Christmas Eve at Gege and Papa's

The coolest dinosaur ever!

Rachel opening her huge bear


Riding on her bear

Trying out the cool dinosaur!

Enjoying watching the helicopter take off

The beautiful cake we made to celebrate Jesus' birth

For some reason, Bradley didn't like it

when we sang "Happy Birthday" to Jesus

Both kids enjoying their huge animals!

Papa got some serious exercise when he decided

to push the kids around on their animals

Well, thank goodness, Bradley took a nap on the way to our Gege and Papa's and slept on Nick once we arrived. He just needed a little pick-up. When he woke up, he chugged down some coke, opened some presents and seemed to be in great spirits! The kids were super spoiled with presents galore and we had tons of yummy food that Gege prepared. Both kids got large, sturdy animals that they can sit on to watch tv or play with. Bradley's remote control dinosaur is really cool and can do so many realistic things. Both kids love it even though neither really wants it to touch them when it's moving. Rachel was thrilled to get the "Pee Pee in the Potty" doll that she had seen on commercials for months. And, Rachel and Bradley LOVED watching daddy play with his remote control helicopter that Gege gave him this year. They could hardly contain themselves when it flew around the room and crashed into the floor. We had a great evening with Gege, Papa and Stacy and Randy. We gave the kids baths and then loaded our car and headed home for bedtime. What a fun day!!

Christmas Eve at Nana and Pop's

me and mom
me and gram

We're having so much fun opening presents! :)

helping Gramma open her calendar

Fun at the playground!

Pop, Nana, Rachel and "cooperative" Bradley

Our precious family!

We are lucky that we get to see both sets of Grandparents in one day since they only live 30 minutes apart! We spent the morning with nana, pop and gramma. We had a delicious brunch and then opened presents and went outside to see pop's new goats. We didn't get a good look at them since they're not used to people yet, so they were more like a white streak in the woods. The kids burned off some energy playing on the always cool playground. Then we came back in and rested for a bit before heading to our next destination. We all got some really great presents and have really enjoyed playing with them now, even though some of us (Bradley) didn't act like we liked anything when we were opening them!

T'was the night before Christmas Eve...

Rachel's little piggy and Bradley's little puppy

...and Mommy convinced Daddy to let the kids open just one present! They both got a fur-real friend pig and dog that moves and makes animal noises when they're petted. Both kids loved them! I knew the kids would get so much from grandparents, Santa and mom and dad, that I thought it would be nice for them to get just one present early to enjoy without competition! They had a blast feeding their animals and petting them for one evening!!

Ready and Waiting

We're home today and ready to celebrate Christmas with our families! We baked cookies this morning for Santa. And, we made a cake and cupcakes to celebrate Jesus' birth. Both kids were really into it and SO helpful in decorating them all. Each cookie and cupcake has about 500 sprinkles on it. I think Bradley and Rachel's philosophy is: "More is Better" when it comes to sprinkles. The kids are so excited about opening presents and seeing their grandparents tomorrow. They are just such precious, loving, sweet kids and I feel so very grateful to be their mommy and have the privilege of sharing all these fun times with them!

Merry Christmas!!

**The above picture was from a couple of weeks ago when we had a Christmas party for Deborah's side of the family in their barn. It was a great location and the kids had a blast...especially playing in the clean stall with all the fresh shavings!

**UPDATE: Everyone is feeling so much better! Bradley still has alot of congestion, but both kids seem to have gotten rid of the nasty infection and just have minor colds now! Thank goodness!!