Santa, Birthday,Christmas and My Homemade Gifts!

Happy New Year to all! I hope this New Year finds you all happy and healthy. I have enjoyed getting to know ALL of my new Blogger Friends and getting to know even more about some of my own Family Members.

This post is a bit long, but it covers about two weeks or more of my hectic December. We have been so busy.

The first picture in this post is a present Alex wrapped and prepared for Ganky. I thought it was so cute. I am glad I took the picture!

Santa visited Alex and Avery's Preschool in December and neither of my little ones really like to be near him. Avery finally went to see him with me and I had to stay there. She finally warmed up, but Alex never did.

Me, Cindy and Mom with Santa.

Alex has no idea Santa is there. He snuck up to get the picture. She was mad when she saw it.

Avery waiting for snack.

And Alex at the snack table.

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The girls had a Christmas Play at their preschool. Here they are before we left. Look at Alex's feet. She looks like she is a ballerina... hmm. maybe..

Avery was a teddy bear for the song "Jumpin' Jack and Teddy Bear". Is that not the cutest teddy you have ever seen??

I wanted to take this teddy home with me!! So cute.

And look at my little Angel! How precious is she?

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We always have a candy-making day. I do not have any pics, but this one. My silliness always comes out. I had to make a snowman for the girls!

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We went to a Christmas Party at a friends house. They do this every year. The kids make cookies and SANTA COMES! My girls loved the cookie part. Look at Alex with flour on her nose.

Making cookies.

"WHO did you say is here?"

This Santa was wonderful. He was so good to the kids. He even HoHoHo'ed instead of laughing, even when talking with Adults. Once he found out there was one child that was terrified of him, it became a challenge for him to warm her up before he left. Here he is working on Alex, who just acted like he was not even there.

Avery got a candy cane for talking to Santa. She LOVES Candy Canes!

Another picture where Santa snuck up behind Alex.

Avery loved Santa because he carried her around the house and talked to her. So sweet.

My Autumn helped me tremendously because Daddy was out of town. Alex stayed snuggled up under her the whole time.

Austin had lots of friends there, but had to stop and be a little one again to make Avery laugh.

Low and behold...Look what Santa finally accomplished! See the look on her face, showing still a little fear. Look at her hand on his shirt.

We got better as the night went on and got lots of pictures. I love this Santa!

And Avery loved this snowman. You know she loves you when she hangs a candy cane on your nose!!!

Look how gorgeous he was!!! He read "Twas the Night Before Christmas" to the kids and was just the best Santa ever!!

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As you know, Austin turned 11 on the 23rd. All he really wanted was a new bike. We searched everywhere for the Tony Hawk bike he wanted. Toys R Us had no more (although the tags said they had three left) and they called three other Toys R Us stores in the area...no more Tony Hawk bikes!! Mom went to Walmart and found ONE! They only had ONE and she sat on it until I got there. That is total dedication and love. Look at her sweet little self. Funny story, though, we got so wrapped up in a conversation in line to make our purchases, we left the bike several people back! Luckily, no one wanted it!!!

Here is my boy on his new bike!!

We had to "test drive" the new bike.

Of course, Daddy had to show some old tricks he remembers.

Alex loves to "scoot"!

The girls were cruizin'!

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Well, the Birthday kid always gets to pick the place to go eat and alot of us usually go and celebrate for Dinner. My kids usually pick Daruma, a Japanese steakhouse close to our home, and we certainly do NOT argue with that decision! The little girls call it "The Fireplace". Wonder why?

My sweet Birthday Boy had a great time!

Britani and Autumn looking all cute at the table.

Austin and Bradley. He always gives me a good laugh when I look at his pictures! So silly!

To some, this looks different than what it really was. Bradley was playing SANTA and the napkin was the beard. The girls got the biggest kick out of that!

The other thing Austin really wanted was a camera, which he got from Ganky and Pa. He loves it!

At Daruma, they sing, play this big drum and sit this Buddha looking character in front of you! Not sure what he really is, but that is where the candle is that you blow out.

Austin had a great Birthday. Thanks to everyone for your sweet Birthday wishes.

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On to the big day! Santa came to the basement this year. Great idea, whoever came up with that....ohh wait... it was me!! :) Here are all the goodies before the kids came down! See Band Hero? Autumn and Austin have had a blast playing drums and guitar. Autumn does not play video games, but loves this one (blisters on hands, bandaids on hands and then gloves on hands to keep blisters from hurting)!

Santa even brought BB and Munson stockings. Here Autumn is giving BB her gifts. No telling where Munson was!!!

My Family comes to our house for Breakfast after we open gifts from Santa. Here the little girls are enjoying their Christmas Breakfast!

And here are the adults having breakfast!

The girls were so excited to get big Barbie dolls from Cindy and the crew.

I love getting pictures like these. So sweet.....

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On to my homemade gifts. My three Aunts, My Mom and myself have been doing "My Favorite Things" for a couple of years at Christmas. We borrowed the idea from Oprah. She gives her favorites and we decided to give a bag of our favorites at Christmas, like our favorite candy, kitchen utensil, magazine, lotion, etc. It was alot of fun, but we were finding that our Favorite Things were rolling over from one year to the next, so we decided to give something Homemade, food or otherwise, for Christmas this year. I decided to make drink coasters. I bought tiles at Lowes and got busy. It was a really fun project and I miss doing it. I think I will make more...want some???

Here is Alex joining in the project. She made one for her and one for Avery. She did a great job!

Didn't she???



Everyone got a set of coasters and a trivet for their countertop. Here is the one I made me. I made Cindy one with three hearts.

Here is the set I made for my Aunt Brenda (AKA Granny). Trivet and four coasters.

I made a special set of coasters for Cindy (Marine Mom of Justin)!!

Here are the ones I made for my Mom (AKA Ganky)!

Here is the set I made for My Aunt Barbara (AKA Nanny)!

Packaged and ready to go! I had so much fun doing these!

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My two Sisters and their families came over the day after Christmas. Here is Madison (niece) with Ganky!

This is Maybree, who has been officially renamed "Mavery" because we have Avery and they just never have said her name right. That is just what we call her. Wouldn't you like to open a present and find this insided?!!

Well, that is it for me! I hope you all have a great year in 2010! Justin will be coming home this year! Yay!!!

.......................Until next time!!!