Stockings are hung by the Chimmeny.....

With Care I mean....DUCT TAPE.

Yes we officially Red necks! hahaha

Merry Christmas!!

Christmas at Grandma Kathy's

Christmas at Grandma Kathy's is full of Christmas cheer. Complete with a yummy Christmas brunch, family, and presents galore.

Renee is super excited for Christmas, to finally be opening presents and about her new teddy bear back pack she is wearing.

Renee opening the twins big gift from Grandma Kathy....a new doll house.

Showing off the dolls and furniture to go with it.

Joe loving his new tea pot, since his mother sent him a ton of homemade hot chocolate. It's become a nightly craving for him these wintry days.

Kendra and Becca both got a pineapple and pineapple cutter.

David with his gift from us. Yes it was picked out by Joe. How did you guess????

Grandma and Grandpa Ray with a few of their Christmas goodies

Renee helping grandma Kathy open her presents too. She loved opening presents!

Both of them helped John open his.

Zoey the pretty princess, loves her gift her cousins gave her.

Kaylee giving great Grandma Ray some love.

Both "grandma's" helping Becca learn how to use her new Christmas gift.

Daddy helped Ryan put this together, i think he had just as much fun as he did ;)

Ryan having a blast playing his star wars super trooper transporter

All the kids enjoyed playing with the new doll house. Thanks again grandma for all the great gifts and wonderful day!

The Nativity

We have a tradition of acting out the Nativity Christmas Eve with their cousins. Zoey is Mary, Ryan is Joseph, and the "babies" change from either being a sheep, an angel, or a star. They were all each of them through out the 10 minute skit. It's a fun night, one where memories were made and cherished.

Once Renee put the Sheep costume on she had it on the rest of the night. She was quite fond of the bell too!

I can't believe it!!!!

The girls have turned 3!!! The day after Christmas is their actual birthday, and we usually don't celebrate it that day since we are recovering from all the hoopla from Christmas. So, since they are still young enough to not know the difference, we can sing to them over a scoop of ice cream. :) Grandma, Aunt Kendra and Cousins Zoey and Abbie came over to help with the singing, which they loved!!!!

It blows my mind to realize that my babies are 3 now, they still seem so small to me. Maybe because they still wear 24 month clothes and aren't potty trained yet and in diapers....but they are growing older despite their young look.

Kaylee is my little "Princess". She has wore a princess dress and princess shoes for the past 6-8weeks. (even to bed for naps!) haha She is a lot like Ryan in many ways, we are noticing she loves to laugh and play, but can be stubborn as a mule! She is very inquisitive always asking questions and is genuinely concerned for each of her family members, she has a heart of gold!

Renee is my little "mommy". She loves to care for babies and others, but also likes to tell them what to do at times haha. She is pretty independent and wants to do it herself..."I DO IT!" she tells me all the time. Which at times is ok since she is a twin and I have to help the other one at something, but does require patience on my part while waiting for her to do it. But on the flip side, she is potty training a lot better than Kaylee. She is very caring and loving and loves every with all her heart!

Merry Christmas indeed!

It was a wonderful Christmas this year. We definitely made memories to last forever,
We loved driving around seeing the Christmas lights and decorations, watching Christmas movies, singing Christmas Carroll's, role playing the Nativity, taking goodies to friends and neighbors, seeing Santa, watching our first ever school performance, visiting family and being visited by family.

But one memory we made this year touched me and I'll remember most...was our trip to the Fire Station. I had been prepping Ryan about this idea I had, I wanted to take gifts to the sick children in the hospital, but since there is a ban on any children under the age of 12 entering the hospitals this time of year I didn't know how to go about it really. Until I saw the Fire department at the Outlets with buckets wanting to collect toys for the children's hospitals...PERFECT! I can take them there! Well my first conversation with Ryan about it didn't go so well. He didn't understand what I was telling him, and ended up crying thinking that I was going to take all his toys to the sick kids. He was almost hysterical, I finally got it across to him what really what was going to happen and things were better. So we went and picked out some toys and took them to the fire station and all my kids willing gave up the toys and put them under the tree. I was amazed and proud! The Firemen were so grateful and expressed it to the kids, and showed them around the station and even onto one of the fire trucks. It was a good feeling, one that left an imprint on my heart.

And we made Christmas work with our meager student budget. It was a fun challenge, but figured out a way to find things for cheap...to which I became quite addicted to garage sales because of it! Everything we got for the kids this year was a product from a garage sale, which they loved and we loved that it didn't cost very much!

Here are pictures of our day

Homemade books from Great Grandma Ray

The girls were thrilled with their new princess Crowns and wands. Kaylee has gotten a kick out of waving it and "freezing us" or turning us into different animals. She laughs and laughs with her new power ;)

Ryan said right before he opened this one....I hope i get a batman shirt! to which he Exclaimed....It is!!! yay!! (He wasn't that excited about his socks in his stocking! haha quite the opposite actually!)

Ryan's tool bench complete with power tools, is a fun for ALL the family toy! haha

The cash registers were a hit!

A best buy worker was extremely helpful they day I went shopping for Joe. I went in for a game for him and came out with the first 4 seasons of the office because they were a fraction of the original price! I'm a sucker for a great deal! and the Office! hahaha

Kaylee's Prized possessions....Princess shoes!! (a costco find last year)

Ryan showing off his Playdo creation and his new Lego Star Wars PJ's

Playdo is always a fun treat!

I love this one... a princess/tomboy! hehehe

Thank you Grandma and Grandpa Blunier

We started our Christmas morning with Ryan waking up and excitedly running out to see "if Santa" had come. And he did!! And he ran over to see if he had eaten the cookies he had left for him, which he was shocked that he did eat them, ALL OF THEM! To which he said....that's why he has such a big fat belly! hahha He was disappointed that his letter he had written to him didn't get taken (note to self) ;) He then patiently waited for baby sisters (and daddy) to wake up before he opened any presents, unlike last year!

So once we all got up, we had some breakfast and a family prayer thanking Heavenly Father for his Son and this blessed season and our family. We started with our presents and first off we started with presents from Grandma and Grandpa Blunier





It says....I love my family. He had to get creative when fitting in the all the letters. haha

The kids loved the gifts. The quilts were amazing! thanks for sending something all the way out this way! The kids sure love you and miss you!

Look what I learned today!

Today Ryan conquered his fears of the "monkey bars" and made it across ALL BY HIMSELF!! GO Ryan!!

(yes we went to the outlets to play right after our "breakfast with Santa and the kids are in the PJ's...there are no rules for kids, no fashion police thank goodness! haha)

And then, this is what his "baby sisters" were up to right after that..."TIME OUT" for running away and not listening to mommy! uh oh! So yes, I recorded this wonderful memory as well. :) Because looking back it will make us laugh....someday!!

Here Comes Santa Claus!

We had a church activity on Saturday...."Breakfast with Santa".
It's great, we get to see Santa (for free) and they feed us pancakes and bacon.
It is a fun activity, the kids love it, especially because they "have" to come in their PJ's.
I love it because I get to cross "seeing Santa" off of the Christmas to do list, and I don't have a breakfast mess to clean up at my house, yay! :)

Here are the pictures and videos.....Enjoy! and Merry Christmas.
RYAN



RENEE




KAYLEE

Ryan practicing being Santa Claus. Renee is giving him her list, but Kaylee is not so sure.

They all Loved Santa this year, which is an improvement from last year.. ..Kaylee Bawled, and Renee was "unsure". hahaha Renee was loving it FORSURE this year...look at that face!! hehe

How do you eat your Cheerios??

This is how an almost 3year old girl does when she finds her big brothers Lego sword at the breakfast table!!

Hope you are smiling now! :)

Batman Birthday Boy

Ryan wanted a Batman party this year for his birthday. So batman it was! He already had the batman costume, so it was pretty easy to throw together. I made capes for the boys and had them running around doing obstacle courses and relay races, (for fun, but also because it was pretty chilly that day!)

Here are the pictures and some videos of the party for you to enjoy




Which one of these is not like the other??




Ryan starts off the super hero obstacle course

Eli's turn , Watch his fancy foot work!


Renee is light on her feet!


Run Kaylee run!! She is lightening fast!

Ready, Set, GO!!!!

Bat-Girl Renee


Then we played a fun seeking game. I had hid these batman signs in the sand with just a little bit sticking out and they had to use their super hero vision to find them. They loved it


Then with all the Batman powers they had, they needed to protect Gotham City (or the Park) from the villains lurking out in the perimeter. So they went off and captured a villain and destroyed him. They loved that one too. We played it several times!



Yes I was their side kick "Robyn"
My mom had made that costume for me when I was in high school or college, i think because David was a batman on year too.

Time to rest, and recharge with some snacks.

It was REALLY windy that day, so lighting the candles didn't happen, but it didn't stop the singing or any fun

They didn't even notice I'm sure!

The birthday song...HI-YA!!!

Ryan loved every present his friends and grandma brought for him. I love this expression we captured!

And while we were all paying attention to Ryan opening his gifts....the girls took the liberty of licking off the frosting of the remaining cupcakes!! At least they were helping each other and not fighting over them I guess!

Happy birthday Batman Ryan! May all your dreams come true this year. I love you

Mom

P.S.

What a fun party!!