** CHRISTMAS 2008 **

What a MAGICAL Christmas we had! I hope it was as enjoyable for all of you. Thank you for all of your Christmas cards. I LOVE this time of year! 

We missed all of our extended family... terribly... but, I have to admit it was so nice to have relaxed Christmas as our own little family! Here is a little recap...

Christmas Eve we had a fun evening with our friends, the Bells. They had both sets of grandparents in town, and my boys quickly adopted them. :) We had a yummy ham dinner and played a white elephant game that the boys had a lot of fun with. We opened our PJ's. I wanted to have the boys all match, but Cooper insisted on getting footed jammies (he's been sad since he's outgrown all of his)... and, of course (despite a hint of naughtiness), his wish was granted.

This is our adopted Grandma, Conni Burke, Jaime Bell's mom. She has been living with the Bells since we moved here, to help with Emberlyn (their special needs daughter), and Jaime's pregnancy. She is SO sweet to the boys, and they LOVE the attention. It will be so hard when she moves back home to Arizona this summer! Here are some pics of her playing with Beckett and Emberlyn.

Our friends the Bells: Clifton, Jaime, Zander & Emberlyn. Jaime is due April 1 with another baby girl!

After a fun evening at the Bells, we headed home to put out cookies for Santa, deliver our last "secret elves" gift, and have a little Christmas devotional. We had to get to bed so Santa could get to work! I have to say that being parents on Christmas is the BEST! We were so excited, ourselves, to see what Santa brought for our boys! Here are all the boys' stockings and Santa gifts. 

Christmas morning, Andrew was the first to wake up... and then wake me up... waiting for the boys. Just after 7, we heard Cooper snooping around. He came into our room and said, "Guys, come check this out!"

Here is Beckett with his new "airport". The older boys were sure to show him how to use it! Other presents for Beck included a wooden truck, Peter Pan, a shape sorter, balls/hammer ramp, rock n' roll ball, and drum. He must have been the "nicest", cause he was the most spoiled! :) It was so fun to have a "baby's first Christmas" at a fun age like this! From his brothers, he got a new baseball tee (we now have 3 different infant versions). His FAVORITE was his play MIRROR. He is fascinated with himself!

Cooper and Gunner were SO EXCITED that Santa brought them their BATCAVE! (with a letter reminding them to share!). :) They played with it for HOURS! And Beckett has even taking a liking to it! He is getting quick at crawling, and they have to move away with their toys so they don't get spit on them. Each got a board-game, puzzle, craft, preschool workbook, books, and nerf guns too. We let the boys shop for each other, and mom and dad, and it was so fun to see them get excited about giving their presents (Gunner gave Cooper power ranger transformers, and Cooper gave Gunner some super hero "guys"). They know each other the best! 

I got a super fun outdoor, above-ground fire pit that we've already tried out! My boys were all very thoughtful, and it was super fun for them to all go shopping together for me. They are very good at keeping secrets!

Mom and Dad stayed in our jammies ALL DAY, and the boys loved their new sweatsuits. We had sticky buns for breakfast, and white lightening chicken chili for dinner. It was a relaxing, perfect day... making our way from one new toy to another.

Here is Andrew and Coop rockin' out to Guitar Hero World Tour (Andrew's present). We also got Outdoor Challenge for the Wii from Uncle AJ. Our parents were, as always, WAY too generous, and we LOVED our handmade advent calendar and plate kit from the Waites. My Grandpa Lee and Grandma Helen even mailed us our candy bars, gum and money, which made me miss home a tiny bit less. 

Another great Christmas gift was that it was the first day of a FREE WEEK OFF WORK for Andrew!!!! He didn't have to take any "leave" days, and was off from Dec. 24-Jan. 2! We had so much fun hanging out with Dad!