CHRISTMAS


It has been a busy few days! We celebrated
Christmas Eve & Christmas Day here at home. It was wonderful!!


On Christmas Eve, we played several games as a family & we had a wonderful steak dinner grilled by Scott. We watched Home Alone & parts of A Christmas Story. We read several Christmas stories & got cookies/milk ready for Santa's visit. The kids went right to sleep & we gave them STRICT instructions that they couldn't get up until 6:00!!

On Christmas morning, Jake came in 100 MPH & and told us it was 6:02!! We had to wake Allie up & we all we down to see what Santa left. Jake got an Iowa Hawks football uniform (which he has worn for 3 days), a Playstation 2, Legos, football cards and a stocking full of stuff. Allie got Barbies, Mini Groovy Girls, a CD player & lots of girly things in her stocking. After we played with the Santa gifts, we opened our gifts to & from each other. Jake & Allie each made me WONDERFUL ornaments for my tree (with their pics in them), I absolutely LOVE them!! They are my favorite gifts.

On Christmas afternoon/evening, my parents came up and we grilled steak again, cooked shrimp and had tons of side dishes. We played games that night & now have Jake hooked on UNO.

Mom & I got up early yesterday and hit the after Christmas sales at the mall. We got some great buys. We picked Dad & the kids up for breakfast at the Waffle Stop. Dad & Mom left shortly after lunch and I began the fun task of cleaning up the house, putting away gifts & taking down decorations. I got all of my decorations down but one tree, which I will do this afternoon.

Here are some of my favorite pics from Christmas! The first 3 are pics of what Santa left for the kids, not including their giant stockings full of stuff. The rest are just snapshots that I thought were cute.

ALLIE'S CHRISTMAS PROGRAM

Allie had her annual Christmas program at St. Pat's yesterday morning. She did a wonderful job knowing all of her songs. My favorite was the "Reindeer Pokey". I've attached a picture of her "putting her antlers in..." and a of course one of the entire class.

JAKE'S WINTER PARTY

Jake had his winter party at school yesterday. We decorated Gingerbread cookies, played games, sang songs & read stories. The entire school wore their PJ's yesterday too. Note the class picture!

NEW MP3 PLAYERS

Aunt Kelley, Uncle Mike, Kate & Lucas gave each of the kids a new Disney MP3 player for Christmas last weekend. Both kids had me download some of their favorite songs. Allie chose lots of High School Musical, Kids Bop & of course her all time favorite, "You're So Vain". Jake opted for wide variety...the theme song to Rocky, "We will Rock You" by Queen, a High School Musical song & the Monday night football theme song to name a few! Both kids have been listening to their new players constantly...Allie even plays dress up while using her new player. Check out the picture! I'm not sure what she's supposed to be!

ANOTHER CHRISTMAS CELEBRATION

We celebrated Christmas & Hannakah with Scott's family this past weekend. It was nice spending time with his siblings & their families. Since we are all so spread out, that only happens about once or twice a year. There was tons of food, laughing & fun!!

For some reason, I didn't get a lot of pictures taken but here a couple of cute ones. Maddie & Allie putting on make-up, Lucas & his BIG blue eyes, Kelley, Mike & Kate with their funny teeth they won in a game & one of Jake with his new t-shirt.

CHRISTMAS PARTIES

We went to our first Christmas parties this weekend. On Saturday, the kids and I drove to CR to my Aunt Toni's for my mom's side of the family Christmas celebration. It was so fun seeing everyone. We only get together a couple of times a year, so it is nice when we can get together. The kids loved playing with their cousins. I don't think that we saw them the entire afternoon until the gifts were to be opened!!

On Saturday night, we went to my friend Sophie's house for our annual Kid's Christmas party. Each year, Santa makes an appearance and gives the kids an early gift. Typically, we rent a Santa suit/beard & beg a friend with no kids to be our Santa. This year, Sophie hired the Santa from the mall...he was AWESOME!! The kids were in awe...some even played with his REAL beard. Santa left each child with a small present to open...Jake got a set of football cards and Allie got a Fur Real chimp. Both loved their gifts and the early taste of Christmas.

Please excuse the bad photos...not sure what happened!

BIG NEWS!!

My sister finally called with the news of her ultrasound. She is having a girl. Of course, they aren't 100% sure, but didn't see anything to indicate a boy. Allie was really excited at the thought of having a girl to play with at Nana & Papa's house. Jake really was hoping for another boy!

This morning I was telling Jake about Mandy's ultrasound & that we'd know if it was a boy or a girl. He explained to me that you can tell if it is a boy or girl because "girls have long hair & long eyelashes". I about died laughing!!

Lots going on this weekend...look for new pictures by Monday morning!

WEEKEND

Scott went deer hunting this weekend so the kids and I were on our own. We kept busy as always!! On Friday night, we went to the movie Happy Feet (which was cute), mini golfing at the mall & then to dinner at Carlos O Kelley's. On Saturday, Mandy, Mom & Ben came to visit. We had a sitter come over and watch the kids so that the adults could go to the Men's Glee Club Christmas Variety Show. It was FANTASTIC! We can't wait until next year's show. After the show, we made the mistake of taking the 3 kids to the mall to eat at BK and do a little shopping....we should have ordered pizza in! I spent the day today baking...I only have a few more things to bake before I call it quits for the season. Scott is off this week, which I am looking forward to...not sure what we have planned for the week, but I am certain that we'll find something to keep us busy!