PS for christmas

i forgot one more thing from christmas, so here's

8) isn't it cute?!

Merry Christmas!

Merry christmas to all, and to all a good night!

okay, maybe i'll finish my post first, then i'll wish everyone a good night... i've been thinking a bit abot christmas lately, how it sometimes seems such a rush and bother, people stepping all over eachother, and others so alone... and yet, i wouldn't change it (much). we're naturally a little crazy here, seeing as how my whole family was together today: 2 parents, 8 kids, 4 spouses, and 9 grandkids... they really add up, and the house is only so big (thank heavens for beautiful weather and daddies that take kids to the park!). but i thought i'd share a few of my favorite moments (in no particular order):

1) the nativity scene christmas eve, grandma reading her texas night before christmas and giving all the kids boot/stocking ornaments, singing carols in a key i can reach (thanks all you altos for picking the pitch), all the sheep and wiseguys... all of it, it's oe of my favorite parts of christmas, and it works great with tons of kids.

2) i love that my two youngest sisters (the ones with no steady source of income, great or small) gave everyone a christmas present, often homemade and always heartfelt... we loved our little gifts (gingerbread men and treasure chest and bath salts and more!!!)

3) while waiting for everyone to finish getting dressed/fed/etc so we could open the tree-presents, i made my dad laugh! (as in--on purpose, not just he was laughing at me :)

4) chocolate, toffee, turkey oh my!

5) giving becca tickets to the stars game... i wish i could give big presents to everyone it's such fun, especially when you know it's somethig they'd like, but knowing how impractical that is for most of us, i'm glad that i was able to find something becca really likes, and i hope you have a blast on monday... GO STARS!!!!!

6) zoo-pass!!! we're really looking forward to taking our girls to the zoo this year! (have i gotten too "!" happy yet, or can i add a few more?) thanks dad and mom!!!!!!

7)this:
my nephew (almost 4) opened one of these and my mom started saying "that's from grandpa, not from me! i tried to stop him... it's from grandpa" while my dad was saying excitedly "look jacob, a roly poly farm, it even tells you how to keep them alive" or something like that... it totally cracked me up!


i'd better sign off now, so i wish you:

"Merry Christmas to all, and to all a Good Night!"

straight A's!!!!!

tonight rayna gets an A... it was her first bath (in her life) where she did not scream bloody murder the entire time! she has successfully showered frequently, but only twice (that i recall, perhaps there was a third time) where she only cried and screamed part of the time, but generally, she's very shrill. now if only it will last...

also, afton and rayna also get A's for keeping calm while driving all the way to arizona. the trip took a little longer than we'd planned, we left late, and got caught in traffic all the way through DFW, but it still went well.

and finally, paul just got his grades in... he got A, A, and A- in his three classes! WAY TO GO PAUL! YOU"RE AWESOME AND WE LOVE YOU!!!! it's a great start to his graduate studies. hooray!

sisters

yep, i think they look more alike than first glance might suggest:

just had to add a couple more photos

these were from today, and i was just printing a few others off, and i decided i had to add something more here :) enjoy!

this week

i guess it's time for a real post, though i am equally sure there will be more silly things afton says and does, cause i hang out with her most all the time... and i'm easily amused.

by the way, thanks mom for a fabulous thanksgiving! i wish there was more i could do to help! we love you!

we also had tons of fun playing with katharine's family and going to the parks. this year we're also thankful we live close enough that we can go home at night, sleep in our own beds (especially sleeping in come morning time), and still head back to the family when (hopefully) it's more convienent for everyone.

monday morning we had a little adventure too, after going to the park, we went to a friend's house for lunch (we switch off regularly). afton finished her lunch rather quickly and went off to play. i was just glad she'd eaten her lunch (usually it's way more fun to play, and that gets forgotten in the mix). after a few minutes of relative quiet (her friend was still eating, so she was playing alone and i didn't expect it to be too loud) i went to go check on her, and this is what i found:

(pictures from later at our house)... afton had found a bottle of nail polish and demonstrated that she knows what to do with it! unfortunately, she's not that neat, and she also got their carpet... :(

all in all though, she did a pretty good job with her nails ;)

some other fun pictures from this week...
blueberries (from paul's amazing cranberry sauce)
guacamole--who needs chips?

fish-shaped chicken nuggets, afton ate all the heads (and most of the fins) off and promptly said "all done"--i'm not sure i want to know what exactly that means (at least from a psychological perspective)

and i asked afton to get 1 or 2 toys for rayna, when i turned back, this is what i found

(by the way, she's not sick, the camera flash evidentally got her mid-blink, and her cheeks are a little wind-burned--not her best picture)