It's the MOST wonderful time of the year!

This year Christmas was pretty crazy for us. Christmas Eve we drove to Checotah and back through a blizzard to celebrate with my grandparents. It was WAYYY worse than we thought it was going to be and we were relieved when we got home. That night my brother stayed with us as is our Christmas Eve tradition. We haven't been apart on Christmas Eve since he was born in 1990. Ha! I know we are a little weird, but that's okay. I guess when he gets married we will just have to set up camp at someone's house. haha!

We gathered on the couch to read "Twas the Night Before Christmas."

Ezra got some cookies out for Santa, although he wasn't really sure why. We tried to explain, but I'm not sure what he was thinking.

...So Poppy got her picture taken with the cookies, because he wasn't that interested.

Here is our Christmas tree before bedtime.

...and here is our tree Christmas morning!!!

We are SO blessed!

My parents came over and we enjoyed opening presents for 3 HOURS!!!

Then Ezra and Zach made us breakfast in Ezra's new kitchen :)

 

It was SO YUMMY!!!

We spent the day at home and then had a Christmas dinner at my parent's. It REALLY was SO YUMMY! By the end of the day we were all WORN OUT!

Caleb and Poppy caught a few Zzzz's on the couch and we all went to bed early!

It was a WONDERFUL Christmas! Thank you everyone for all of the MANY MANY gifts! We love everything! (This throw was a gift from my parents and it is the softest thing EVER!)

Time to start thinking about NEXT year!

We like to party all the time!

Last night the Christmas partying began. We celebrated with Caleb's family and we had such a fun time! We didn't get too many pictures because of all the action, but here are some highlights.

Caleb's sister Cara got Ezra and Poppy the COOLEST Night Before Christmas book I have ever seen! The pictures on it move as you open the page-I can't wait to read this every year! Here are Ezra and Grandpa Steve checking it out!

Ezra was SUPER excited to get the VERY hard to find "Thomas at Action Canyon." We all spent the next hour in his room trying to figure out how to put the thing together! Once we got it assembled he was loving it!

Poppy was sleeping during most of the action, but she did manage to be awake to open a few presents. She had to test out her new jumperoo. Her little chubby legs and feet are so cute when she bobs up and down. I don't know if she or I will like this thing more- it really occupies her which will come in very handy sometimes!!!

Here is Ezra working on his new phonics game from Great Grandma Bailey. Notice the tongue biting-this means he is in great concentration-it's genetic. haha!

We have so many things to be thankful for this year, but I am really looking forward to 2010- I have a feeling it's going to be a great year! Merry Christmas to all!!!!

The Christmas Train!

So last night we drove to what seemed like the middle of nowhere to ride the Christmas Train in Dry Gulch. We didn't really know what to expect, but we were REALLY pleasantly surprised- It was incredible! They have made a complete old western town out there and it is all decorated really beautifully for Christmas. It was like visiting the North Pole-West. Haha! We weren't sure how to get there so we left a little early, but with my stellar navigation skills we made it easily and arrived an hour before it started! There is nothing, I mean NOTHING near there to do for an hour so we kept driving until we got to Grand Lake. We followed a rode out to nowhere and it ended up being a pretty neat little excursion.

The road to Nowhere

It ended up taking us out to the middle of the lake and then looping back around. I took some pretty pictures.

First you have to go in the depot and get your boarding pass. Here's me and Ezra with ours.

(He wanted to ride-NOT get his picture taken)

We waited a few minutes and looked around the depot.

The train was so neat! It was an old timey steam engine (like Scarloey, for the Thomas fans :)  )

 

We got our picture taken in front of it, but it came out kind of blurry :(

Here are Caleb and Ezra standing "in town"...

They really did a GREAT job! Look at these places!!!

The town church

 

 and...

 

We will DEFINITELY be doing this again next year!

Bake Day 2009

This year we decided to have a "Bake Day" at my mom's house. We all brought our cookie dough to share and make up several cookie trays for Christmas. It was so much fun!

Poppy got to sit in the middle of all the action and watch Granny while Bubsie made a train depot underneath the table.

Poppy was really wanting some cookies!

                         This one looks good.....                                          ...but these look good too!

Poor Poppy!

But she was still happy!

 Mick, Kristen, and mom baking away!

 

 Kristen and Ezra took some time out to cuddle...

...and so did Granny and Pops.

You better keep an eye on those cookies Mick-Thomas is a sneaky one!!!!

I scooped and Kristen balled-we made quite a comical assembly line!

 

Dancing makes the cookie bake faster!

They wore themselves out and had to take a breather...

But Mick was a trooper and kept on going!

 Mom inspected to make sure things were exactly to Santa's specifications.

 Lookin' good!

The boys were SO EXCITED and could hardly wait! Ha!

The finished product! Not too bad for a days work! :)

Happy Christmas Baking!

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner...(or computer)

So, I love reading Kelly Stamps blog over at Kelly's Korner.
http://www.kellyskornerblog.com/
If I'm on the computer, that's usually what I'm doing....so anyways... I went there today and she is giving away the coolest computer I have EVER seen! Also, 4 other bloggers have been given one to give away too!!! That means if you go leave a comment, you have 5 chances to win one! So go do it....NOW! Winners will be drawn on Christmas Eve! These are the sites to go enter...

http://www.kellyskornerblog.com/

http://totallytogetherreviews.blogspot.com/2009/12/hp-touchsmart-computer-review-and-give.html

http://mckgiveaways.blogspot.com/2009/12/hp-touchsmart-giveaway.html

http://nienie-reviews.blogspot.com/2009/12/hp-touchsmart-giveaway_09.html

http://boomama.net/hp-touchsmart-600-giveaway/
 Good Luck!!! After I win one...I hope you do too! HA! :)

I heart the Ozarks

We had a WONDERFUL weekend! Friday night started with a birthday party for my Grandma. Saturday I got to sleep in -THAT'S HUGE!- and then Caleb decided we should go visit our favorite place...ARKANSAS! He has been working every weekend lately and we had been wanting to go, so we took advantage of this time off and headed out for a day trip! I didn't really think to bring my camera, and there wouldn't have even been these pictures if he hadn't taken them with his phone. He told me I needed them for my blog! Ha ha! So here we are at THE BEST restaurant EVER!  AH, AQ Chicken...why must you be two hours away?

Is it any coincidence that we just happen to come on the all you can eat night??? I think not. (That's every Saturday night in case you were wondering...and yes I do know their specials for every night even though they are located 4 counties away) We got the usual "chicken over the coals" and it was as good as ever. They bring you all you can eat of chicken AND sides...how YUMMY!!! So here is Caleb enjoying maybe his second plate and Poppy REALLLLY wishing she had teeth!

Ezra likes AQ too! He recommends the cinnamon apples and sweet potato casserole...a good southern boy in the making!

They were playing some really good music and Pops just couldn't help herself- she was just a dancing machine!

AQ Chicken = A Happy Family!

Bye Bye AQ!!! We will miss you! If you stop by soon look for Ezra's signature in the book! And don't worry, we brought plenty leftovers back home to enjoy today at lunch :)