*Buddies*

Kyler was jammin' with James on Christmas! They both just happened to get guitars from Santa. He loves James so much and it was so cute to see how he looked up to him and copied everything James did.

Santa came to our house!!

We had a wonderful Christmas this year!! The kids made a haul...as usual!! I think for the most part, they all got what they wanted. Everyone is so thoughtful with the gifts they give each other & they had so much fun "giving",Jake gave a tie to Don. I love his creative wrapping:)!

These are some of the favorite gifts this year:

• James... Electric Guitar & Amplifier.
• Jake...Too many video games and movies
• Ashlee...Nintendo DS with some games.
• family...movies, movies and games.

All the kids got clothes, which is a Christmas Tradition.

Christmas Eve Traditions

Some of the funnest memories I have, are of the traditions that were started by my mom. From the time I can remember my mom would spend the whole month of December baking candy & cookies for Christmas. As a gift to her children and grandchildren she makes a Christmas Eve Dinner, that includes a turkey, ham and salads and lots and lots of sweets! It is a labor of love, and it is something we really look forward to every year. We are so grateful to her for all of the wonderful things she does for us.

Spending time with cousins....After all, isn't Christmas about spending time with those we love?

Tasha, James, Michael, Megan & JakeCute Ashlee!!Christmas pajamas are another tradition for our family, my kids LOVE to open a new pair of pjs to wear on Christmas Eve, I guess they want to look and feel their best for Santa:)! Here they are modeling their new jammies..

******Some things will never change*******

Family pictures

***There were just too many pictures to post, they were all so good!

Thanks so much Becca!

Dance, Dance, Dance...

Ashlee's winter dance program was last night. She did such a good job, and was so cute. I'ts always so rewarding to see your children's accomplishments. She really loves dance, and we often see her dancing in front of the mirror in our house. Your hard work is paying off, Ashlee! You did GREAT!!

CLEOPATRA

**Ashlee dressed like Cleopatra**
for her presentation...

Ashlee had her 6th grade 'Ancient Civilization Fair' at school this morning. Each child has to pick a topic or a person to do a report on, and then give a short presentation of it to the teacher, the school & parents. Ashlee chose to do her report on "Cleopatra". She worked really hard getting all of the information she could about Cleopatra's life. We learned some interesting facts about her. Ashlee did a great job on her powerpoint presentation... She even dressed up like her 'subject' to make it even better!! I give her 2 thumbs up:).

Tis the season . . . to be JOLLY?

Isn't Christmas supposed to make ya happy? It seems that people get SOOO cranky around the Holidays. The other day I was shopping at Wal-mart. I needed some chocolate chips, when I got down the aisle I noticed an older woman standing with her cart, right where I needed to get to. I politely said "excuse me".....she did nothing, so I politely said "excuse me" again, this time a little more loudly . (just in case she didn't hear me), and again she did NOTHING!!! So I tapped her on the shoulder and asked her if I could just grab some chocolate chips, she looked at me with an angry face and said "all you had to do was ask me to move"! Oh REALLY!!!!!!!

*****just some friendly advice.. When you are in the grocery store, be aware of those around you, and don't block the chocolate chips!!