Merry Christmas . . . One More Time! :)

It was 7:10 a.m. when my alarm went off . . . 7:10!! That's crazy early, CRAZY! ;) But, how can you resist the energetic thumpings of four kids excited to go see grandpa and Maga and aunts and uncles and cousins and presents . . . :) So, into the van we piled, and off we rode into the sunrise (hee hee). We actually made excellent time, and I wasn't speeding. There's a big storm brewing, so we knew our trip would be fairly brief, but I'm so glad we went. It was good for my Auntie heart to see little Miss Tutu running around and being herself after her seizure yesterday. Ugh! I couldn't even all the way listen to my sister's account, because I was on the verge of tears just seeing the little peanut. So terrifying!! 

Back to the pictures . . . whew. Okay, so my husband thinks it's cool that my little bro is into participating in his school's trap shooting club, and found birthday and Christmas gifts focused on building this new interest (the Ritz were all me, lol!)

I've been told that there was a certain great-grandpa on Grandma J's side who would arrive at the table as soon as it was set and await a meal to arrive for his enjoyment. Looks like a bit of that DNA made it down through the ranks ;)

Yum! What a nice meal! Followed by more gift opening (I guess I failed to post pics of the other 3 birthday people opening their gifts, but my camera had a terrible time focusing today and almost all were blurry!)

 Funniest comment of the day, my niece unwrapped a beautiful Little Mermaid toy and my dad asked incredulously, "You got a fish doll?!" Ha! I think all he saw was the glowing green tail :)

 Several family members were talking to C about his gift, he looked kind of confused, then pulled the helmet away from his ears. He hadn't heard anything they said or asked, lol! I like this kid!

 And then ... a Wookie rode into town :) Yes! Funnest (that's my word) gift of the day!

 Somebody is super happy with $10 ;) G said later, "That's a lot of money to me in just one day!"

 Showing his bride childhood treasures from grandma's house :) They gave the kids each a nice group gift (our puzzle will be epic!) and then they gave each child an account of a little boy in India that they sponsored in honor of our kids (rather than giving them individual gifts, they blessed this little guy instead . . . most of the kids understood this was a good thing ;)

Boys absorbed in video game newness . . .

Exhausted, worried, and still adorable in her Mommy Needs a Minute birthday hat ;)

The Wookie shrunk into an adorable Ewok instead! :)

The Day AFTER Christmas . . . okay, and Christmas Night, Too . . .

Our house has been bursting with goodies for weeks now . . . you may have noticed the lack of birthday cake pics for C's big day. She asked for angel food cake with strawberries, nice and summery for a December birthday :) But she said we could wait til Christmas day because we didn't have any other dessert plans. Such a low-key kid; she got her birthday song at about 8 p.m. and we all enjoyed a taste of summer (only with defrosted frozen strawberries instead of fresh :)

Buck also thought it would be fun to dress the dog up festively . . . the dog did not so much agree . . . :)

We generally eat something strange on Christmas, and this year it was wings, roasted cauliflower, and bread from my new bread machine! Little Buddy decided this would make excellent left overs and filled himself a plate for lunch the next day!

The kids also worked on enjoying some of their Christmas gifts. Here's G doing a little sculpting from his brother's gift to him, Gab showing off her coloring style, and C too after Gab agreed to share :)

And finally, perhaps you recall our dog is not overly fond of balloons. And perhaps I haven't mentioned that our son is particularly fond of drawing faces on balloons. So I am still fairly amazed that our dog was brave enough to risk eating his dinner with this oh so friendly visitor just steps from his dish :)

Happy Dog!

Opening Grandma J Gifts

A Few Bonus Christmas Pics

Buck got some super cute jammies for Christmas--and the kids loved them! But, he didn't think he wanted his co-workers to pass them around (I'm friends with one of them :) However, with your exclusive access package, you get to see my cute Christmas husband, along with a few other fun present opening pictures. Merry Christmas!

 Sister--I thought you'd like this one, see how his cup is turned? Your nickname for him!

 Gabby got dad a little namesake for his desk . . .

 *Super* sweet gift from C!

She got a grown-up coloring book (though, who says they're just for grown ups? :) and she was flipping through the pages :)

Nerf! And Graysen got a game that shoots balls into a bears mouth . . . didn't realize we'd end with weapons :) Oh and that loom C has in her hands is super cool! But I ordered it early . . . before Target sold it for half the price . . . and it didn't even come with two necessary elements, grrrr. That was my only Christmas frustration though, so I guess it'll be okay :)

Jingle Bells

Deck the Halls

I Wanna Hippopotamus for Christmas

Mary Did You Know?

First Guitar Recital

Pretty proud of our crew today! They've just been at this musical thing for three months, and they were able to perform in front of a small crowd of friends and strangers. All four played Jingle Bells and Deck the Halls (on acoustic, classical, electric, and tenor--I didn't even know we were doing that, lol!) The girls played I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas together, and then Caelan played Mary did You Know solo (with their guitar teacher filling in some harmony :) I am SOOOO glad we found this instructor! He's fabulous with the kids, so laid back, but really pursues whatever questions or interests they have during a lesson. It makes for a strong learning environment that is obviously producing some happy results in my book :) I'll see if I can get video to post, so you all can enjoy :)

Amazing!

I posted a pic of a cute hat C made--and now she has 9 hat orders (with four more for next Christmas) and 3 scarves! We had to go buy yarn so she can get started! It took some convincing that she should, but eventually she decided to give it a try. She's never charged before, but we'll see what she thinks of having her own little mini-business :)

 Our friends' baby is a fan! Where'd she go? Peek-a-boo!

Swimmily

Last night was the kids' final swim session of the year . . . both girls received a promotion to the next level of swim education, and both boys were complimented on their improvement. Buck had yesterday off of work, so he was able to attend the final lesson, which focuses on life-saving skills and survival swimming. B has a swim style all his own :) He's very confident in the water, and he has improved SO much since he started. We just need to get his breathing down to a more manageable level . . .

Can I get an Upgrade?!

We've literally been talking about it for years . . . remember sis, when I was considering your printer as a replacement? Our old machine made HORRIBLE grinding noises; they were the kind of sounds you take cover from *just in case.* Making copies of worksheets from the kids' school books--nearly impossible--I ended up ripping them all out of the teacher guide and three-ring bindering them instead. 

Buck has watched me fight with that machine, frustrated to tears, trying to get it to cooperate . . . but in the end, the basic printing function still worked! Mostly. So I didn't think we needed to replace it. Buuuuuuuut . . . back in October (like the very end), he brought home this new pretty, pretty. 


His timing perfectly coincided with me getting all the XL printer cartridges refilled on the old printer :) So, for the past 6 weeks or so, I've been printing everything I can to use up the money in the cartridges (which is why your Christmas letters came in lovely color :), so we can install the new printer. Well, I got through the black pretty quickly, but that cyan and magenta refused to die! :) 

Yesterday, Buck said, "You better be ready to unplug that thing, because I am installing the new printer tonight!" So . . . I printed banners, birthday cards, birthday decorations, various certificates of appreciation :o), Christmas labels, coloring pages, puzzles, student award certificates, even stationary! Anything to get those giant ink cartridges to cough their last . . . and finally, at about 10 p.m. last night, a blank page printed where ink once stained. Yes!!! 


So now, I have this new complicated apparatus to utilize, with all the features I've been longing for (plus a discount because of coupon--music to my ears) and so far, if there really was music, I'd be able to hear it, because it is so quiet! 

It's not easy to get me to spend money to replace things like, clothes, bedding, electronics, cooking utensils, vehicles--okay, so everything, BUT I do appreciate when new, fully-functioning items appear in my life. Sometimes they just have to sit in the box for a month or so until I can get used to the idea ;) 

Now, about that mattress . . .