Grandmama Got a New Puppy!

We had a wonderful Christmas on Sunday at my Mom & Dad's. The kids enjoyed opening all of their gifts. However, the most fun had by all was: Grandmama got a new puppy!!! She's little & white & fluffy & so fun to play with! Since we have big dogs, this little one was something new...it didn't take Caleigh long to warm up to her though & she was definately the hit of the day!

The Day Christmas Threw Up At Mamaws!

I don't think these boys will ever outgrow their love of anything Lego.

Can you find Caleigh?
Utter Chaos! Thank goodness it only comes once a year! I was exhausted! (In a good way!)

We have Christmas at James' mom's house the evening of Christmas Day. Tons of folks, lots of children & tons of boxes, paper & gifts. We have a Chinese Christmas for the adults which is always fun. Oh, and the food...lots of good food...chili, soup, cornbread, ham, sweets of all kinds, etc., etc., etc. Too bad I've almost run out of leftovers! Photos courtesy of James. I was a little too busy to play photographer! :)

Jesus' Birthday Cake

After breakfast Christmas Morning, we made Jesus' Birthday Cake. The icing was way yummy evidently!

Christmas Time!

First sight of Santa's gifts
Getting into the unwrapping of gifts

Excitement!

OOOHHHH...more for me?

It's fun to get unexpected gifts from Santa! ;)

Singing with Dora!

Daddy bought Blake his own tools...in secret hope of Blake staying out of his tool box I'm sure! Every wanna be mechanic should get tools at Christmas!

So....finally got around to downloading my pictures from Christmas...just took a few (over 200)! Yikes! I will never get them all edited! Just picked a few of my favorites from Christmas morning at our house. Loads of fun. Caleigh really understood "Santa's coming" etc. this year. Santa was very good to us...our Elf must have told him good things each night when he traveled back to the North Pole. We went to James' folks on Sat. night & spent yesterday at my parents. Can you say "Worn Out"?? That would be me. Started cleaning up today which was a mistake. Once I started, I didn't stop & I still have sooooo much more to do. I didn't even touch the gifts from my parents yet. Well, good thing there is tomorrow! Hope you all had a very Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas Eve!

Merry Christmas Eve! We had a busy day...most of it occured in the kitchen. We made White Trash, Santa Cookies & then the kids got to open a gift. We always open 1 gift on Christmas Eve. It's a tradition carried over from my childhood. The kids chose to open their gifts they bought for each other. So fun! Bryce bought Blake a Remote Control Truck. Blake chose a Wii Game Bryce had his eye on & the boys picked out a pink "cell phone" with Rhinestone decorations for Caleigh. They also bought her some new cowgirl boots, but they wanted to save that gift for Christmas morning ;) Everyone's in bed. Caleigh's snooring & the boys...well, not yet! There are gun shots going off behind our house....oh, it's Fireworks...wonderful...not! My dogs are freaking out! Hope you all have a wonderful Christmas Morning!

UNO, Gingerbread Houses & Dreaming of Christmas Morning

Daddy & Bryce went deer hunting with James today. Blake & Caleigh hung out with me. We had a busy day! We had some fierce competitive UNO games, decorated the gingerbread house and cleaned, cleaned, cleaned! I got the rest of the Christmas gifts wrapped so now everything is under the tree. (Except what Santa & The Reindeer bring!) Later this afternoon, Caleigh got out a blanket & we had a pretend Christmas morning. She would hand me a pretend gift & I would give one to her and we would "open" our gifts & "oooh & ahhhh" over them. It was pretty funny! She loves walking around the tree & checking out the presents, but she doesn't touch a thing. The kids will each open one gift on Christmas Eve. They've already chosen to open the gifts they bought for each other. Tomorrow we bake cookies for Santa & Jesus' Birthday Cake! Supposed to be a rainy day here...good for baking! Christmas is almost here. SO EXCITING!

And While We Were Making Cookies....

Dueling Light-Sabers with their Ipod Touches

Then on to the real deal.

So...as you can see...my boys aren't much help with the cookie baking this year! They're off doing much more important things! We did split up today & take each one to buy a Christmas gift for the other. It's supposed to be a secret until Christmas Eve. We'll see if they make it! It is definately the hightlight of the Christmas shopping days. It's fun to watch them choose something for their brother. Even Caleigh got in on the action choosing a gift for each of her brothers! She chose a big Nerf Gun for Bryce & an Ant Farm for Blake. They got her some new cowgirl boots. They'll all be very happy I think! Hoping she's feeling 100% soon. She has something going on...low grade fever (under 101) popping up from time to time and a little rash on her torso & back & lower neck area. Today the rash showed up on one finger & it was swollen some. Very weird. She seems to feel fine until the fever creeps up. So strange. If she's still doing it tomorrow I think a call to the doctor may be in order before the holiday hits. Happy Tuesday to you!

Let The Cookie Baking Begin!