More Friends

That isn't a catchy blog title, but we have had lots of friends come visit in the short time we have lived here.  Actually, we are very blessed that we often have out-of-town guests visit us wherever we live.  I guess knowing people from all over the country some of them are bound to pass by.

Tracie, Montana and Charlie came to visit from Georgia.  Tracie said she would come visit before we even left and I knew she would.  They arrived on Friday and Aaron and Hannah ran out to the driveway to greet them.  I didn't snap pictures, just enjoyed the moment.  When Holly realized someone was outside she ran out barking, but immediately became excited when she realized who it was.

We exchanged Christmas gifts that evening. 

Aaron had carved Charlie a spear out of a tree branch.  He worked on that for hours and was so excited about it.



 
He carved "From Aaron To Charlie 2013."  It was the first time he had carved letters so he practiced on other wood first.  That was probably one of the sweetest gifts exchanged in our home this year because I know how much love and tender care went into making it.

PK started a fire after dinner and the kids roasted marshmallows.

Saturday was a beautiful day for December.  The temps were in the 60s and the sun was shining.  We decided to get out of the house and went to explore Yorktown.  We visited the Victory Memorial, walked around the historic homes and walked along the water front to the pier.  The kids were excited to see jellyfish swimming below.

Aaron, Hannah and Charlie took some time to roll down this hill.  That was probably one of their highlights.



Sunday was rainy almost all day, so I was glad we were able to get them out of the house on Saturday.  Tracie and I ran a couple errands and she treated me to lunch.  One of the perks of having built-in babysitters.

Tracie, Rachel, Montana and I played a board game called "Truth Be Told" and laughed and laughed.  PK played Doctor Who Monopoly with Aaron, Hannah and Charlie.  It was a gift from Cynthia and Brian.  After dinner we all played more "Truth Be Told" and played "Just Dance."

They are all sleeping right now and the house is peaceful.  Soon the boys and Hannah will be up and it will be loud, but a happy loud.  Then Tracie and the kids are going to leave and there will be a sad silence as their leaving reminds us of not only how much we miss them, but all of our other friends we have left somewhere along our journey.

Christmas Day or Burnt Offering Not Required

It was no surprise to me that our Christmas morning began at 6:00 a.m.  We have started them much earlier than that.  I heard Aaron go to the bathroom at 5:00 and I thought he would come wake us up then, but he went back to his room.  At 6:00 PK and I both heard Hannah coming down the hallway.  He immediately rolled out of bed and went to get the coffee going.  I tried to get Hannah to climb in my bed to go back to sleep, but she said, "I am tired, but I am just too jittery!!"  I knew it was a shot in the dark.

PK got Rachel up. She is really at the age where she would be more than happy to sleep in and get around to opening gifts whenever she got up on her own.  While we are waiting for Rachel to appear, we make the other kids wait in our room.  We love to see the smiles on their faces when they see the gifts under the tree.

 

PK videoing the kids

 



 

Aaron and Hannah are making their way into the living room.  Rachel really did NOT want to be in any pictures without having showered and fixed her hair.  She is a teenager.

 



Oops.  I got Rachel in the background carrying Holly.

 



The kids saw the tree, but wanted to look in their stockings first.  They have always done that.  Holly jumped up on the fireplace and started sniffing the stockings.  Must have been something yummy inside.

Hannah helped Holly look in her stocking.

 

After the stockings, we went back to opening gifts.

 

Aaron received a 3DS

 



 

Holly was very curious to see what was in the packages.

 



 

This is the best Christmas morning picture I have of Rachel.

 



 

Hannah was very excited to receive a dog agility set.

Aaron also received Legos, a pair of footie jammies, and a hammer (he did ask for it) amongst other things.  Hannah's additional gifts included My Little Ponies and Littlest Pet Shops.  Some of Rachel's favorites were a Maroon 5 hoodie and t-shirt from the concert she attended, Vans (shoes) and nail art brushes.

 

We always eat monkey bread on Christmas morning.  I usually make it the night before and put it in the frig so I can pop it in the oven and let it bake while the kids open gifts.  I didn't have room in the frig, so I made it after we opened gifts. 

 

 As it was baking, some of the syrup mixture spilled onto the bottom of the oven.  I put in a piece of aluminum foil to contain any more spills.  After PK and the kids had their monkey bread, I realized the middle was still kind of doughy, so I put it back in the oven.  The syrup that had fallen on the aluminum foil melted and fell on the heating element.  I was working on prepping the stuffing when I noticed flames inside the oven.  I yelled for PK and told him there was a fire in the oven.  He grabbed the fire extinguisher from the garage.  I thought about grabbing my camera or phone at this point to take a picture, but I wasn't sure PK would appreciate that.

 

I did take a picture after the fact.  Before we could really assess the situation, we had to let the oven cool down.  I sent myself to my room for a slight time-out to gather my wits and plan the best way to accomplish making dinner.

There wasn't any damage, but the oven had to be cleaned.  Doug, Shannon, the girls, Brian and Cynthia were coming around 12:00 and we were supposed to eat a late lunch/early dinner around 3:00.  I texted them and told them we would be moving dinner back to 5:00 and they could come anytime after 1:00 and I would have appetizers ready.  There was a light film of white powder over the entire kitchen, so any food items that were out and uncovered had to be thrown out.  PK's fudge took a hit and the ingredients for the stuffing I was prepping.

PK cleaned the racks out of the oven and I cleaned out the oven and wiped down the kitchen.  It took about two hours to recover, but when our guests arrived around 1:30, I had the appetizers ready to go, all of the dinner items prepped that could be done ahead of time, the ham in the oven and had managed to shower.

Shannon, Cynthia and I played some Nertz until it was time to finish fixing dinner.  After we ate we moved on to opening gifts.  It was tons of fun.  PK, Doug and Brian all gave each other coffee.  Too funny.  Shannon and her fam gave me one of the Duck Dynasty books and Brian and Cynthia gave me a whole foods cookbook. 



It was a great Christmas Day.  I fell into bed exhausted, but I would have done it all over again, minus the oven fire.



Christmas Eve

Hannah jumped out of bed on Christmas Eve morning all smiles and declaring that nothing could make her sad on Christmas Eve.  She is so much fun on holidays.  She just enjoys every part of the traditions we have built.

 

She wore her Santa hat all day.

 

I had promised the kids I would make one batch of their favorite Christmas treats once they were out of school for break.  Hannah wanted cut-out sugar cookies that she could decorate.

 





Homemade butter cream frosting that we colored red and green.

 

 

 

PK's favorite is fudge.

 



 

Aaron asked for buckeyes.

 

Rachel doesn't really have a sweet tooth so she asked that I make pigs in a blanket as an appetizer on Christmas Day.

 

We opened gifts from each other and extended family that afternoon.

Hannah insisted that I open my gift first.  I told her I could wait and she said, "But you never open yours first."  I thought that was sweet.  PK and the kids gave me a new laptop.

Aunt Ragini sent Aaron and Hannah Doctor Who calendars.

Mamaw Annie sent Hannah an American Girl Doll school desk.

She was already excited when she saw the box and knew there was something from American Girl inside.

She especially loved that the books had real information printed in them.

There have only been a few times in the almost twenty years PK and I have been married that I have managed to buy him a gift he truly likes.  He is particular about his clothes and he loves books, but only certain ones.  This year the kids and I gave him two hats that have wicking to help keep moisture away, a shirt made by the same company and a small screw driver that looks like a pen with multiple heads to change out and some of his favorite chapstick.  He loved them all.

We went to have dinner with Doug, Shannon, Lori and Noelle at their house and then joined them for the Christmas Eve service at their church.  Brian and Cynthia also came down.



 

Rachel, Lori, Hannah, Aaron and Noelle sitting in church together.

 

After church we went home and got cookies and milk ready for Santa and some carrots for his reindeer.  Aaron lit the candle he painted in preschool.  We light it every year to help Santa find the goodies.

 



 

The kids were off to bed in eager anticipation.  Aaron received a very large Lego set as a combined gift from the grandparents.  I walked down to his room to find him getting ready to put it together.  "Dude, it is time for bed!"

All of the gifts from Santa around the tree.