Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Christmas 2013 Part 1

Santa came and Frisbee the Elf (Thank God) left ;)






And then it was…..


Total CHAOS!  just kidding ;)


The kids could rip through their stockings and handle some of the unwrapped items Santa left BUT


our Christmas present rule is we enjoy breakfast first AND THEN it is opening one gift at a time and by that I mean, Thatcher opens a gift, then Sam opens a gift. A few years ago we let the kids just go for it and I swear both were buried under wrapping paper and the whole process was finished in under 30 seconds.  


I made them wait even longer to tear into their presents because we were waiting for Grandma and Poppy to arrive. 





Okay, ready now ;)




Thatcher may seem overjoyed at her new set of American Girl Doll clothes but he is just happy that now it is HIS turn to open a gift. 



















We LOVE Samantha's gift to us that she did at school.  Every single month is so cute but I will hold back and only show you a few pages ;)

















Every six-year-old's dream, to be dressed like their doll ;)

So, we strung out Christmas gift opening over the course of the morning and then it was time to enjoy the sunshine, family, dinner and wrap up Christmas 2013.  More to come! 


Monday, January 27, 2014

Christmas Eve


Christmas Eve was spent at Papa Ward and Dancing Grandma's lovely home. 


And the best part…. THE WHOLE FAMILY WAS THERE! We got to meet Ward's daughter, Kim (red sweater), for the first time who traveled from Pennsylvania. We don't get to see Ward's other daughter, Auntie Heather (in pink), very often because she lives in New York. And we can thank her talented photographer boyfriend, Mark, for the fancy photo. Ward's son, Uncle Chris, brought his new fiancÃĐ, Kayla, whom we LOVE!  Papa, Grandma, Uncle Drew, the kids, US…..all in one photo!  Yay!




Yummy chili with all the fixings for dinner! 


The kids' table ;)


Under our plates were lotto tickets from Papa Ward. 


A $15 dollar winner right here! 

Present time!










Mark was not ignoring us, he was hard at work on making that fabulous family photo for us ;) 



Testing out her new camera!




Almost there, 2014!