Merry Christmas +1!

Christmas Take Two!

Yesterday was so much fun we decided to try it again...only adding 7 more people plus another dog!  We had gotten smart though, and had spread the gifts out in two different rooms, so today was the family room's turn to host :)

So here's our funny one for the year.  Our whole entire extended family (PLUS pets) all have coordinating handmade stockings.  My aunt has been working for quite some time making stockings for all the family members we've added since last year (Steve, Shannon, Megan, Pinky and Buttons (cats), and baby Hayes).  She finished everything just in time.  So when mom and dad got to my house for the holidays, she says to mom, "You have the stockings...right?!"  Mom gave her a blank look.  Totally forgot.  Mom houses everyone's stockings and just completely forgot!  So the ONLY people who had the family stockings were the newbies :)

The rest of us used a mishmash of whatever we could find...recycled for the day 2 arrivals :)  Here are the three littles opening theirs...

 Let's just say Christmas with our family is fun...but kinda crazy in the best of ways :)  It was all new to Shannon and Megan, who walked into the middle of it after a week at their mom's.  They were troopers though.  I think the pile of gifts helped ;)

 Shannon's room is currently purple.  She asked for a new comforter for Christmas (well, all new bedding/accessories, actually) and I managed to find one that combined animal print and purple...one less room on the re-paint list!

 For Steve and the girls I'd used my not-so-crafty side and made glass ball ornaments with sand and tiny shells we'd all collected on our first family beach vacation :)

 Grant and his new stylin' boots!

 Yeah, like I said.  If you don't own a hoppy, go buy one.  Today.

 Belle and her turbie twist hair towel :)  Oh, and her super-cute outfit Hat made her!

 So we are walking through the store one day, and Belle says, "Mommy, I want to get that for Daddy for Christmas."  And she points at Wake Forest slippers.  Score one for Belle!

 So here we are attempting to all cram into our dining room (plus one card table).  Oh, and the crackers and hats are ummm.... a family tradition.  One we have no idea how it got started... But yes, we wear the hats for Christmas dinner.  Steve wasn't so sure...

 The family is big enough to have a kids table these days!  And that's Stacey's mom (Gigi) at the table with Kyle and Stacey.  Tough Christmas for them as well ~ Stacey's dad died in September after a long battle with cancer :(



Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas 2011 from our home to yours!  This Christmas was different for us for a ton of reasons ~ it was a Sunday, so we opened presents for a bit and then headed to church (I swear that the sun had already come up when we started in on the gifts, but the pictures say otherwise, so I'm not sure!)

Also, for only the second time in my entire life (the other time being when I was living in England) I didn't see my brother on Christmas.  For a variety of reasons, it made more sense for his family to come for the day on the 26th, so we spread out the celebration. 

And for Steve, it was the first year he's had Christmas without seeing the girls for at least part of the day :(  We've made some changes to custody stuff so they don't feel like they are bouncing back and forth as much, and it means that next year we'll have them for all of Christmas, but I know this was a tough one for Steve.  They came home on Monday the 26th, so those pics will be coming :)

This is my favorite present I got for Isabelle ~ we were going through C*stco one day and she saw this one and said, "Look mommy, she does ballet like me and has black hair like me!"  Not to mention that the skin tone was a match, and I was sold :)

 "BobBob, make her come out of the box!"

 Belle is ready for a big girl seat :)  She's thrilled because it means she can use the regular seatbelt buckle.  I'm thrilled because it means she can do it herself :)

 In case you can't read it, her shirt says, "My mommy is fabulous!"  She has a daddy shirt she wears all the time...I was feeling a little jealous...

 For once, Mom actually managed to surprise Dad with his gift...a leather jacket!

 Faith loves Christmas.  And dressing up.  Or not ;)

 For any readers with 3-5 year olds, go spend $6 and buy your little one a hoppy.  Best investment we've made ~ she has already learned to hop around the house until she's broken a sweat, and for the kid who gave up soccer because it was "too hot" (in October), this is an accomplishment!

 I had to include this one because for once Pinky managed to sneak into it!  For the record, we have 2 cats (Steve's) and 2 dogs (mine).  Most days, that's about 4 pets too many...

 So after some of the gift opening, we headed to church and then to Hat's for lunch.  It was weird only having 7 of us, but it was a fun, relaxing lunch!  Afterwards, we headed home and opened more presents and got ready for the family influx to come tomorrow!

 Nana and Belle and a bit of F*ncy Nancy!

Christmas Eve

Pastoring a church means that holidays like Christmas are, ummm...busy!  Especially on years like this one, it means Christmas Eve service on Saturday night and then Christmas DAY service since, well, Christmas was a Sunday!  Here we are gearing up for round one!

You can only see the top of baby Suzie's head, but notice that Belle and her baby had matching Christmas outfits!  VERY cute :)

 And continuing a Christmas tradition in our family...the annual reading of "Twas the Night Before Christmas..."

Christmas Play!

Isn't she just the cutest sheep ever?!  Tonight was the children's Christmas play at church...followed by a pot-luck dinner and a visit from the fat jolly guy :)  Belle was a great sheep ~ I'm so proud of her overcoming her timid side and doing stuff like getting up in front of everyone at church and doing her part!

Fourth Sunday in Advent!

2008 ~ She's got Oso, her beloved bear she came home from GUA with :)  He's since been retired to the shelf in her room for safe keeping!

2009

 2010 ~ look at that smile!

2011

Here we are, four years into the Advent pic tradition, and I can't believe I haven't forgotten any!  We'll see how many more years she's willing to participate :)  Merry Christmas!

Third Sunday in Advent!

2008 ~ look at that little tongue!  She used to always stick it out like that!

2009

2010

2011!

Ho! Ho! Ho!

It's SANTA!!!  Today was our annual Guatetot Christmas party...with the REAL Santa!  This year since the kids are a little bit bigger (all either 4 or 5), we had them do lists/letters for Santa.  I'll do a separate blog post with Belle's list after I can figure out how to scan it - she wrote it all and its adorable!

We've had some changes to our group, but it was still a really special time together ~ this is just a group of friends that I cherish like family :)  Sure, the kids are all from Guatemala, but they have really just blended over the years and have a great time together!

As parents, we also all love having a place where we can (like today) talk about potential return trips to Guatemala, what would be the best age, how to talk about first families, and all the rest.  It's awesome!  And since Santa is VERY busy, we'd worked this one out months ago ;)

He was great, and took special time with each of the kids...

ISABELLE

 THE GANG:  Isabelle, Allie-Maria, Joseph, Gabriel, and Amelia (oh yeah, and Santa!)

Poor Santa...this was our first attempt at a group shot before moving to the (larger) above location.  I think the poor guy was getting clausterphobic!

ALLIE-MARIA

 AMELIA

 GABRIEL

 Stephanie told me she'd pay me extra if I could get JOSEPH to smile...I think this counts!

 Okay, so the cheese ball snowman doesn't quite count as a party participant, but I thought he was cool!  Way to go Paige!

But the reindeer weren't about to be outdone by Frosty...

The chaos of all the kids together used to mean I always left Guatetot events needing a nap.  Loved it, but needed a nap.  Now, they are getting big enough that the chaos has subsided some and they even did things like sit nicely and color together!  Oh yeah, there was a bit of wrestling, a whole lot of stuffed animals dressed up in jewelry and riding around in plastic cars, and general frivolity, but they've learned to tone it down in their old age!