un-snow days......

 During Christmas break the kids were at my house a few days to hang out and play.

I'm always trying to find things to do with them,

to keep them busy and entertained.

Usually I would shove them outside to play in the snow,

but none to be found!

So this day:

we made crazy hair!

spiky                    wavy                spiky

 They thought this was great!

A little gel

a triple curling iron

viola!

For lunch we made homemade pizza

with a twist!

WE took cookie cutters and made our individual holiday pizza's!

Added some cheese and pepperoni,

baked them,

devoured them!

This little guy had two gingerbread men pizza's!

Ellery had a giant heart,

and Calvin had two giant ice cream cone shaped pizza's!

{I ate the leftovers...a gingerbread man head, part of a star, and part of a heart}

They kept busy all day with all the new toys!

And as you can see...

I kept busy playing with my new Ipod

messing around with all the funky settings :)

Christmas with the Barricks'

Christmas Day we gathered at Josh & Jina's place in Shokapee.

They made a wonderful dinner,

wine,

and snacks! 

The little boys ran around the house like mad men,

while the big boys played darts outside in the garage.

Breck got so much nice stuff

including a hockey net, hockey stick, pucks/balls....

and big boy potty!

Something we have been working on

and he is doing soo good

{some days better then others}

It was a FUN Christmas day spent with the family!

*more pictures to come when I get them from other familie members since I asked my husband to take pictures and he only took video.

LOVE ;)

The JOY of Christmas morning...

I think I may have been more excited then Mr. B

I was up at 7:30, our usual time...

and B slept in till 8:45!

This year was SO much fun,

with a toddler,

who was excited about the gifts Mr. Clause brought for him :)

A stocking

full of...

cars, footballs, a red flute, sippy cups, and sporks!

Jerod & I got him this cute airplane bean bag chair/toy!

He calls his rocket,

I think because he watches Little Einstein's and sings the theme song

"we're going on a trip in our favorite rocket ship"

Chillin' with his spork and cup!

Then he trotted around the house with his new tool set from his great aunt & uncle & cousin's!

He loves to "fic" things!

 It took a lot of convincing to get him to take off his new John Deere hat & Elmo slippers!

Jerod bought Breck this amazing toy popper...

story behind this:

Yesterday when Maizy opened up her new vacuum from Barrick/Jones'...

Breck immediately fell in love with it {even though when I pull out the vacuum at home he screams and sits on the couch not moving an inch till I'm done"}

So Jerod went to look for one for him and couldn't find it,

so he bought this instead!

It SEEMS to do the trick,

although sometimes he brings it to us and says vacuum??? {like really dad, this isn't a vacuum durr}

Our morning was great!

We sat around playing with our new toys,

eating breakfast,

and enjoying Christmas morning day!

Breck playing the jazz flute!

Celebration of Christmas

with the

Smith Family!

We celebrated a little early this year so the whole family could be together.

and why wouldn't g'ma & g'pa start the kids out with a gift of a

ginormous Hershey bar!

i know remember why the kids didn't want to go to bed...

sugar high!

The stinkin' cute nieces & nephews:

from chubby round cheeks,

all blonde's,

and so far blue eyes??

Smith gene's must be strong!

Waiting for Santa with g'pa!

See his little eye in the corner of the window?!

This was put on my deck a couple years ago..

and now I've returned the favor :)

And these people?!

They are my family.

This year we had an ugly sweater party..

this just added to the craziness of my family

but we sure had fun!

We play the "white elephant game" every year.

Some of the best gifts this year were the John Deere suspenders given to Brian

{pretty sure my brother's "helped" him attach them...along with a wedge}

and my gift of mustaches!

Every year..so much fun

Everyone left on Saturday afternoon to get to other families houses to celebrate.

It's so sad when everyone has to leave and seems as though the time has gone to fast.

But, we have so much fun and have so many memories to last until next year!

family picture 2011

After we went home for a quick nap

we met the family at church for the candle lit service..

then back to mom & dad's for left overs!!

Dad's Christmas mojito drink,

and some games!

Then home early to bed....

to wait for Santa to come and open gifts at home from each other

and another busy day of Christmas with the Barrick's!

Cheers!

2 days till Christmas....

Fun post #2.

Time with my "meema"

She makes playing so much fun

and when it's time to leave,

I want to leave with her!

3 day's till Christmas...

Fun post #3.

Spending time with this guy.

Jerod took off a couple days before and after the holidays
{to spend time with us of course}

or...

to sleep in a bit,

fix/work on thing around the house,

AND

of course spend time with Mr. B

while I got some quality Mrs.Mom Being Alone time too!

The best was all of us snuggly on the couch for nap time :)

I like this guy.

A little bit ;)

4 days till Christmas.....

Fun post #4.

DECORATING FOR CHRISTMAS!

It's my favorite time of year to decorate the house.

Although this year was a bit harder to get into the spirit because of the lack of snow!

Usually when it's a cold, blowing, snowy day...

is when I put up the tree and other fun holiday decor.

I LOVE my new runner

&

Pier One Christmas tree ornament holder!!
thanks mom.