Christmas Highlights

 11:00 p.m. - Finally asleep!

The stage was set.

Looks like a success!

Taylor took a few minutes to wake up, but she was most excited to get candy.

It took some time to get him off the drums, but then they moved on...

Chase was a little more excited about the bow and arrow than Taylor!

She does love her new boots and her cash register, complete with credit card machine!

She didn't mind the drums either!

Little Charles gave Chase his old train set.  We took it over and let him set it up at MeMaw and PaPa's yesterday so it can take up their living room ;)  It was a hit!

My gifts are on the left, Dave's on the right...looks like I made the nice list this year?!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

 The kids before the Christmas Eve service.

 All of us - excuse the red eyes, I couldn't make them go away!

 Pouring some milk for Santa.

 Adding the chocolate, kind of!

Cookies are on the plate.  Now if just the kids would go to sleep. 

Not looking like that will happen anytime soon!

Christmas Catch-Up!

Time to unload the camera of recent pictures to make room for the Christmas picture-taking to begin!

 We made ornaments sometime last week.

 They looked a lot like cookies.  Even though I told her they wouldn't taste like cookies...

 She just had to try it.  Dave did the same thing when he got home.  He asked, "Are these cookies? They're awful!"  No, they're not cookies.

 I typically don't put glitter and plastic eyes on my cookies.  He insists the one he picked up, and the only one he looked at, was plain. 

 We celebrated my Grandma's 82nd birthday!

 We went to the park - not something you can usually do in December! 

I hope the mild weather hangs around!

 Taylor can climb the rock wall now.  And the chance of her just jumping off is down to about 10% - much nicer to go to the park now that she's older!

 She was pretty proud of herself.

 She has to keep up with the boys.

 Chase looks like he's trying to get somewhere in a hurry and Bryce is holding on for dear life!

 Taylor showing off one of her more fashionable moments!

 Looking a little better before church on Sunday!

 The kids were most excited to get there and find their friends Kaleb and Kathryn!

 They even came home from church with their first Christmas presents - very exciting!

 Sunday night we went Christmas caroling.  This particular stop had a motion-activated bird.  They weren't sure what to think!

 Post-singing cookies and hot chocolate - their favorite part!

 We started the week with Christmas pancakes - nothing wakes kids up like syrup and sprinkles!

 Last night Taylor and I went to a ladies Christmas dinner.  Chase was sad that he wasn't a girl.  He promised he could "be a lady" and go with us!

 Taylor had a good time but she wouldn't talk to anyone while we were there.  Once we were in the car headed home though she made up for lost time and told me about everything and everyone that was there!

Today we went shopping for some Christmas pjs.  Chase loved that his came with slippers but when they wouldn't fit on his feet he about lost it.  We had to turn them into slipper/flip-flops.  It's working so far.  They only have to last 5 more days!

Gingerbread, Bowling & Santa

 I promised the kids we'd make a gingerbread house last week. 

It was a much more difficult task than I had imagined!   

 

There was much more eating going on than decorating!

 Our finished product - looks just like the box ;)  To our credit, two of the pieces were broken when we got them out and we thought a flat roof was much more, uh, practical?!

 Chase had a sudden obsession with going bowling yesterday, so we decided to give it a try since we didn't have much else going on.  It was his first try - he was loving the shoes and his own ball.

The ramp and bumpers made it much more enjoyable.   

 Patiently waiting for his ball to come back to him.  Despite the fact we had two identical balls, he knew which one was his and it was the only one he wanted.

 Taking tips from the pro. 

 Taylor was excited to give it a try too. 

 Unfortunately for her, bowling shoes didn't come in her size. 

Fortunately for us, we didn't have to pay to rent her shoes!

 A successful roll!

 The happy bowlers.

 The final score.  Chase gave his daddy a run for it!  Maybe next time.

 Finding out the bowling alley had an arcade was like icing on the cake.  Good times.

Finally, Santa came by on the fire truck last night.  At first Chase decided he would sit by the door and scare him away with his drum.  Later he decided that he'd better go out and wave to him so Santa could see where he lived and know where to bring his presents!

 

Taylor liked waving to Santa too, but she was way too stuck to me to get a picture of her!