Christmas

What do you do when the pictures you've taken of Christmas Eve and Christmas morning are erased by placing your memory card in a camera that isn't working.........?
Well.....you get a little ticked...then you breathe....then you take a couple new pictures and just be grateful you have the memories.
That is what happened to me. Christmas Eve was spent with my mom and family making chocolate dipped pretzels and strawberries. Maddie said, "this is the best Christmas Eve ever". At least I have that memory.
Christmas morning the kids woke us up about 5:30am. They called Nana and Grandpa, and Grandma Oliver so they could come over to see what Santa brought. After opening gifts, Mike made our traditional Christmas breakfast. Yummy as usual. Grandparents went home to relax for the day while Mike spent time putting things together. We all had a great relaxing day, but we also had fun jumping on the new trampoline, playing ping pong, and various other games such as WII Fitness. At the end of the day, the grandparents came back for a nice Christmas dinner. Mike's great Aunt Bonnie and Uncle Keith also came.

Happy Birthday!

Happy birthday Gage!

Friends came over to surprise Gage and celebrate turning 14.

What did he wish for? Well, he asked for a surprise, so that's what he got. Is it real?????

His birthday lasted several days. One day I checked him out of school to go to lunch at Panda Express then to Barnes & Noble for a couple of new books. Taking the kids to lunch during school has been a fun tradition I have done with them since they started school. Mike took him to dinner & a movie the following day, and Grandpa took him to a movie and lunch a week later. Way to make it last longer bud!

Early Christmas

I got an early Christmas gift this year. My dad worked his tail off this past week to tile the backsplash in my kitchen. He did an awesome job! Now, Mike and I will paint the kitchen over Christmas break. I know he's really looking forward to that (not).

Deck the Halls

It's that time of year again. After Thanksgiving the Christmas decorations come out and Mike goes on top of the house to hang the lights. Oh, how he loves that (not really since he is afraid of heights). Gage and Noah helped him this year while I "decked the halls" and took care of the inside. Our tree is not quite finished in the photo, but that's the last thing to get decorated and I kind of run out of steam. I love the decorations, but wait until the day after Christmas when I turn into a "scrooge" and all of it gets cleaned up and put away until next year:)