Opening presents

I didn't take as many pictures of the kids opening their presents this year because I wanted to take it all in ... and just enjoy myself.  Of course, the kids bugged us all day about how much longer it would be until they could open gifts - I remember nagging my parents about that too.

Mason's favorite gifts were his Diary of the Wimpy Kid books (believe it or not) and the 2 Wii games he wanted.

Kyla's favorite gifts were well ... all of them.  I mean that girl got SO excited over each and every one of them.  It was adorable to say the least.  She loved the pink camera and the Rapunzel doll with all of the hair tools.

Yes, we go overboard - each year.  We don't really buy for each other throughout the year though.

Priceless.

These silly Dagadar thingy's Mason wanted.

Rapunzel - isn't she such a cute doll?

Man, he's handsome.

It was another great Christmas.  I am so blessed to have such a wonderful family. 

Christmas in Coalinga

Before going over to Sue's to open our presents, we took a few photos outside in my mom's beautiful backyard.  A few of them turned out really well.

Out-takes.  I love the picture of the kids giggling in the middle one.

My happy family.

Kyla is so cute in this one.  I love it.

My mom and I.  I have very few pictures of us together ... I'm going to work on that.

Chrissy's Zoo

Each time we go to Coalinga, we love going out to Chrissy's to see the animals.  She has tons of alpaca's, a pot-bellied pig, tons of dogs and a bird.  It's always a good time.

One of the baby's with mom.

I just love this picture.  His hairdo is adorable and he was so sweet.

I think Kyla just got photo-bombed!  Mason wasn't into posing with the animals this time.

They all love my mom, probably because she feeds them sometimes.

Kyla's Performance at Barnes and Noble

Kyla's class put on a Christmas performance at our local Barnes and Noble's.  They sang 5 Christmas songs. I couldn't get a great picture because there were 60 sets of parents all crammed into the kids area.  Not sure what they were thinking but it was sure cute.

Kyla, always boy crazy.  She loves this little boy in her class and she sure knows how to pick em'.  He's just about the sweetest.

500th Post

My 500th Blog Post!

Can you believe this is my 500th post?!?  I get busy and behind on my blogging but somehow I always catch it up because it means so much to me.  The kids love looking at it and especially looking at the blog book.  With my memory being so terrible, I don't want to forget anything.  So much fun stuff!

Gingerbread cookies

Instead of decorating a Gingerbread House this year, we decorated huge Gingerbread Man.  It was nice to each have our own cookie to decorate.  Much more peaceful ... the kids aren't always the best about sharing.

Watch out, Kyla.  Daddy's trying to get your cookie!

A before shot.  Doesn't Mason have the greatest smile?

I don't think I'm ever in a photograph without bunny ears these days.  Sneaky little boy.

I dunno.  Just love how precious his face is in this photo.

Aw ... I like this one.  I think Kyla is looking more like me now.

Mason definitely ate his share of the decorations.

Daddy's girl ... ALL.THE.WAY.

Rough-housing.

Do you think Kyla has enough candy on hers?

He begged me to put frosting on his face.  

Mason's Masterpiece.

Decorating our Tree

Ok, so we may have gone a little overboard this year with the Christmas Tree.  It was 16 feet tall and was quite a challenge to get the top of the tree decorated but we got it.

Each year, we get a new nutcracker.  They love playing with them and have a hard time deciding which one is their favorite.

Bunny Ears.

So Brian got a ladder and got up on our ledge in the entry and I had to push our very heavy tree over to him.  After he decorated the top of the tree, I had to pull it back out of the way so Brian could get out.  I laid on my stomach and tried to pull it but kept moving myself so Mason had to sit on my back so I wouldn't move while trying to get it out of there.  It was too funny.

They have a great time putting the ornaments on.

Huge helpers this year.  Mason even helped me put lighted garland on the stair railing.

Oh how they love special ornaments.  I love how some people do themed trees or have all of their ornaments matchy-matchy but I could't do it.  They best part is putting all of our special ornaments and ornaments that they've made for me over the years on the tree.  Memories.

Best shot of them together that I could get.