Christmas Eve and Christmas Day

Hi everyone, and Merry Christmas! Our family had a GREAT Christmas. We wrote a letter to Santa, asking him to come a day early since we were heading to Missouri. So, we opened presents Christmas eve morning. The boys unwrapped so many things--toys, clothes, games, sleeping bags, etc. Paul and Adam both got underwear from Santa, so Adam said, "we must have been bad!" Hilarious! Santa also brought a Wii Fit to our house,--so.....what are you saying Santa??? We headed back to Missouri for Christmas eve at my family's house. Mom made a big meal as usual then we unwrapped presents. Everyone had a big time. The boys got to play with their older girl cousins whom they adore, and we got to see Andie again. As you can see in this picture, she is cute as a button. One more month and she turns 1. These are my parents. My younger sister made a book full of family pictures from this past year--it was fantastic. Thanks Kim for doing that. Then we played cards and games, and headed to midnight mass.
The next morning we celebrated Christmas at Paul's parents' house. Again, we had a big meal then opened presents. Paul and Wayne always get each other bourbon, so here they are pretending to take a swig--that is you isn't it Paul? I can't see you in all that camouflage--and is that a green "tree" next to you? Ha, you guys think you're soooo cool! The boys got all kinds of good stuff--fishing poles, Wii games and movies and gaming chairs. Yep, we need a bigger house! Better yet, a yard sale and consignment sale is looking pretty good right now!! Thank you to both our families opening up their doors for us this Christmas holiday. We love coming "home" and seeing everyone.

Happy Birthday Adam!

Can you believe Adam is 8 years old? Every year I think how unbelievable it is to be a parent. Well, this year, Santa came with a present a few days early to bring Adam his roller skates. We woke up on Sunday morning, and there, right in his room with a note was a present from Santa! Santa said he knew that Adam wanted this present and "might need them today", so needless to say, Adam did a happy dance. Here is a picture with Adam with the skates on in the house, still in his jammies. We went to his skating party straight from church and had a great time. Adam and Caleb did a great job skating and I was wore out from trying to help Andrew and Cody and at the same time, try not to bust my butt!! It has been a long time since I've had on roller skates. We were all wore out that day. Then on Monday, Adam wanted to go to Ya Ya's Island and play and run around. So just me and the boys went and spent a few hours. We have had a busy last few days, but that's what Christmas and birthdays are all about. Now, I can't wait for Christmas and see the boys open their presents, and go back and see our families again.

Christmas Party

We went to Paul's Christmas party at Patti's Saturday night, and yummo! All the employees and the familes were off in a little building by ourselves and it was perfect. We arrived early and stood in line to see Santa or "Mr. C" as Adam likes to call him. Finally, it was our turn. Santa knew their names, the names of their dogs, that they had perfect attendance, .... Santa is awesome! Then we took a picture of the boys in a sled. Patti's is decorated sooooo beautifully this time of year. Lights and ornaments everywhere. I even bought some strawberry butter. Sorry, Dad, but they didn't serve us coconut pie. But maybe Mom can make us one for Christmas!!!!!

christmas program at school

and him
On Friday, the elementary school had their Christmas program called Holiday Zoobilee. All the different grades and individual classes all dressed as different animals. It looked really great when they were all down on the floor. There were tigers, lions, zebras, seals, birds, penguins and the list goes on. They had several songs to sing and quite a few kids had speaking lines, including our little Andrew. At first he was 'barrassed, but he really enjoyed it. He did a FANTASTIC job if I say so myself. He spoke loud and clear and you could really understand him. He was a seal so he dressed in a black sweatsuit and Adam was a tiger as you can see in this picture. It only lasted about 35 minutes so it wasn't too long and lose the kids' attention.