Christmas-All Wrapped Up

Okay, so I am still working on posting Christmas pics. Hopefully this post will wrap up all our events and we can move on to the new year!

This year I made 'Reindeer Food' as gifts for our neighbors and friends. The kids helped me make it and they couldn't wait to sprinkle it all over the snow on Christmas Eve. As you can see in the photo, Luke dressed up for the 'sprinkling' event.

Here is a sample of one of the Reindeer Food gifts. I made them into ornaments so that people can refill and reuse it every year. I love making homemade gifts! It takes a lot of time, but I love every minute of it.

Santa brought Luke the BATCAVE!!! Yay!

Aunt Jaime had this Halloween crayon case made for Luke. Isn't it the coolest thing? (Click on the photo to get a better look at it). Luke had to drop everything and quickly color a page in his new Cars coloring book.

The 3 Santas. Luke started it, of course!

Princess stuff, baby stuff and candy . What more could a girl ask for?

Looking for Santa.

Yearly tradition: visiting the 'Christmas Houses' in a nearby city.

The kids love coming here. This window/house displayed elves making Christmas cookies.

Gma and Papa drove 8 hours to come visit us! Yay!

Excuse the pigsty in the background, but check out Miss Sassafras sitting on Mommy's lap! I swear Ashlynn is 2 going on 14!

More Christmas visitors: Aunt Kris-Kris and Gma Carolyn from Tennessee! What a special treat to be with them.

Visits with Santa

Luke is all about the festivities of every holiday. He was elated to go see Santa! He even brought Santa a gift and made sure to wear his reindeer antlers to impress Santa. A few days later Ben was talking with his friend "Santa" and Santa told Ben that Luke was the only child that has ever brought him a gift. When we related this info to Luke, he became the happiest child I have ever seen. He went into another room and yelled out, "I WAS THE ONLY KID TO EVER GIVE SANTA A GIFT!!!" It was the cutest thing in the world!

Now...Ashlynn on the other hand...well, you can see how her visit with Santa went. She later said, "Hate, hate Santa!" (She loves to repeat things twice!)

More Christmas Pics

Here is a picture of Ashlynn wearing the sweater that her Aunt Jaime gave her. I think she looks so pretty in it. I will be sad when she outgrows it.
Ashlynn was obsessed with Grandma Fern's handmade scarves and hats. She kept stealing everyone else's and wanted to wear all of them at once. Ashlynn refused to take the hat off for several days and she even slept in it.
Loving up Grandma Carolyn before she leaves!
Here is the wonderful Nativity scene Grandma Carolyn made. We are sad to report that baby Jesus is no longer in the Nativity. Ashlynn took him out of his bed and said, "Jesus, night-night." She then stuffed him in the hole of our radio speaker. We have to break open the speaker in order to get him out:( I am thinking we will find other missing items there as well.

Luke's Toy Story scene is almost complete and he is HAPPY about that!

Ashlynn and Luke visiting Aunt Danielle and Uncle Michael's house. David and Jared are in the back row and little Joshua is standing in front of them. New sister Rachel (8 wks old) was taking a nap. Ashlynn did NOT want to be in the picture-but we made her do it anyway. We are such nice parents.

Ashlynn was hoarding the caramel corn that Aunt Dani made-Yummy! It was the best I have ever had-Ashlynn apparently thought so too.

Christmas Gifts

Grandma Fern made everyone hats and scarves. The kids loved them!
Here is Luke enjoying two of his Christmas gifts- a visit from Grandma Carolyn (from Tennessee) and her handmade Nativity scene. This was an awesome gift! All of us love it. What a great idea! Luke loves having his own Nativity scene.

Christmas towels! Luke is a bear and since Ashlynn was born on Easter she had to have a bunny towel. The kids love them and want to wear them all day.

Luke loves his new bed-can you tell? I think this was a gift for Ben too. I heard him say MANY times, "I always wanted a race car bed!". Ben really enjoyed putting this together for Luke. We found it at a second hand store-it was only $50!

This is a photo Luke took of his favorite gift.

A puppet theatre! Ben said this was a lame gift that would end up in a garage sale in a few months. Well, a few days before Christmas, Luke said, "I want Santa to bring me a puppet show!" Do mommies know their babies or what???!! Luke has a great imagination that needs to be put to good use before it gets him in trouble.

Christmas Cookies

At first I thought we were insane allowing a 1 yr.old and a 3 yr.old to make and decorate cookies. Surprisingly they both did a good job.
Ben thought the cookie gun was pretty cool.

'O' Christmas Tree

I really need to update this thing-but I don't have time right now. In the meantime I thought I would post a picture that would give everyone a chuckle. Here is Luke being a Christmas Tree...see the little bulb (actually a "yo-yo") hanging around his waist? He couldn't understand why we all busted up laughing after he showed this to us. How cute. I would love to have his imagination for just a day. What a fun experience that would be.

I will post more tomorrow... I really need to go to bed.

Christmas Village

We went to a Christmas Village in a town about 20 minutes away. They had tiny houses with a big window display in each house. The kids LOVED it!
I love the way Luke & Ashlynn's eyes lit up at each house. These lights were meant to look like lollipops. Luke and Ashlynn took turns licking them to test their authenicity. I wonder how many other kids licked the same spot!
It was freeeeezing-so we had to get all bundled up for the occasion.

One of the tiny houses actually had SANTA waiting inside! Luke and Ashlynn were terrified! We had to hold them there by force...that is until Santa pulled out the candy canes. They suddenly became Santa's best friends.

Ashlynn sporting her new 'Cheesy', Ben and Luke.

Here I am wearing my new coat. Luke asks me to ROAR every time I wear it. He told me he loves my new lion coat. He also says Ashlynn is a pink lion in her coat.

This was a free train ride to another Christmas Village across town.

Our kids loved the train ride.

Pink Lion Ashlynn

Luke's personal favorite in the Christmas Village! The reindeer ghost at the bottom was suspended in air by invisible strings. He was flying around and Luke loved it.

Our personal favorite. The Snowman Cafe. How cute is this?! The snowman in the middle melted because he ate hot soup. The only thing left of him is a carrot nose and coal eyes sitting on the chair. The expression of the other snowmen is cute too.

Christmas Stuff!

Luke brought a book for Santa to autograph. He refused to sit on Santa's lap but he had fun watching Santa's every move. Notice that Ashlynn is nowhere in sight. She took one look at Santa and ran away as fast as she could. She clung herself to a chair and screamed, "NO, NO, NO!!!" I wish I had a photo of her attached to the chair but I was busy getting this Santa shot.

Here's Luke staying true to himself. He couldn't make a Christmas tree without adding a spider.

Take 10+

This year we tried to save money and take our own family photo. It was not fun as you can tell from Ashlynn's expression. Why is it always so hard to take a family photo?

Take 4.

Take 7.

Take 10... or was that 15? We lost count. By this time, the Daddy was misbehaving and the Mommy had one nerve left.

Letters to Santa

After we put up our Christmas decorations, Luke decided he wanted to write Santa a letter.
This is the picture he drew for Santa. How exciting! His drawings are not just scribbles anymore. I can actually see what each drawing is. He is only 3 1/2 years old and I think he did a good job.

This is the letter he told me to write. Please read it...it is hilarious! Luke insisted that he draw a picture of Santa's mommy. She looks rather scary and I think she has a beard too!