Christmas 2011

Christmas this year was wonderful. The kids are all at that age where the excitement builds all week until they about burst the couple of days leading up to Christmas morning. It's fun to remember that excitement and to watch them bubble over with joy. But, this year Christmas fell on a Sunday. With church starting at 9am for us, Christmas morning was a bit different this time.

We started off the morning around 7:30, when the kids finally rolled out of bed. :) From there, we let them open stockings before we had to have a bit of breakfast and head over to the church. Our meeting was only about 45 minutes long due to the holiday, but if it were up to me, we could have stayed there all day! We sang Christmas carol after carol and read passages from the story of Jesus' birth. It was a fantastic way to spend Christmas morning.

Once home, the kids burst back into jammies/clothes and the wrapping paper began to fly!

Super Wy on what would turn out to be his favorite toy.
Isabel next to the doll bed she asked Santa for. She loves to play house right now. She rushed upstairs and brought down her dolls immediately to put them down for naps.
James with his new cowboy hat and lasso. He is a cowboy, through and through.
He also got a bow and arrow set. He's a natural at it!
Wyatt LOVES basketball right now. This little hoop is just his size.
Izzy on her bike. She has affectionately named her bike Barbie. :)
James and Wy Guy joining in on the fun
Isabel is learning how to read.
James with his snazzy vest his Aunt Myrt made for everyone.
Wyatt giving a big cheeser

Favorites this year:
Isabel can sing the ENTIRE Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer song. (And did so for her nursery class the other Sunday.) She also likes and can sing Frosty the Snowman
James still loves (and can sing) Jingle Bells and Silent Night.
Wyatt likes Up on the Houstop (he's really good at singing the 'ho ho ho' part and the 'click click click' part.

Santa Visit

This years Santa visit was interesting. First, because it happened on Christmas Eve Eve - so it was packed with people and the line was long. Second, because once we got up to Santa, Isabel would have nothing to do with him! She refused to sit on his lap for pictures, but once pictures were done, she insisted on putting in her order with him. As long as I was right there next to her holding her hand. :)

Good thing I snapped this picture of her while we were standing in line.
The boys, on the other hand, had no problem talking to Santa. Even Wyatt!
Christmas Eve jammies

Trail of Lights

Once Christmas break had officially started for Daddy and James, we headed out to see the Trail of Lights.

Christmas Holiday

As per usual with the holidays, I have become way behind in my blogging. JL has had the past 2 weeks off, so we've been enjoying family time together and celebrating the holidays. I'll do my best to catch you up. Let's start back at the beginning of the month....

We started the month with the baking of Christmas Sugar cookies. I made up a batch during preschool for the kids to decorate. This is one of Isabel's favorite Christmas traditions. She starts asking if we can do this about a day after Thanksgiving.
See the giant smile on her face?
Wyatt discovered he also loves this activity. I was surprised at how fast he picked up the concept of using the cookie cutters.
He really gets into his work.
Mid month, we took the kids to a Glee concert at the local highschool. It was really fun!
Wyatt was a champ during the entire performance! He loved all the music and the bright colors!
Isabel loved the whole thing. Her favorite part was the beautiful costumes the girls had on.
Here is a picture of the tap dancing snowgirl. Isabel LOVED her dancing!
The kids helped us deliver Christmas cookies to the neighbors. This year: Egg Nog Cookies, Fudge & Chocolate Chip Cookies.
The day before school got out for break. James brought home a carefully decorated white bag that he was holding very carefully. He told me he had made something for me and Dad. When we opened it up - it was an ornament! Filled with fake snow, the ball had a Jamesie painted snowman face on it. It was really adorable.
The spot he found for it on our tree.
JL made homemade Chili Relleno for us - delish!
Last day of school for James before break. It was wear your pj's to school day.
One of the four stations at his class party was cookie decorating. James loved this one because they had sugar cookies in the shape of Star Wars space crafts.
Here he is enjoying Christmas snacks with his buddy Jay.
Our friend Katherine invited us over to decorate Christmas cookies at her house. The kids LOVE to decorate cookies - especially Isabel. She painstakingly would fret over where each glob of color was to go.
James' method: the more frosting, the better. Toppings? Great - pile 'em on!
Wyatt's method: frost, eat, repeat.

Shepherd James

This past Friday we had our church Christmas party. The primary dressed in costume for our Nativity. James had been asked to be a Shepherd, and he was so excited about it all week!

When it came time to put him in his costume before the party started, he was thrilled - but he was also very serious about his role. He wanted to know how a shepherd walks and how he should act. It was really cute to see him get in the spirit of his role!
His favorite part was his crook.
Here's most of the rest of the gang. Everyone looked so cute - and the pageant was a huge success!

A Tender Ranch Christmas

We have lights on our roof! First time EVER! They turned out great! I, of course, want to add more next year - but I'm thrilled with the way things turned out for this season! I plan to add my blowie (that I got for my birthday from my littles child) as soon as the rain stops. Most likely that will be tomorrow - so I'll update with new pictures asap.

Lucky for us, the roof is easily accessible!
Wyatt was so excited to see Daddy on the roof!
And here they go!
What do 3 billie goat gruffs do while mom and dad are otherwise occupied?
Why, play in the rain and the mud of course!
Woo hoo!
Let the season begin!