Frosty Morning

This morning we woke up to frost covering everything outside. We don't see this very often so the kids were pretty excited. I was stupid enough to go out (in my bare feet) and take a few pictures.





The rain water in the dump truck was frozen over.

Now for those of you who are covered in inches or feet of snow I'm sure you're thinking "Oh please!" but for us Mesa folk this is a big deal.

Christmas

Another Christmas has come and gone and I think it was one of the best Christmases we've ever had. It was a very special one for my family. The best part was being around all of our family and friends. We are so lucky to have so much family so close. We have also felt the love and generosity of strangers. Someone did the Twelve Days of Christmas for us and as hard as my kids tried to catch them in the act they were not successful. Our secret Santa remains a mystery and if by chance this person or family reads my blog I want to say thank you so very much. It was an experience that we will never forget.

Christmas Eve

One tradition we have is getting together at my dad's on Christmas Eve and having the kids act out the Nativity. One of our many gifts from our Secret Santa was costumes for this. Here are a few pictures of the kids.

Mary & Joseph

The Angels

Wisemen & Shepherd's

This is the Wiseman Kaleb kissing baby Jesus

Christmas Morning

Santa was very good to us this year. He brought the kids a Wii. They have been asking Santa for this for a couple of years now. He finally came through.

He brought Jaxson a new bike.

Jaxson's favorite gift was his dinosaurs that our Secret Santa gave him.

We had Christmas dinner at my house. Because of the rain I knew the kids couldn't play outside and I was a little worried about it being insane crazy. But thanks to the Wii that Santa brought they stayed down in the basement all night. There wasn't even any fighting, they all waited patiently for their turn - it's a Christmas Miracle! THANK YOU SANTA!

Christmas Picture

These are for those of you who didn't get a Christmas Card (sorry about that - I can only make so many).

Aren't they adorable!

Disco Elves

Check out these groovy Elves!

(click on the link below and wait for it to download - you don't need to click the green download button)

http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/764H3AU4XoWymaYI7cuA

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Busy Week

The Nutcracker

There's been a lot going on this week, which is typical for 2 weeks before Christmas. Thursday I went to see The Nutcracker at Symphony Hall. It was my first time seeing it or any ballet. It was pretty awesome.

Haley & her friend Callie

Me, Tammie & our friend Jill

I didn't get a picture of everyone cause we were kind of split up but we had really great seats so it was worth it.

Christmas Party's

We had 2 Christmas party's this week. They were both lots of fun. We enjoyed hanging out with friends, eating good food and building gingerbread houses. I have a picture of the house that Larry and I helped build but it's on his phone. I'll upload it when he gets home.

At the party Saturday night Jake was playing football and accidently caught the ball with his face. OUCH! He now has his first really cool black eye. He still has a ways to go if he wants to catch up to Nate's tally.

The only bad thing about this (besides the pain - poor guy) is that we took family pictures today. Luckily it's not real noticeable. It'll make a nice story to add to our Christmas family newsletter. Thanks Tyler for adding some color to our family photo! ;)

Winter is finally here!

I had to put an extra quilt on my bed last night and the heater kicked on for the first time - which means it got below 70 degress in the house. I'm almost afraid to say it for fear it will go away but I think our Arizona winter is finally here. YEAH!

Thanksgiving

Last weekend went by in a big blur. It always seems like that when I have time off from work. Let's see if I can summarize it in just a few sentences (yeah right). Thanksgiving was at my dad's this year (thank goodness - it's been at my house the last two years). We had all the yummy traditional foods including 3 turkey's - one oven-baked, one fried & one smoked. My favorite was the fried - lot's of flavor! We then spent the evening playing games. I didn't get any pictures but my sister took a few. This is all the grandkids minus Haley, McKensie & Kelly's kids.


Friday started out reeeeeealy early at Wal-mart. I got a couple of great deal which I can't name because my kids read this blog. I was excited this year because Larry was home to go with me. I don't think he shared in my excitement. This is what he looked like after about 2 hours of early morning shopping.

snoozing in the car

We spent the rest of the day playing more games - we're a game playing family! Saturday we went to see Madagascar which I didn't really enjoy but everyone else seemed to like it. Sunday was spent chillin' and recovering from the Holiday madness.

I am thankful that I am surrounded by my family during this holiday season. I don't know what I would do without every single one of them.