Tony and Alexis get Married!

Monday morning, our friends, Tony & Alexis tied the knot. They had hoped to have a big ceremony in May, but Alexis needed medical insurance ASAP and could only get it if she and Tony got married now. They are still hoping to have a big reception soon.

Sealing their vows with a kiss.
Wayne and I with the Bride and Groom at the courthouse.

The bride and groom with their cake.

Congratulations Tony and Alexis! We wish you a lifetime of happiness. I hope your enjoying your honeymoon!

Day Two of Christmas

The day after Christmas we headed over to my parents house to celebrate Christmas with my parents and brothers family. Kya is sitting here next to my brother with the look of pure contained excitement, as my dad passes out the gifts. I love that she is learning to be patient, even when it is hard sometimes.
My dad playing Santa Claus. (that is my gift!)

Wowzer Kya, you have a lot to open there!

Caleb tearing into his first gift. I wish I had gotten a picture Caleb and Elsie. They are both about the same height, both have blond hair and were both wearing red Santa shirts with jeans. Totally cute and could have passed as being twins for the day.

Seth had the biggest gift! A basketball hoop set.

Then we sat down to a Prime Rib dinner. We brought the kids picnic table inside for them to eat at together.

Then my sister-in-law had the brilliant idea of singing Happy Birthday Jesus and then all the kids blew out the candle together.

We will be getting together with Wayne's family this weekend, so be on the lookout for that post.

Christmas with family

Everyone on my dad's side of the family gathered at my Aunt's house for dinner. With all my cousins, brother and my kids we ended up with 13 kids ranging in age from 2 months up to 18 years. Here are Trever and Kya playing his video game, Elsie holding onto Marla's hair and sweet little Karli.
After all the dinner tables were cleared and put away, we gathered together to play Naughty Santa. Each family brought a gift up to $20 to exchange. It was our first year playing and I hope this fun tradition carries on. It was so much fun to see us all bonding and most of us even remained after the game to just talk and let the kids run around.

Ryan, Meredeth and Grandma.

Charlotte, Lucas, Elsie, Mackenzie, Scooter and Ryan. Elsie really took to a couple of my female cousins. Too bad Mackenzie didn't live closer, I hear she is a great babysitter.

My Aunt is opening the gift she and Uncle Jim picked out. Too bad it would later get stolen!

Grace got to pick out the gift for her family. Of course she chose the LARGEST one!

My cousin Danielle helped put the Naughty Santa game together. Here she is with her two youngest opening up their gift. I happened to bring this one and loved it because of the poem I included in it. It is a story about Jesus birth using various candies. Also inside was a star ornament and a doorknob bell hanger.

Here is Kya with our families gift, which was also later stolen! Good thing though, because it gave Seth a chance to pick out a present. Whew!

I do believe this was the best Christmas I have had with my family since I was a little girl. Thanks everyone for being so willing to gather together and enjoy one another's company.

All dressed up for Christmas

After we opened all our gifts, ate breakfast and bathed, we got dressed into our Christmas best to head on down to my Aunts house. Before we left, I had the kids gather together in front of our tree for some pictures.
Beautiful Kya. I love how the sun is shining on her hair making her blonds locks all golden.

Handsome Seth. We never did get his hair cut before Christmas, but he did get it done the day after. Oh well, that is how is goes sometimes.

Princess Tomboy Elsie. Half way through our celebration at my Aunts house, she had her tights and shoes off and was running all over the place.

Christmas Morning

The kids woke up Christmas morning, all excited to see what Santa had brought them. Kya wanted to tear into each gift right away, but I told her she had to wait until we figured out who got what and of course.....
they had to open their stockings first.

Kya asked Santa for a baby doll for Christmas and he delivered!

Seth received his prized drum set.

and Elsie got her pink grocery cart.

After the kids opened all of their presents, it was time to help Daddy open his.

Then it was time to clean up the aftermath!

Merry Christmas from our family to yours.

Merry Christmas Eve

Knowing the Christmas day and the day after are going to be long, busy and fun days, we always try to keep Christmas Eve casual, carefree and just the 5 of us. Today after breakfast and chores, the kids and made cookies for Santa. Each child was able to pour in an ingredient, stir and drop spoonfuls of dough on the cookie sheet. I love that it is so easy to please toddlers/preschoolers.
Patiently waiting for the cookies to cool.

Later, after our naps and bath, Wayne told the story of Jesus birth using our Little People Nativity set.

I was surprised how much they actually got into to it. Wayne even asked them questions and they knew the answers. We are laying the foundation and continue to pray that they choose to ask Jesus Christ into their lives when they get to the age of complete understanding and accountability.


Then it was time for them to each open one gift from Daddy and Mommy. They each received a pair of Christmas pajama's.

Elsie, actually got two since they came together.

Then we ate pizza and opened our advent calendar. Yes, a quick and easy meal!


Next it was time to bundle up and head out to a local neighborhood to see their amazing Christmas light display. I don't know how they are able to convince all these neighbors to go all out, but they all do and we thank them for it. All month of December, you can find hundreds of cars driving or hundreds of people walking thru 4-5 blocks filled with tons of lights and decor. This is our second year of going on Christmas Eve and I think it will be one of our traditions. It is not as crowded and it is a nice thing to do as a family. I brought hot cocoa and we all ended up with sticky hands. I will have to remember to bring baby wipes with us in the future.

Here are just a few of the displays. Surfing Santa. This house was done up with like Hawaii. They made streams of water with blue lights, had flamingos in the grass, parrots in the trees, dolphins and even turned their large palm tree into a pineapple. I can't even remember all that they had!

Kya asked that I take this picture of her. Cute eh?

I saw Mama kissing Santa Claus..... Can you see me kissing him?

This house must have an airplane pilot and Disney fan for owners, because it was all done up with Disney characters and planes.

If we had come here in the beginning of the month, this would have made for a cute Christmas card picture!

Seth had to have his picture taken with these horses and of course his little sister wanted to join him.

Back at home the kids got into their new pj's and made up our plate of cookies and milk for Santa. I forgot to buy carrots (oops!), so we put out some horse chow for the reindeer instead. I am sure they will love it as they have to be tired of carrots all night....right?

Then it was time to read our last Christmas books of the season and to to bed.



And of course, mom and dad got busy helping Santa put out all the presents!

Have a very Merry Christmas!

Wayne's Company Christmas Party

Saturday night, Wayne and I went to his company's Christmas party held at our local country club. Since we NEVER dress up, we took a few pictures before leaving.
Kya just had to get in one too!

We sat with our friends, Tony and Alexis, who are getting married on Monday! I was soooo glad she was there, because otherwise I would have been bored to death.

Wayne and a few of his co-workers dancing. Since Wayne prefers to only country dance, he was actually being a bit goofy out there! At least he was having fun.

Tony and Alexis did some Salsa dancing.

It was a fun night, with lots of yummy food. Can't wait til next year.....but does that mean I need to buy another dress? hmmm