Yay for Grandma & Grandpa!

For Christmas we got an extra-special gift -- Grandma M'Jean & Grandpa Gary!
Originally scheduled to get here a couple days before Christmas, they ended up hitting a freak BLIZZARD driving through Texas - of all places!
[To get the full story, you'll have to ask them. It was an insanely crazy adventure involving cars, trucks & semi-s littering the side of the road, an un-planned but required stop overnight in New Mexico, record-setting snowfall in Texas, several-hour periods of time at a dead stand-still on the road, almost getting blocked in at the Post Office where cots had been set up to accommodate stranded travelers, a little bit of luck and a whole lot of mad driving skills to be the only car to make it to the metroplex that night!]

Anyway, they made it here in time to get maybe an hour of sleep before being bombarded by the kids for Christmas morning. Ha!Ha! Merry Christmas! But they were great sports, and we LOVED having them here! We also got to have Nick, Lexye and their kids here, so the house was full and we couldn't have been happier. We spent some great time eating, opening gifts, eating, playing with gifts, eating, talking, and a little bit of eating. (Shout-out to Gommy for the AMAZING cookies she sent! H.O.L.Y.C.O.W. I don't know how many variety of cookies were in the bucket -easily a dozen. It must have taken her a straight week of doing nothing else! And yet they were consumed in less than a day! Yummy! Thanks again Gommy!)

Sadly, their time wasn't nearly long enough and soon they had to go. But not before participating in Andrea's "game night," complete with pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey (see below) -- Mom, you really were a good sport!




The kids LOVED their time with you!




It really felt like Christmas with such a full house!




They even did dishes! Hooray!




It was sooooo fun to see you! Thanks for braving the weather!
Love you!

Christmas Eve

The stockings were hung o'er the chimney with care...



as well as the wall, to accommodate everyone there.

Merry Christmas, friend!

Oh, you didn't receive yours? Hmm, maybe that's because after baking all day long some freak snow/ice storm deterred any chance of delivering them.
Lame.

Lacie-ism

Jenny: "Lacie, are you being nice so that Santa will bring you presents?"
Lacie: "No. I'm on the naughty list."

Fun with Santa

The girls were absolutely thrilled to meet the big man himself.
For Lacie's Birthday trip we looked up fun events to do and found a Baptist church hosting a breakfast with Santa. I thought Andrea was going to just die with anticipation. I guess that was to be expected, since I'd been hanging the threat/reward that is Santa over their heads since, oh, October?
I love that guy.

Princess for a Day

Happy Birthday Lacie!!



Our little princess turned 4 today and dressed accordingly!



We took a mini family trip and the girls were thrilled to stay in a hotel. Andrea was also more than willing to "help" Lacie open her presents.



Oh yeah, no jealousy going on here! Oddly enough, the item most fought over was the box... Really. I'm not even joking.



Mark, caught with his mouth full.



Hyrum dominated the remote control. All night.



The poor, sad cake makes its final appearance.

The Unfortunate Incident

You'd think we'd learn.



Never leave a cake out unattended.


Although, dress it up with candles and a princess and kids'll still eat it!

A Note to the Teacher

Dear Ms. Newton,

we have torn the house apart trying to find Andrea's folder, but it is nowhere to be found. I have sent a new folder as a replacement.

Andrea is completely overwhelmed and distressed over this tragedy.

And though I have assured her that the doom and destruction of the world is not imminent and that she should go to school regardless, if I should be wrong and the world comes to pieces I do so apologize.

Sincerely,

Andrea's concerned parent