Christmas in February???

Life has been crazy lately and I have definitely been neglecting the blog! I figured if I didn't get this done now, it would never get done, especially since our newest little man will be joining us in less than 3 weeks!!! So, I apologize for my lateness, but now you all get to enjoy a little Christmas in February! (Just in time for Valentines Day!) :)

Santa was very good to the kids this year and it was fun to watch all of their reactions and to see all of the smiles as they opened each gift! Lennon got lots of cars and balls----what can we say, he is boy through and through!!! Lainey, while her favorite color is pink and she loves to dress up, has a fascination with helicopters, and insists that she and her Grampy are going to ride in one someday! So she got a fun little helicopter that she can fly around, as well as dolls, books and movies! Aleece was ecstatic when she opened her Nintendo DS. Santa wasn't really aware until about a week or two before Christmas that this was such a huge desire for her, but he pulled through! Her reaction was priceless!

We tried to spread things out a little and opened family Christmas presents a little later in the day. Lennon opened up a ball from his Uncle Channy and Aunt Jessica and his reaction made us all laugh. As you can see in the pictures, it's not your typical ball, it is made of rubbery type material and hass little pieces all over it. He went to grab it out of the box and instantly pulled his hand back! It took him a while to warm up to it, but once he did he loved it! All of the kids recieved new homemade blankets from Grandma and Poomp, which they loved! They were also spoiled with some new outfits, dress-up clothes, games, dolls and stuffed animals! A big thank you to everyone!

I wanted to make sure and get some pics of the kids in their Christmas outfits and the weather was absolutely beautiful while we were there. I feel like these pictures really capture their personalities! Mind you, Val was juggling in the backround, but whatever it takes to get them to smile, right?

I absolutely love this next picture of the kids! They are our pride and joy and we love them SO much!!!

We got to take some big group family pictures of all of us extended family while we were in Yuma and I brought along my camera to take a few "behind the scenes" pictures!

The day we left from Yuma the kids and I experienced our very first earthquake. (Val had already been in one years ago) It was a 5.9 on the Richter scale and scared me to death. I was upstairs finishing getting everything together when I felt something underneath me, and I didn't think it was the garage door opening. I asked if anybody else noticed it, only to hear something crash in the next room and then have the whole house start shaking. Needless to say, I couldn't stop shaking for quite some time. It is definitely something I hope to never have to go through again!!!

We left Yuma late on Dec. 30th and so we got to spend New Year's Eve on the Amtrak train, in San Antonio, TX. We did get to get off of the train for a little while, to get something to eat and go listen to some music, but it was so cold and windy and crowded that we ended up watching fireworks from the train! We enjoyed some sparkling apple juice and rang in the New Year looking our best as you can see from the above photo's. :)

When we arrived home late on January 1st the kids were thrilled to find out that Santa had left a few bigger items at our home! Aleece go another new Zhu Zhu pet, Lainey got a Tinkerbell village and Lennon got a ride on pony that you hook up to the tv.

My favorite reaction when we came back however was that of my sweet husband. Santa left his present at our home too and Val was beyond happy when he opened it! He got Beatles Rockband, which he has wanted since the moment he first heard about it, and Santa was very happy to oblige, especially considering how very hard he worked this last fall semester on his thesis! He deserved something fun!

We had a wonderful holiday season and were sad to see it end. Our world seems a much happier place during the holiday's and we can only hope that we can try and spread that joy throughout the year to others, so that we can keep that feeling all year long!!!

I believe this catches us up.....at least until January! :) But hopefully I'm on a roll now!