the biggest and best birthday of the year!

On Christmas morning both kids woke up and came straight to our room.  When I asked Charli what day it was, she replied "Jesus' birthday".  It melted my hear to think, for at least this year, today was about Jesus birthday and not what Santa brought her.  We went to the living room to check out the scene and Charli was too excited to give Chad and I our gift from her, she didn't want to open her gifts at all...just for us to open ours!  She made a shoebox at school and filled it with great projects she did recently.  These were not things she had to keep for Christmas, but she snuck them home and hide so they could be our gift! *adorable* We got many beautiful things and a few pieces of candy corn too :)

It is really hard to decide what their favorite things will be...we took off for my family Christmas a few hours after opening all of our gifts so there wasn't much time to process what they got!  Charli loves her Spiderman pj's Santa brought though...and her Lincoln logs, as well as her marble run from Harper.  She got a lot of "art" and "school" things this year which she will love, but has a hard time finding the privacy to do them without her brothers uninvited help! 

Harper has lots of favorites this year.  Along with anything that his sister got, he has had fun playing with his combine that Santa pulled through on, and also a few big trucks/semis he got.  They got a lego/train table from Santa which is being used for storage of other gifts right now!

This picture of Charli with the pitiful tears is when she realized that when she woke up "Bunny", the elf, would be gone for another year.  So sad!

The kids went with Chad to the jewelry store to pick out my gift.  It cracks me up that Charli thinks my gifts have to come from Kelly's Jewelery, but when it is time for Chad's gift Charli wants to go straight to the farm store!  I won't argue with her logic!  I got a beautiful necklace and a jelly watch.  Chad said the two kids kind of argued over what color to get me, and they finally agreed on the purple one they wrapped up!  Charli was very proud of the necklace she fell in love with.  For being a tomboy she has great taste in picking out gifts for me, hope that never changes :-)

Chad was happy to get some fun hunting toys, new boots, and tools  from the kids.  He loaded up at my parents house again with some more handy tools and an automatic coffee pot, so he can jet out the door even faster in the morning! 

From my siblings and I, my parents will have the opportunity to go on a helicopter ride!  I was pleased to see that my mom was super excited about it.  In fact, while I know my dad will enjoy it and liked the gift, it was my mom who was the most excited!  Parents can be hard to buy for, and this was a big hit...that is so much fun!

The day after Christmas was probably the most fun for ME (outside of experiencing Christmas for/with my kids!).  Today we shot bluerock (or clay pigeons as some people call them) with most of the family.  It was fun to have an activity that we all did with our spouses!  And, the fact that I shot as good (or maybe better, ha!!) wasn't so bad either!!

As the Christmas weekend has drawn near I am reminded how important special people are in our lives.  Sometimes these people are family and sometimes they are friends who have become family.  Sometimes being family isn't enough, and sometimes being a friend is more than you could have ever imagined!  Making memories and spending time with the ones we love, celebrating what matters...is what matters!  Thank you to those who have filled this spot for us!  We hope you had a very Merry Christmas...looking forward to ringing in the the new year! 

Charli & Harper getting ready to make the big birthday cake!

and the finished project!  Charli wanted me to write on it because frosting can be "tricky"!  But, she was quick to tell me "do not put BABY Jesus on the cake, he is NOT a baby anymore...why do people keep calling him baby Jesus?!"

Charli * Harper * Braxton

Charli and "flipper"

"oooooo"!!!

some of his favorite! 

these two LOVE the Llama Llama books!  Charli got this one for Chad for Christmas!

Brenda * Randy * Rachelle * Vicki

getting a picture with my siblings was just about as hard as getting all 11 grand kids below!  Adults are no better and just standing and smiling that kids 3 months - 25 years! 

Ryen *Macey *Derek * Grant * Andrew * Reid * Harper * Cohen * Charli * Bryant * Colton

Charli and Reid !

Charli has really enjoyed babies lately.  She is old enough to "help" at daycare and has got to feed baby Bodee a time or too!  She loved her new cousin Reid!

Charli may have loved Reid...but she has nothing on Harper.  Harper CLINGS to Reid...always wanting to hold, help, or be near him.  Harper was Reid's wing man to make sure he had his paci and attention at any given moment!  Little does he know Reid will soon be a "pest" getting into his things, just like he (Harper) does to his big cousins!

I love, Love, LOVE the way cousins play together!!  They just play, play, play...tattle, tattle, play, play, play!  We are lucky enough to just let them go and let them work it out most of the time...but just watching them learn, and grow together is so much fun!  I didn't grow up with cousins the same age as myself - so this is so neat to me!  I love the way these kids love each other!! (and we all know that to love your cousins does not mean you won't fight, hit, bite, or push them from time to time!!) 

two busy boys! 

love!  Cohen gave great rides!

Ryen and Harper have always had a cute little bond, she is a great helper!

big day, Charli was in on the action for our Borg-family shoot out!

(don't tell Rachelle...but I think I could hold my own with her, for awhile at least!)

I think the memory of this day will stick with my dad forever!! (and with me too!) He was pulling and his three girls were shooting!  We all had a good time!

Charli in her spiderman PJ's!  Thank you Santa...she has wanted these for a long time!!

 The kids had a great time playing with all of their cousins this weekend on the Borg side!  They did not get to see all of their cousins on the Preister side...but did have fun with the one they did get to see!  As the families on both sides continue to grow I know the kids will really start to look forward to these family events more and more!  Cousins can be so much fun!!