Hang on to your Christmas britches!!

Okay, instead of doing 3 different posts I'll just warn you now...this is a long one.


Christmas Eve we hung around the house making candy and playing outside. After Sadie's nap we drove over to Rosebud.

Janice showing Elijah his ornament for this year...


And Sadie's...

JoCarol and Mark sent the kids each a gift. Sadie got a cute water bottle belt...

But was more interested in the bottle!...

Elijah got some great animal books. I keep waiting to see if he's going to "grow out" of this whole animal obsession, but I don't think it'll be any time soon...

Sadie really got into opening gifts this year...even if they weren't hers.

Crystal and Sadie...

Sharon got Elijah a 3D floor puzzle and he was trying on his glasses...

On Christmas morning we were at home. I had to keep yelling to Elijah, from the kitchen, to stop opening the gifts until we're all together!


I was having to make Sadie a snack so we could get thru opening the presents. We always eat Monte Cristo sandwiches after our gifts, but I knew Sadie wouldn't last that long. She has to eat as soon as she gets up. I don't know where she gets that...the rest of us may or may not even eat breakfast!

See the plate of sausage balls that she had to put right in front of her!...

She's saying "Cheese!"...

Opening stockings...






After a quick wardrobe change due to a Code Brown we commenced opening the last gifts...

They thought all the dolls were pretty neat....


But then they saw this...

and they both took off running. Of course the video camera tape ended right before Beau brought it out so I didn't get to capture all the screaming and oohs and ahhs! Bummer.


They both love it...

Such deep concentration...

I'm telling you, this dollhouse has already been worth it. Both of the kids love it, but Sadie will sit and play at it forever. She loves it. Every time you go into her room she has to show you where all the dolls are and what they're doing.




Saturday afternoon we went to Stephenville. We had our new annual lunch of Prime Rib...yum! Then we got back down to business...

This year if anyone asked Elijah what he wants for Christmas he would say gardening supplies. He loves to "garden". He is always digging in the back yard and "planting" things. If we eat anything he likes he says he's going to grow it for us. I think he'll be really into the garden this year.

Mom got him a watering can, some seeds and real metal gardening tools...

He's mostly excited about the sunflower seeds...

Cale got a 'Coon skin hat. It brought back so many memories of Jon wearing on when he was little...

I asked for a tricycle for Sadie. My mom chose to get it for her. Instead of getting her a little plastic or "normal" tricycle like anyone else would do she got Sadie the Rolls Royce of tricycles...

She can barely reach the pedals and the thing is made of iron or something...its so heavy. So Elijah sat on the back and pedalled all the kids around the house. It was hilarious. We kept making fun of my mom. Jon said he thinks it's street legal and that we're going to have to register it.

she really does love it, though. She has been on it every day and any time she sees it she yells "My bike! My bike!!" Too cute!




More gardening tools for Elijah. He loved that everything was his size even though it was the real stuff...

And then for the gift I've been waiting for. When I found out back at Zac and Heather's wedding that Cale was into Superman I got an idea!

I made it for him and I was so nervous about him loving it.


But have no fear, he loved it. He had to wear it everywhere and would yell "I'm Super Cale!" Dad said one night he even woke up in the middle of the night looking for his "tape". Yay!!

Does Elijah look a bit jealous? Maybe I need to make him one.


Aunt Katy thought it was time Sadie learns how to accessorize...

See the shoes...

"Shhh, I'm on the phone"...

This is where Elijah was most of the time. We got him a Leapster (educational video game) and he was so into it, we kept having to say, "Elijah, come over here and open a gift!"... Ha!

Sunday afternoon we went to Jannie and Larry's for yet another Christmas Party.

I love this...

"Ooooo, I love it!"....

"Its so neat!"...

The girl has so many expressions...she's so funny!!

A Beta!...

Don't worry, we changed his water! Elijah named him Tooker. He is in a bowl on Elijah's bedside shelf.



We had a great Christmas! We are so blessed.

Preschool Christmas Program

Tuesday the kids had their annual Christmas Program. Its always fun to watch. This year our church (where the preschool is) decided to really focus on the preschool more than ever as a ministry. There are over 80 kids in the school and only about 4-5 are from our congregation. Kids come from all the way across town because our school has such a great reputation, so its a big outreach for us. One of the things we did was put up a wish list for the preschool teachers. They were told to put anything on the list they wanted/needed, big or small, for their classrooms. One of the items was a -6-seater stroller for Sadie's class (the youngest class). The teacher said she can't really take them outside to the playground because she doesn't feel like she can watch them close enough with all the big kids running around, but if she had a stroller big enough she would take them for a walk every morning to get outside. Well, it was a pretty lofty request considering how much this giant stroller must cost (a nice one-seater costs well over $100)! Well, as soon as the wish list was put up every wish was taken!!!

So...to enter the Christmas program...


I think she was a little shocked to see me sitting there (or was making sure I wasn't going to take her out of the stroller-she loves to ride in a stroller)...

Sadie was front and center (Elijah was hidden way in the back)...

Dancing and singing The Reindeer Pokey! She was so funny. After each song she would start clapping and yelling "Yay!!!"...

There he is!...

Checking out her loot!...

The Christmas shirt I made her...

Elijah's Christmas Shirt...

My two punks...

Lots of newer posts below... Enjoy!!

Happy Birthday, Grayson!

Saturday was Grayson's first birthday and we went to his Penguin Party. We had great food and wonderful time with friends.

Sadie and John cuddling together...


The boys emptied out a giant bag of balloons in the yard and had a blast!!...

Cheese face...

She really wanted out of the swing, but I told her to take a picture first and this is the face I got...

Elijah LOVES babies so he was all over Grayson...

Grayson "opening" his gifts...or, rather, sitting close by while Aimee and Grant opened them...

Can you tell by the look on her face that it was way past nap time, but she just wanted to keep playing...

Happy Birthday, Grayson!!!