Bakin,Trimmin, and Jammin

We had a relaxing morning just lazing around...Mike even let me sleep in and brought me breakfast in bed! :) Then the Graham Girls + Matt went to a couple stores after lunch...then headed back to our house...

M was excited for the baking to begin! More Hershey kiss pretzels...

Aunt Susan has skillz when it comes to decorating cookies!

Carter was snoozing through all of this....M was enjoying some non-rest time days this break...

Can you tell which ones M did?

Lit the fire for the first time this season...so festive...Mike is able to get it lit despite the interference from our little elves!

Matt is SOOOOO FUNNY!!!

After a yummy spaghetti dinner a la Mike and 2 trips to get garland...kept coming up short! It was humorous....the kids opened their new Christmas PJs and we started trimming the tree...

The supervisors...

Carter was having fun looking through the ornaments...so many of them look like his "guys" so it was a hard lesson in not being able to touch them once they got on the tree...

More supervisors...

It's beginning to look a lot like CHRISTMAS!!!!

Love to see how the bottom is OVERdecorated by the Mal Pal...

Aunt Susan joins in on the fun...

Showing off an ornament....Love that Mags (our ever present furry companion) was there with us the whole time...

It's neat as the kids get older and they remember ornaments...

Mags! Carter is a teeth grinder when he really likes something...and he loves his Maggie!

Thanks for coming out and helping us ring in the Christmas Season at our house...We can't wait to see everyone again for the Graham Fam Christmas!

After trimming the tree we watched a Graham favorite...Noel....(click and you can watch the whole thing on youtube in parts...but we have it on dvd...thanks Lu!) Such a good movie! I try not to bawl each yr while watching it...

After the movie a jam session broke out....


What a fun day....Love looking down on a decorated room once the little ones are all nestled in their beds...

Pumped UP!

When Aunt Lu and Matt arrived we headed over to Pump IT Up! They had a pop-in session for the holiday...1-4pm...the aunts, soon to be uncle, and MiMi lasted an hr before they were wiped (sadly my camera battery died so I didn't get pics of them!) and we stayed for another hr to BOUNCE! Thanks for treating the kids L and M...we had a blast!

Carter was in HEAVEN...last time he was too little to bounce when we went with Pepere...not this time! When we got home he slept hard and had to be woken up at 530-- he was none to pleased and was quite CRANKY! But what a fun day! We all slept hard last night! :) Aunt Laura said it was a better work out than her gym!

Black Friday

A WWE guy hanging with Jesus...and Jesus is on the roof btw...Just feeling overwhelmed by God's goodness on this Black Friday...we were going to face the crowds bc our 20 yr old dryer that had been brought back to life 3xs by PaPa finally went cur-put this week so I was going to join in the Black Friday Madness for once bc of the awesome deals...wrote about it on FB and a friend got a 2 for one special today and her dryer wasn't broken (just their washer) so they are going to GIVE us their dryer...How AWESOME is our God to provide for our needs and give us good friends! We are overwhelmed....and since we didn't need to shop we are having a lazy morning baking pretzel kisses and heading back over to the Graham Casa in a few bc Aunt Lu and Matt will be arriving soon! God is so good! :)

Thanksgiving 2010!

Watched part of the parade at our house and finished it at MiMi and PaPa's with the smell of yummy food cooking...Aunt Susan tried her hand at the Light Brite she got M for her B-Day...trip down memory lane...

Talking with KayKay...

Silly doggie...

Ta-Da!

Played some kickball and played outside before Carter ate and went down for his nap and then the rest of us enjoyed our meal...

Snuggling with Aunt Susan after our feast...

And Mommy...

Another M photography special...

Watching a classic...Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer! Good times!

Thanks for a restful fun day!

The Reason...

We finished up good ol Turkey Eve with decorating...it has become a family tradition! Carter loves the doll house cousin Abby is letting us borrow...it is so funny...dinos, Super Why, Star Wars guys, and wrestlers all play a part in his scenarios...

And some puzzles in the fort before we took it down...M took the next 2 pics...

Kinda artsy... :) She doesn't get the concept of waiting after it flashes and moves...hence the blur...

The kids were excited to look at all the decorations and were at peace...until a favorite came out...the Little People Nativity....then the "turkeys" began to "squabble"...we are so glad they love it so much...but goodness...I couldn't help but see the irony...and the "reason for the season"...they were having trouble sharing and being greedy...but Jesus came for "squabbling turkeys" just like them...just like me!

And the wise men from the other nativity are beginning their journey through our house...yay! I love this time of year! :)

My Cup Overflows....

Mike is home for THANKSgiving break! We have so much to be thankful for! Like patient cats to name one thing...

We have one B&A today and he was so excited bc on half days (or total days off in this case) we get to move couches and make a HUGE fort! (he remembered from the one other time he was here on a day off) I usually never have anyone on days off...Mike helped re-make this one when he got home before lunch and a movie...Veggietales: The Toy that Saved Christmas... :)....fun to have a GINORMOUS fort to eat in and added bonus deep clean before changing furniture to bring the tree in this afternoon! So excited to have so much chill family time!!!!! Have a wonderful time of THANKS everyone!!! :)

Roll Call!

Here is Carter naming off the "friends" in his bed...roll call!

Club 3 Zero!

Susan is the last of the Graham Girls to join Club 30...We enjoyed going out and helping her celebrate on Sat. night...thanks for watching the kids Uncle Matt! Welcome to the Club SusieQ!

VeggieTales Party

It was time for a "veggie" fun celebration! Thanks Aunt Susan for helping me make the Bob and Larrys! And MiMi for helping me color the bean bag toss! "It takes a village to raise a child" and throw a party apparently! Carter found out where the snacks were located and was all about parking it and munching before the guests arrived!

The cousins wait for the guests to arrive...

The kids decorated a CD cover of M's top 10 song of 2010....when it's her turn to pick a song in the van these have been her fav on her latest "trip around the sun"...Then we headed into the family room to play musical Larry! Pass him til the music stops and you are out, but you get a Hershey Kiss...yummm!

Then we played pin the marshmallow on the s'more stick! The B-Day girl taking a b-day peek and a b-day cheat...

We are so grateful that the weather was PERFECT for being outside!

We hid 10 tomatoes and 10 cucumbers in the backyard for the kids to find...it was so fun to watch them run and get them...

We played a little game of bean bag toss....

Then the kids had fun just running around and playing....

Then it was back inside for cake and ice cream....cousins!

Her fav colors are pink and purple so we surprised her with a pink and purple cake in the middle...(it also cut down on the Bobs and Larrys we needed to do...)

Daddy held her while they sang...

Chow time!

Presents!

Thanks for helping us celebrate!