Xmas 2010

Christmas Eve

Ryan found his ball as soon before the other kids came out of their rooms!

Jack's new bike from Poppy!

Will's new bike.

That face!

Ella-Kathryn's very own bible - we had her name embossed on the cover.

Ella-Kathryn's jewelry box - hand-crafted by Poppy.  Upon opening, Jack exclaimed, "Poppy made that?  He should get a job at Lowes!"

Will got his very own army gear and Cars scooter.  We had to remind Will within the first minutes of opening his army stuff that his older brother has shared his for years, so it would only be appropriate to share...

"Emily and I are twins!"  Ella-Kathryn said about her Hello Kitty scooter:)

The boys were up at 5:40!  Jeff corralled them in their room til Ella-Kathryn and got up.  As Jeff just said, "I feel like I could just go into a coma."  Ha!  He had to work the church til after 9, then had to get the bikes (one was stored in our neighbors garage and the other in the attic,) and then we watched Christmas Vacation.  I looked at the clock last night at 10:40 and declared it was time for bed!  Unfortunately, Will got up 2 or 3 times during the night and Ryan got up once.  The grownups in this house are too pooped to party!  Oh well - we'll gut through.  Jeff's making some breakfast and we'll chill here til after lunch when we join the other Simpsons down in Fayetteville. 

When I asked Will whose birthday it is today he replied, "mine!"  I'm sure it feels that way:)  The big kids reminded him that it's Jesus' bday and hopefully we'll have some quiet time later to talk about His gift again.  Merry Christmas!!!!

xmas card out-takes

This last one is hands down my favorite.  And pretty much sums up the level and intensity of emotion and drama that occurs betwixt our 4 walls every day.  In spite of it all, I would not change one thing:)

We did get one decent shot - it's in the mail!

That Holiday Feeling

We've been keeping it pretty low-key around here this Christmas.  Only one parade, one concert, and so far no actual xmas cookies, just plain ol' yummy chocolate chip:)  Jeff normally rides the Sheriff's dept. motorcyle in several Christmas parades, but this year he opted to just do one, and then found out that they had enough guys for the bikes so he just drove the truck.  Nice for him since it was a balmy 36 degrees that night.  I bundled up the kids and we got there just in time to get a great parking and watching spot - easy in and easy out and right near the beginning of the parade so we could skedaddle asap after seeing the finale.  The kids did great - little complaining and they were so excited about grabbing up as much candy as they could that they barely noticed the cold. 

 Here's our corner spot.  Jack and EK had little camp chairs and a couple of blankets.  The little boys shared the jog stroller til Will decided he wanted to hang out with the bigs. 

After the first couple of floats passed, I felt bad because Ryan couldn't see a thing from his seat in the stroller.  This kid weighs a ton!  But, he seemed to enjoy the lights and music.  At least he never cried:)  I do know now though that Will does not care for the loudness of the high school marching bands, the sirens from the fire trucks, nor the scary man dressed up as the Grinch who pointed right at Will shook his head.  During each of these floats he slowly took one step after another backwards away from the curb!  Never took his eyes off the float/band, but kept moving back.  When the fire truck went by, I turned my head for one second, looked back to the place where he had been standing, and he was gone!  He had gone completely behind the stroller!  Poor kid.