On the 3rd day of Christmas...

We had a big breakfast

the kids played


and the big boys acted like big boys and put together DD's new heater for by the hot tub.

We had a prime rib and shrimp dinner (sssooo good!!). Joey flew home. Kyle, Myra, Michael, and McKenzie headed home, and Kellie, Kylee, Blaine, and I settled in for a nice evening with Pops and DD.

The 2nd day of Christmas

The day after Christmas, we headed to Midland for Pops and DD's Christmas. Let the chaos begin!

Before we opened presents


McKenzie wanted to ride YoYo

Blaine wanted to love on RosieBelt, which is what Kenzie calls Roosevelt

and after we opened, the big boys....well, they didn't act so big!





Yes, they are shooting guns IN THE HOUSE!! They had to put hoodies on because they were hurting each other! Joey got hit in the back of the head. Daddy shot Kyle in the belly and left a mark (for which he got him back for!) Myra and I even had to go to WalMart and buy safety goggles when they started getting hit in the face. The REAL kids were angels compared to the big boys!

Christmas Day

Well, since the kids had a REALLY naughty day Christmas Eve, they were REALLY afraid Santa wasn't going to come. So I woke up Christmas morning to Blaine screaming, "He came! He really came! AND he brought presents!! Diddy, he brought presents!" We hurried downstairs and started opening presents. Kylee got Chrissa, her American Girl of the year, and Blaine got his pitching machine AND the batting gloves he so badly wanted. This is a really big deal because his Daddy told him that batting gloves were only for show offs. Blaine quickly informed him he did NOT control Santa! Turns out, the five-year old was right! Daddy does NOT control Santa. (But Mommy already knew that ;-))


The kids played with their loot for a while before we headed out to Nana and Papa's for more Christmas fun.

At Nana and Papa's, we ate, opened presents, played, watched movies, and napped. Okay. I was the only one napping, but it was nice ;-).



We headed home to get to bed early so we could head to Pops and DD's for yet ANOTHER round of gifts.
Stay tuned...

Home Again Home Again Jiggity Jig

We're home again with many Christmas updates to come. Check back soon!
Hope everyone had a blessed Christmas and will celebrate a safe and happy new year!

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

Twas the Night Before Christmas!

As is our second annual tradition, we headed to the Hayes' tonight to make Gingerbread houses and exchange gifts. Since Katy has been diagnosed with diabetes this year, we, obviously, could not do REAL gingerbread and icing and candy. So we improvised with foam houses.
They were HARD, but the kids loved them anyway.
Then they exchanged gifts and played. and played.

Later in the evening, Tristan came over.
and brought Katy a gift. After we left the house, Kylee said, Promise not to tell Lisa or Mari (Tristan's mom)? I agreed. She said, Katy and Tristan are dating, which is a miracle because last time we were there, they hated each other. Ahh, the drama of 5th grade.

They were all mad when we had to come home early to get ready for Santa. The kids wrote him notes
(Can you tell we didn't exactly have a great day?) and put out his cookies and milk....and coke, because Kylee said he needed some caffeine! and Blaine decided he needed to taste the milk because Santa only likes good milk It passed the test!

Then we did our annual Christmas Eve gift opening. The kids give the gifts they have bought for each other and Joey and me.



They MADE me t-shirts! They are the cutest. Notice the boxes they also colored to wrap them in.
We're not even to Christmas Day and are already so blessed.

And to all a goodnight!

On Christmas Eve Eve

On Christmas Eve Eve we woke up once again to snow. It wasn't sticking, just looked like water on the ground, but it was snowing in the air.
We had the pleasure of having Kylee's BFF since birth, Lindsey, and her little brother, Nick, over for some play time. Their parents had not done their shopping, so we volunteered, since we were gonna be home anyway. The boys decided the girls were not the only ones to have BFFs and that they should be brothers. After all, they like the same stuff and both have girlfriends named Abby. We tried to go see Alvin and the Chickmunks (as Blaine calls them) Squeakuel, but it was sold out. The boys were actually happy about it because that meant they could just come play.
We did not leave the house again, and that's just my kinda day.
It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas! Santa Claus is coming to town tomorrow night. Merry Christmas on the Eve of the Eve!

A Grand Christmas

We had Christmas at Dad Dad and Mom Mom's this weekend. It was a GRAND time!
We opened gifts

and rode bikes

and ate steaks

and went to the light show

where Santa showed up

and we took family pictures.

It was a great time, as it is every year! This year, though, we have a new driver in our midst.

Merry Christmas to these great children that are growing up too fast and to the parents and grandparents who got us here to spend great times together!