Christmas 2011

Christmas this year was great...and I got a new laptop! (Thank you to the best husband EVER!) 

Warning......Picture Overload!

(and I have NO idea why halfway through the pictures got huge!)

Sarah and I baked...

and these were so cute that no one ate them!

Our tree...and this is Christmas scaled down.  We started about eight years ago getting only three presents per child to concentrate on the real meaning of Christmas and cut down on the commercialism.   Then the kids started buying each other gifts, and well...this is what scaled down Christmas for seven people looks like! 

 Daryl had time off from school, from the college, and from electrical, and he finally finished Hannah's bed.  Charlotte enjoyed it! (the other picture of Hannah with her bed is on the other computer....will work on getting that!)

 Sweet baby face with long baby hair

 my baby doing very un-babyish things!

 and sporting new big girl hair!

 A Christmas Eve game of Jenga

 and lunch at Sonny's with all the Stones

 We came home to open presents with Maranda

 Despite the face....she loved the coloring book!

 Inspired by "A Christmas Story" and in need of a new Christmas tradition, we went for Chinese.  This is what I got when I asked the girls to smile!

 The elves came while we were out to eat!

 cookies for Santa

 Christmas morning!

 The big kids got phones, so this is what I got from them!

I will be back tomorrow for an end of the year post!   

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas....Kindergarten Christmas!

Christmas in the elementary school....there's nothing like it.  The kids are excited, Christmas music fills the air, everyone's fingers are sticky from the myriad of Christmas crafts.  The kids are excited, the teachers are tired, and both can't wait until the last day before break!

This week also meant, for us, lots of activities for Hannah in kindergarten.

First up was the kindergarten and preschool Christmas program, "Love Came Down."

Here's Hannah in my room before the program.

 Coppin' a "tude"

 on the risers before the program.  During the program, I was too smitten with the cuteness of my daughter and the pure sweetness of 3-5 year olds singing about baby Jesus that I forgot to take pictures.

 With Grandma and Grandpa after the program

 With Daddy and Nanny

 And with Maddy.  She didn't have an exam, so she got to come too!

 Later in the week, it was time to party!!!

Here is Hannah and her friend Jacob in the super cute sweatshirts that they made!

 The impromptu Christmas concert started by none other than my daughter!

 Jesus Bingo.  Oh, goodness.

Hannah, after she didn't win the first game.

 or the second...

 or the last...

 It's so hard to lose when you're five!

 Then there was the book swap.

Waiting....

 so excited!!!!

 Reason #123 why I don't teach kindergarten.

Notice the boys rolling around on the floor amidst all of the chaos!

 Merry Christmas from Mrs. Farr's Kindergarten class!

It's beginning to look alot like Christmas....Aloha Christmas!

The title of today's blog post makes one think that perhaps we are celebrating Christmas in Hawaii this year, but alas, we are home and enjoying every minute of this busy busy busy holiday season!

Aloha Christmas was the title of our church's Christmas play this year.

The girls that Sunday morning, which has nothing to do with the program, but I love it when I get a picture of them all together, and I think they look so pretty!  (and for some reason, I think Maddy looks like Kim Kardashian in this picture!)

Hannah had to be at the church 3 hours early to go over the play and get ready, and for the first time, I left her there by herself.  She was fine with it...I couldn't wait to get back to church for her, just sure that she needed me, wanted me, was falling apart without me.

Um...don't think so...do you?

This is how she greeted us.  "I'm surfing!" 

 So happy big brother is home and here to see them!

(Char looks thrilled, doesn't she?)

 Hannah really got in to all the dancing!

 Midway through the play, they all left....and she came back as a cow!

And to my surprise, Maddy came back in with the rest of the cast.  Seems as if she asked if they needed help, and they put her in!

 Christmas rocks!

 After the program, Grandma and Grandpa met us at 15th Street Pizza for dinner (and to see Josh, who was working that night)

 Hannah and Charlotte enjoyed the tree...

 maybe a little too much!

 mmmmm....ketchup!