Christmas eve (and morning videos)- Henry.

On Christmas Eve, we all got dolled up for a nice dinner.

Unkie with his three kids.

Then we tried for a shot in front of the tree.

Someone must have said something funny in this shot.

One more try.

And a good shot of Team Turner.

Usually, mama tries to convince Grams to have special dinners during naptime so the kids are not invited. This year we decided to have supper at 6pm- kids invited. After 5 minutes of June standing up in her chair, Sadie yelling for more applesauce and me refusing to eat anything, the adults all agreed to put on a movie and enjoy Christmas dinner in peace. Maybe next year.


On Christmas morning, we were excited to wake up and see that Santa came! Luckily for mama and papa, I was used to the idea of wrapped presents sitting under the tree, so I was patient enough not to open presents immediately. At 8:30, they let me wake up June so we could open up our big sand and water table from Santa. I don't think Santa considered how we were going to fit this huge thing in the van to get it back home.


Santa was also lame enough to get me clothes for Christmas. I didn't even bother unwrapping it all the way before I loked for something else.

Gingerbread house- Henry.

Every year, Aunt Girl and I decorate a gingerbread house.

Mama had to put the house together so the frosting would be dry and the house would be stable for us to decorate. Unfortunately, she put roof on too soon and it fell off the house, off the counter, and on the floor where it broke into 15 pieces. Luckily, mama was able to paste it back together with frosting and salvage Christmas.

All week, candy kept "falling" off the house and "right into my hand," which I took as a good reason to eat it.

All week, mama and papa caught me sneaking cookies and candy and I came up with some really good excuses. Why was I out on the porch with the cookie tray? I was making sure the babies weren't stealing cookies? Why am I covering my mouth (that was probably filled with candy)? I was just coughing.

Regardless of my sneaky behavior, we had a good time decorating.

And we even declared that Sadie was big enough to help (I was just two when I made my first house). She did a good job until she realized she was touching candy and then she just ate our decorations.

Grandma took me grocery shopping and was so impressed that I didn't ask for anything during the whole trip that she bought a gallon of chocolate milk (also a big favorite amongst Aunt Girl and Papa). After a big glass of milk, my tummy was hurting, so Grandma put me to bed and read me some stories.

Cooper Christmas- Part 2- Henry.

Back at Grams Crackers' house, we spent our time just hanging out.

PawPaw called us on Skype many times and we had fun talking to him. He was nice enough to stay up late to video conference with us when the kids opened our presents at 5pm (1am his time) and then he got back up at 9pm (4 am his time) when the grown-ups opened their presents. He even opened the presents we sent him so we could see. It was nice having him on the computer, but we wish he could have been here with us instead of all the way over in Iraq.

June did a great job opening presents. She had fun ripping through the packages, but once she hit one with clothes in it, she refused to open another.

June declared this present "stuck."

Here's anaction video of June ripping into a present.
Here's a shot at the spectacle that was the kids' Christmas.

June was really excited about her present from Aunt Katie.

Aunt Katie painted her this dinosaur from the book "How Does a Dinosaur go to School?" by Jane Yolen and illustrated by Mark Teague. June LOVES these books. We're pumped to hang this up in our room.

After all those presents, June worked up an appetite for some Skyline chili.