'Tis the Season!

We had a great Christmas together as a family, made bittersweet by the upcoming deployment. The kids are great and make Christmas even better. We started out the day VERY early. After a story from her teacher, Kim decided to get up early and jump on us to wake us up. So up they both came at 5:00. This was a little surprising since she usually doesn't want to get up until 7:30 or 8:00. After trying to get them to lie down and be quiet, we gave up and started the day.

After the gifts we enjoyed a pretty quiet day as a family enjoying gifts and each other.

I just had to include this picture from Christmas Eve since she's just so dang cute! Plus, she managed to sleep through all of the gift part of Christmas morning.


Kim was excited to get this nutcracker on Christmas Eve. She really loved the ballet we attended.


I had the good surprise of a serger from Ryan. I have played with it a little bit and think it will be great to have and fun to experiment with.



Grammy sent a neat gift for Glade. An Army bear complete with beret and tan shoes. So cute! The great part is that Ryan can record a message for Glade on a little box and we can listen to it while he is deployed.


Grammy made this hat for Glade, but I think Ryan was a little jealous! She better make one for her boy next year I think!



Glade did finally get his hat back from Dad and used it riding his airplane. He did turn into a bear later in the day (from getting up so early) and had to have a nap.


I think we have an organizer on our hands. Glade has always been good about putting toys away and wanting things where they go. Here's how we found his stocking and the candy he had left. Yellow is his favorite color so all gold wrapped candy was gone.


Kimberly must be growing up. She didn't get too many toys for Christmas, mostly clothes and things like that. Here's a wonderfully soft blanket made by Grandma. She loves it and Dad has been tempted to steal it. The crib set she made for Libby is adorable too, but I didn't get any pictures of it yet.


Very cute jumper for our Princess.


More handmade creations on our girls from Grammy.