Merry Christmas!

I hope everyone had a great Christmas! We could not have been more blessed. Below is our family Christmas picture, taken by Natalie (my sis) of course. KatieLynn shows off some new games: Noah's Ark go fish & Bible memory.

Dean loves his new green boots!

KatieLynn passes out a present to Daddy (we did one at a time), as Daddy tries to get new tractor out of package.

KatieLynn helps me open presents.

Darren's parents with grandkids: Emma, Dean, & KatieLynn

My mother (Bebe) with KatieLynn & Dean

We had our 1st Christmas Wednesday, the 23rd at Darren's parents (Gigi & Papoo). We all got enough there to last for the whole Christmas! KatieLynn's favorite presents were a teaset and leapfrog scribble & write. Dean's favorites were big CAT backhoe and leapfrog scribble & write. The next night we spent Christmas Eve at Darren's grandpa's. It was great to visit everyone, and the kids enjoyed playing with all their cousins! All the kids were very anxious to open presents, which we of course did at the end of the night. :)

Christmas Day the kids woke up after 7am (I think that was their present to us!), but got in the swing of things very quickly!! Santa brought a digital camera (KL) and a John Deere planter (D -Darren went and bought on Christmas Eve! Dean had talked about asking for lots of different implements: shredder, mower, planter, and also construction. I had gotten wooden construction trucks before Thanksgiving... but for the last week and a half all he talked about was the planter. I told Darren it didn't matter, that he'd be happy with whatever, but Darren said he needed the planter... so we put the construction up for another event). KatieLynn and Dean were just as excited to pass out presents as they were to open thier own. Fun times!!

We headed to Brenham for lunch. We had a great visit with everyone, including Johnny & Lauren. We all got lots of goods there too, including a double stroller, girl train, game, and Strawberry Shortcake for KatieLynn, and remote dumptruck and conveyor, mater, construction magnets, bulldozer, and dumptruck for Dean. Then the next day we drove to west Texas to get together with my dad's family in Miles, and my mom's family in Robert Lee (San Angelo area). I enjoyed catching up with lots of my cousins and extended family.

We came home Sunday night, and began the cleanup of the present tornado! Things look much better now, we have kind of found homes for all the new stuff and trash pickup came this morning. :) I imagine I'll start boxing up our Christmas decor tomorrow. It will be sad... but much less clutter.

Santa Visit

Guess where we went to visit Santa? The John Deere store (in Navasota), of course! It was a FUN morning! The kids both won 1st place in the pedal tractor races for their age groups (I didn't take my camera. :( ) and recieved tractor toys as a result. They loved looking at all the toys, and Darren got some shopping done! Then, they of course, visited Santa. Dean wanted (inside) dirt, but decided to ask for a shredder instead. KatieLynn wanted a digital camera and Strawberry Shortcake dolls, but decided to ask Santa for the SS dolls, but the next day, she changed her mind, and wrote him a letter asking for a 'digigal camera please'. (which is good since I ordered the camera at Thanksgiving!!)

Christmas Program at preSchool

Last Thursday was KatieLynn's Christmas program at school. She was so excited, and has been singing the songs for weeks! Her program started at 7:30pm, and that is VERY close to her 8pm bedtime, which is very important since she only naps occasionally. She did sing some, but she also looked around and yawned a lot, not the big performance she would have given an hour earlier... but she had a great time just the same. And I was proud of her just the same as if she had a lead part in the whole show! It made me emotional just to see her walking up on stage (with her class); she's growing so fast! I didn't get many pics, due to lighting, but Dean behaved great; I was proud of him too!

Gingerbread House

Ever since I bought a gingerbread house kit in late October, the kids have been anxious to complete it! I kept telling them that we had to wait until Thanksgiving, so Thanksgiving morning, they were ready!! They had a wonderful time putting it together and decorating it! They both said it was the best part of their day when they went to bed that night. :)

I let them start eating some the next day. They mostly eat all the candy and icing off!