Christmas Day: Part 1

We woke up on Christmas morning to this BEAUTIFUL scene out our front door! What an awesome gift! It looked like the sky was on fire, but it was just the beautiful sun rising on the celebration of Jesus's birth! 

***WARNING-PICTURE OVERLOAD! ***

Santa brought the girls 3 gifts each and then Uncle Bub brought his sleigh to town! He is known for spoiling the girls on Christmas! Papa and Gigi also came for a visit for several days and stopped by a bit later in the morning. Over the weekend we had a visit from Grandma and Grandpa B. and we finished out our holiday season and rung in the New Year with our friends, The Young Family! I'll blog about all of that, but will have to divide it into several posts as we had LOTS of fun, and there are lots of pictures to share!

Zoya was really excited about Christmas morning and unwrapping gifts this year! In years past she had to be persuaded to unwrap gifts (much like Mila and Sofia this year). Sofia had a rough day, being thrown off by the change in her routine and chaos in the morning. She had to take a break away from the chaos about 40 minutes into our morning-it was just too much for her (even though it was probably very calm compared to most people's houses!)

 (I'll give you one guess as to who brought the Zebra....Santa or Uncle Bub? ;)) Zoya absolutely LOVES her pet Zebra!! 

Santa brought this bike for the three girls to share! Mila and Sofia can't yet reach the pedals but we're working on some extenders!  

 (I think Sofia is thinking, "Is that Zebra following me???")

And that's about enough of that Christmas Fun for this one! 

 Sometimes Christmas looks a little different for kids with special needs ;) Especially those with extreme sensory regulation difficulties and/or sensory processing disorder! We try to make the most of it, while meeting everyone's individual needs and still having fun :) Clearly she needed a break! Just keepin' it real :) 

Zoya figured out how to pedal a bike for the first time :) 

 Zoya got a new babydoll from Santa :)

 Sofia was finally content just sitting in her Krazy Kar, watching her Peek a Boo bear, both from Santa :)

 Mila was intrigued by her Rock a Bye Baby Bear from Santa! 

 She still had a ton of gifts to open but just wanted to play with her baby (and Mila's)....

 We took lots of play breaks :) My kids are always happy leaving presents under the tree and taking time to play with their toys in between. 

Showing off her Little Mama Diaper Bag for her babies :)

 Sofia LOVED the peek a boo bear! It's sort of like a jack n the box but cuter! 

 A itty bitty baby just the right size for Mila to hold and kiss! 

 Poor Sofia trying to figure out this giant animal in her living room! 

 More playing with babies !

 Her very own PINK remote control car from Uncle Bub! He knows her well! 

A very real looking newborn baby :)

 Early on Zoya kept saying she wanted a baby, baby clothes, baby bottle, etc. for Christmas, so that's the order that Santa got....then later on all she kept telling Santa was "Elmo"....I guess it wasn't too late for Santa to talk his Elf  "Bub" into getting that wish met! 

Have you ever seen someone so excited over a barn? LOL! 

"Wait, what's this thing staring at me? I hope you don't expect me to share my toys with it!"

Sofia loves building, I think she's going to be an engineer! Santa thought these blocks would be fun with the light table! 

In true Mila fashion, the only thing she REALLY wanted for Christmas was some lovin' all day long :) She got it, of course! 

Uncle Bub for the save! 

It was a Zebra Christmas for Zoya! She was thrilled :) 

This funny little girl couldn't get enough of her Uncle Bub! She called his beard a "cat" when she first saw him HAHA! 

Zoya LOVES this Melissa and Doug Doorbell House! It has 4 keys attached to the handle and she has to match the number on the key to the number on the door to open it and find what's inside (dolls, or anything else you could fit in there!). It's a great fine motor and attention-to-task activity! She will sit and work on this for 15 minutes solid! 

The girls got ribbon sticks, jingle bell sticks, and pom poms in their stockings for our dance parties :) 

This child would do anything for a bandaid....not to actually wear it, but to look at it and play with it! HAHA :) Works as a nice reward for her! 

Good puppy! She loved the set of sensory balls Sofia got from Uncle Bub! 

With the weighted vest, life is good :) 

While they were dancing, Mila was making a hundred funny faces in the mirror! Her new favorite thing to do is take pictures in a phone camera where she can see herself hahah! 

She didn't even change the face when I called her!! Love this girl! 

"And they all go marching down...to the ground....to get out....of the rain....BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM...."

Shawn modeling his new gear :) 

Sofia's favorite thing to do is take things out and put things in! 

Throwing them at the fireplace....her PT would be proud! 

Zoya's been loving her remote control Doc McStuffins car! She especially loves running it into the dog and her sisters on purpose and laughing! Stinker! 

Laughing while Mya chases it! 

She had SO MUCH FUN and she was so so good the entire day! 

Checking out our new family ornament! 

Sofia's favorite gift may have been this bucket....she enjoyed putting bows in and taking bows out :) 

Such a nut! 

The girls love setting these blocks up and getting in our scooter bucket and having me push them into the blocks to knock them over! 

Uncle Mike and Aunt Carol stopped by to celebrate a little! They brought the girls these adorable hats that were handmade...so adorable and so precious because the girls that make these hats donate their proceeds to orphans! And each one so perfectly thought out by Mike and Carol! Minnie mouse for Zoya, an owl for Mila, and a MONSTER for Sofia :) 

The silly string was probably one of my best memories from this Christmas! When I sprayed Zoya, she plugged her ears, had two strings across her face and looked terrified. Everyone held their breath thinking "oh crap she's going to cry" and she just looked up and said really loud, "OOOOOOOPS!!" Then everyone started laughing!

Zoya and Uncle Mike spraying Aunt Carol with the silly string!

 She seemed a little surprised to see the hat on herself....maybe it didn't look the way she thought it would? LOL!

This picture just makes me laugh! Sofia our little monster!

Well, there's Part 1 and I'm exhausted now :) So maybe Part 2 will be posted before spring hits! Just kidding, around here we have at LEAST 5 more months of winter! In fact we are bracing for a really bad winter storm that is supposed to dump up to 2 feet of snow and temps with a windchill of -40 degrees (yes MINUS FORTY DEGREES!)...it's coming in tonight and lasting through Wednesday morning...if I just close my eyes and pretend I'm on the beach it might work, right? :) I'm thankful for a warm home (as long as the power stays on) and shelter over our heads!