December 2010

Early in December we were lucky to have a visit from Aunt Gin.  We love her!  It was so much fun.  We ate good food, looked at Christmas lights, watched movies, made treats, and lots of other stuff.  One of the nights she was here, Keyan had soccer.  It is a 1/2 hour per week class at our YMCA.  It was his very first time doing a sport, and he thought it was fantastic and was excited every week to go to his "soccer games."   Gin took a few pics for us.

{The class was for ages 3-5, and he was one of the youngest ones there.  When they were playing an actual game, he was happily oblivious and content to just run around and chase the group (who was chasing the ball).  He was so happy, though, and had a constant smile and giggle.

{See what I mean?  Happy!}

{Killing time while we wait for the class to finish.  She's always happy to say "CHEESE!" and pose for a picture.}

{We went for yummy Graeter's ice cream afterwards.}

{They were not fooled by this Santa...Tennis shoes??  But they were quick to explain that away. :-) }

{Months and months ago Russell found a picture of exactly what he wanted in a magazine.  He folded it up and kept it in a very safe place until he could present it to Santa.}

{I LOVE Christmas jammies!!  For Christmas eve, the kids got to open up their Christmas jammies.  We had our big Christmas dinner, read The Grinch and The Nutcracker, sang Christmas songs, and dad told the Christmas story using the Little People nativity set.  We tracked Santa all day online, and the kids were so ready for him to come. One of my very favorite things is preparing everything on Christmas eve after the kids fall asleep!}

{We had such a magical and special Christmas this year.  One that we will never forget.  So many people reached out to us, and we were amazed with others' generosity.  We hope to be able to pay it forward in years to come.  Here are the kids with their Santa gifts:  Halle and her stroller and baby.  P.S. Try to ignore the date and time stamp RIGHT over her face.}

{Keyan and his remote control Thomas}

{Trey and his telescope}

{Russell and his castle}

 {This picture illustrates our Christmas break pretty well.  Russell had the same two weeks off as the kids, so most days we stayed at home in our jammies.  We had fires, movies, video games, light saber and nerf gun wars, naps, etc.  It was fantastic. :-) }