Christmas 2010.

First of all, I would love to say just how glad I am to have this blog (thanks Tracey for making me start this) It pleases me to think my kids have so much of their lives documented, and that we all can go back and re-live these memories.

Okay, on with Christmas. This is the first time since flying the nest that I've been back home on Christmas day. It was nice to be in one central place and not have to keep going all kinds of places.

Hope was up first, but Pierce soon followed. We made them wait it out for a little bit upstairs. They were chomping to come down....

The first sight :-)

Pierce made a bee line for his new swords!!!
Hope went straight for her bike, and spent most of the day like this!!!You see Pierce digging in his stocking already ;) Hope finally noticed her Belle dress!!
Little sweet boy. On his Christmas list, he asked for "3 smarties" I thought he needed more than three!!
Then the digging in started.
More UNO cards, and a princess book!!
Magnetic doll and dress set.
Magnifying glass for of course seeing cool stuff!!!
More princesses. There's never enough.
Magnetic map with states. You know stuff to learn!! ;)
Princess castle!!

And this was the two guns he asked for. Little man has deer and bad guys to shoot!! Now, there was a HUGE surprise for Pierce. Something his daddy had been cooking up, and this present was hidden behind the tree, so Pierce never saw it in the midst of all the opening. Once everything was unwrapped, Paul said, "I think you should go look around Pierce" Pierce kept saying "every thing's done" but then he spotted a gun behind the tree. Because of the way everything was facing, I couldn't get Pierce's face and expression when he saw it. He was dumbfounded. He couldn't believe his eyes, or that this might have actually been for him. Pierce got his first "real" gun on his 6th Christmas. It's a 22, and daddy will take him target shooting with it in the spring. Me being a city girl and all, I didn't understand the significance of this, but I know it's a big deal, and a BIG bonding experience for Paul and his son.
First time looking through his scope.
This is such a sweet moment I want to remember. Paul and Pierce going over (for like the 8 millionth time of his life) the rules of a gun, but Paul stopping to have a "moment" with Pierce. It was very sweet.
Heaven help me.

Now we finally had time to play!!!!
She must have ridden that bike 10 miles in one day. She made loop after loop.
My little warrior man.
After a wonderful lunch it was time to head downstairs for MORE Christmas. Man, our kids are sooooo blessed.


MORE FOR ME???
I love all the adults watching. Of course my dad and that insane camera ;-)


There were some other "kids" there too, even though I think they would argue that fact. Nathan showing off his new coat. Little stud.
Cody's so good with my kids.

Hope loves her aunt Jo-Jo!!!
Never can have too many cute shoes!!!

Or clothes....
Here's the infamous dinner shot. Please check out my face. Tee Hee.
Christmas 2010 ended with a snowball fight with daddy. How wonderful to have a white Christmas and to be so blessed. I can't help it, but Christmas turns me into a sap. :-)

Christmas Eve 2010

Shew....it's been a whirlwind of a a few days. We headed back to the Promised Land on Christmas Eve, Eve. With all this Christmas talk for weeks and weeks, the kids were just a little wired!!! We hung out at my parents on Thursday, but knew we needed some things to do on Christmas Eve to keep the kids occupied. Thankfully, we were invited by the Lee's to join in a breakfast at McDonald's, and the Reid's were invited too, we've decided this will be a tradition :-) Let's dive right into a very full and fun day!!!

Check out this gem of a picture. For some reason Jami decided she would be a hoochie and hook up with Eric instead of her own husband, and Cooper let us know how he felt about that. Finger straight up the nose, haha!!! Love you Jami Lee Leigh, thanks for inviting us!!!

These two are so precious. They give me the baby fever....but then my lovely friends always talk me down from that one, HA!!

After breakfast we decided to hit Bass Pro. My kids haven't been there all season, and they really love it. I kinda want to rip out my nails, but the kids love it, so that makes me happy :-)Check out our future hunter.

I really don't think this will be in her future, but who knows?? Maybe if she can get that pink gun.Little man wore his pj's out all day. Normally I wouldn't go for this, but hey, it was Christmas Eve!! Why not??!!!
Here is a reason I love Bass Pro!!! While the kids are shooting deers and playing games, I go sit down for a bit and enjoy myself a fine cup of joe.
After Bass Pro, we decided to take the kids to a movie. Hope and I opted for Tangled (again) while the boys went and saw Narnia. We give both movies a big thumbs up!!
Back to mom's so we could have dinner with the family. Pierce's one request for a treat was cinnamon roles, so momma made sure he had some!!!
Do you see what I put up with?? Several pics, and each one he was a goof.
So, I had several items of clothes hanging up to bring with us. These were my "nicer" clothes that I would wear on Christmas Eve and Christmas. Guess who forgot them, cough, it wasn't me. So, on Christmas Eve I wore a sweatshirt of my mom's. Just needs to be documented for memories sake ;-)
Had to make the kiddos pose for me.....

SOOO ready for the big day!!!Me and my most beautiful and favorite sister. Oh and I totally look like I have a house sitting on my head.
Here are our famous "family photos" Let me tell you about my dad. He's a little psychotic with his pictures and video. He's ALWAYS taking pictures, and yes we will appreciate all of these one day, but sometimes we give him a hard time about it. These two crack me up, first of all my mom looks like she's hanging from the light, and....
....this one, we let dad know how we feel about always having a flashbulb in our faces. I'm sure he appreciates us acting like idiots ;-)

This here is about my mom.....when it comes to Christmas, she goes over.the.top. She's always given us the best Christmas's and I know it's a lot of work, you figure all that stuff out the older you get. Take a look at just SOME of the presents...This is to the left of the tree....

....and this is to the center....Christopher and Jaclyn were not able to be with us Christmas day, so we did gifts with them that night....Christopher might be a grown married man, but he's still a big ol' kid at heart. He was the one who got the group going in a big snow ball fight...
These kids came in SOAKED.....
Too fun ;-)
After a seriously fun day, and a really difficult time getting some kids settled down for sleep, things were ready.....
CHRISTMAS HAD COME!!!!!!!