Christmas

Christmas morning is THE BEST morning of the year!!  I missed Stetson coming downstairs to see what Santa had left him, but I was able to catch Cassidy.  Just look at that smile (and she was running by the way)!!

Stetson received so many cool things, but Santa didn't forget the ONE thing he asked him for....a minion!

Santa didn't forget Cassidy's Jasmine doll either!

The most exciting gift for Cassidy, though, was a booster seat from Santa!  She must finally be big enough for one!  That Santa...he's so smart.

Once we got through all the gifts Santa left, we headed to the tree to open all the gifts the kids have been staring at all month!  We all received so many thoughtful and awesome gifts.  Thank you all!

And it was a Christmas miracle...J bought me a pair of footed pajamas!  Score!!

We had one of the best Christmases ever!  Merry Christmas to each of you and we hope yours was just as magical.

Christmas Eve

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care in hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there...

 We are ready for Christmas in every way possible!  

 The kids starting tracking Santa as soon as they were dressed for our Christmas Eve festivities.

And they waiting oh so impatiently for our guests to arrive.

But they did arrive and we had a fabulous evening full of lots of family, friends, and fun!!  The kids even got to open a couple gifts early.

After dinner and gifts, we headed outside with our neighbors to put out the reindeer food the kids made together.

The Faulkners even had a Christmas lantern for their family and one for ours.  We lit them, made a wish, and let them fly off into the sky.  It was so magical!

The dot in the middle of the picture is our lantern flying away.

And here is a video of the lantern release...

Once back inside, it was time for our final treat of hot chocolate and marshmallows by the tree.

The excitement was in FULL swing at this point.

Notice the bowl on Stetson's head.  Craziness has ensued.

The last task before bed was to put out cookies for Santa.

Great job, kiddos!  They always put out carrots for the reindeer as well.

One last check to see where Santa is.  Who needs a Santa tracker when Daddy has a HUGE spotlight to shine into the night sky?  Stetson thinks he spots him way off in the distance.

We were lucky enough to have Mama Bear, Aunt Mo and Marcy spend the night with us too!  The kids slept with Mama Bear in the media room and were treated to a reading of "The Night Before Christmas" before nodding off.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!!

Cookies for Santa

It's time to make the most important cookies...the ones for Santa!!  Mommy and Daddy are only in the kitchen for supervision because the kids make these special cookies all by themselves. Here we go!

The silliness has already started.  We are just a little excited about Christmas.

Doesn't everybody wear a Halloween shirt while baking Christmas cookies??

The kids made homemade sugar cookies and used the cookie cutters to create their masterpieces.

They did such a great job!

While waiting for the cookies to bake, they played Legos together.  So sweet!

Then we went across the street to decorate our cookies with our neighbors.

Six kids with sprinkles...FUN!

A behind the scenes look at what we do to capture these great memories.

J and Aaron were great photographers while Amy and I facilitated the decorating.

I love each and every one of these kiddos.

Even Ryan got in on the action.

Cookies and icing taste SO good!

Just look at Cassidy's beautiful creations!

And Stetson's too!

We had so much fun making our cookies for Santa from start to finish.  I wasn't able to capture any pictures, but we also made reindeer food!  Now we just have to wait for tomorrow night to arrive!!!!

Cookies!

'Tis the season for baking!!  We started making our Christmas goodies this evening and I had two WONDERFUL helpers!  They decorated all the cookies for me!

Cassidy loves to do anything in the kitchen.  She also obviously likes to pose for pictures.

Great work, Diddy Bug!

Such good little helpers!

Mommy got caught in the pictures too.

Stetson could decorate cookies with both hands! Impressive.

He's serious about his work.  His cookies turned out beautiful too.

Basketball

Stetson's first basketball season is underway!  Our first game was postponed due to the ice last weekend, so our first game was this morning. Lucky for Stetson, his Daddy is coaching his basketball team along with Eric's father (Eric has been on our soccer teams).  He has two other really good friends on his team as well.

Here they are ready to start their first game.  Go Wolves!!

And go #7!!!

They're off!  That is Stetson under the basket.

Time for a throw in.

He's loving basketball!

Stetson did so well! I lost count on everything but he had a few baskets, a few rebounds, and played great offense and defense.  He's such the athlete!!

Secret Santa

Stetson and his friends decided to do a Secret Santa gift exchange this year.  He was thrilled to see a package on our front porch this evening!

What could it be?  Who is it from?

His favorite candy and a huge Nerf gun! AWESOME!

He's not sure who his Secret Santa is, but whomever it is, they did a great job!!

Ice Storm 2013

We had winter weather early this year, but we were happy to have two unexpected days off!  The ice storm arrived Thursday evening so we got Friday and today off!  The temperature did not climb above freezing the whole time so the ice remained all weekend.

The kids were stir crazy by Saturday so we had to get out and about.  Here they are enjoying the ice.  It was beautiful...look at the trees and bushes.

 But SO cold!

 Yippee for no school!!