Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Christmas Day

Our Christmas is best told by the pictures. We spent the day at home in our jammies and only left the house late in the evening when I couldn't take being in the house any longer!
Luke couldn't resist his new fire truck! But he had to wait to open the rest of his presents until we read the real Christmas story.
No, he wasn't bored. Just tired. He was very excited about it being Jesus's birthday!!
Time to open the stockings!
Ben and Abby were getting the same thing for their big gift. I didn't want one to see what the other one opened, so we made them sit back to back and neither one was allowed to say anything until they both had them opened!
As you can see, Ben got his opened first and looks pleased!
Abby was shocked!
Both are very happy!
Ben has had this sheet of Star Wars stamps (and a sheet of Frank Sinatra) for a long time and asked for frames for Christmas. I did one better! I got them matted and framed! He was very happy!
This is the purse/bag that Abby wanted from the Thirty-One party I had back in October. I told her that I wouldn't by it because it was too expensive. It wasn't too pricey as a half-price item! I was so excited to give it to her! She was very surprised!
This gift was a little bit silly. I started on this afghan for Abby over THREE years ago and had never finished it! Abby has asked me so many times when I am going to finish it. Well, I decided that I would drag it out and work on it while she was at school and finish it for Christmas. I was well on my way, when I counted and realized that it wasn't going to be big enough! So......I pulled the whole thing out and started over! Ugh...I didn't quite get it finished, but Abby was thrilled to know that I am working on it and it will be done very soon!
These are gifts that Grammy sent home with us so that the kids would have something to open from her on Christmas morning!
THANK YOU, GRAMMY!!!
I was very impressed with Jon's wrapping and bow making!
This is what Ben and Abby did all day! They played and chatted with each other on their new DS's! It was very quiet!
Luke played with all of his toys and watched Toy Story 3!
It is tradition at our house for Jon to make waffles on Christmas morning!
YUM!!
Later in the day we ventured out (still in our jammies) to take our homemade goodies to our neighbors!
Aren't they adorable?!

So, Christmas was very low key at our house! It was nice to be lazy for the day, but I didn't like not having anything to do or anyone to see! It was probably better this way for Ben as he was recovering from surgery. We will be celebrating Christmas with Jon's family on New Year's Eve!

Monday, December 27, 2010

Happy Birthday, Jon/Dad/Daddy!!

Jon's birthday is on December 24th. Bummer! Ever since we have been together I have tried to make his birthday special and separate from Christmas. This year was no exception! We still had some Christmas things that had to happen (Christmas Eve service at church, the kids opening a present, being Santa...), but for the most part it was all about Jon! Since I had spent so much time in the kitchen over the last few weeks, Jon was so kind to opt to eat out on his birthday! So, we headed down to Tulsa to eat at Ted's! We LOVE Ted's!

After the Christmas Eve service at church, we came home and had birthday cake! This year's cake: Sopapilla Cheesecake! YUM!!!
"Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday dear Jon/Dad/Daddy! Happy birthday to you!"
Making a wish!
And blowing out the candles!
All out in one breath! Way to go!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JON!!

Christmas Eve

Every year the kids (well, Ben & Abby) beg to open a "just one" present on Christmas Eve. Every year I (act like) give in. I always get to choose the gift. The gift is always the same. This year was no different. Only, this year, Ben is on to me... The gift that the kids always get to open is their Christmas jammies. I have been making their jammies for the last several years and I love it! This year I went a little bit beyond and embellished Luke and Abby's shirts. I love how they all turned out!

Lucas: The "Helper"

Anytime Jon is working on a project, Luke is right there in the action! He loves tools! He thought he was pretty awesome using Daddy's drill! Look at that smile!

Christmas Baking

Since the kids were out of school the entire week before Christmas, I thought it would be fun to do my Christmas baking with Abby. She didn't help with everything, but she did do a lot!
Making coconut macaroons! YUM!!

Abby did most of the work on the chocolate chip cookies! She did a GREAT job!
It was a long day in the kitchen! We made chocolate dipped pretzels, sugar cookies, oatmeal raisin cookies, coconut macaroons, no bake cookies and chocolate chip cookies! Whew!

We will be packing up lots of these goodies to deliver to our neighbors!

Thursday, December 23, 2010

Christmas Lights

We had to get out of the house! With Ben having just had surgery a few days prior, we had just been sitting around the house. I had plenty of "elf" work to do, but I couldn't do any of it with the kids around! So...we decided to go on a Christmas light tour. We ended up downtown at the Fantasy Land of Lights. Not terribly exciting, but nice to get out of the house for a little while.