STILL CELEBRATING

Today we celebrated Christmas with our neighbors, The Martinez's. We spent the afternoon at their house exchanging gifts and hanging out. Here are the girls trying to figure out the new Sorry game.....

Not sure what they are doing here, but they were having fun.....

Cameron took his Raider CS-35 over to show everyone and Jeff helped Benjamin attack Gabriel. Benjamin thought it was pretty fun, but did give his dad a big hug after it was over.....

The kids played outside a while.....

The girls got new clothes for their dolls and also got these cute t-shirts from Gabby. They say "friends are forever" and they were all so excited that they have matching "friend" t-shirts.....

To finish off the day we all came back to our place for movie night. We chose the first Harry Potter movie because Cameron got a Harry Potter Wii game for Christmas, but had never seen the movie. Sooooo, now that he has seen the movie he thinks he knows what to do on the game! Here are Cameron and Jacinda watching with their new pillow pets.....

I think this ends our Christmas celebrations! Now we are ready to celebrate the new year!

CHRISTMAS DAY

We had a really good day here celebrating Christmas at home with just the 5 of us. Our morning started at 2:52am when the kids woke up for the first time. Between 3am and 6am they were up another couple of times and then finally at 6am we all ventured downstairs.

It was really so much fun how excited the kids were first thing in the morning.....and pretty much the whole day long!

Of course we started with presents.....

Maleah checking out her stocking and so excited about the Nerds that Santa left......

Cameron got his much wanted and asked for Nerf Raider CS-35 from Santa (I'm now trying to figure out why Santa thought that a nerf gun that holds 35 bullets and does "rapid fire" was a good idea)......

Cameron was not quite as excited about the jeans, shorts or pj's that he got.....

Rena loved everything including her new compact mirror with her new purse and lip gloss......

The girls got many new outfits. They are feelin' good and lookin' good......

.....Rena picked out her new boots and Maleah picked out her new "Sketcher Stomp" shoes.....

We tried out Rena's new Easy Bake Oven this afternoon (the hat doesn't really fit, but it looks cute)......

Cameron spent the whole day playing with his new Rokenbok set.....

Jeff made us a great dinner and while he was busy in the kitchen.....

.....Rena and I did some dancing with the new Wii game, Just Dance 2, that Santa brought.....

.....while Maleah did some napping (apparently the sleepless night caught up to her).....

Time for dinner.....yummy prime rib and sides.....

After dinner we did some more dancing.....and even got Cameron & Jeff to join in.....

We also ended the night with some dessert and a couple of games of Uno Attack, which Santa also delivered. It was a really fun day here at home. We got some great gifts, spent the day together and spent over an hour on the webcam with The McCullough's at home in Puyallup. Even though we weren't all together I feel very blessed for my whole family and look forward to 2011 when we will get a chance to be together again!

We had a great Christmas season and are now looking forward to a Happy New Year!

MERRY CHRISTMAS

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVE

We had a good, relaxing, fun Christmas Eve. First, we got up in the morning and did nothing.....well, Jeff and the kids went and got me a Christmas present, but after that we just hung around the house -- both inside and out -- until it was time to go to church.

We went to a 2 o'clock church service. The kids are dressed up and ready to go.....(oh, and everyone that knows me knows that I don't normally dress the girls alike, but in this case our neighbor girls had these matching dresses that they loaned the girls to look "fancy" for their visit to Santa so they decided they should wear them to church also!)

After church we headed to the beach. We only spent about 45 minutes playing, but it was a beautiful day and a lot of fun out there.....

After the beach we went out for Chinese food.....

After dinner we drove around and looked at Christmas lights and then headed back home to get ready for Santa's visit. The kids got to open one present before bed.....

.....they got new pj's! Grandma Lynne sent them and she even made Rena & Maleah's and made matching ones for their baby dolls.....

We ended the night with "The night before Christmas".....

.....and we set out the goodies for Santa and his reindeer. This year we even made him chocolate milk.....

After the kids went to bed Jeff & I got everything set-up for the morning and then sat down and watched It's A Wonderful Life (my favorite show). Despite the fact that I cried a bit during church because I was missing the rest of my family, it was a Merry Christmas Eve!

WE SAW SANTA!

We just got home from our visit with Santa Clause this morning. The kids went with letters in hand and told Santa everything that they wanted.

Rena was first. She was still writing things on her list as we walked out the door this morning. Her first thing that she wants is an American Girl doll with a "bed that pulls out"....aka.....a bed with a trundle. The last thing that she wrote on her list was a pillow pet and a bead set. Santa was still trying to read it all as she was walking away.....

Cameron was next. His list consisted of a few different Star Wars Lego items and a Nerf Raider CS-35.

Finally Maleah's turn! She asked for an American Girl doll and a bed and matching clothes for her and her doll.

The kids were happy after talking to Santa......

.....and now they are ready for his visit!!

A CRAB ON THE LOOSE

Jeff has wanted to get an aquarium for quite some time now so when the goldfish bowl cracked (for the second time) he decided to upgrade.

We went from this on our kitchen counter with 2 goldfish and a fake plant.....

to this -- with almost 20 different fish, 2 crabs, various rocks & statues and many live plants.....

Everyone was a little hesitant about getting a crab when Jeff first mentioned it. The kids were sure that this crab would eat the other fish and I just thought it was kinda creepy looking (like a spider), but Jeff eventually got one and we all thought it was pretty cool. Cool until the day came that we couldn't find him! Jeff was out-of-town and I was in-charge of the tank (big responsibility). Before I went to bed one night I checked on the fish and couldn't find the crab anywhere. I figured he was hiding behind a rock or something, but then morning came and still I couldn't find him. When the kids got home from school that afternoon Rena had 2 friends with her. So, I sent them on a crab hunt. I told them to search everywhere and if they found the crab they would all earn a piece of candy. Of course that got them moving! It wasn't very long before I heard the 4 girls screaming that they had found him. Sure enough.....there he was.....all the way down the hall and around the corner. I plopped him back into the tank and he is still alive and well. He likes to climb up the plants and the air tubes and sit half out of the water, but he hasn't escaped all the way again.....yet......

Here's the hunting crew -- Maleah, Olivia, Rena and Myah -- and there is the little crab on that plastic thing in front of the girls.....

I have to admit -- I didn't see the appeal or the need to upgrade from a $12 fish bowl to a full size aquarium, but now that we have it I do like it. It's right in the hallway that you have to walk through to get to the kitchen and it's really fun to stop and look......and make sure the crabs are still in there. And, of course, the kids (and Jeff) LOVE it! BUT if I find that crab loose again.....it might not make it back into the tank, but might find itself living in the ocean!