The Best Moment from Christmas Morning

He thought we were done with the presents.

We saved it as a surprise for later in the day.
He was SO EXCITED!!!!! I mean, he even climbed onto the box.

And the part that I just love is that as he was opening it he said "I can't breathe" because he was so excited.

And I love it that he didn't fuss when McKenna helped him open it.

And then some more assembling!

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I love giving presents to Christian because he genuinely appreciates them. And he can remember who gave him every single thing that he owns. If someone gave him a shirt, he remembers who it was. And he loves to sit and look at all of our Christmas picture albums and remember the presents people have given him in the past.

P.S. And if you have kids, make sure you've read THIS book because it's helped me figure Christian out so much!!! "Gifts" is one of Christian's love languages.

Christmas Morning 2009

Everything was ready and waiting! And we waited and waited for Christian to wake up. I finally woke up the silly boy to tell him it was Christmas morning.
And boy oh boy were they excited!

I resisted and resisted getting the Handy Manny Repair Shop workbench. I thought it cost way too much money for a bench that didn't even come with the tools. But it did come with a zillion pieces for over 30 projects that you can put together and that all sounds very unappealing to me. But Christian couldn't stop talking about it and Christian has the nicest daddy ever who told me to go get it for him. So I found one of the last ones at Target just a few days before Christmas and I don't regret it one bit. You know all those zillions of pieces that I was dreading....well, they actually make some pretty cool stuff and Christian can do it all on his own. It's rather amazing and it's been a great gift.

And this has been a hit as well, with McKenna and every other child who walks in our house.

But the baby doll stroller has been used more than anything else. She actually pushes Christian around the house in it. Ha!

Do you see what Christian is holding? It's the present he wrapped all by himself for his daddy (it hasn't been unwrapped yet...that's just how he wrapped it). He saved one of his baseball Happy Meal toys to give to Ryan and he drew a picture of our family and found one of Ryan's favorite books and wrapped it all up.

Any guesses as to what I gave Ryan for Christmas? Hmmm..I guess you can kind of see in that picture. Let's just say, he was shocked and we all love it! It's going to be a great way for our family to spend time together.

McKenna's cousin Gracey had one of these sofas that turns into a bed and McKenna loved it so much that we decided to get her one.

Love the freckles on that sweet little nose.

Obviously my mom had a pretty big Christmas!

This present was a necessity. It's a radar detector and since it cost about the same amount as one speeding ticket, I'm hoping it will save us some money in 2010. Ryan had some pretty bad luck in 2009. Enough said!

Let's just say, my dad really shocked my mom more than once this Christmas morning!

My mom actually cried when she unwrapped this one. It's a record player that let's you burn your records onto CDs. It should be fun!

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It was a merry Christmas all around. My favorite present was definitely my new house! It's starting to really feel like home now! I'll post some pictures soon.

Big brother & Little sister ....Christmas Gifts

She gave him the train, Hiro, that he's been dreaming of for months.
And he knew that she loves Caillou. And he insisted that the only thing he could give her for Christmas was a Caillou toy. But Caillou is a Canadian show and you can't find Caillou toys here in the states, so he carefully checked out every toy online (with his mommy) and picked out something very special.

And she loved it!

He's such a good big brother because he knew exactly what she would love!

Christmas Eve 2009

Christian and McKenna spent the week of Christmas at Grandmom and PopPop's house while Ryan and I got moved into the new house. We couldn't wait to see them!! And Christmas began as soon as we walked in the door of my parent's house.

We put Baby Jesus in the manger and sang "Away in a Manger."

We loved being together as a family.

And Christian talked and talked, telling us everything he had been doing that week. I love watching him get into a deep discussion with his daddy.

Then it was time for presents.

The kids got to open their presents from Grandmom & PopPop on Christmas Eve.

McKenna got a baby that drinks a bottle and giggles when you press on her belly.

McKenna was beside herself, she was so excited! She loves babies, but this is the first time she had one that made noise.

And then it was Christian's turn.

He had been hoping and wishing for the Handy Manny tool set! He was one happy boy!

Then it was off to bed for the kids, while mommy and daddy assembled toys!

The Shepherd

Christian had his first school program just before Christmas. He was obviously a shepherd.
He was fantastic! It was adorable.

He was also the most serious looking shepherd I've ever seen. He basically looked like a legion of angels had just appeared to him and scared the life out of him.

But it was so cute. Grandmom and PopPop, Daddy, Mommy and McKenna were all there to see Christian sing, ring his bell and play the part of the shepherd.

It was a wonderful way to start our Christmas week!

Happy Birthday Jesus Party

Everyone decorated their own cake to celebrate Jesus' birthday.

Tanyon and Bryon decorating their ornaments.

Christian working on his ornament.

Tanyon, Addie, Chrish & Bryson

Thanks for having us over Ms. Heidi! We had fun and were so thankful to be able to continue our tradition of celebrating Jesus' birthday with you guys.

McKenna's Favorite Christmas Gift

She LOVES Dora!

She could dance all day until she notices that you're watching, then she starts feeling a little shy about all the attention!

2 WEEKS...

of no phone, no Internet and no cable. And to make matters worse, our cell phones barely get reception at our new house. I have to drive to the end of our driveway and sit in the car to have a decent conversation. It's been an adjustment, but it's actually been good. Our house is pretty much put together and my kids have been playing and playing. I thought it was going to be painful to not have "On Demand" for them, but it's been great. But the cable guy came today and we are once again in touch with the world!!! We have a new phone number to memorize. We haven't had a land line for four months and I'm so excited to have one again. I am not a "cell phone girl." I am constantly loosing my cell phone or I leave it on vibrate and don't hear it. I'm not all that attached to my cell phone at all, so it's good for me to have a "real" phone again!! I need to start taking some pictures again, because I haven't even picked up my camera since Christmas. But I have been busy....

I feel like I'm constantly RUNNING around our new house trying to put stuff away. It is quite disgusting how much stuff we've accumulated over the years, so I have a nice large yard sale pile in the corner of the garage. I have a stack of stuff to sell on ebay and I've set up two different accounts at consignment shops. It's time to simplify a little. I stopped teaching almost five years ago and I still have every single book, classroom decoration and resource that I used during my teaching years. I think it might be time to let some of it go....

McKenna is amazing....she's adjusted to our new living arrangements without so much as a hiccup. She sleeps great and seems to know where everything is and even went down into the basement to play by herself today.

Christian worried me a little, but he's doing great too. He loves his new room and we've set up several tables with trains on them in the basement and he loves having that extra space to play.


Well, I just wanted to pop in and let you know that I'm back! And hopefully a real post with pictures will be coming soon...maybe tomorrow! Don't forget, I haven't blogged about Christmas yet! So much to catch up on!