Christmas Day

Thought I'd share some pics from our Christmas Day. Santa came while Ryan was sleeping (heehee). Here you see the excitement on his face...he wanted to open them right away. We had to wake daddy up first. LOL

Here he is opening the big gift that "santa" brought him. It's a dinosaur robot...called a roborapter. He wanted a robot and loves dinosaurs so we thought this would be perfect for him. Go figure though...he only liked it the first day. Now he seems afraid of it. *sigh*

The surprise hit this Christmas? A little laptop he got from me. It comes complete with a mouse. It has lots of learning activities on it, such as learning the difference from captial letters and lowercase, phonics, numbers, spelling, and some fun learning games. I got it thinking how much he loves daddy's laptop, so possibly this might be good. I really didn't think he'd like it that much. Surprise!! It's become one of his current favs. Go figure.

Daddy got socks and a Good Eats DVD, and I got socks and Grey's Anatomy Season 1 DVD. I have pics, but figured you didn't want to see us still in our jammies. LOL

It was a very nice Christmas. Poor Ryan had so much stuff, he kept going back and forth, from toy to toy, not knowing what to play with. Like a friend of mine (thanks Sam!) said, it looks like a toy store threw up in my living room! I'm still trying to put stuff away.

A good Christmas!

We had a wonderful, yet busy Christmas! Not many pictures were taken during our Christmas Eve celebration with my family since we took video, but there are a few shots. Every year we take a family photo in front of my mom's Christmas tree. This year Ryan was playing "shy" and didn't want his pic taken. Highly unusual for him since he LOVES to have his pic taken..he's a ham. I think he was tired since he didn't take a nap that day. And me...I know I don't look 32 weeks pg there. LOL You can't tell from the front. LOL But that is a maternity dress! Got a good deal on it from Motherhood. Oh...and don't mind the pagers that daddy is wearing. He was on call during Christmas. Luckily he didn't get any pages!

You can also see in the background all the presents there. As usual, every year there are TONS of presents. It's a running joke in our family--every year my mom says she's cutting back on gifts, and every year there seems to be more instead of less! LOL But you have to figure, there are 8 of us, so that would equal a lot of gifts.

Here's Ryan anxiously awaiting to open the gifts. My mom usually has a big spread of food beforehand...mainly snacks and appetizers, so we usually eat first and then open. We try to do it as early as we can since it makes it for a long night for Ryan...it takes us about 3 hours to open gifts, then we clean up and head off to my parent's friend's house for their Christmas party.

Here is Ryan and Uncle Darrell (my brother) goofing around. It was Darrell's turn this year to hand out the gifts, so Ryan was a big help in handing them out.

Here is Ryan and daddy. He is helping daddy videotape the events. After a while Ryan became overstimulated and rather unruly, so to try to calm him down we had him "help" daddy with the video camera. It worked for a while!

It was a wonderful Christmas. Ryan's favorite gift from grandma and grandpa was an Imaginext Castle. Mine was a gold cross necklace. And daddy's I think was a ladder.

Everything turned out nicely and it was another good Christmas.

Merry Christmas!

Hard to believe it's that time of year already. It sure has gone fast this year.

We are doing the typical, traditional Christmas thing this year. Going to my parents after Ryan (hopefully) takes a nap, opening gifts there (which takes aobut 3-4 hours!), then going to a friend's house for their annual Christmas party. It will be a long day for Ryan so I'm hoping he naps!!

Tomorrow we will open gifts here, head to church, then nap for Ryan, then back to my parents house for dinner.

Have a very Merry Christmas everyone!

Rejoice! Our Savior is Born! :)

pictures from the snow

These are late I know. Here are the pics I promised. Ryan playing in the 14 inches of snow we got a while back.

Here is Ryan on the deck....to show how deep the snow was, he could barely walk through it! Here is the snowman Ryan and daddy made together. It had already lost part of it's mouth by the time I took the picture! It was Ryan's very first snowman and he was so proud of it!

And now, 2 weeks later, this is all that's left of our 14 inches of snow! All that's left in the wake of the snowman is the stick arms and the coal. It's really sad. And the pile of snow you see here is left from the huge mountain of snow daddy made for Ryan so he could climb and slide down it. If daddy hadn't done that, we wouldn't have any snow left at all. So much for a white Christmas this year!

Christmas GTKY

1. Eggnog or Hot chocolate?currently, hot chocolate, but normally eggnog!
2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? wrap presents
3. Colored lights on tree/house or white?
colored
]4. Do you hang mistletoe? no
5. When do you decorate for Christmas? Day after Thanksgiving
6. What is your favorite holiday dish? (Excluding desserts!) shrimp, bacon-wrapped water chestnuts
7. Favorite holiday memory as a child. going for a drive on Christmas Eve after dark to look at the Christmas lights on the houses in the neighborhood.
8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? I really don’t remember.
9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? YES! My family opens ALL their gifts on Christmas Eve. It’s our tradition. We have our Christmas on Christmas Eve rather than Christmas Day.
10. Do you bake cookies every year? no. Some years I do, some years I don’t. My mom does most of the cooking/baking.
11. Snow? Love it or dread it? snow only until Christmas! After the New Year I wouldn’t mind it melting!
12. Can you ice skate? yes but haven’t gone in years.
13. Do you remember your favorite gift?. I loved the Cabbage Patch kids I got when they were “in” back in the 80’s.
14. What's your favorite thing about the holidays? What's the most important thing about the Holidays for you?. spending time with family, spending time in glorifying Christ.
15. Favorite holiday dessert? cookies, Angel food candy
16. What is your favorite Holiday tradition? opening gifts on Christmas eve with my family
17. What is your tree topper like? an angel
18. Do you like to give or receive? I love to give!
19. What is your favorite Christmas carol? Carol of the Bells
20. Candy canes? Yuck or Yum? yuck. I don’t like peppermint.
21. What was the one gift you always wanted for Christmas but never got? I have no idea.
22. Do you buy a gift for yourself when shopping? Usually. I have to open something on Christmas too.
23. Favorite Christmas Movie? A Christmas Story; How the Grinch Stole Christmas (animated version)
24. How do you decorate your Christmas Tree? with lights and ornaments.
25. What do you do on Christmas morning? open gifts with dh and Ryan after Santa has arrived. Go to Christmas service at church.

I'm here I swear!!!!

I need to apologize to my whole 7 readers (haha).....it seems I haven't updated in ages. I mean to just about everyday...I think about it. But I never get a chance to or I find something else that needs my attention.
Especially recently with the holidays. Between my Bible study I'm working on (which takes up a lot of time), various social things (MOPS for one), taking Ryan to Awana, Christmas parties, Christmas shopping (which I'm only about half done and haven't wrapped anything), and trying to spend time with family (mainly dh and Ryan) and friends...it's been difficult to find time to breath much less write my blog!!

Coming up.....I will post some pics of Ryan playing in the 14 inches of snow we got. I also came home from the store today to see a big snowman in our backyard! Dh and Ryan were out this afternoon (since it actually warmed up a bit...40 degrees!!) and they made a snowman. It's so cute.

Anyway, I do have plans to update more often...I swear!!!! I used to update just about every day....lately though it's just been hard as I haven't had the time or the energy. Check back often though as I might surprise you!! LOL

The Christmas Story

By Cherri Fisher


'Twas the time of the census, and all through the land
The folks mounted their donkeys and traversed the sand.

Mary and Joseph of this law did obey;
Mary rode the donkey, Joe led the way.

A baby was due to arrive very soon -
On and on they marched by the light of the moon.

Joseph worried about the health of poor Mary;
They had to make time for they mustn't tarry.

At last they arrived in the populous city;
The folks they encountered gave nothing but pity.

Where could they go? Who would give them a room?
She was feeling the stirrings inside of her womb.

"Please," cried Joseph, "can we stay in your inn?'
The innkeeper said, "No." with a face of chagrin.

"Everywhere you go, every room has been taken."
Their faith ever strong, they would not be forsaken.

An innkeeper offered the use of his stable.
"So sorry," said he, "It's all I am able."

"We're happy to have a roof over our head,
We'll be comfy and cozy," was all Joseph said.

They'd no more than settled themselves down for a rest
When a baby was borne and the world was now blessed.

Mary laid the sweet babe in a little manger.
She and Joseph just smiled at their tiny stranger.

Their world was now different, everything had been changed;
According to God's plan it had all be arranged.

They named him Jesus, just as God had directed.
They would keep him warm, nurtured, safe and protected.

The sheep crowded in close, the cattle did too.
This child was God's gift, even the animals knew.

To the shepherds in their fields the angels came;
"A wondrous King has been borne, this we proclaim."

"Go now to Bethlehem and worship this child."
The angels now gone, the shepherds trekked through the wild.

A star they relied on to lead the way;
It shone on the baby asleep in the hay.

The wise men were told of this miraculous birth;
Gifts were packed on their camels - gold, frankincense, myrrh.

He was given by God to all of mankind
To save us from sin which we all are inclined.

So shout from the rooftops and trumpet your horn;
Merry Christmas to all, Jesus Christ has been born.

How California are you?

I got this from Shawna, who lives in CA. Just thought this was interesting to see how Californian I am, considering I've never been there!! haha They were dead on too..made me laugh!

You're totally like 18% California!

Keep saving up your pocket change and someday maybe you'll be able to fly out and visit. Until then, go shovel the snow off the driveway.

How California are You?

Winter Wonderland

Look what I found when I woke up this morning?


Yes, a winter wonderland. National Weather Service is calling it a full blown blizzard, even telling people NOT to leave the house. That if they go out driving they are risking their lives. First time NWS has ever stated that for this area!

Ryan of course is loving this. He was so excited when he saw the snow this morning (it's the first snow fall of the season). He wanted to go out right away, but I told him to wait until it stops snowing at least!




Here we have about 5 inches already, and we are expecting about 10 inches total today. Our Christmas decorations have blown down--hopefully it's not broken as we just replaced it from our incident the other day!



More pictures to come as we play outside! Welcome to winter!

new blog!

Here is a new blog you need to check out! I've known her for quite some time; we met at simplymoms. I just recently heard about her blog. Check it out! :)