Get a Coke and sit back......this is a long one.
Christmas was wonderful-as it usually is. Allie's play ended, we all got healthy again and we were able to get back into the swing of the holiday joy. And joy we had! We had to make our Gingerbread house-it's tradition. (It might have been the day before Christmas Eve, but we got it done)
Look at their faces.....it must take great skill. (Okay, not really. You can buy the kits at Wal-Mart for a mere $10) haha..
Olivia wanted in on the action this year. She was covered in frosting before it was over.
I came out from behind the camera for about three minutes.....
The finished product.
She must take her cues from me. ....I do vacuum a lot.
We always do the same rounds at Christmas time. Christmas Eve is spent at my Mom and Dad's house with my family. Instead of exchanging adult gifts this year, we all bought presents for a family that has had a rough time lately. So instead, the adults did a white elephant gift exchange. It is always hilarious to see what some people bring. Here is my dad modeling his white elephant gift.
BJ & Krystal brought an ugly Christmas sweater and a baklava. The funny thing is that, that sweater is an actual sweater that BJ wore to a High School Christmas dance-circa 1991. Hysterical...
Me and the Mr......
Grandma Retta reading the Christmas story to the grand kids.
All the kids do a cousin gift exchange and then open their present from Grandma and Grandpa."Thank you SO much Grama!!"
My parents gave Easton one of his favorite presents of this year. The Star Wars hail fire droid. You will see a pattern here with Easton and presents......
Olivia was still kind of confused-but loving it at the same time. My mom gave her a Baby Alive doll that she has played and played with. I'm so excited that she loves babies. :)
Then we headed back to our own house to wait on Santa! My kids always like to leave out cookies for Santa and carrots for the reindeer. Allie also likes to leave him a note telling him to be safe. haha...
Santa found us!
Aaaahhh......the Christmas present of 2010! Nintendo DSi XL. I have since developed a love/hate relationship with the DSi's. They are super fun-and super addicting. (Even for me. I MAY have spent an entire day tring to save the princess on Super Mario-but you will never know.) Since their arrival, I swear I only saw the tops of my kids heads for a solid two weeks. We have had to cap the amount of play time now that school is back in. (Mom included) ;)
My parents gave Easton one of his favorite presents of this year. The Star Wars hail fire droid. You will see a pattern here with Easton and presents......
Olivia was still kind of confused-but loving it at the same time. My mom gave her a Baby Alive doll that she has played and played with. I'm so excited that she loves babies. :)
Then we headed back to our own house to wait on Santa! My kids always like to leave out cookies for Santa and carrots for the reindeer. Allie also likes to leave him a note telling him to be safe. haha...
Santa found us!
Aaaahhh......the Christmas present of 2010! Nintendo DSi XL. I have since developed a love/hate relationship with the DSi's. They are super fun-and super addicting. (Even for me. I MAY have spent an entire day tring to save the princess on Super Mario-but you will never know.) Since their arrival, I swear I only saw the tops of my kids heads for a solid two weeks. We have had to cap the amount of play time now that school is back in. (Mom included) ;)
I do love them for road trips in the car. The trip up to Island park this year was SO quiet! No movie, just my kids faces lit up by the glow of the DSi. Heaven....
Star Wars for the DS...
Christmas wouldn't be complete with a couple books for the resident bookworm. I was mean this year and made her wait until Christmas to get the 6th book in the Wimpy Kid series. She read it in like two days.
I mean, honestly, does it get any better than Darth Vader on a chopper? I think not.
Fashion sketch portfolio.
See the recurring theme here? Star Wars obsessed.
It's a pillow! It's a pet! It's a pillow pet! (For the life of me, I will NEVER understand the draw to these things, but my kids and all my nieces and nephews wanted them).
Olivia loved two things and two things only about Christmas morning. 1. Her Elmo slippers. 2. The Dum-dums in her stocking. If those two things were the only things she had gotten-she would have been fine. Elmo and Dum-dums. Perfect.
Star Wars for the DS...
Christmas wouldn't be complete with a couple books for the resident bookworm. I was mean this year and made her wait until Christmas to get the 6th book in the Wimpy Kid series. She read it in like two days.
I mean, honestly, does it get any better than Darth Vader on a chopper? I think not.
Fashion sketch portfolio.
See the recurring theme here? Star Wars obsessed.
It's a pillow! It's a pet! It's a pillow pet! (For the life of me, I will NEVER understand the draw to these things, but my kids and all my nieces and nephews wanted them).
Olivia loved two things and two things only about Christmas morning. 1. Her Elmo slippers. 2. The Dum-dums in her stocking. If those two things were the only things she had gotten-she would have been fine. Elmo and Dum-dums. Perfect.(I would have dropped dead before allowing Allie and Easton to have Elmo slippers. I hated character clothing. Now? This made me the very happiest on Christmas morning! It was the cutest thing ever to see her toddling around with flopping Elmo heads on her feet. aahhh, what can I say? I've grown soft......or ghetto........in my old age. ;)
DUM-DUMS!!!!
YAY! Abby Cadabby movie! Olivia can say two words really well: Elmo and Abby. (Well and "NO!", but I don't really count that as a word as much as attitude).
DUM-DUMS!!!!
YAY! Abby Cadabby movie! Olivia can say two words really well: Elmo and Abby. (Well and "NO!", but I don't really count that as a word as much as attitude).
"Maybe my kitty wants a dum-dum. I'll share.....it is Christmas after all."
8:07 a.m. and working on sucker #4......
Tinkerbell 4-wheeler. She immediately hopped on and floored it-right into the Christmas tree. We decided that she will need a helmet before it is taken out on the sidewalk. My most daring/fearless child........with a power wheels. Maybe not the greatest idea. ;)
Her own table and chairs!
The Kindle! If you love to read......you MUST get one of these! I've never been so neglectful in all my life, but it is like having a bookstore in your hands. I would never dare say the amount of money I have spent on e-books since Christmas Eve!
Coloring and her new table and chairs. It is SO cute in her room. It matches perfectly and she sits in there for hours playing with her dolls and coloring.
See what I mean? I miss seeing my children's faces. ;)
In the afternoon we head down to Paul's parents house. Grandma White always gives the kids a package of Goldfish crackers in their present. They love it.
She MAY be a little dramatic. Her thank you's look like an acceptance speech. haha!
Uncle Vick opening his gifts. My kids worship this man! He is that fun uncle that plays with the kids the whole time they are there. It took us awhile to get Allie straight that she could NOT marry uncle Vick. :)
The next day we went to church and then came home and just layed around in the Christmas mess.
An artist at work......
"The smolder....."
My brownie eyed angel........who has no hair! What is it with my girls and this no hair business until 7? Poor thing is starting to get that "'oversized baby" look. It's fine.....we will deal. Allie looked that way and grew out of it too. ;)
A few days after Christmas my whole family headed up to Island Park for four days. AND I FORGOT MY CAMERA!! I about started bawling when I realized this-but we were about to Pocatello when it dawned on me. I blame having to pack snowmobiling gear for four people. It was so much fun up there though. It was FREEZING, but nice and warm in the cabin. It is always fun for the kids to spend four days running around and playing with their cousins. I love sitting up late into the night playing games with my siblings and my parents. There is always a lot of laughter around that table and I love it. I will have to see about getting the pictures off my Dad's camera-because it was a good time had by all. Thank you Mom and Dad for doing this for us every year!
Today, the kids wanted to make a "really, really big" snowman. So Paul and our neighbor Jason helped the kids build this beauty! I hope it stays for a long time-but since it is supposed to rain tomorrow, that isn't likely. What a great memory for the kids!
Paul,Allie,Easton, Ashlynn, Kaylee and Jason Tuft.
8:07 a.m. and working on sucker #4......
Tinkerbell 4-wheeler. She immediately hopped on and floored it-right into the Christmas tree. We decided that she will need a helmet before it is taken out on the sidewalk. My most daring/fearless child........with a power wheels. Maybe not the greatest idea. ;)
Her own table and chairs!
The Kindle! If you love to read......you MUST get one of these! I've never been so neglectful in all my life, but it is like having a bookstore in your hands. I would never dare say the amount of money I have spent on e-books since Christmas Eve!
Coloring and her new table and chairs. It is SO cute in her room. It matches perfectly and she sits in there for hours playing with her dolls and coloring.
See what I mean? I miss seeing my children's faces. ;)
In the afternoon we head down to Paul's parents house. Grandma White always gives the kids a package of Goldfish crackers in their present. They love it.
She MAY be a little dramatic. Her thank you's look like an acceptance speech. haha!
Uncle Vick opening his gifts. My kids worship this man! He is that fun uncle that plays with the kids the whole time they are there. It took us awhile to get Allie straight that she could NOT marry uncle Vick. :)
The next day we went to church and then came home and just layed around in the Christmas mess.
An artist at work......
"The smolder....."
My brownie eyed angel........who has no hair! What is it with my girls and this no hair business until 7? Poor thing is starting to get that "'oversized baby" look. It's fine.....we will deal. Allie looked that way and grew out of it too. ;)
A few days after Christmas my whole family headed up to Island Park for four days. AND I FORGOT MY CAMERA!! I about started bawling when I realized this-but we were about to Pocatello when it dawned on me. I blame having to pack snowmobiling gear for four people. It was so much fun up there though. It was FREEZING, but nice and warm in the cabin. It is always fun for the kids to spend four days running around and playing with their cousins. I love sitting up late into the night playing games with my siblings and my parents. There is always a lot of laughter around that table and I love it. I will have to see about getting the pictures off my Dad's camera-because it was a good time had by all. Thank you Mom and Dad for doing this for us every year!
The other big happening at our house was Allie getting glasses. Her school sent home a note telling me that she had failed the eye test. So I took her to the eye doctor and it was decided that she needed her vision corrected. At least for seeing far away-like the chalkboard. She was SO excited to get glasses. Her cousin wears them-and she has wanted them ever since Libby got them. She doesn't have to wear them all the time, but honestly, she likes to wear them. She looks pretty dang cute in them. The first day she was going to wear them to school, I watched her eating breakfast with them on and got all lumpy throat and teary eyed. She looked SO grown up! They make her look like she is 12 and I hate that. We all know my issue with the time warp I live in. I was nervous for her to go to school, but when she came home that day she said, "Mom, everyone wants glasses now!" and later her friend's mom told me that her daughter had said she couldn't see the board and needed glasses like Allie's. :) That made me feel better. I snapped these pictures of her before she left for school that day. Pretty darn cute-eh? The funny thing is that same week I got an infection in my cornea and was told I need to wear my glasses for a few weeks. So I got new glasses too. Now we really do look like the bookworms of the house! ;)
Today, the kids wanted to make a "really, really big" snowman. So Paul and our neighbor Jason helped the kids build this beauty! I hope it stays for a long time-but since it is supposed to rain tomorrow, that isn't likely. What a great memory for the kids!
Paul,Allie,Easton, Ashlynn, Kaylee and Jason Tuft.
Paul and his snowman. :)
Next week we leave for Disneyland. I can harly wait! We decided to leave Olivia home with the grandmas this time. :( This was not a decision that has come easy for me, but in the end we decided that she really is too young to enjoy it and the way we do Disneyland (at the gate at 8....leave when the fireworks are over) she would be miserable. We are also driving and Ms. Olivia is NOT a fan of long car rides, so she is staying behind this time. I'm going to miss her like crazy-I've never left her for that long(a week), but I know she will be in the best hands and really, staying with the Grandma's is like a Disneyland in itself. We have already promised her that when she is 4 we will take her. Allie and Easton are old enough now to ride ALL the rides and this time we are making the trek down to SeaWorld. Easton will die! I can't wait to see his face when those whales come out of the water. Me and Allie can't wait to ride Peter Pan's ride-it's our favorite. Pictures from the "happiest place on earth" to come! :)
Next week we leave for Disneyland. I can harly wait! We decided to leave Olivia home with the grandmas this time. :( This was not a decision that has come easy for me, but in the end we decided that she really is too young to enjoy it and the way we do Disneyland (at the gate at 8....leave when the fireworks are over) she would be miserable. We are also driving and Ms. Olivia is NOT a fan of long car rides, so she is staying behind this time. I'm going to miss her like crazy-I've never left her for that long(a week), but I know she will be in the best hands and really, staying with the Grandma's is like a Disneyland in itself. We have already promised her that when she is 4 we will take her. Allie and Easton are old enough now to ride ALL the rides and this time we are making the trek down to SeaWorld. Easton will die! I can't wait to see his face when those whales come out of the water. Me and Allie can't wait to ride Peter Pan's ride-it's our favorite. Pictures from the "happiest place on earth" to come! :)
1 comments:
Hummm..... Allie, those are some cute glasses! We love them. How cute.
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