Time for an Update!

I hope you and your family had a wonderful and memorable Christmas! We had a wonderful time with those close to us! We are so blessed! We started our Christmas celebration by spending Saturday with my mom's brother and sister and their families. It was so good to see all of my cousins and spend time hanging out with them.

We then headed to St. Charles to see my hubby's side of the family. We look forward to Christmas vacation each year because this means we get to spend time with his Uncle and Aunt who come in town from Florida. We usually only get to see them once a year, so we always anxiously await this time of year. We spent the evening catching up and eating pizza.

Christmas Eve we woke up and exchanged presents with my mom-in-law. It was fun and relaxing. We then headed to Bema and Papa's house where we had fresh baked scones. After hanging out for a while our next stop was to my hubby's cousins' home for a gathering with extended family and friends. Santa even stopped by for a very quick visit to give each of the kids a present and then he was headed on to his next stop.

After fellowship with family and friends we headed back to Bem and Pap's house to exchange presents with them and Unc. and Aunt. We also ate some great food! Then, back in the car and headed back home. The kids fell asleep on the way. We even scored a babysitter so that we could attend the 11:00pm service at church. We then curled up in bed to await the early rising of the children. We actually got to sleep past 8:00am. Then we had a morning with us and the kids and we enjoyed watching them delight in their gifts. We then rushed together again, threw some clothes in a bag, left the house a mess, and headed out the door to my parens' home. We had a great breakfast followed by a morning of presents and playing.

One tradition with my family is to search for the pickle ornament that is hidden on the Christmas tree; so we spent time participating in this activity. Whoever finds the ornament receives an extra gift, which every year is cash taped to a HUGE candy cane. This year there was a new twist to the pickle prize. Finding the pickle ornament was only the first part of the game. We then had three other competitions to see who won the final prize.



The points were broked down:
Find the pickle
Win Christmas Trivia
Flip the coin game
Wii bowling
My lil sis found the pickle and she ended up winning the whole thing as well. It was fun that lasted all day! What a great idea! Christmas evening we had a visitor that we hadn't seen in 10 years. In high school we had a foreign exchange student from Russia, Olga, who lived with us for several months. After ten years she came back to see us during her trip to the US. We stayed up late catching up and having fun.

My hubby, lil sis,her boyfriend, and I all played Pudgie Bunny. A game where you stuff marshmallows in your mouth until the point of almost choking. It was hilarious! FYI: I won!

Needless to say we had a great time this Christmas! It has been one of my favorite Christmas' so far! As I get older I cherish the time spent with those I love more than any present I could open! God coninues to bless me in so many ways!

Binkie update: AKP has successfully given up her binkie and moved onto thumbsucking at night time.

STAY TUNED FOR MORE PICS! I HAVEN'T UPLOADED PICS FROM MY CAMERA YET!