Christmas Day 2008

Christmas day had finally arrived. The kids were filled with so much excitement. (Ahhh...I remember that feeling all too well) They couldn't wait to see if they were getting the special things they had wanted.

We had a wonderful, glorious day & we feel so blessed to celebrate Jesus' birth. We hope everyone had a Merry Day!

Mattie & her Pink guitar!

Bubbs...the little cutie!



Talula in her new bed

Abby in her stylin' new North Face

Watch Out!




Syd & some doll clothes

Christmas Eve

The kids are so excited on Christmas Eve...they can hardly wait to open their 'special' Christmas Eve gift from Nana & Papa. It's so funny, because it's the same gift every year, but that doesn't stop their excitement! (we LOVE pajamas around here) We let them open them this year before we went to Mass. Everybody was thrilled with their new fabulous night wear!

Abby & Doug lovin' their pajamas!

Bubbs & his WonderPets!




Mattie & her silky hearts

Syd & her silky cupcakes

The crew

Cookie Decorating

Yesterday we got together with Nancy & the kids to decorate cookies. The kids started off strong & then we lost them one by one. Apparently they had playing to do. Nancy & I held strong & finished them.

The troops

A small sample of our decorating

Snow of 2008

It was so exciting here yesterday...we had snow! It's not very often that we get snow & it's usually very little. But enough that the kids are thrilled! We didn't want to chance it being gone by morning so the kids went out to play last night. To top it off the excitement, schools were cancelled today...YEAH!

Nana & Papa Visit

My mom & dad came for their annual Christmas visit. They come every year around this time. We went to lunch with the girls at school, it made their year to have Nana & Papa there. We watched Abby cheer at a basketball game. Tomorrow we are going to the movies. We have done lots of shopping & dining. We get very spoiled when Nana Papa come to town. We love them & appreciate all they do, more than could ever know.

WV Trip

We went to West Virginia for Thanksgiving & Doug's brother Sean celebrated his 40th birthday. Below is a picture of the whole gang. All of the kids(7) were their with their families. We are a pretty big group! Doug's brother wanted to have a skating party for his birthday. Afterwards they surprised him with a continued celebration at Doug's mom's house. She had all the brothers & sisters write him a letter about their memories of Sean.

We also got a chance to meet our first great niece! She was 9 days old & just a little doll. We couldn't get enough of her.

It was a great time & we are so glad we were able to go at the last minute. We weren't planning on going & 1pm on Wed. (day before Thanksgiving) we found out we were able to go.

We felt very blessed.

Fun times at Aunt Jul's

The sweet new baby...