Dec 27th Christmas at Grandpa's

 I know, I know I am trying to catch up!
Christmas at Grandpa Mickey's and Grandma Claire was wonderful. It was complete with LOTS of snow, yummy food, great presents, relaxing movie time, sledding and skiing!

 

Pierson and Maylin were a bit fond of the present part of the trip! To say they have been spoiled this Christmas is putting it mildly! : )
The bug vacuum was a great hit. Unfortunately there aren't a lot of  bugs in the dead of winter in the Mountains. It will come in handy this spring when those critters start coming back out.

tThere were keyboards, light projectors, scarves, hats, candy... and more! Thanks guys! Pierson and Maylin have enjoyed  all of their presents!

 They had a lot of fun sledding and crashing!

Maylin looking a little disheveled after a nice tumble! She is a tough little cookie.

 I personally love the ski goggle look on Pierson!

And Finally Maylin had enough. She peeked back out to let everyone else know that they were crazy for staying out and freezing!

A White Christmas After All

Their first snowfall came on Christmas day! Beautiful! 

Can you tell that Pierson was in a hurry to get outside and see his first snowfall?!!!

 He was almost panicked trying to get his gloves on! So cute!

 Awe struck!

 The girls were in the bath when we discovered that it was snowing. So we bundled them up quickly and brought them to the door to see.

. 

First snow sighting! Priceless expression!

 She couldn't go out in bare feet so Daddy let her reach out to try and catch a few flakes!

 Even Uncle Ian was excited!!!

 Maylin just couldn't take it she had to go get bundled up so she could get out there and experience it too!

We all got a little wound up after realizing that it was snowing.  Daddy tried to teach the girls the happy dance!

 And like perfect little puppets they mimicked every move he made!

 Laughter all the way! If you can't "hear" the joy in this picture you need to readjust your heart. : )
Once we got all of the wiggles and giggles out of our system the kids finally made it to bed.  And the dogs...

they have never been so relieved! (These are two tired puppies!)
Christmas 2010 has come to a close. We look forward to celebrating a new year with friend and family.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

The Christmas Dinner Table

It was a casual Christmas Dinner but a nice quaint one.

 The adult table.

 The kid table. (light courtesy of Pierson's exploring backpack.)

 The adult table.

The kids table! 

Oh how they make me laugh (notice a few of them were still actually in their pajamas!) How wonderful is to have such a laid back family to spend Christmas Day with! 

Christmas Morning Part II

Unwrapping presents with 5 kids is nothing but...

 FUN!!!

 It is even fun letting them help you open your own presents!

 Stockings Stocking everyone!

 After the dust from the wrapping paper settled it was time to check out the "cool factor" of all the loot! Pierson and Maylin make pretty awesome little rock stars! : )

 Runaway brides!!! Kylie and Darcy took off with their veils and dresses. Before we knew it they were heading to the woods! lol

 Never fear! Pierson was there with his "exploration backpack" to hunt them down!

 Chaucer was even enjoying his Christmas present! A DURABLE squeaky ball!

Christmas Rush

Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house not a creature was stirring... uh, actually their were five little creatures stirring who needed to get to bed so that Santa could come! Uncle Ian and Daddy did story time with the kids at 11:45 Christmas Eve. Yeah, it was a little late. But with our family traditions of fondue after the Christmas Eve service it is hard to get to bed any earlier! 

 Pierson was very excited about leaving milk and cookies for Santa. He even left a note for him. If you click on the picture to enlarge it you can read his note and the note Santa left for them!!! Around 5am Pierson came to our room and with WIDE eyes said, "Mom! Santa ate da cookies!"I jumped up and said "HE DID! Show me!" Fortunately Pierson wasn't ready to be fully awake so after we checked out the cookie crumbs he easily went back to sleep. I was a little worried thinking we were going to be up for the day!

With five little ones five years old and under we were up at 6:00 am waiting patiently for the Mom's and Dad's to get the camera ready... Right?

  Ummm nope! Not these sleepy heads! Fortunately we were smart enough to ask Santa to leave their presents in a box in the foyer so the last child up didn't miss any of the excitement. Who might you ask was the last one up?  That would be my little Maylin! At 10:00am we started making A LOT of noise to wake her up. (Much to her dislike). Before long she was all smiles and ready to take part in the chaos of Christmas morning. While the Mom's went to bring in the presents from Santa the Dad's kept the kids wrangled in the back bedroom. Here they all are smiling big for Jesus' birthday... 

 

Wait a second. Where's Caleb?

There he is! That silly little boy was hiding under the bed!

With all of the kids lined up waiting with anticipation we got the camera's ready to go!

5,4,3,2,1 GO!!!!

 

Hurray for Santa ! We are so glad that he gets so excited about Jesus' birthday that he brings all the boys and girls who believe in Jesus presents! (That is the best explanation we could come up with to explain why Santa didn't visit them in Taiwan. And it helps keep Jesus in Christmas! Something we to easily forget.) Merry Christmas everyone!

Maylin's First Ever Christmas Present!

Again this was on Dec 24th (see previous post)

This little girl was so excited! She could hardly stand it. But... She did NOT want to rip her paper. What tedious children I have...

for a few moments anyway! Then it was rips away!

It was her dream come true! She got the pink CD player that she had wanted so badly!

Now for the silly side note of Maylin's first Christmas present:
A little over a month ago our Sunday school class had a huge yard sale to raise money for the orphanage we adopted in Honduras. (it was great! We raised almost $6,000) My mom kept the kids that morning while we worked. Towards the end she brought them by to see what we were doing.
Maylin saw this CD player and 'fell in love' with it! I know, I know, how tacky is it to buy your child's first Christmas present from a yard sale? Well I didn't think it was that bad of an idea... she really wanted it, AND it was going to help orphans. So... I tucked it under some things in the car and home that little thing went. Before I wrapped it Adam checked it to make sure it actually worked... well... apparently things can work one month and without ever being touched can be broken the next! Yep, that is right! Broken! That cute little grin on her face turned to to most pathetic little frown you have ever seen. Am I working on Mom of the year award or what!?  The smile returned after we promised her we would go buy her one that worked! She said, "O-Kay, You Pwomise  Momma?"
I promise baby girl!  Momma learned her lesson!

Pierson's First Ever Christmas Present!

It was actually Dec 24th when Adam and I gave the kids their Christmas presents from us. Christmas day was going to be OVERWHELMING enough. We thought it would be best to space things out a bit.

 He was being such a gentle 'unwrapper'.

"To infinity and Beyond!" It was Buzz Lightyear!

A silly side note: When I let the kids help me put ribbons on the presents I also let them carry the gifts from the bedroom to living room... While Pierson was carrying this particular box it exclaimed. "I'm Buzz Lightyear! I come in peace!" ...well the cat got out of that bag!  His eyes got huge and his grin even larger! He immediately knew what was in that box. Oh well... you win some, you lose some! I still don't know how/why Buzz decided to talk at that very moment!  Really Buzz you need to work on your timing! : )