Christmas Eve 2010

I'm going to go backwards...mainly because my photo uploader I usually use is being a pain and after an hour...I just wanna share and am not going to go nuts over the order. Okay, maybe I am but anyway...

Whew, we made it to our destinations! Thank goodness they aren't far from us it makes it much easier to see everyone! This night was so fun! For the first time, Grandpa Eddie spent the night with us Christmas Eve - it was so special to our kids to have Grandpa Eddie there Christmas morning. Husband and I loved having an extra hand around too Christmas Eve late late evening.

We had the most amazing dinner at Aunty Lori and Uncle Ronnie's house...prime rib, asparagus, mashed tators and yummy desserts! Do I have food pictures? No! Err. I was hungry and didn't even look for my camera. I'm so mad at myself.

After dinner, the kids opened presents from the G side and of course, Santa Grandpa Eddie! The kids were so excited! Mommy and Daddy were surprised to receive a special gift as well - a Garmin! It will come in handy with the traveling we will be doing with 4 kids in soccer. Thank YOU so much, Grandpa Eddie! We love our gift!

Isa got an iPod stereo that also has a CD player! SCORE!!

What'd you get, Nana?


Dev got walkie talkie with a 35 mile distance (so he can send home with a friend and chat away!) + a Nerf football - his first football! Dev was so excited!

Madi got Zhu Zhu Pets but more importantly...she gets to go Build a Bear with Grandpa Eddie! Her first Build a Bear - it's going to be epic and I'm pretty sure she's going to burst with excitement!

Christmas Eve is always a blast! This year, I felt behind...so I didn't do much before Christmas Eve. We cleaned up toys (which I usually do a week before the week before Christmas), we baked sugar cookies galore and watched Christmas movies in our PJs. It was a lot of fun, not a whole lot of play dates - just us.

Grandpa Eddie and the N4 came over Thursday or as my kids say Christmas Eve Eve. We opened presents from he N4 and then the girls saw Tangled with G.E. They were sooooooooooo excited. Dev and I chilled at home and ran some last minute Christmas errands.

Christmas Eve we got our C6 fix and they all came over for some baking and playing time. Then, we headed to my Uncle's house (his wife - my Aunt - is Denise from the C6's sister) for some fun traditional fun times.

We go over to the L4 aka my Uncle's house for some Santa cookie making made by Denise and Aunty Andria's sister, Robin. The kids look forward to making these special Santa cookies - they have this process down with 16 kids! What else I look foward to at this special evening? MY FAVORITE appetizers. Denise and my Aunty Andria's Momma makes the best appetizers! I love her tortilla roll ups, her meatballs, her pork that wasn't featured that night and she can make some mean butter cookies. Mmmmm.

We never stay for dinner because we also go to Aunty Lori's (Kae's Momma) for dinner and presents. I love this time of year...but hate how it's all gone in instant. I need to relish in it a bit more. I'm still in awe it's come and gone...

A few missing people - my Mom and brother, J.J. hadn't arrived yet so his 4 kids and my siblings - Gab and Tyler aren't pictured. AND, are you noticing my ever so pouty 5 year old? He's making his life so miserable lately with his struggles. He snaps out of it fairly quickly but the road to happiness can be treacherous.