Christmas Eve Will Find Me...

Ahh, it is Christmas Eve. :)

We are continuing our family tradition of going to see a movie this afternoon. It's not so much which movie we see but that we go. Some movies we've seen on Christmas Eve were not something I would pick but the popular vote trumps all other selections.  Every now and then I can be found to be napping in the theater.  I am not sure if a nap is in order yet for this year's movie pick. We are going to see the Hobbit. :)  Two of the boys have already seen it but really wanted to see it again and everyone else seemed to be on board with that as well so the Hobbit it is!  

Update: 
We went to see The Hobbit and we all enjoyed it.  I will admit to napping a time or two but was promptly nudged when I did. :)  

After the movie we came home, had hot chocolate and read from the scriptures about the birth of the Savior.  After reading we each shared memories of Christmases past then the kids each opened a present.  Each year the kids draw names and they get a present for the person whose name they drew and that is the Christmas Eve present that they open. 

The stockings were hung from the chimney with care....

Annah with her gift from Abigail

Annah showing the back...Abigail's taping job....masking tape!!

Abigail with her present from Annah

Jacob with his from Andrew

Andrew with his gift from Jordan

Jordan with his gift from Jacob...yes, with part of a hamburger wrapper that was tangled in the wrapping! Those Twinkies might be worth a lot of money on eBay!

 Kids, cats and dog... :)

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

Family Photos....

In October we had some family pictures done.  

We don't get them done often. We had some done in 2005 just before young Tim was leaving for his 2 years to the Canada Montreal Mission and we had some done in 2009, just before Jordan left for his mission Brazil. The 2009 picture was missing both young Tim and Andrew. And now, this current family picture was missing young Tim. (He is married and living in Tempe, Arizona so he isn't near by to join us this time.) But, 5 of the six kids were here and on a cold, blustery Kentucky day we met up with Kim Conner, who works with Tim.  She does photography on the side and she offered to take our family pictures as payment for Tim always fixing her computer. :)  I love her work!  

We had such a fun time laughing and shivering from start to finish! Thanks Kim for the magic you work with your lens!

You can click on the pictures to see a larger version of each. :)

Jacob age 18

Andrew age 25

Jordan age 22

Abigail age 15

Annah age 13 (it was her birthday the day we did the pictures!)

This is the picture that the girls like the best.:)

We Need A Little Christmas...

Ahhh, December, I do love you! Cold weather, each day hoping for snow, Christmas lights and music...my list goes on.  It really is "the most wonderful time of the year"! 

At the very end of November we were driving out of our driveway one day when a voice from the back seat said, "I feel like such a loser! We are the only ones with no Christmas decorations up." BWHAHAHAHAHA!  Poor Annah.  What a shame she has such loser parents who didn't put up decorations at the crack of dawn the day after Thanksgiving.  

Nope, not us...because we were sleeping in after an almost midnight run to Target for a little (VERY little) Black Friday shopping!  Yeah, what a mistake that was. You'd think that we would "get it" after all these years that we are not cut out for Black Friday shopping.  The only reason we do it is that the girls love the thrill of it even though we don't buy enough to even justify the traffic back ups, the crowds and long lines! 

This year we stood in line at Target for 1 hour and 45 minutes to purchase 3 DVD's, 1 CD, a wallet, a scarf, a 5" bottle brush Christmas tree, and a purse.  Yup, that was it.  But, we did have a delightful time laughing and cutting up with some girls behind us.  As the long line weaved through the store aisles one of the girls picked up a candle and smelled it.  Apparently she didn't think anyone but her friends could hear her when she smiled and said, "If a guy smelled like that, I would follow him!" Without missing a beat Jacob said, "What scent is that?"  BWHAHAHAHAHA!  The girl who said it turned 20 shades of red and became mute. :)  

But back to December.... We did manage to finally pull ourselves out of the "loser parent" category by getting some outside lights up, putting the tree up, making a gingerbread house, some cookies and a few crafts.   

The decorating committee....

The inspector... (cushy job!)

Annah got angel topper duty with Jordan being the anchor man. :)

Snowmen donuts...oh yeah!:)

The gingerbread house in all it's glory!

Jordan made the skiing Santa and I made the dog

Jordan, the proud sculptor of gumdrops...

Abigail making a sugar cone tree....

Annah's snowman....

The gingerbread house building team!

Abigail and Annah making snowman ornaments...

In the midst of the fun we've also had a bit of crankiness here and there. We are certainly not a "picture perfect" family but in the midst of the crankiness we continue to laugh and have a good time.  

This is a note that Annah wrote to her teacher (cookies included) to thank her for taking her home after her brother, who shall remain nameless, left her stranded at the school when he was supposed to pick her up. :(

Life lesson: Never eat the sugar cone trees....

 It's never good try to stand up a slumping snowman from behind because you run the risk of messing up his face...Abigail!

And never look behind the gingerbread house because you just

 might find a Snowman/Grinch massacre! 

(What happens behind the house STAYS behind the house!!)

  And the real indication of crankiness at home is reflected in the (hard to read) grocery list on the dry erase board:

Cheez-its

Onion powder

Strawberry jelly

S'more pop-tarts

and a mystery person added:

Cheerfulness. :)

Gotta love this family...most days! :) Here's to another wonderful year 

 soon to be here!