CHRISTMAS 2008

Christmas Eve (Part 2)

Our matching PJs that we get to open on Christmas Eve...from the Disney Store! Ashley is so excited to get a Diego ornament!
Sprinkling the Reindeer food (oatmeal & glitter)!
Daddy reading "Twas the Night Before Christmas"...a family tradition from when Andrea was a little girl (same book too)! Ashley leaving cookies and milk for Santa!

Happy Birthday Jesus Party & Seeing Santa

We spent the first part of our Christmas Eve celebrating the birth of Christ at Kristy Martinez's annual Birthday Party for Jesus. It was complete with the story of Christ's birth, arts and crafts, and a birthday cake for Jesus! This is our second time going and it was very meaningful and a lot of fun. Kristy puts a lot of hard work into this event and her family collects socks and toiletries for the homeless. Then we went to the mall to try to see Santa again. We showed up right around 12:30 and there was no line and we had a wonderful time with jolly old St Nick. He was very sweet and talked with us for a long time. Part 2 of our Christmas Eve in another blog...

Our Christmas Pictures 2008

Tammy did a great job again this year, taking our family's Christmas pictures. Just in case you don't get one in the mail, here they are (either way, our Christmas cards are going to be Happy New Year's Cards this year)!

Happy Birthday to Me!

I spent a wonderful day with my family today, on my 36th birthday. We talked with our family in Florida last night AND this morning, via skpye and our webcam. It was really good to see everyone. Then we went to church and had our Family Service, so the kids got to come in and sing with us. We had cake afterwards, b/c it is also Drew's birthday (our minister out at Tri-Towns)...Daniel kept singing, "Happy Birthday to Drew!" as we went on our way. We stopped at Costco first and picked up the enlargements of our Christmas pics...then it was on to Flatirons, to see Santa (that's what I wanted to do for my birthday, since we couldn't do Zoo Lights--becauase the high was only in the teens today!). When we got there, the line was at least 1 1/2 hours long and he was taking a lunch break soon...so David fed the kids McDonalds and I picked up Daniel's Christmas Eve PJs at the Disney Store and got a fruit shake for lunch and we were off to Target. Ashley and I shopped together, as Daniel napped in the van, with Daddy. Then David dropped both kids and I off at the other Target in Boulder (trying to find snow boats and water prook gloves for the kids) and he headed to the office to print the labels for our Christmas cards (but it wouldn't work, so the cards will be even later...not that they're all written yet anyway). We finally ate dinner at IHOP (the kids thought it was funny that we had breakfast for dinner)...and then tried to go see Santa at the Twin Peaks Mall (the dying mall in Longmont)...and the Santa had JUST left for the night. Our last stop of the day was to King Soopers, to pick up our Christmas pics...b/c they had messed up the order that I turned in on Friday...and it was still messed up (this time, instead of really bright, black and white pics, we got some other family's Christmas pic and some random ones from another family). So our Christmas cards are turning into Happy New Years cards and I might not even send out that many, b/c once my mom and Jay get here, I'd just like to enjoy our time together (I'm going to do a post of the pics, so at least anyone who wants to, can check them out). That was our day...a long, full day out and about. I'm ready to be to bed now... thanks for stopping by!
With love, andrea
Ashley took this pic!

Santa's Workshop & A Time to Serve

The kids had a blast at Santa's Workshop, on Friday, Dec 12. There were a ton of crafts to do and candy canes to be gotten...and they did well sitting on Santa's lap (Ashley didn't say much... Daniel stared straight ahead and just said, "Diego"). We did our Time to Serve project with our small group the next morning, in the Alzheimer's Unit at the nursing home across from LifeBridge. We made Christmas tree ornaments and brought cookies...and Daniel & Lucas sang to the wonderful people there ("Dringle Bells, Dringle Bells). It reminded me of visits to see Grammy and I missed her. Ashley cut out early, to go to Lauren's birthday party and then the kids went to Lauren's house that night, and we had a wonderful, kid-free feast with our small group. It was a fun, busy weekend. We taught in the 2s & 3s class on Sunday...only had 8 kids there (including our 2), as a cold front blew through and it snowed most of the night and was below zero! It seems to be how the weather is going to be on Sundays in December.

Our Christmas Tree

We got our Christmas tree that Sunday, Dec 7 (after we had a great time at church-- with a birthday party for Jesus--with pizza, a birthday cake and a bounce house!). We got a wonderful tree...but Daniel took a dunk in a pond (he thought he was jumping on some leaves, which landed him in a nasty pond--he smelled like cow manure)...awh, fond Christmas memories. We needed a quiet night at home, so we stayed in and decorated our tree. At least we have it up--as it's almost our only decoration.

First Real Snow & The Bounce House

We had our first real snow during the first weekend in December...how fitting! The kids couldn't wait to get outside and play in it. They had a lot of fun and it was fun to watch them from inside, where it was warm! Such a good Daddy they have!
We went to the Bounce House that Friday (yes I drove in the snow, brave Mommy). The kids had such a good time...it was Ashley, Daniel, Kira & Lily (just didn't get a good pic of her). Then Ana, Tammy and I (with the kids too) went to lunch at a nice, little Japanese restuarant and the kids were wonderful. A good time was had by all!