Christmas 2013

I say this every year, but Christmas time is one of my favorite times of the year!  It's because of the excitement that the kids have.  I love our little traditions and cooking big dinners for the family.

Our week started off having Russ's cousin Bruce, his wife Jen and their 4 children stay with us for a couple of days on their way from N.C. to N.Y.  

The kids had a blast together.  Trying to get a group shot of all of them looking in the same direction while smiling, was another story.  At least Stella the dog is posing nice.

Then my Mom came into town to stay with us for a week.

Every year my Mom makes Christmas cookies and then has the kids help her decorate them.  It's something I did with my Grandma Freund when I was little, and now my kids do it with their Grammy.

Stinky the cat snoozing under the tree.

We like to take the kids to Clearbrook Park to see all of the Christmas lights.  This year Kim and Morgan met us there.  They had such a great time!

The kids all ready for our Christmas Eve party!

Awe look how nice they posed for pictures with Grammy and Pappa Bob....

Such sweeties...

(Insert sarcasm here)

Keep going down and you will see how my picture with my beautiful, happy children turned out....

Yup this is it!!  This is my group Christmas Eve photo with my beautiful children.

Quite possibly the worst family photo ever!  It's even out of focus....

But it did bring us lots of laughs.

SANTA came!!

The kids got new scooters from Santa.

Jaylee woke me up Christmas Morning screaming that Santa brought her a new scooter and then she asked that I don't run this one over with the truck...

That was the fate of her last scooter.  See what happens when we don't put things back...

Sawyer was so happy about his gift from Santa, that he had absolutely NO interest in opening other gifts.

Jaylee got the Easy Bake Oven that she has been asking for.  She's been asking for it for 2 years!

Marshall got a T-ball set, perfect since he starts T-ball this week!

It was a wonderful week!  Having all sorts of family staying with us.  Having the house full of people and kids and chaos.  Big holiday dinners, and talks around the table.  That's what makes me happy.  Spending time with the people who mean so much to us.

Peace and love....