Parker Christmas

I tried really hard to get a picture of the kids in front of the tree, as I do every year, but as you can see, they were too excited for Christmas with Mimi, Timber and Aunt Angi to do anything but play around.

 We started with the stocking gifts - opening one at a time from youngest to oldest.  Here is Marty roaring with his dinosaurs.  He is such a great little gift opener this year - very thoughtful and thankful about each thing.

 Lizzie helps hand out the stockings.

 Mimi and Timber opening their gift from the kids.

 The big hit of the year - the kids both got new RC cars!  We had a small one for Lizzie from last year, but nothing as nice as these.   They spent a long time playing with these before and after our Christmas dinner.

Christmas morning

The stockings were hung (laid on the the coffee table) and the kids were in their new PJs.  excitement was pretty high around here for Christmas - we left hay for the reindeer, read Twas the Night Before Christmas and cookies and milk for the big man himself.  The kids fell asleep pretty easily and slept through the night.

 Lizzie woke up bright and early - I had woken up and asked Ryan to turn on the tree lights, which I think woke her up. She was excited to come tell us that Santa had come!  Marty slept until about 6 and then we dug right into things.  The stockings were full!

 Lot's of good surprises under hear! Both kids had new comforters, a new travel DVD system with two screens, lots of books, etc.

 New horses!  This was the calmest picture of the two of them I could find!

 I bought Ryan this new painting:

 The kids had a great time.  I got lots of great gifts too - lots of fancy cheese from the cheese store, new jammies, mittens, etc.

We had a great Christmas! Marty said, after opening his first present "I am so pleased" - what a cutie! Lizzie went on to lose her second front tooth today - lots of changes!

Ice Storm

We had vacation from school and work around Christmas and good thing too, as we had a bit of an ice storm in our area.  We were very lucky not to lose power - others in our area lost power for the 4 days or so on and around Christmas.  That didn't slow us down from riding the snowmobile and going sledding.

 Ryan setup a starting hill out by the garden for sledding - a good gradual hill for the younger ones.

 Marty got a ride on the snowmobile too, after his nap.

 Some of the ice build up.

 Lizzie also learned to do a little finger knitting. She made her first doll scarf!

Christmas at the farm

What a wonderful Christmas we had together this year!  Dan and Rachael were able to be home for a nice weekend and we made the most of it by celebrating Christmas.  Here is Lizzie wearing her new sweatshirt.

 This year, my parents bought all of the kids light up shoes.  Lizzie was especially excited about these shoes and hopped up and down with excitement.  Here she is hugging Grammy to say thank you:

 Marty with his new lightups:

 Maeve with hers:

 Lizzie and I braved the poor weather for the nutcracker again this year - here she is in her fancy outfit (she is very excited to be dressing herself these days and I really love her sense of style and sense of self in the outfits she chooses!)

 Part of the tradition of Christmas as the farm is to give home made presents.  Some of them are the same year after year, some of them are different.  We got oil changes, jam, calendars, soap, bookmarks, candles, drawings, magnets, knitted things, new swing seats, etc.  I made the kids a couple sets of cloth diapers each.  John made this spice rack for Kate (I am pretty sure this was one of her favorite gifts of the year!):

 Ryan made this sign for the Farm - along with new posts to go with it.  The center piece is interchangeable, depending on the season (squash for the fall, Christmas tree for the winter):

 Kate made the kids these fancy capes:

 It is hard not to play with the toys as soon as they are opened, so the kids spent a lot of time enjoying each gift after it was opened.  Here is Maeve with her new bowling set we gave her:

 Stockings!

 Candy Canes are her favorite - that and this pack of gum she found.  She is wearing the new dress from Aunt Kate.

We also received a juicer this year.  We have had a lot of fun with it already - right now I am drinking a carrot/romaine/pineapple juice - it hits the spot on this wintry days.

Adoption day!

We celebrated Marty's adoption day this past December - the anniversary of the date his adoption was legalized.  Our tradition is to have the current favorite food for supper along with a fancy cake or cupcakes.  Marty picked lobster for his meal - nice choosing!  Ryan picked up a Christmas cake from the supermarket - it was very exciting.  We are always thinking of his birth family, but especially so on these anniversaries!

Tree decorating

Holding with past tradition, we decorated our Christmas tree the weekend after Thanksgiving.  It was so much fun and the kids were very excited!  The bottom of our tree was especially well decorated.

Both of the kids take part in putting the angel on our tree - Ryan had his work cut out for him!

Crib

A big event happened this past December, we said goodbye to the crib and hello to the big bed!
Good job Martin!