12 days countdown (6, 5, 4)...

Only 6 days until Christmas... Let's drive to Waco and celebrate with Karli and Cooper (and Gigi and Pops, too!) 

This was a BIG one...and kind of last minute, too. I hadn't planned on taking an overnight trip to Waco but Ryan was going to be at work late on Friday and this weekend was "Super Saturday" so it was perfect timing. Plus, I hadn't been home in a while and the kids love spending time with their Waco besties, so win-win-win-win.

We got into town and hung out with Gigi and Pops before all the holiday happiness began. Between pizza and laughter we caught up as best we could and then the kids ran around aimlessly with all things resembling swords and bad guy slayers. Oy. 

We got them to calm down with a promise of cookie making. That last 5 minutes. But they were pretty darn cute, weird faces and all. 

Then we changed into our matching jammies to open gifts. My kiddos got gift cards to Build-A-Bear which they put to use the next day; the girls took home Frozen inspired bears and Rad scored an Olaf. We got Cooper and Karli "real" sleeping bags and fun flashlights, which was the winning prize. Flashlights. 

Y'all. Why do we spend tons of money on our children. They like flashlights. 

We stayed up way past bedtime and then headed back to Gigi and Pops' for a good nights sleep.

Which was clearly needed since they seemed to have lost their minds. 

;)

Only 5 days until Christmas... put on your jammies and let's sleep under Christmas tree. 

Favorite night of the season. 

(I think I've said that 10 times by now).

But I love it. 

We did get off to a rocky start with some bah humbug behavior from Mommy and Daddy (keeping it real, folks) but that was no match for Christmas spirit. There really is nothing better than to wake up in the middle of the night to this. 

We stayed up way past toddler/little kid/first grader bedtimes, had our fill of popcorn and m&ms and watched 1.5 movies before nodding off. I think we will do this again before all the decorations come down.

Only 4 days until Christmas... light candles for 5 people at church. 

No pics of this one, because, well... clearly. But we did pick our five special people to pray for and the kids got to light candles which is a special treat. 

And the countdown continues...