It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

I apologize in advance, this is a very long post.  Three Christmas celebrations and one birthday party make for lots of pictures :)  Enjoy!

We just finished up a wonderful Christmas holiday.  We started at my parent's last Friday and ended with their Christmas on Christmas Eve.  Ben had a great time spending four days with all of his cousins.  We celebrated Tiffany's 4th birthday while we were there, which added even more fun to the weekend!

Here are a few pictures from our visit.

 Tiffany was pretty excited to get her Barbie Mermaid :)

 

 Princess Sophia even made it to the party, thanks to Tiffany's Mom.

 

 All of the grandkids (all of them were even healthy this year...we had one down for the count on the 23rd, but she bounced back)!!!

 

 Grandma and Grandpa with the kiddos :)

 

 The whole family...next year we'll be 18 members strong!

 

Grandpa Jim reading the real Christmas story before dinner and presents.

 

 

We headed home after Midnight Mass (which was absolutely beautiful).  Ben slept through the whole service, but since it was 1:00 in the morning when we got out of Mass, it was probably a good thing that he slept :)  We finally made it to bed at 3:30 and we were back up at 8:00, but it was worth it to see the look on Ben's face when he saw what Santa brought him!

 

 

 Santa brought a Little People garage, a bulldozer, a "digger", and lots of books!

 

 

After opening up gifts at home, we headed out on the long drive to Grannie and Papaw's (that 1/2 mile sure gets long when you've got a little guy that's excited for presents)!  

 

 I know his stone-faced look doesn't do it justice, but he was pretty excited to see a new Gator with his name on it!

 

 Papaw was excited for his present too...a shiny new gun cabinet :)

 

 Max liked his log splitter too.  Ellie must have been dodging the camera, because I don't have any pictures of her :)  She was pretty happy with her gifts too, though!

 

 

 

We headed home for a much needed nap (I don't know who was sleepier...Ben or us).  Three hours later, we were back up and getting ready for our last Christmas party, back at Grannie and Papaw's house.

 









 I'm sure they're probably talking about the weather and the "blizzard" that was heading our way!

 

 Another tractor to add to our collection...nothing makes Ben happier :)

 

 Max got a football and a new hair accessory!

 

There's a picture of Ellie...she couldn't escape the camera this time :)

The Train Museum!

Ben, Andy, and I visited the local train museum this past weekend.  This was our second trip to the museum during the Christmas season.  They do such a nice job of decorating the depot and integrating the trains into a Christmas theme.

Ben, of course, LOVED it!!!  This year, he was able to see several different trains running, AND, he was able to sit at a table and actually run a train himself...he thought this was the coolest part of the visit!

Sorry for the poor quality of pictures...we decided to go to the museum at the last minute, and I didn't have my camera.

 Waiting to watch the train go by!

 

Running the train all by himself :)

Operation Christmas Child

For the past few years, my sister has gotten our family involved in Operation Christmas Child.  We get together for Thanksgiving, and after dinner, the little ones put the boxes together.  Thanksgiving is after the drop-off date, so Stacey stores the boxes for the year and then turns them in the next November.

Each family is assigned certain things to buy: toiletries, toys, school supplies, etc.  The little ones divide them up, decorate the boxes, say a prayer for the children the will receive these packages, and then seal them up :)  I don't know you has more fun...the little kids or the adults. 

It's a great tradition that I'm glad my sister got started for us!

 

Memories

Today, Mom and Dad took all of the grandkids (all seven of them) on The Polar Express.  I'm excited to hear all about it when Ben gets home.  He told me that he "weally, weally, weally wanted to wide a twain!"  He's getting his wish, thanks to my wonderful parents.  He sure is one lucky little guy to have Grandma Debbie and Grandpa Jim.

Here's a preview of their trip (photo courtesy of Mom).

Christmas Card Pictures

It's that time of year...time to take the dreaded, I mean wonderful, Christmas card pictures!  Ben was a pretty good subject this year, but we had to do several "mini-sessions" to get a few good pictures.  There were definitely a lot more bloopers than keepers, but I think we did a pretty good job.

 

 

Here are a few bloopers...

 

 

Stationery card

Bold And Merry Christmas Card

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The end of the Halloween celebrations!

This weekend marked the end of Halloween 2012!  Grandma Debbie and Grandpa Jim had a Halloween party at their house for the grandkids.  My brother, Matt, was finishing up in the field, so unfortunately his kiddos weren't able to make it.  We still had a lot of fun dressing up and enjoying each others company!

 Grandma Debbie and Grandpa Jim with three of the seven grandkids.

 

 The scary witch, busy bumble bee, and friendly lion :)

 

 Grandma Debbie made a snake sandwich...

 

and put worms in the dirt! :)

 

 She also decorated the entire garage (this was just a small portion).  The kids loved the spider...every time they walked by it, it moved up and down.

 

 Uncle Eric and Aunt Tai came over for dinner...they were pretty scared by our little witch, lion, and bumble bee :)