Christmas

I'm just now uploading the camera to my iPad (since Wes got a kindle for his birthday and I can finally use my iPad again!)

Here are some shots from Christmas!

We tried to be really good this year... And Santa spoiled us





Grandma Beth slept over





















Gift highlights included beats headphones and a carhart jacket for savanna, a new phone and keyboard for Olivia, and dirt bike boots and a zip line for Billy. Wes and Wyatt got plenty of toys, I got a new gun for Bill and he got me a pearl bracelet. We had a nice morning, and the kids were really cute.


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Seeing Santa

Wes didn't want to visit Santa per se, but we did go to the town tree lighting, and got near him... We didn't even attempt to sit, but gave him a letter and got a candy cane.





Billy and his Scout troop did some bake sale, cocoa selling and we stayed for the entertainment and tree lighting.


The little boys really enjoyed a puppeteer they had, and the tractor hay wagon.


It was a good way to see Santa. Much less pressure than the mall, and his letter got to the North Pole just fine, as Santa wrote back!

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Gingerbread Houses

This year we waited until the last moment to do our gingerbread houses. I knew the candy was going to be too much for one particular little one to avoid. He now drags chairs and step stools around to get whatever he wants, so keeping him away was going to be hard. Waiting seemed like the right idea! So, Christmas Eve morning we got down to work.


KeKe and the girls (plus her niece Marisa) came and joined our tradition! I worked at including KeKe in holiday stuff this year, and think she enjoyed some of our traditions and maybe it made her first Christmas as a single mom a little bit easier.





This year everyone got along, and we made two really nice candy houses.


I particularly liked this snowman! Yumm. They looked so good, and tasted just as well!


The Blaisdell girls made a Christmas massacre, I missed getting a photo of it. Oh well. We can do it again next year!

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Cookies

Of course I didn't get any pictures of the actual decorating... But here are this years Christmas cookies from our cookie party!


Our original weekend was a snow storm, so a few of our friends and family were able to rally on this last weekend before Christmas to get some cookies decorated! I just love this, and always find that the kids all wander off and the adults finish the job.


Quite a few of these lovelies are already gone, hopefully one or two makes it got Santa! Just a few days left now...

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Chance

While visiting Andrea a few weeks back Savanna saw this cat available for adoption at a local pet store. Something about him caught her attention. A self professed animal avoider, it was interesting that she took such an interest in him. When she contacted us to ask if she could get him my immediate reaction was "no!" We don't need another cat, another body to be responsible for.... "No!"











Well, we all know how that goes! She persisted, and I reconsidered. She is a great kid, she hasn't really ever asked for her own pet (billy and liv have both had their own critters) and she was insistent that "this" cat meant something to her. I honestly feel like sometimes we do connect with certain animals, and in this case I felt like it was something I should honor. According to her, he sounded like a good fit for us, there wasn't any real reason not to... She called mid week and he was still available for adoption... It took just a bit convincing for me to get Bill on board. I had made up my (ok, our!) mind that we should get him for her then we had a weekend snow storm. I decided that if he was still available Monday it was meant to be. One phone call, some adoption paperwork and a few wrong turns finding the place and he was hers.






Bill and I totally surprised her, she thought there might be a "chance" but didn't know we were actually getting him! Welcome To the family Chance!

Now if he and Peanut would just get along....

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The 2013 Tree

After sitting a week with just the lights we finally got her decorated!


As in the past few years, we only have unbreakable balls, and all the important ornaments are up high (except the gingerbread man Wes made at school....Wyatt got him and ate the legs. "It's ok, he's a gingerbread ghost now!") I think it looks festive, and Wyatt is being really good about leaving it alone. I can't wait to see it with a big pile of presents underneath!

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Getting the Christmas Tree

This year we had to cut our tree on a day Olivia couldn't go. The tree farm we love was only open 2 weekends! You have to be quick to get one of their lovely trees. I was sad she wasn't with us, but she said it was alright and we really wanted to get one so off we went!


We picked the top 2/3 rds or so of a nice big one, and billy got to cutting.


We hadn't had much snow, and actually the day was nice and warm (we bundled up anyhow. Grandma Houston was worried about the little ones)


I always love the time spent at the tree farm. We picked quickly this year- actually picking the first one we saw.


Once we got it home we put it into the stand, got the lights on and then waited for Olivia. As it turns out, the tree sat this way for a week waiting for a day when we were all home and could decorate!


I decided having a tree with no ornaments might have been a good thing with 2 little boys in the house!

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