OUR CHRISTMAS . . .

Our Christmas holiday was busy busy as always with lots of traditions to keep and parties to attend!!!

BELFOR PARTY:

We started the festivities off with Clay's company party which was held at Skunk Creek and a really good time. The perfect place for the kids who had lots and lots of room to run around and play. There was live music, delicious food and Santa even stopped by for a visit!!

There was also a mechanical bull that the kids could ride and Rhett spent pretty much the entire party riding it!! He literally had blisters from trying to hold on!! Our little cowboy!!

Santa stopped by for a visit and gave all the kids stockings filled with goodies ... Rilyn refused to go anywhere near him but finally agreed to go sit by him as long as she was on Aunt Lorie's lap!!!

This was the very first year that Belfor did a Christmas party and we really enjoyed it ... it was nice getting to meet all the people Clay works with and their families!!!

RUBENSTEIN FAMILY VISIT:

Last year my cousin and her family came down to our house for a little Christmas visit and to do some baking and crafts with the kiddos, so this year we switched it up and went to their house in Vegas!! We baked and baked and baked ... literally for like 3 days straight hahaaa!!!

Normally we just exchange gifts with the kids, but this year me and my cousin started a new little tradition and exchanged a little something amongst each other which was fun. We got 2 of the exact same size jars and each filled our jar with little goodies for the other with the rule that you couldn't spend very much $$ and homemade stuff is better!! One morning while we were drinking our coffee we exchanged our jars and it was so much fun seeing all the fun creative stuff inside!! Mine included stuff like: a little homemade notepad to write my daily lunch notes on when I pack the boys lunch, cookie cutters, recipe's .... etc!!! In the end we decided that the jars were a little too small so we went to Michaels and got little treasure chest trunks for next year!!! We are looking forward to having a whole year to collect stuff for each other's trunks for next Christmas and cant wait to keep this little tradition going for years to come!!

The kids helped with some of the baking, thank goodness hahaaaa, and loved it!! Rilyn was just way too cute up on the stool doing everything exactly like we showed her, dipping pretzels in chocolate and putting sprinkles on them and rolling out the sugar cookie dough!! She is just too big for her little britches!!!

One evening we made a trip to Bass Pro Shops to check out all the cool animals and the aquarium and then grabbed some Margaritas and Dinner out!!

All the kids waiting very patiently to open their presents!!! I have this same exact picture last year in front of our tree and it is pretty amazing to see how much they all have grown in a year!!!

We made ornaments this year. So each kiddo got a clear ornament to stuff with goodies like: ribbon, sequens, glitter, jingle bells and a special little note that read "Dear Santa, This year for Christmas I especially want _______!! Love, _____"!! They all had to fill in the blanks on their note and then put it inside their ornament. Charlotte's wrote a Nintendo DS, Trey an Ipad2, Rhett a pit bike & Rilyn a Blue RC Car (haaa)!!! Then they each painted their name and the year on the outside and decorated them with some stickers!! These turned out really pretty and will be fun to look back on!!

We left Vegas early Sunday morning so that we could make it back to Phoenix in time for the Christmas festivities at my Dad & Jackie's!! We had an awesome dinner, watched the Cardinals barely pull off a win over San Francisco and then it was present time!!!

SANTA'S LAP:

Although I tried like heck to convince myself to skip the visit to see Santa this year (between the long lines and the patience of 2, 5 & 6 year olds) I just couldn't bring myself to do it and there we were at Paradise Valley mall in line waiting to sit on Santa's lap!! Rilyn once again screamed the entire time and did the scramble trying to get out of there but we did manage to get a picture even though her face is bright red and she is screaming!!! The boys of course sat on Santa's lap and told him what they wanted for Christmas, Trey a Teatherball Pole and Rhett a pit bike!!

The hightlight of our visit to see Santa was the stretch mirror they had set up in line .... haahaaaa .... I don't know who was more entertained the kids or me, but it was pretty funny stuff especially Rilyn since she is so short, the mirror stretched her head instead of her body!!!

CHRISTMAS EVE:

We spent Christmas Eve at my momma's house and although we missed Grandpa Normy who was still in Alaska working we had a great time!! This year all the adults drew each other's names and all the kiddos drew each others names, which turned out really nice and everyone got hooked up with a present they really liked!! Then the adults also did a white elephant, the old fashioned way where you actually have to bring something from your house wrapped for the exchange!! This brought lots of laughs and Clay ended up with a black and pink lace bra!!!!

All the boy's got hooked up with Cardinals jersey's and beanies ... woot woot!!!!

Grandma & Grandpa Normy hooked the kiddos up this year with some new toys for Grandma & Grandpa's house which included a Wii and lots of other stuff!!! They were all super stoked!!

Aunt Lacey & Cody made each and every one of the kids their very own super big, soft & warm blankets!! We love them and they have already gotten a ton of use!!

We ended the night at Grandma's house with Cortney, Ashlynn & Aly reading "The Night Before Christmas" and all of us singing every Christmas song that we could remember the words too!!! Then we headed home to sprinkle our Magic Reindeer Food in the runway and make Santa's plate of goodies!!

CHRISTMAS MORNING:

This year once again we were awakened bright and early (pretty sure the days of us waking them up are over) by the kids saying "Santa Came Santa Came Santa Came" and they were right!!!

Rilyn got a new gas quad from Daddy & Me!!! Clay tore apart the boys little red 50 that they have outgrown and we painted it pink & grey and Clay rebuilt the engine for her ... she was super excited and kept saying "I wanna ride my new quad in the dunes"!!!

The boys got RC Monster Trucks, Grave Digger & Captains Curse, and these things are baaaaadddddddddddd!!!

I didn't do the greatest job of taking pictures on Christmas morning as these are really the only shots I got but Santa definitely hooked it up!! All the kids got Tablets and Charlotte Rae got a Karaoke machine!!! It was a nice morning at home opening and opening presents. Then we all got ready and headed down to Grammy's house for her amazing breakfast and the last of our Christmas festivities!!!

Rhett and Rilyn playing on their tablets!!!

Uncle Darin got the boys these nerf guns that they absolutely love and all the boy's headed out front for a little gun war!!! It didn't take long for Clay & Darin to take over the guns and it was pretty entertaining watching them running around and hiding trying to shoot each other!!