Christmas Morning

I always like to take one picture of the tree with all the gifts stuffed under it.

The first picure taken this Christmas morning. The kids sitting on the couch with their stockings! They got up at 6:30am (ouch), but they did a good job only opening one gift at a time and enjoying each one. We were done by 8am though (WOW). I think that was a record breaker.

Amber opening her stocking stuffers. She was very excited about this gift! She had asked Santa to bring her some gummy vitamins. She had recently ran out and I told her she was a big girl and was going to have to eat the hard chewables like Ryan. She didn't have to suffer for too long before Santa came to her rescue =)

Ryan opening his stocking stuffers. They both got some "toxic waste" candy that was so sour Amber ran and spit her's out right away (hee hee).

Mike is looking a bit sheepish after grumbling about getting a new phone that he insists he did not need. I let him know not to worry, the phone was from me so he wasn't crushing the kids by his comment (hee hee). I also explained that the phone was "free" because his old phone was 3+ years old and he definitely did need an upgrade (silly man). He is also holding the model that Ryan picked out for him. (Ryan has on his new robe)

Amber had fun putting bows all over herself! She was one of the best parts of Christmas . . . Ryan too of course! Christmas is awesome with kids!

Dad picked out this cute sweatshirt for Amber, and I bought her the pants =) She looks so cute!

Gretchen, Rob, Rhett and Rheid got Ryan a Star Wars Transformer that he had asked for. He was very excited! He also got a book "Hank the Cowdog" by John Erickson (I have a feeling we will be buying more books from this series - it's perfect for Ryan).
Gretchen, Rob, Rhett and Rheid got Amber a cute set of Carter's P.J.'s that match her purple robe and slippers perfect! They are sooooo soft too =) They also got her a book "Dog's Don't Wear Sneakers" by Laura Numeroff. It's a cute story that Amber is able to read by herself.


Randy, Pam, Lauren and Chris got Amber a Giraffe Pillow Pal! She loves it! It is soooo soft! And Amber is always carrying her pillows around when she comes down to watch T.V. - perfect gift for her =)

Randy, Pam Lauren and Chris got Ryan a Microscope which he thinks is very cool. Mike and the boy were figuring it out before any more gifts were opened =)




O'ma and O'pa gave Amber a mini My Little Pet Shop (among other things)which she loved!



O'pa and O'ma gave Ryan a Lego Star Wars set (among other things), something he had asked for many, many times =) He had it put together very quickly and played with it all day =) It was a big hit =)


Of course the dogs had to get gifts too. They got a fish (that probably won't last too long, but Ryan really liked it). They got a blue ball (but I think Shelby really wanted to open the gift instead).
And they got a HUGE (at least extremely long) bone. Shelby tends to dominate when it comes to toys, but Booker gets his share (if we help him out . . . which we do). Of course I really wanted to include a picture of Booker in his bed with this big bone laying next to him. He didn't even move or care (I think one of the kids put it there). He is still our easiest dog.

Sorry Mom and Dad, no pictures of me. You know how it is when you are the one with the camera. But I really wanted you to get to see the kids opening and playing with the gifts you all got them. They had an awesome Christmas! We all did! Mike spoiled me this year and got me PJ's (A BIG THRILL!!!! YEA! and surprise!), a file for the dogs nails (like the one seen on T.V. =)) And he helped the kids buy me a beautiful prayer box necklace and earrings! I also got bird tree ornaments from all three of them. I was very surprised and blessed this year!

The kids were spoiled too. And after all these gifts, and they got just about everything they wanted, they received gift certificates from Grandma and Grandpa and they are already set on how to spend that too! Actually Ryan was hoping to get some money for Christmas so he could start to buy items for a train set. His friends dad owns a hobby shop full of remote control cars and trains and Ryan has been eyeing some pieces he wants to buy to start with. He will be able to get a good start on that now. He was trying to talk Amber into using her money for that too . . . she didn't buy into that though. I know she will have no problem coming up with ways to spend her money as well, go figure.

Thanks to everyone!

Love to all!

Gingerbread House

A friend gave us a gingerbread house making kit. The kids were very excited and couldn't wait to put it together. They had a lot of fun =) And I took pictures of it from start to finish.






They had a lot of fun! Worked well together! And we all did or part, Ryan decorated half, Amber decorated half, Dad put the icing wherever they told him and I took pictures of the whole thing =)

Owasso Christmas Parade

Every year the Scouts are in the Christmas Parade =) This year their float was pulled by a really cool white Hummer.

Every year it is really cold (go figure)and every year we go way to early (never again). We were there and ready to go at 7:30am . . . we didn't start moving until 9:30am and the parade was over and we were home by 10:30am . . . you do the math. (did I mention Owasso is a very small town)

They did a good job on the float this year, it was cute!The boys walk behind the float and throw candy to the people crazy enough to be sitting outside watching the parade. Ryan and Amber did really good with the cold! And we all walked the parade route together!Except I did sit in the Hummer . . . for the first two hours before the parade started.
(hey, I said Ryan and Amber did good with the cold!)Did I mention that it was really cold and windy out?<

It's A Dog's Life

It is a dog's life! Our friends gave us a dog bed that their dogs didn't use. We gave it to Booker =) But all our dogs seem to love it. So I managed to talk Mike into turning the kids crib mattress into a dog bed for Shelby and Buddy to share.

Mike thinks this is overkill, I think it's perfect, the dogs . . . they still want Booker's bed. Go figure. From the picture you would think that Shelby and Buddy are just fine with their new bed. But as soon as I turn the lights out I can hear Shelby tip toe around the end of my bed and lay down next to Booker. Being a female she acts so innocent, but slowly and surely she ends up on his bed and he ends up on the floor. Until I wake up and yell at her, then she zips back to her bed and Booker get's back in his bed and we all go to sleep . . . until I wake up again and realize she is back over there. Poor Booker, Shelby is taking total advantage and he doesn't even try to defend himself. He is such a gentleman and she . . . well . . .she's a female dog =( But we love them all! (okay, I love them all)

Amber's First Piano Recital

I learned another new thing on blogging . . . how to add a video . . . sort of. You can see Amber's video below. I love that I was able to get a good video of her first ever recital . . . . okay, so she never looks at the camera in the video, but I have other pictures below that "complete" the picture (so to speak).



Amber, getting some last minute instructions from her teacher =)

It was a really nice evening. We all went out to eat at the restaurant of Amber's choice. She picked the Oriental Pearl, which we all love. Ryan loves it because it has crab legs, crawfish, and sushi. Ryan is our "raw" food loving boy. While eating he said "raw chicken - yum". I was like "WHAT?". We figured out Ryan had taken some raw chicken from the "Mongolian bar" where you pick out food and give it to the chef to COOK. Well, he's big on raw fish so he thought it was okay to have chicken raw too. I worried all night that he was going to get sick, but he was fine. We made sure he knows now not to eat raw chicken (not something you would think you would have to explain to your kid). We also found out he had eaten raw shrimp from the same bar the last time we ate there. oops

Angel Tree Meal Deal at Freedom

We went to a meal deal at our church for Angel Tree and the kids had a blast with the Wikki Stix =) It worked out great that Amber and Ryan's friends got to go with us too =)