Christmas Day with most of my Family

Christmas Day my sister Dina and her husband, James came over for dinner and to open stockings. We get to celebrate Christmas in January with my whole family when Crisi, Rickey and Leah fly up! I can't wait!!

We had a great day with everyone having a nice ham dinner, lots of sweets, stockings, and finished off with a movie. There were lots of lightsaber battles, IronMan running around, as well as the Incredible Hulk. We also were able to enjoy the snow. It was so beautiful and fun to watch it come down on Christmas day.

James, Brian and Dina.

Grammy, Collin and Papa.

Isn't Allison so cute in her Christmas dress?

My cousin Megan and Allison.

Allison got stuck in a big piece of styrofoam. Being the good mom I am I took a picture rather than help her out!

Christmas Morning

Christmas eve was lots of fun with Fred and Trina, and shortly after they left my parents and cousin, Megan arrived. We had a nice evening visiting, and then getting the excited kidlets to sleep. They decided to sleep in the family room (which is where the fireplace where Santa would come down if he was real is located.). Collin was pretty sure that Santa doesn't exist, but not convinced enough that he totally wrote it off. He and Brian brought their sleeping bags in and got comfy in the recliner and couch. They were planning on catching Santa in the act. Brian even went so far as to say that he was going to sleep with his eyes open. Collin set some "traps" so that he would hear if Santa came. He put loud toys all over the floor in front of the fireplace. Then he wrote a note to Santa that said "Dear Santa, This is Collin W. Sorry for all the pain but I need to know if you are real." We were trying so hard not to crack up and he was so serious! Once they finally fell asleep we snuck over and filled the stockings that were hanging over the fireplace. In the morning we asked them if Santa was real and if he came. Collin still isn't sure since he fell asleep, but Brian is convinced that he is real because there were presents in their stockings!

Surprisingly we were able to sleep in Christmas morning. At least Steve and I were able to. My parents who were sleeping in the living room were not so lucky. (hee hee hee) Once we got up and drank some coffee I made a very healthy breakfast that consisted of cheesy buscuits with lots of butter and scones with red and green white chocolate chips. Okay, not so healthy but awfully good! At around 9:30 I think it was the kids were finally opening stockings! They were so patient all morning.

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care.

Allison and Papa

Brian lounging in his new Iron Man jammies.

Glow in the dark Transformer underwear! Woo hoo!!

Just hangin out by the food. Her favorite thing.

Eating scones and biscuits.

The boys waiting so patiently to open their presents.

Allison showing Megan her new toys.

Allison and Grammy

The boys each got 2 lightsabers and Allison was quick to grab one and join in the battle!

Superman!

Allison's new "cell" phone. She was so excited and can be seen walking all over with it.

Christmas Eve with the Williams Families

Christmas eve we were able to get together with Steve's side of the family (minus his parents). We had a good time opening gifts, eating sweets, drinking coffee and playing cards.

Some of the cousins being silly.

Andrew carrying Allison and so proud of himself.

Levi and Trina waiting to open gifts.

The Week Before Christmas

Are you in for the long haul. Here it is the week after Christmas and have I got some photos for you! We were happy to have Steve home for the whole week of Christmas, and as a bonus the last 2 days the week before that because of the snow! It was nice to have all 5 of us home for that long and it was hard to see Steve go back to work yesterday. I'm glad that school doesn't start until next week though. It would have been even harder jumping right back into all routines so suddenly!

We had a great week getting ready for Christmas. There was baking with the kids, last minute shopping, playing in the snow and then of course getting together with family. Here are some pics highlighting our week.

Collin made peppermint bark all by himself and did a great job!

Brian and I had fun cutting out the cookies.

The boys lasted through about 3 cookies and then left the rest for Steve to finish!

Allison has started climbing. She even tries to climb onto the coffee table but luckily it is too tall for her yet.

This is what we woke up to in the garage one morning. Yep, snowing in the garage!

Brian playing with one of his birthday toys.

Collin also playing with one of his birthday toys.

Our camera was having issues, so you'll just have to trust me that the boys are sledding here. Brian is coming down the hill, and Collin is walking back up.

Christmas program

This year both boys were able to participate in the Christmas program at church. They were very excited, especially Collin as he had a speaking part. He got to be a wiseman. It was a lot of fun to watch, and kept us laughing so hard (especially the preschoolers!).

Here is Collin with another wiseman. The 3rd wiseman was sick so they had to have a substitute.

This is the preschool program. Brian is in the back row. He somehow was able to sneak up to the stage before all the other kids. He wanted to be up there first!

Here he is doing the motions to Away in a Manger.

Here you can see the boys starting to lose it. Why did they put the boys together? They tried to separate them, and Brian ended up laying down so of course everyone laughed. It was all he could talk about for a week. He would say "remember when I layed down on stage and everyone laughed? That was great!" What a ham!

Here is Collin as a wiseman.

They are singing We Three Kings.

They are being interviewed by the news while they visit King Herod. It was a really cute program and they did such a great job.

I believe this actually catches me up on my blogging! FINALLY! Now let's see how long it takes me to post about Christmas! Ha ha. Just in case it takes awhile I hope you all have a Merry Christmas and a happy new year!

Must be nice in Vermont this time of year, all that snow.

Snow, snow, snow, snow, SNOW! Yes, I'll admit it I have White Christmas on my mind. I'm thinking I may have to watch it tonight after work. How can I help it with Christmas in just 4 days and tons of snow in our yard!! I LOVE IT!!!! Did I mention that I LOVE IT??

The kids have had lots of fun playing in the snow, and with new snow boots and snow pants for all we are set. I don't think I need to say a whole lot as the pictures say it all. I will however share my frustrations with our camera. We took the kids sledding at Collin's school where they have a nice sledding hill, and the camera apparently decided it was too cold to take pictures. So the kids going down the hill, Brian and I going flying off the sled, and Allison in her marshmallow-man snow suit will have to be memories we keep in our mind instead of being able to share with you all. Needless to say I was less than happy.

Here is a pic of Brian's gingerbread house he made on a preschool field trip. They went to one of the elementary schools and each preschooler had an elementary student helping them build it. He had lots of fun, and wanted to eat his house really bad. Eventually he did (gross!) but he loved it.

This was Collin's winter concert at school. I think it may have been the last evening activity before everything was cancelled because of the snow.

This is before school which was an hour late on Wednesday. Apparently the sled wasn't working very well, so he solved that problem.

This is just a few hours later. Notice how much more snow we have? Fun!!

I had fun decorating the window a couple weeks ago, and had to get a picture of that plus the "real" snow on the outside.

Collin eating the snow.


Snow mustache insteade of a milk mustache.

Allison watching her brothers play in the snow and trying to get out there too.

Collin face planting in the snow!