Christmas Update #3: Presents!

First I have to say watching little kids open presents is sooooo much fun.  And we got to do a lot of little kids open A LOT of presents in Eureka.  I have proof, look at more poor sis-in-law Kari stacking presents up; I think she's drowning!

We sped through presents so fast it was literally a whirlwind.  By the end of it I think we ended up with three large black bags of paper & boxes. Phew!

Our precious little girl's first real Christmas.  (She was only a couple weeks old last year at Christmas time)

She sort of got into it, but it was pretty hectic for her (notice all the hands grabbing her gift).

Uncle Dave & Aunt Kari made personalized shirts for each of the kids.  They are awesome, I really like Danica's.  JoJo loved his because it had a guitar.

Maddie & Gracie got new cowgirl hats.  They were very proud to wear them.

My sweet niece Bella and nephews Sawyer & Liam.  Hunter is not pictured for two reasons: 1)He does not like getting his picture taken. 2)He's too fast!  I had the settings on my camera too slow to capture a shot of Hunter.

Who can resist a good Christmas bow.  The twins rockin' out with Joshie's new guitar & "microwave" (JoJo for microphone).  Classic stocking stuffer Pez & Buzz Lightyear flossers.

This was definitely the best gift of the year.  From Gracie to Daddy.  She saw them in the dollar store & knew that they were the perfect gift for her Dad.  They also came with a red clown nose.

Check out a few fun Christmas videos:

Boy Band

Holiday Nap

Christmas Update #2: Sledding

Check out all our Christmas photos here

This year the dads make a great sledding hill for all the kiddos.  They spent a few hours almost every day out on the hill behind the house sledding.

The kids would come in with bright red cheeks & sopping wet clothes, but they had been having so much fun they didn't notice.

Being dads & all, the sledding soon became a competition to see who could get the farthest.  I think Josh & Gracie eventually ended up in the creek that was a ways beyond the bottom of the hill (I'm guessing they won).

And of course there was a jump at the bottom to catch a little air.  Hey, is that kid in the green coat alright?!

No worries, it's just Bella making snow angels.  She was in her own world- singing & making snow angels.

That looks cold!

Uncle Didi had some trouble catching speed.

Oops... face plant.

I'm pretty sure this is the run where afterwards Hunter yelled "that broke my arm off!"

Not sure what's going on here.  I was sick so I took all the photos from the deck with my zoom lens.  My guess is Uncle Aaron was screaming "I'm going too fast!  Someone help me pleeeeeeease!"  Or Uncle Didi is attempting to help him crash & burn.

Child on the left, sled mid-air on the right- what's wrong with this picture?

Sledding 101: Don't stick your foot out Josh!

Here's my rock star sis-in-law Keri just shredding it!

It was a great family activity & kept the kids busy & tired.  But I think I had the best seat of all, looking out the window while sitting by the fire place.

Christmas Update #1: Cookies

One of the things we do at our Eureka Family Christmas is make cookies.  Not just a batch or two, I'm talking hundreds & hundreds of cookies.  I was sick the whole week with an awful head cold which prevented me from participating in much cooking this year :(  This was also the reason I hadn't posted in a while.  I had planned on posting throughout the week, but instead I just laid in bed or on the couched & doped myself up with Tylenol & Sudafed.  But the other ladies seemed to handle the cookies just fine without me.

The kids decorated sugar cookies.  They were really cute.  Here Maddie is making what we called her "Alien" cookie (note the eyes).

Hunter didn't get the memo that you can't eat the frosting straight from the tube.

Wait, I can't eat the frosting straight from the tube?!  Decorating cookies is boring.

Then we had a family ginger bread house decorating contest.

Each sub-family competed against each other.  The kids had a lot of fun & ate most of the frosting instead of putting it on the house.  Then I told them to knock it off & JoJo was like "I can't eat the frosting straight from the tube.  Decorating ginger bread houses is boring."

It was kind of an intense competition!  But in the end our family one for the "Most Sugar".  Shocking considering we had the most little kids working on ours.  That house was doused in frosting & candy.  It was a lot of fun & even Grandpa Marvin got in on the action- his & Booba's house won overall.

Merry Christmas!

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas & got to spend good quality time with the ones you love.  We spent the week in Eureka with Josh's folks & all our wonderful brothers, sisters, nephews, & nieces.  It was a great time!  Then we rushed home Christmas Eve day so Josh could do the Christmas Eve service at our church.  We spent that evening & Christmas Day with my family.  I had big ambitions of posting throughout the week, but I was terrible sick all week with a head cold (I still can't seem to shake it).  Once I get pictures off my camera I will do another posting of our Christmas week.

Weekend Update

I meant to post this on Monday.  But it's only a week before Christmas and we're heading out of town to Josh's parents place on Sunday for 5 days.  Which basically means I need to get EVERYTHING done by Sunday.  All the cookies, Christmas cards, wrapping, shopping, and packing.  Phew!!!

Anyway, we had a really busy weekend.  First & foremost it was Danica's first birthday.  I always feel bad for December babies.  They are crunched in the middle of the busiest time of year & inevitably get jipped when it comes to their birthday.  I have resolved not to let this happen, but I forgot to inform Josh of this plan.  In turn, he committed to doing a wedding on Danica's birthday.  So of course, she got jipped.  But at least it's a birthday she'll never remember, & I really did try to make it as special as I could.

We had to go into town that morning, so we ate lunch and my Parent's house.  And then we had cake.

And she liked it!  But she didn't make a big mess of it, just daintily picked up each bite & when she was done she just left it alone.  No smashing or throwing.  In fact, she was more interested in her party hat.

Then on to presents.

Afterwards we quickly got dressed & headed to church for the wedding.  While the processional was going on Gracie asked me a few questions.
"Who is Daddy marrying?"
"The bride & the groom."
"Where is the girl Daddy is marrying?"
"She's going to come down those stairs over there."
"Does he just get to pick anyone up on the stage to marry?"
"No, he just marries the couple."
"When Daddy gets married will he still live with us?"
"WHAT?!  No, Daddy is not getting married, he is marrying another couple.  Daddy is married to me & he has to live with ME!  At least until you kids move out."

I guess she was a little confused.  Poor thing, was probably worried all day that her Daddy was moving out.  She quickly forgot about everything & danced the night away at  the reception.

Joshie did too.  He loved dancing with the Rodolph girls.  Which is funny because they are 5 and 7 years old.  So they are a bit taller than JoJo to say the least.  But this seemed to work out to his advantage.

However, the girls' Dad was keeping a close eye on my boy all night.

We have another full weekend coming up.  My Mom & I are taking the twins to their first ballet, The Nutcracker.  You can pretty much count on a lot of videos & pictures of them doing ballet after that.  I guarantee they both want to be enrolled in ballet classes immediately following the performance.

Happy Birthday Danica

I can't even believe a year has past!  I know parents say that all the time, but I sincerely mean it.  With the other kids I was ready.  But I can't believe our sweet little Danica is one year old today!  

She is our little surprise package, and I'm so glad she came along.  

She is so happy & easy going.  

She is already really funny and melts my heart daily. 

 Danica is the most motivated child we have yet.  She is determined to keep up with her brothers and sisters.  

And although she is the sweetest girl most of the time, when she wants something her determination comes pouring out.  The girl has a good dash of sassy in her!

She is such a beautiful little girl.

She loves to laugh & have giggle fits.  In turn she generally gets everyone else laughing as well.

She is full of personality & love.

And although I'm going to miss these days, I'm excited to see where the future takes this little wonder.

Happy Birthday Baby!