Christmas Part 3: Christmas Morning & A White Christmas!!

 

I was able to snap a picture of what Santa left for us before the kids got up. Lots of goodies under the tree!!

 

They were up by 7, and ready to go!  Love the joy of Christmas morning, you can definitely see it on their faces!!

 

Thrilled about his new Bucky! This is the only thing he has been asking for!!

 Ella got a vanity for her room!

 Empty plates.....

 Carter helping Ella put on her lipstick....

 ....and blowdry her hair!!

 Soooo happy.

Pucker up!!

 

Jake PJs!



"Cheese!!"

 

Another baby doll...

..... sooooo exciting!

 

Time for stockings!



More Minnie Mouse....



 HA!

 Sitting in front of the vanity some more.

 

Drying her hair :) 

One screaming, one pouting... sounds about right!
Wouldn't be Christmas morning without it!

Well good. They've settled it.

 

 

Around 1pm, just before naps, it started snowing. Forecast had been calling for a white Christmas for several days, but I had my doubts. The kids' enjoyed watching it from inside for a little while, then headed upstairs to rest. We told Carter that maybe there would be snow on the ground when he woke up, and it did NOT disappoint!

 

 After about 45 mins of snow.

Brrrr.... put on a jacket! ;)

After about an hour of snow....



When the kids woke up, we bundled them up and went right out.

Still coming down hard!

He loved it!

Her... not so much!

 We went out to play once more later on when it wasn't coming down anymore. Carter had a ball!!

Getting hit by a snowball, courtesy of Daddy.

Brrrr!

What a perfect day!! Ended with snuggling under a blanket by the fire watching The Grinch. Doesn't get much better than that!!

 

We hope you all enjoyed your day (and the snow!) with your loved ones as much as we did!

Christmas Part 2: Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve, we went over to my parents to exchange gifts, and have a family lunch.

 

Eric and Me

 

Love this baby girl!

Opening gifts now.....

an adorable hat from Uncle Andrew

Ella excited to see Minnie!!!

Carter's turn. Yay for Jake stuff!

This girl loves her Minnie(s)!

This picture below seriously looks identical to a picture of me at about this age.

I had to do a double take!

Hanging with Uncle Matt

Carter was all over the place while opening gifts, so not too many pictures of him. But he had tons of fun, and was excited about everything he opened. Especially these.....

I know he's looking forward to getting out on our driveway in these again soon!

About this time, the battery on the camera died (go figure!), so here are some shots of our afternoon at church and our evening with family that I got with my phone.

 

Pretty girl all dressed up for church!

 Handsome boy with his Mimi.

 Only picture of the 4 of us. It'll do!!

 When we got home that evening after church, we spent some time baking cookies, reading The Grinch, and tracking Santa(below) before the kids went to bed.

 Setting out cookies for Santa, and carrots for his reindeer :)

 

Many, many more pics to come of Christmas Day!!

Christmas Part 1: Making Cookies & Rogers' Family Christmas

Carter and I made cookies on Friday night for our big Rogers Family Christmas gathering at my Mom's on Saturday. He loved helping, and they were really yummy!!

 

YUM!

 

Then on Saturday, we had about 40 people at my Mom's house. Aunts, uncles, cousins, second cousins, etc., from both Texas and Oklahoma. Unfortunately Eric had to work out of town on Saturday, so he wasn't able to attend this year. But we had a great turn out and a really fun day!

 

Here is Ella just before the party began. Love that adorable outfit!!

My brothers and me with Granny Mary.

4 generations of mothers & daughters.

:)

A picture I took on my cell phone of the 7 little ones. They played hard and had a lot of fun! Carter is the one with a Batman mask on ;)

My cousin Weston took this picture while we were doing our White Elephant gift exchange. I'm on the right, in the kitchen making coffee.... HA!

 

Always a great time with this large group of extended family! Already looking forward to next year!

Merry Christmas!!

Merry Christmas, from our family to yours!!

Carter's Christmas Party

Carter's class had a "Happy Birthday, Jesus" party yesterday, and parents were invited, so of course, I wouldn't have missed it! The teachers and children showed us how a typical morning is for them, what they usually do to start the day, and then we did some fun Christmas activities, had a fun Christmas snack, and exchanged gifts.

 

One of the things they did was sing two songs from their program the other night. I was thrilled to get these two videos below since I lost my video last week. Such a sweet boy.

 

 

Then we made a gingerbread snack and the children gave their parents' the gifts that they made for them in class.... a beautiful Christmas painting of Jesus in a manger, and the manger being Carter's footprint. So priceless! And a welcomed addition to our Christmas decor this year, and for many, many years to come. I appreciate so much the thoughtfulness and time spent by Carter's wonderful teachers to give the kid's such a fun morning yesterday, and the treasured gift they, no doubt, worked really hard on for all the parents. What wonderful ladies Ms. Kim and Ms. Kathi are!!