Christmas Day

Since "Baby Girl" starts kicking me at 4:30am or Russ's alarm goes off at 4:30am I thought I would take advantage of the quite of my house to get caught up on Christmas picture posting. Don't get me wrong, I could be unpacking from the trip to my brothers or cleaning the kitchen, but I can do that later:)

Santa spoils, the kids did not get up to early this year and we had a nice relaxing day. Max had a very specific gift list for Santa and Nannie, after opening Santa gifts I caught him checking his list to see what was missing and if it was on Nannie's list.....more to come on this later.

June finger painting with "color wonder" finger paints....what did we do before "color wonder"?

Later in the morning my parents and aunt arrived to spend the day. We cooked, visited, opened gifts and moved furniture? Yes, we , I should say my Dad and Russ moved furniture.....Thanks Dad!

Poppie and June opening gifts...

Each year my Mom gives the kids an ornament. This year the boys all received the instrument they play. Jake was the only brother willing to show off his trombone skills on his mini trombone. Jake you are a good sport and a ham bone!

Aunt Birdey and Junie.....

Do you want my candy, it only has one bite out of it and I know you like them? Who doesn't like Fannie Mae Trinidads......apparently June. Good thing I love them, don't worry, that piece of candy did not go to waste:)

The man of my DREAMS....sorry Russ I had to do it!

This picture is for those of you who wonder why there are not more pictures of the boys on the blog!

Now to Max....As I said, Max had a very specific list of wants and needs this Christmas. He checked his list continually during the day because one very important gift was missing. He wanted a year membership to Roblox, an online building game. Max was about to give up. My Mom had him convinced that she could not decide what to give him and that this card was his last gift, actually it was the last gift of the day. I wish I would have caught the look on his face when he opened the card...............pure relief and happiness. A year subscription to Roblox.....thanks Nannie and Poppie!

Another Christmas past....but there is still more to come, stay tuned!

A week in review...kind of

It has been a wonderfully busy week, we have visited with family and enjoyed time together. We will see more family this week. Christmas was exciting for June this year she understood Santa was going to bring her gifts and more importantly she knew it was "Baby" Jesus's Birthday. Every year before church on Christmas Eve I hope to get some good family pictures. No matter how early we start our day we take pictures on the run while the car is warming up! The pictures below are some of the highlights. I took many pictures during the course of the week and hope to have them edited by next Christmas:)

I LOVE this picture of Russ and June!

After church we spent Christmas Eve with my Dad's family and had a lovely evening. June kept us in stitches. Every time someone would give her a gift she would say, "A present for me?". She continued that on Christmas as well. Christmas morning the kids woke up around 7am which was not too bad, however, June had a cold and was up a lot that evening with a stuffy nose. Don't worry though, her cold did not get her down too bad! The remainder of Christmas Day we spent with my Mom, Dad, and, Aunt. As I said earlier more pictures to come soon, but the boys are calling, waiting for me to watch a movie with them....June is all tucked in!

The Cousins

Currently there are 10 cousins on Russ's side of the family....6 boys and 4 girls. However, by the end of Spring there will be 6 and 6 a perfect dozen!

The kids always have a good time together even though they only all see each other once a year. We had a short visit with Russ's family so we could get back home and have time with my side of the family. We look forward to seeing all of our family at Christmas, but Russ and I have always wanted the kids to wake up at home on Christmas morning.....which leads to a lot of small Holiday journeys!

The Hangover.....

We had a wonderful day......now the clean up!

Merry Christmas

And the angel said to them, "Be not afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy which will come to all the people; for to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord."

Luke 2: 10-11

I Heart Faces.....Holiday Traditions

One of my very favorite Holiday Traditions is decorating our home for Christmas. I love the warm cozy feeling of the lights, the sentiments from the cards, and the memories each of the decorations hold in my heart. To me, however, the best part of Christmas is sharing our home with family and friends.....those pictures to follow soon!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

A week in review

Wow, we made it. We have had a busy week, full of fun, festivities, and preparation. The week before Christmas break was full. Both TJ and Max had programs at school...

TJ had a band program on Thursday night and our whole family was able to attend. The kids did a great job, it is amazing the difference in their sound from 6th grade to 8th grade. TJ plays the trumpet and we are hoping he will continue in high school. Jake also plays in the band, he plays the trombone, however, the 6th grade concert will be next month.

Max had "Christmas Around the World", it is a program that is a culmination of months of work. The kids start with research about a country of their choice in October. The first report supplies detailed information about their country, land maps, government, stamps, money, natural resources, etc. Once that portion is complete they begin research on the Christmas and Holiday traditions of their country. The kids are required to make a project about the Christmas traditions in their country and we the parents help them make a Holiday recipe from their country. The program includes, singing, stories, and a huge buffet table. Max chose Wales as his country!

Friday evening we had our annual progressive "Tree" party. The four families that cut trees down from Hillview tree farm all get together once the trees are decorated.....it is a night we look forward to every Christmas season. We travel from house to house, eat, drink, and be merry:)

Russ and I finished up our shopping and wrapping this weekend and are looking forward to two weeks with friends and family. We hope to have some down time and family time before we start the new year with a bang of baby preparation. June is looking forward to Christmas. She understands that Santa is bringing presents, but even better than that she understands that it is Jesus's Birthday.....how lucky we all our for this day.

Merry Christmas, hope your week is full of many blessings!

Peaceful Morning

It was an early morning at my house, since the begining of my pregnancy my body has had a clock different than one I would like. Most mornings I am up by 4:30am. I do not always get out of bed, but I am up. This morning I got up, I started laundry at 5:30am and cleaned the kitchen.....then it struck me, I am going to be doing that stuff all day long. So I grabbed my coffee and my camera and sat looking at the tree in the dark. As the boys woke up they sat and visited with me....it was a very peaceful morning!

The Snowman Dress

June and I went to have lunch with Russ today...so I dressed her in a festive winter snowman dress. I love this dress and my intention was to get some pictures of June with the snowman, that did not happen, but I had fun taking the pictures. I was also wanted June to look all "spic and span" when we got to Russ's office.....well, I made the mistake of giving her yogurt bites in the car. June sucked all the yogurt off the bites and spit the red gummy candy part down her coat. Yes, when we took off her coat we were surprised to see a wad of red gummy candy stuck to the super cute snowman:)