Christmas 2011

This Christmas season has been exceptionally busy for us. 

I usually like to bake up a storm and hand out goody plates, but that didn't happen this year for one reason or another. 

But with all the hubbub of "to-get-done-before's," all of the same traditions were still in tact.

Like spending Christmas Eve at my mom and Jim's, where we do all of our "us and them" gift exchanging.

We also did an impromptu nativity reenactment with a very limited cast: 

And Elon was the best narrator / donkey ever!

Then after all that walking to Bethlehem, our little Joseph wanted a turn on the donkey too!

I really don't know what had these little heads so turned up, but this picture makes me smile.

Gotta love "scrap material" costumes.

Then we let the kids open one present each before we headed into the kitchen for cookie decorating.  They got slippers from Elon and I (usually they get pajamas but they're both good in that department this year) :

Somebody was a little exited about decorating cookies:

Then, it was off to do the serious present-opening portion of the evening.... 

And Chandler was a big fan!

 

And what mother doesn't love when their kids open up clothes?!

Then came a present for Elon that reached in and yanked out the child within.

I mean seriously, check out that smile. The man was on cloud nine! And I'm not lying when I say he spent the rest of the night rigging that thing up and trying  his darndest it to get it up off the floor...(which just so happens to be a lot harder than one might think).

Check out that beautiful princess holding up that puzzle:

This is so Chandler.  The fact that someone is a human being doesn't stop them from becoming a race track for his cars or a trail for Woody and Bulls-eye.  Grandpa Pierce sure did a good job letting him do his thing.

Then came the arrival of Christmas morning! 

We let the kids do their stockings before we headed off to church.

Check out these two bow-tie boys of mine:

Just look at my cute family.  

Who needs presents when you share the same airspace as these three?:

Hallie's Great Grandma Myer gave her this porcelain doll that she fell in love with immediately.

She also got her beloved K-Mart kitty that she clung to for the rest of the day.

Hallie wanted to give her dad a piece of artwork because she knows how much he loves it, and after some much appreciated help from my mom, we were able to put this together for him in the nick of time.  Can you believe this picture of the Savior came from an old calender I had laying around?:

 

























It was such a great Christmas.  
We stopped in at the Dudley's (Elon's sister's family) to give them their gifts, and then had dinner and presents at my Grandma and Grandpa Libby's (mom's parents).  What a blessing it is to have so many family members close by to share the holidays with.  

Erin's Bridal Shower...

So my niece Erin is getting married.  

And this is very weird for me because I vividly remember my first encounter with her.  She was four and I was eleven, and we were both in primary together.  She stood and gave the opening prayer for sharing time, and I was amazed at how well she could talk...like a little grown-up.  

Not to mention the countless number of times I've babysat she and her siblings during my tween, and teen years.  Who knew that one day I would become this cute little girl's aunt?  

Now she's all grown up, and has fallen in love with an outstanding young man.  Eric flew in a few days ago and met us all for the first time, and he fits the family like a glove....we're all very impressed to say the least. 

Anyway, the shower was really fun, and I had a blast taking pictures. That said, I came home and was so disappointed with how blurry/grainy so many of them were!  I wish I knew a smidgen more about my camera as far as taking indoor pictures, at night, with lots of indoor lighting. 

Erin is sandwiched between her sisters Katie and Leah, and her mom....can you see how much they adore their sister?

 Hallie had a blast having her Grandma Pierce all to herself!

JaNeal made this beautiful cake with accompanying cup cakes:

I love Anne's reaction above to this Christmas ornament/decoration.  I now know what to get her for Christmas next time we have their family :)

I'll pause here for a second and give a courtesy warning that Erin's next gift says "Victoria's Secret" on the box: (tasteful as it might be, there are some things that dad's and brothers just don't want to see.)

These two beauties would have done the late 19th century proud:

As you can see, Eric showed up at the end.  I sure wish I could have added more text in between these pictures but my cursor was being very difficult, and in order to keep the hairs on my head safely intact I needed to just let it go.

Next Wednesday is the BIG day, which just so happens to be my anniversary, and I am tickled pink about that little fact :)   

 

"Summer Solstice Extravaganza"...

When Elon and I were newly weds, we would curl up and talk about what kinds of traditions we wanted to infuse into our own family someday.  There I would be with paper and pencil in hand, jotting down whatever we managed to spout off, and feeling the butterflies of excitement at the prospect of these traditions actually becoming a reality one day.

One of these traditions (and probably my favorite one), was thought up by Elon, where on the longest day of the year, we cram as much fun in as we possibly can!  After all, it's the longest day right?  Eventually our kids will get to choose one activity each that they want to do, and then we will all, as a family, go and do them!

We named this tradition our "Summer Solstice Extravaganza"....because we're corny like that :)

So this past summer we put it into practice!...And I can't believe it's taken me until October 23rd to post about it.

Luckily we couldn't have asked for a better day weather wise, and we started the day off with puppies!

I mean seriously, can you think of a better way to start off the longest day of the year for an almost five and almost two year old?

Our friend Sue has several female golden retrievers that she breeds, and she just so happened to have a litter at her house....aren't they adorable?!

Hallie was probably the most entranced by the whole thing:

Chandler had a death grip on his puppy that really had me worried for it's life:

After these two got their "puppy fill" we decided to return them to their very concerned mother who was so patient to loan out three of her newborns, but was obviously a nervous wreck about the whole thing, (and I can't say I blame her).

Then it was time to explore the other fun things to do at Sue's house, like jumping on the trampoline they were just sitting on:

 I even decided to give it a whirl...(and every one of my body parts reminded me that it's been a while.)

Then Sue pulled out her four-wheeler and gave these kids their own personal ride.

Which I'm not sure if you can tell, but they thoroughly enjoyed it:

I'm so grateful to Sue for being willing to pause her "to do's" for our little family :)

Then we were off to embark on our next adventure!:

At Damrascotta Lake!

Which just so happens to be one of this girl's favs:

This lake is awesome when you have little ones because it has all the sand your kids could ever want, and it's a lake, so there's no scary under-toe or glacier-like water.  I'm sure at some point they'll want to go to the actual beach, but for now, Damrascotta Lake is our family's destination place several times throughout the summer.

And Chandler was a complete fruit loop:

He also made sure to eat plenty of sand:

The day ended right in our very own back yard with lots of grahm crackers, marsh mallows, and chocolate!  Naomi was still living with us so she helped start the fire:              

I sure do love these three favorite people of mine.