Last Stop for Christmas

Our last Christmas celebration was in Luverne. We headed down Christmas Day for a few days with family, more to eat, and lots of gifts to open!

Santa brought Max a new gaming system that kept everyone busy. I think it was a bigger hit with the adults than the kids.

Pierce decided he needed to play the role of "Santa" at Aunt Martha's and hand out all of the gifts. He would not let anyone open their gifts either without his assistance. I'm pretty sure he was almost every family members "helper"....even if they didn't need one!

Brother and Sisterly love....

One of Pierce's favorite gifts was the Post Office set from Uncle Mike and Aunt Melissa. He is all about community helpers and has been telling us for months he works at the Post Office and Library.

The newlyweds first Christmas!

Patiently waiting to open gifts from Grandmomma and Granddaddy!

This year was a very fun and exciting Christmas! We are so very thankful for our many blessings this year and are looking forward to what 2011 has to bring. Happy New Year!!

Christmas Morning..."A Wotta Stuff!"

Christmas morning was full of fun and laughter around here.  Somehow, Pierce slept until about 6:45!  I'm pretty sure we will be heading to see what is under the tree much, much earlier for years to come.  We kept asking him what Santa brought and he would say, "A wotta stuff!!".

One of his favorite gifts...a spiderman shirt!

One of our favorite traditions of the day...celebrating Jesus' birthday!  Pierce loved singing Happy Birthday and blowing out the candle.  I think we did it three times!

Elfie & Cookies for Santa!

This Christmas season has been very exciting around our house.  One of the highlights each morning, was to see what Elfie had done the night before while we were asleep.  The last night Elfie was here, he made a mess in the kitchen! 

Pierce loved making cookies for Santa on Christmas Eve!  Poor Santa didn't get any homemade ones, but I'm not sure that he minded....

Putting out cookies and milk for Santa before bed, I'm pretty sure these fell off the plate about three times before they finally made it to the table!

We also put out reindeer food that Pierce made at school, we had to make sure that Rudolph and the other reindeer knew where to stop!

Pancakes with Daddy!

Yesterday morning Pierce was really excited to head off to work with Daddy! Each year his office has a pancake breakfast for employees and their children. The kids get to pick what they want on their pancakes (chocolate chips, stawberries, etc...). You probably can't tell, but Pierce is holding a container of red sprinkles...he decided that is what he needed on his!

Frosty even made an appearance, I guess Santa was busy getting ready for Christmas!

Pierce loves Mr. Clif, actually he has a lot of favorites there! Mrs. Lori even decided she needed red sprinkles on her pancakes too!  He must really love his new hat that Lou gave hime while she was here, it has already been worn a lot.

On Wed night our church had their annual live nativity. We debated taking Pierce since he really wasn't into it last year. He loved seeing the animals and actually got into the story and meaning of Christmas. At the end, several kids ran up to pet the animals and he immediately ran to the manager and wanted to know where Baby Jesus went. I love seeing Christmas through the eyes of a child!

An Early Christmas!

On Tuesday night, we had our Christmas with Gigi and Poppa. So, we've already gotten lots of fun gifts! Pierce loved handing out the gifts to everyone.

Growing up, we always had a rule at my parents house that we took turns opening gifts. Sometimes it would take 2 hours on Christmas morning. I was surprised that Pierce was patient while we all opened ours...he must have been anticipating his big gift!

They have him a John Deere Gator!  He said, "just wike Chapman's!"  He loves it and can't wait to ride it everyday!  I'm afraid Gigi and Poppa's gift will be much more exciting than what Santa brings....

So far, it's been an adventure to see what gets hit or run over.  We have an exciting weekend coming up with more family!

2K Christmas Party

Pierce's 2K class had their Christmas party last week and we made these treats for him to take to his friends. He also came home with lots of goodies, loads of art from this month, and stories about the day with his friends!

We also made lots of these over the last week for teachers at school and at church. Pierce always thought he needed to sample a little to make sure they were ok!

Griswald Family Christmas

My sister and her family were here visiting from TX for 5 days, we always feel a bit like one of the Griswald movies when we are all together. Not that they act like the Griswalds, but the whole family together does make for some good laughs.

The boys had so much fun together this year and are able to play together much better. And, lots of thanks to Gigi and Poppa for keeping all the kids one night so we could have a date night!

Playing at McWane...Chapman loved it!!

Pierce loved the big slide at the Winter Wonderland display.

Making Christmas Tree cookies (or as Pierce called them "trismas tree tookies").

My favorite thing to take pics of...Sullivan is the sweetest baby!

It is really impossible to get a picture of these three. Pierce was really excited about his Auburn jersey they gave him that says, "P-Mac" on the back.

This tub was full!

Celebrating both Brian's and Chapman's birthdays. I can't believe Chapman is 5 today!

A story from "B" before bed!

We had lots of fun playing with our cousins while they were here. I think Pierce loved having other kids in the house! He really loves his Lou and B too! We will make a roadtrip and come visit you soon!!