made me cry.

I got Levi a Levi's brand wool coat.

After our presents, we headed over to the Johnson home where the cousins got to play and open their presents from Steve and Jolene.

Walter got a basketball hoop! His favorite toy to play with in nursery is the basketball hoop, so he was pretty excited about getting to have one in his own living room.

Here I am holding up a cute dress saying, "I want a girl," and Levi laughing.

We then went over to the Jenkins's for a Mexican fiesta! Tons of good food like enchiladas and tacos. I could eat Mexican food every day. Walter continued to be spoiled.

Tyler got him a new tool set!

Granny and Grandpa got him some cupcakes for his new kitchen. He shared with everyone.

We did a fun project of drawing sharpie on plates and then cooking them. They all turned out super cute.

Poor Walter had been a little sick for Christmas, so he was sad. Opening presents and being with family helped him to be much happier. At the end of the night, we let him watch some "Daniel Tiger" while we played "Ticket To Ride." Piper loved using him as a seat warmer.