Camping out under the Christmas Tree

One of our favorite traditions...

camping out around the tree and watching our favorite Christmas movies

Christmas Recap 2008

Our Christmas Holiday was...

wonderful...I love that my parents are here!!

relaxing...so much so that I totally forgot to take even one picture (good thing my mom snapped a few with her camera...I've got to remember to download them before she leaves for Texas)

funny...especially Catch Phrase on Christmas Eve, 2 words...Magic Johnson

delicious...shrimp & crab gumbo, 2 alarm chili & tortilla soup

early...the kids woke up at 4am, thankfully they let us sleep in until 6:00

quiet...Ashley went to Bridget's, the boys played the Wii, my dad played W.O.W. and John, my mom and I each took much needed 2 hour naps

yummy...pumpkin pie, cherry pie, pumpkin cake & brownie sundaes

comfy...my mom and I stayed in our matching PJ's all day long

entertaining...24 hours of A Christmas Story and great NBA matchups.

Indoor Soccer

Zach soccer team finished their 8 week indoor Futsal soccer session with a record of 3-3.

Zach managed to score quite a few goals throughout the session.
He even played goalie for the second half of their last game, which was fun.
Zach keeping an eye on his friend Jake, who plays for one of the other teams.

Thanks Bob and Cheryl for the photos!!!

Pajama Day

It's pajama day at school today which to my kids means they get to sleep in the same pj's that they'll wear to school the next day...making it that much easier to get ready in morning...personally I think it's gross and would prefer that they wore fresh jammies but oh well.Cameron the elf and Ashley the hip-hop Santa.

Funny enough...in the morning Ashley changed her mind and wore a completely different pajama outfit...this one she decided wasn't Christmasy enough. The getup she wore to school was awesome...I wish I would have snapped a picture.

No PJ's for Zach...he's too cool for that.

Cameron's Solar System Presentation

Cameron and his friend Justice put together a really funny comic strip for their presentation about the Sun...complete with cute illustrations and some of Cameron's silly voices.

Pictures from Jim's Christmas Party

Jim Taylor is a current City Counsel Member and the former Mayor of Littleton Colorado. He also just so happens to work one day a week as one of John's employees at Hobby Lobby. Every year Jim graciously opens his home for walk-though tours of his Christmas decked out house. We've been on the tour before but this year he claims will be his last now that he is moving. There are hundreds of trees throughout Jim's house...he even has trees in all the bathrooms and thousands of ornaments collected through the years decorate all the trees. We tried to count all the trees but quickly gave up. The biggest of all the trees is 2 stories tall and has over 3,000 lights and holds over 1,000 glass balls. Since this will be Jim's last year, he has put some of the non-sentimental trees up for sale...John and Zach picked out a 3ft fiber optic beauty that is decorated with Poinsettias. John brought it home last night and we turned off all the lights to enjoy the multi-colored light show...it was pretty cool. Here are a few pictures from Sunday night at Jim's Christmas House. FYI...Christmas decorations never look as good in pictures...this house was magical.

Science Projects at Christmas

What a crazy weekend, Cameron and Zachary both have big science projects that are due this week...the week before they go on break for 5 weeks and only a week before Christmas. Like we don't have enough on our plates already with our Christmas preparations, John working 18 hour days, plus weekend parties galore, two soccer games and not to mention the fact that John and I have both been sick. Some how through all of that we managed to help the boys finish some pretty dang good projects.A 3D Model of the Solar System for Cameron. (The tacks are moons.)

A fully functioning erupting 3D model of a shield Volcano for Zachary.

His class will be setting these bad boys off on Wednesday.

A visit to Ol' Saint Nick

Yesterday we went to Arapahoe Acres Nursery to get in some time with the big guy.

What do you want Santa asked...Zach said an iPod Touch, Cameron requested a Star Wars game for the Wii and Ashley asked for a puppy...what???...a puppy...a real one...news to me...I gave Santa the evil eye to make sure that there will not be a cute little puppy under our tree on Christmas morning. Ashley's BFF Bridget came along with us...as usual they were dressed in identical outfits, so they were absolutely tickled pink when Santa of all people asked them if they were twins.

They both brought little notebooks and asked Mr. Claus for his autograph.

He was more than happy to oblige.

Santa brought along a couple of his reindeer again this year. BTW we love Arapahoe Acres...they have Santa, Reindeer, hot cider and cocoa, cookies, hayrides, giant train display, the best real Christmas trees in town and they have some of the most beautifully decorated Christmas Trees I've seen. Of course we couldn't leave without purchasing an ornament...actually it was Zach who bought a very pretty ornament with a cursive B on it for his 'girlfriend' Bailey...how cute is that?
John and Zach had missed out on this event last year so they were the most excited members of our group...John loved all the trees and the ornaments and Zach thought the reindeer were pretty cool.
The following melts my heart...
Yesterday morning I jumped in the shower while John went downstairs to start breakfast for the kids. This is what I found when I finally made it downstairs...no breakfast and everyone all cuddled up on the sofa watching A Christmas Story...John's favorite movie. It was really sweet and I didn't even mind making breakfast for all of them.

Thanksgiving

Not my typical Thanksgiving…
I slept in until 9:00…not having to wake up at 5am to put the bird in the oven
I leisurely made the pies that I was suppose to make the night before but took Zach to see Twilight instead…even better the second time around
I enjoyed a yummy brunch while watching football with my hubby
I took my time getting all dolled up…this never happens when I’m hosting and cooking

We met up with all my family (22 of us) at TrailDust Steakhouse for a yummy turkey dinner with all the fix'ns
The adults relaxed, chatted, laughed and watched the Cowboys game while the kids were entertained by the balloon guy and the slide
We ended up having the entire banquet room to ourselves…fireplace and all
All the proceeds went to charity…what a great lesson in truly being thankful
Afterward we went back to our house for dessert and a rousing game of Club Cranium

Our last guest left at midnight and my kitchen was spotless
I stayed up until 3:30am reading the second book in the Twilight series…why because I could since I wasn’t exhausted from a long day of cooking, doing dishes and cleaning.

In the morning I took Jack to the vet, put up my Christmas decorations and avoided all stores on Black Friday...except Hobby Lobby but that doesn't count.

The kids with all their balloon creations.

Cameron with his balloon bat.

Nanny the Queen of our family.

Sliding was so much fun.

The texting boys...way too cool for the slide.

My grandparents...Pawpye and Nanny

Courtney and Andra

My Mom and Dad

John and his cutie-pie baby girl.

Pawpye and one of his baby girls (horrible picture of us but you can feel the love!)