Christmas: Night 1

Here are some pics of our FIRST Christmas celebration at our house Sat night! My kids are not spoiled! Haha!!


A gift that Santa had left under our tree one night! He came early since we won't be home on Christmas!

The present made a good chair!

Addie loves her GiGi! :)

Addie and Melissa playing with the new Barbie car!

Drew wanted this microwave....

Addie LOVED her car!

First batch of toys! They loved everything they got and each other got!

Getting sleepy!

Want to know what was in the BIG BOX! You'll have to wait until next post!

Christmas Village

Wow! I think I finally have all of our Christmas Cards finished! What a nightmare that was, but I think they are pretty cute :) Next year I just might stick to the cute pre-fab ones that you simply insert your picture, a nice holiday greeting and pick them up from the store (envelopes and all :) So much easier! Now SO much to get done in less than a week! Yikes!

For now, here are some pictures from the Christmas Village her in town :)

Christmas Extravaganza Evening!!!!

The preface the entire post...

When I mentioned to my sister-in-law last night that we were going to meet Santa, she said "I can't wait to see pictures!" Not a good thing to tell someone who has an obvious picture taking addiction!!! Haha.....so here we are with PLENTY of pictures from our fun-filled evening last night!





Alright, so here was MY PLAN for yesterday...Addie normally takes a nap around 1pm, but most days she is tired before that, so yesterday (since I didn't have to pick Drew up from school at 12:30) she was going to go down around noon....at 3:30 the kids would put on their super-cute matching jammies and we would head to this really fun train, where we took our family pictures, which reminded me of the Polar Express... Santa would come...we'd take some cute pictures of the kids and then head to Drew's school for the Christmas Extravaganza....

That was the plan...seemed reasonable...but here's how it all went down....

Around noon both kids were bathed, lotioned and brushed and Drew says to me, "Mommy, I'm tired, I WANT to take a nap!!!" Seriously, could it really happen where both of my wonderful children would nap...at the same time? Sounded like a plan to me! So Drew climbed into his top bunk and I put Addie down in her bottom bunk. I closed the door and crossed my fingers... After 30 minutes Addie was still giggling but not a peep from Drew. I figured he had fallen asleep and she was just taking her time! WRONG! I opened the door to find Drew hanging one of his stuffed animals over the side of the bed and Addie reaching up and giving it kisses! SO CUTE...any other time! So I kicked Drew out of the room and laid Addie down...it was now 12:30! The noises, moaning, babbling, etc continued until 2:30 when she finally feel asleep!!! So much for our 3pm outing! I then walk into the playroom where Drew is now laying on the floor....ASLEEP!! I now know we aren't going anywhere until AT LEAST 5!!!

So by 5 both kids were up and ready! Good thing was they were well rested!!!! So off we went. We decided we'd "meet" Santa at Grandma's house, but thought we'd stop by the train first for some pictures! We got there...kids were cute and happy...but my camera was acting a little funky! I later discovered that it is always a good idea to have the lens completely attached to the body of the camera BEFORE attempting to take pictures! Problem fixed....off to meet Santa!!

Drew was cool with Santa.... but had a slight feeling that it was actually his Uncle Mike! Addie was unsure to say the least! We'd seen Santa at the mall and she had completely flipped! So I was expecting tears and screaming!

She didn't disappoint! Santa walked in and the tears started...she wanted NO part of him! She sat on daddy's lap and then crawled to the corner and "hid"....

Drew talked to Santa...Santa talked to Drew and then Addie appeared.... she crept towards him and then away... she was curious, but didn't want to be held!

The played and she loved the gift he'd given to her... I loved it because she did the exact same thing Drew had done with Santa 2 years ago! Sometimes it nice to see similarities...even through the delays!

I love this picture! We have a very similar picture of Addie 2 Christmases ago looking at him just like this! Except then she was draped in oxygen tubing and feeding tubes!!! Such a reminder of how far she has come!!

This doesn't happen very often.... it is happening more and more, but I still just love to see them playing together.

When Santa left Uncle Mike came over and brought presents for the kids, since he won't be here for Christmas.

Addie loved her doll carrier!

Drew was so anxious to open his present!

I LOVE this picture! :)

Hmmm...fun! Thanks Uncle Mike!!! I hope I'm getting ear plugs for Christmas!

Rockstar!

Well, that was enough fun and excitement for me for the evening, but we weren't done yet! Off to Drew's Christmas Extravaganza! He found his friends, Taylor and Kyla...

Ky and Drew are in preschool together...so cute! Funny thing is, her mom and I were great friends in junior high! Time sure does fly!!

Picture with the snowman....

This is one of the cutest pictures ever...I must say!

Awwww!!!

Drew caught the gingerbread man!!!

Addie was happy once we let her loose!!!

And so this night comes to an end!!! Let the holidays begin!!!

The Holidays....

...are wearing us all out :)

I can't believe there are only TWO WEEKS until Christmas!!!! Could the rest of this month just SLOW DOWN?!? Just a little....wow this year has zoomed by! Busy weekend ahead!!!

I LOVE the Holidays!

(Christmas memories and some more pictures)

Okay, so I've always been one that gets kind of crazy during the holidays! I can't help it! I just LOVE the entire season! The lights, the trees, the gift wrapping the music...I have so many great memories of Christmastime!




When I was little, my grandma had an organ and a couple of Christmas music books, she would play her organ and I would sing...and then I would take the books around and sing even when she wasn't playing her organ :)



I LOVE the baking! Each year we'd bake chocolate chip cookies, fudge, peanut brittle, pralines and Spritz! I try to keep that tradition alive each year, but I must admit those darn Spritz ALWAYS get the best of me!!! I just can't seem to master that seemingly easy recipe!

Being born and raised here in Arizona, I've never really experienced "winter"! And while I'll admit I would be miserable if I lived in the blistering snow, and had to dress in 20+ layers everytime I left the house, this 80 degree weather is pretty ridiculous!!

I LOVE picking out gift wrap! It is so fun to head over to Target and look at all of their new wraps and ideas for the year! I love picking the theme/colors for our Christmas tree each year! This year we decided on the traditional red and green!

As much as I love the whole gift giving thing, I am absolutely HORRIBLE at shipping the gift I buy! Last year I had them all wrapped and ready to go and they ended up unwrapped...and guess what they are still here! The worst part is I opened a box the other day and there sat gifts for my friend and her family from....hmmmm...about 4 years ago! Oops!!! SO my goal is to be better at that sometime in the near future! This year Amazon.com helped me out tremendously with free shipping and a gift wrap option...I shopped and sent! So, at least the kids will get their gifts this year :)

I love Christmas cards...making them and receiving them! I am planning to get ours out this week...if only Sams Club would cooperate and let me place my photo order!

As many good memories as I have about Christmas, they just keep getting better and better!!!

It is so amazing and fun to witness Christmas through the eyes of a child!

So much amazement....so much wonder....so much hope!

Drew and my mom went out shopping for Toys for Tots! He loved getting toys for the "four" kids! It is so cute....

Yesterday we ran into Frys and he just had to put money in the red salvation army can! I didn't have any change, so he wanted me to run home so he could get money from his piggy bank! He's such a sweetie :) Luckily, I found 2 quarters in my purse, so I was safe and he was happy!!!