Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

These little men woke up...a bit excited...

and discovered their stockings!  Joshua and Thalia were sleeping at another place, so we TRIED to get the little men to wait for Thalia to open their stockings...

we tried...

and tried...

It's pretty tough when you're 7 years old...or 4 years old...

Walt was OK with waiting...

his sweet mama showed him his stocking...

The little men passed the time by sorting through packages..

WAIT!

They had sorted them the night before!

SOMEONE ??? had rearranged the packages and now they weren't separated by who they were for!

Ummmmm?

We gave up and let them look in their stockings...

Oh my goodness!

Did you know that Santa's favorite place to eat is In N' Out Burger????

That's what he said!  Each of the little guys (and Thalia, too!) had a gift card from there.  There was also a note attached (from SANTA) that said they were to take out their Dad to In N Out!

Seeing as Gabe and Donnie each have 2 kids, well, that's 2 trips to eat hamburgers!

Walt!  He was a happy camper.  

He had balls in his stocking and mandarins...those count as balls to him!

The boys were waiting on Thalia...

Absolutely no opening presents until Thalia and Joshua were here!

Emerson had some football stickers in his stocking, 

so he started putting them in his book.

William had a little car or something to build...

he got to work on that!

The rest of the crew...

we were patiently (or not) waiting....

As was mentioned earlier, Walt loves balls, any balls...

Blu was hoping for a stocking...

Benjamin was assisting Emerson with his stickers...

Hey Emerson!  I LOVE those pjs!

William was still hard at work...

Hallelujah!

Hallelujah!

Hallelujah, hallelujah, hal-le-lu-jah!

EVERYONE, both humans and canine, were VERY happy to

see Thalia and Joshua!

Blu was asking his favorite person on the planet WHERE his stocking was!

Ok, Thalia...and all those older than 7 years old, were opening their stockings...

and then there are some who MUST eat because it's time ...

I love this!!!

My little men decided we should open gifts starting with the youngest first...

that would be Walt...

then after Walt opened his, someone would give a present to William...

then after William opened,

someone gave a present to Benjamin...

then Emerson...

then Thalia...

then Lindsey..

then Emily...

then Gabe...

then Joshua...

then Donnie...

then me...

and then the eldest...Papa!

"What did you get, UJ?"

Benjamin had bought and made gifts for us.  He gave his Papa a trick pen!

One thing I like to make every year is a family calendar.  For each month, I put photos from that month of the previous year.  It's always fun to look back!

Someone looks excited!

THIS is one precious granddaughter!

She wanted a gold watch...but I think it's more for style than telling time!

Walt got a baby!  He would kiss it on the head whenever we handed it to him!

Yep, that's what you do with babies, Walt, kiss and kiss and kiss them!

Whoa!  The Lego expert got more legos!

What would this be, Emerson?

Because William isn't a reader yet, he had help from Benjamin and Emerson.

 Walt's baby doll came with this little bottle.

Walt, obviously, loved it...he kept putting it in his mouth like this walking around!

 Walt loves to jump...

so what did his mama and daddy give him?

a mini trampoline!

 William had been intently working on one of his new lego sets...

can you tell he's proud of himself?

 Gifts were opened...and stomachs were rumbling...

so into the kitchen some of us went.

Thalia and Lindsey gave me a smile...

while Emily was in the back busy!

 Thalia's lunch...

 Blu is dreaming about lunch...

 Emily sat down for lunch...

a little peace and quiet for the mama of a 15 month old...

ahhhhh....

Christmas, 2016

Giving gifts...

We received the greatest gift over 2000 years ago!

Today we celebrate Jesus' birth.