December Festivities (longest post EVER!)

in no particular order...

We were so stinkin excited to have Grammy and Bobby visit us this past week!! The kids had an incredible time, making fun memories every second!! We were so sad to see them leave today and miss them tons already...

Here, Grammy and Bobby at the "I Spy House" as we have nicknamed this legendary house of lights...This family has won awards for the past I-don't-know-how-many years with their elaborate Christmas display. Last year, we made a list of specific items to search for and played a little game of it this year. Had to get a shot of these two in front of the Harley display (complete with Santa on a Harley!)

Jadan (our Christmas kid!) was thrilled beyond works to show Grammy around!

Our little family when we went bowling (the first time!) HAHA!!

The kiddos

Grammy and Teegan

Grammy and Jadan (by the way, lots of these pictures were taken with Jadan's NEW digital camera he got from Grammy...he is rarely without it these past few days and takes it wherever we go, capturing life according to Jadan!!

side note...the fox(es?) have returned! We saw this quite unique black fox the other morning!

We played lots of new games that Santa brought...including Tumblin' Monkeys!

...and Pass the Pickle!

We went to the mall and rode the carousel

Jadan took this picture of Grammy and Bobby by the Christmas tree

Shae adored having Grammy spend lots of girl time with her, painting her finger(and toe)nails!

...in addition to many a TEA PARTY!

Can't resist this little sweetie!! I love her smile in this one!

...and again...Shae is getting SO big!

Santa brought the kids each a couple of costumes; here is Cooper as MegaTron!! Danny and I have decided this WILL be a tradition for sure...costumes for sale (90% off!) after Halloween ended up being $2 or less and were a TOTAL hit! The kids had a blast changing into different characters throughout the day!

No worries about Shae's lack of girlie-ness after this Christmas! Santa brought her a tutu with poofy headband (she wants to take a dance class), new fingernail polish and lip gloss, and this adorable tea set! As if it's not evident in her ear-to-ear smile in this picture, Shae is on cloud nine when she has tea parties! Definitely one of her new favorite activities! I LOVE it!!

Teegan wasn't sure what all the fuss was over, but had a great time tasting all of the wrapping on his Christmas gifts! Cute kid!

Here is our army dude excavating a triceratops! We kept pretty busy on Christmas day!

Teegan is all smiles...too bad he didn't get his two front teeth for Christmas!!

Cooper had a great time with his "Bend-a-what, Bend-a-who, BEND-A-ROO's" as he calls them!!

To Jadan's pure delight, Santa brought him the Marble Run he asked for!

CHEEZ in front of the Christmas tree!

my favorite gifts for giving (well, and for receiving, too!) are homemade...I got this idea last minute from a friend and ran with it. The kids each got a You Are Special jar with coupons to redeem throughout the year for dates with Mom or Dad, game nights, trips to the library, free bedroom cleaning (Cooper's favorite, he's already tried to use it on more than one occasion), ice cream night, etc...

Jadan watching Polar Express with his Christmas Reindeer

We also started a new tradition for celebrating Jesus' birth with a birthday party! I thought this would be a more concrete way the kids could understand the meaning of Christmas, since they obviously understand what a birthday party is for! We read a little poem and constructed a star Christmas cake (the kids idea), sang Happy Birthday and each gave Jesus a special gift (something we wanted to strive to do better for Him to show our love for Him, which we wrote- or illustrated- on paper and tucked into paper mache boxes).

a couple quick shots of Grammy! This little one adores her Grammy!!

Jadan was excited to print pictures he took with his new camera. He worked on cutting them out and wants to make a book with all of his pictures!

As mentioned above, I love homemade gifts and this year I had a lot of fun making candles to give lots of my family and friends. I wasn't too sure how everyone would feel about receiving a candle that was a baby food jar in its previous life! But, I think they turned out really nice after spray-painting the lids and adding a label with a explanatory story attached. The story really embodied why I wanted to give candles and how I felt my love for each of them as I made them. The label reads, "where there is light, there is warmth; where there is warmth, there is love."

Another gift I worked on was an album we (with all of Danny's siblings' families) gave Danny's parents. It is a Storybook Album of "The Family: A Proclamation to the World" using pictures of all of Danny's family. It was truly magical designing this and then printing it and mounting each print to complete the album. I felt the Spirit touching my heart as I read and reread that divine document...I definitely left a piece of my heart in there too! The entire album layout can be viewed at http://s971.photobucket.com/albums/ae194/echoimages/?albumview=slideshow

And last, but not least...Shae got her ears pierced! She did awesome! She sat on Grammy's lap and held my hands while they did one ear at a time. She didn't so much as flinch or gasp, let alone cry! I can't believe how tough this girl is! Just had to top off her girlie-ness...she has been loving them, too!

Happy New Year!!