Christmas 2010 "Just what I always wanted!!"

 The kids actually slept in Christmas morning which was a bit of a shocker, but very nice for Rance and I to be able to get up and drink a cup of coffee before the craziness began. The kids were very excited to see Santa had brought them a lot of presents and the the reindeer had ate the carrots they left out for them.

 Cade dug into his stocking with great excitement and everything he pulled out of it was "Just what I always wanted"

 Every present he opened was also "Just what I always wanted"! Good to know he like all of his presents!

 Avery also loved every present she opened and of course her favorite was the babydoll and the Disney princess sleeping bag.

 Santa even brought Rance something

Princess markers even for the little princess.

Getting our Christmas Tree

 We procrastinated a bit about getting our Christmas tree and finally went to get it 10 days before Christmas.  We saw a neat looking rock along the way that looks a lot like a dragon or some kind of reptile so I had to include a photo it along with our Christmas tree photo.

 The kids had fun tramping thru the snow looking for our tree.

Cade and Scooby

 Cade was helping decorate the house and was very excited about getting out his Scooby Doo stocking that sings.

Here was the picture I had to take of Scooby because the first one was of Cade!

Christmas

We traveled to Ronan this year to spend Christmas with Rance's family. The kids made out like bandits and had a great time playing with Sydney and Kenzie. I didn't do very well taking pictures as I didn't get any of anybody except Cade and Avery! Christmas was busy though, we got to Dee and Larry's on Christmas eve in time for Christmas dinner and Santa then had to go to a Christmas party at the Jackson's. Christmas morning we took it easy then headed over to Grandpa Harlen's house for more presents and fun, after that we went to Tom and Val Bartel's for another Christmas party. Saturday we took it easy and Sunday we went home.

The ride home was a little long as the morning we were getting ready to leave Cade woke up sick. But all in all a great Christmas and the truck was piled high with presents when we left! After we got home my parents brought up more presents for the kids and Rance and I. The kids were quite spoiled this year. Avery got 5 baby dolls! They were even all different and she loves every single one of them. Cade also got a great tent that has provided endless hours of fun. Avery got a kitchen that I spent two hours putting together, but was worth it as the kids spend a lot of time cooking there now.

Santa Comes to Grandma Dee's house

Cade was the first person and the most excited person in the house to spot Santa walking in the door at Grandma Dee's house.

He was so excited he kept jumping up and down and telling all the other kids "It's Santa, it's Santa!" He even passed around a few hugs.

And then he waited and waited and waited while Santa handed out presents to everyone.

He started to get pretty concerned when his name wasn't called within the first eight people or so. He was just going over to Rance to tell him that Santa didn't have anything for him when lo and behold his name got called!

Sitting on Santa's lap.

The start of Christmas

We went to Ronan for Christmas this year and so instead of hauling all of our presents to the kids up and back we opened presents the night before we left on the 23rd. The kids thought this was great. They made out pretty well. Cade got the walkie talkie he had been telling us he was going to get since Thanksgiving and Avery loved her my little ponies. Next stop Ronan!

A white Christmas

Christmas eve we went down to my parents house for dinner with them, Jami, Robert and family and Dad's good friends Billy and Gail Williams. We stopped for tea and fudge at my Aunt Nancy's house before we went down and had a good time visiting.
We let the kids open some presents. Mostly Cade opened up Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head and was ready to quit opening presents and play with them and Avery played with the wrapping paper.
They made a pretty good haul. They both got a nice outfit and lots of toys!

Christmas morning we stayed home and ate breakfast before we opened presents. Rance and I decided we ought to since in a couple of years we will have to open presents first and then eat breakfast or the kids will be driving us crazy! Cade got these great Johnny tractor slippers from Landa and family. His favorite present is a gun from his Dad that makes shooting noises when you pull the trigger. He wore out the batteries by dinnertime.


Avery really liked the little doll I got her and Cade managed to lose it within a couple of hours. We are still looking for it. Rance is going to go thru the garbage tomorrow if it doesn't turn up soon. Mom and Dad and Jami and kids came up for dinner again. All in all a very laid back and relaxing Christmas. Dee and Larry were going to come down, but due to snow and road conditions they decided not to and we decided not to venture out to visit anyone. Cade and Carter had a ball playing together and she didn't want to go home very bad.

Christmas Tree

We finally got our Christmas tree put up with just over a week left till Christmas. Rance went out and found this great little Charlie brown tree on Wednesday. We decorated it Thursday night and it fell over on Friday morning. It is back up, hopefully to stay until we decide to take it down after Christmas.


Cade had a great time helping decorate. Although most of the ornaments were too heavy for the tree and kept falling off. I finished up the rest of my Christmas shopping today and got everything all wrapped up. Cade has been pretty good with the presents he was pretty upset when I wouldn't let him open any.

Christmas Cookies

Gretchen held a cookie exchange again this year. I made this little Santa cookies. Rance told me they look more like reindeer to him. Whatever cookies are cookies and they were pretty easy to do. I even let Cade help a little. They didn't look quite like the pictures in the recipe book but I don't really look like Martha Stewart either.

Here is Cade and Rance sampling the cookies while Cade plays cowboy in his safari explorer hat.

Santa's Little Helpers

I am slowly getting all of the Christmas stuff drug out. I have yet to convince Rance to get us a tree to put up. He must be feeling a little Grinchy this year. He wants it to be snowy out, not too soon, not too cold etc before we go and put one up. Cade and Avery were excited when I found the Christmas hats. I couldn't get a picture where they were both wearing a hat but I got a really good one of each of them.

What a handsome little man!

Avery looks like she is doing some kind of Mexican dance!