Sneaky little Elf!

Ryne was so excited when our elf returned this year!  She named him Jukie last year and he is a sneaky little elf!  Some of his shenanigans included coloring on Ryne's nose, making a snow angel out of flour, drinking our syrup, eating candy, bringing Ryne gifts from Santa, and following us to Texas! 

Ryne loved finding Jukie every morning...and we loved hiding him every night!  We sure are going to miss Jukie!  We can't wait to see him again next year!

Last CHRISTmas of the year...

We woke up early to head to Camden.  Even these two little sweeties weren't quite ready to get up!  I had got them both dressed and laid Reese on my pillow while I got ready.  Ryne decided to join her! 

Sweet sleepy sisters!

I ended up having to kneel or squat in between the pilot seats in the van because Reese was not loving the trip!  My legs got a work out that day!  lol!  We got there around 1:30.  Mom had made a big lunch of turkey and all the trimmings.  It was so good!  It was present time after lunch!  Ryne helped pass out and thank God nothing was breakable!  ha!  She was a little excited!  I did not get any pictures really.  It is hard to remember to capture memories while trying to keep up with an excited 4 year old and 6 month old...even if the 6 month old is as laid back as Reese!  :)

Mom and Dad got the guys light sabers as their joke/funny gift.  They had some pretty intense battles!  ha!  Reese just wanted to eat one! 

Reese is sitting up so well!  She is getting to be such a big girl!

We bought Jonathan a remote control helicopter.  It seemed to be a hit with everyone!  Of course I had a few "I told you sos" by Jeremy because I wanted to get Jonathan something more practical like a gift card so he could buy whatever he wanted!  SO, for the record - good job babe.  You picked out an awesome gift!  :)

The rest of the evening was spent just hanging out.  A bunch of us played Uno Robot (or something like that), it was a lot of fun!  The next morning we had to pretty much get up and leave right after breakfast.  My car was done and we had to return the rental by 5.

The trip home wasn't too bad.  Reese had a few rough times but was a trooper through it!  We were pretty happy to see our house and know that we were done traveling...for a couple weeks anyways!

CHRISTmas Day!

We got in LATE CHRISTmas Eve and were so happy to pull in!  The girls did pretty good on the trip but Reese is still not a big fan of the car!  Anyways, Ryne was so excited to see that Jukie had made it back before us!  She was surprised that he made the trip to Texas to surprise her each morning!  :)

 So after getting the girls ready for bed, we said goodbye to Jukie and set out milk, cookies, and carrots for Santa and the reindeer.  It didn't take long for Ryne to be all snuggled in her bed and out like a light!  After that...Mr and Mrs Claus had to get busy!

Jukie snuck in to give Ryne goodbye kisses!  She may be getting a card in the mail from her special little elf with the picture for her to keep!  Shhhh!  :)

 Around 2am we were finally done and ready for bed.  I have to say...it is so fun being parents!!  We actually got Ryne and brought her to our bed so we could make sure we saw her face when she saw what Santa left her!

Both girls had 3 gifts from us and 2 from Santa...gotta keep it even!  :)

 We were up pretty early CHRISTmas morning.  Ryne shot up and asked "Do you think Santa came"...I said I dunno, lets go look!

She actually went to one of Reese's gifts first!  lol!

Getting Santa's note that he left her...

It didn't take long for her to notice the stockings!

This Santa was J's when he was little.  It was his favorite part of CHRISTmas!  Jan always put a little present inside his bag and it was always a little bonus.  So we have done that with Ryne.  This year J had a little gift in it as well.  Worms!

Ryne was a big helper and opened Reese's gifts for her!  :)

AND Ryne opened her gift to us!  They made and wrapped these at KDO...I LOVE it!  Her teachers are just the best!

Telling us all about her Christmas tree made out of her hand prints.  :)

My girls in their matching pj's!

Love these baby girls!

 After opening gifts we ate breakfast and then the girls got to play for a bit.  Ryne told Reese all about the REAL CHRISTmas story...so precious!

Reese loves her walker!

 After enjoying some time at home we got ready to start our CHRISTmas day traditions.  We really wanted to go to church but it didn't work out with Reese's nursing schedule.  :(  They did a special candle light communion that I bet was fantastic.  Anyways, the first stop on our day of CHRISTmas fun was the movies.  We watched Arthur Christmas and it was pretty cute.  After that we drove all the way to Tahlequah to ice skate!  It was the only place open and ended up being really cool.  It was an outdoor rink which was neat!  We ended the night at a Chinese Buffet!  ha!  Normally we do IHOP, but there was a long wait so we went to plan B!

Movie time!

Happy little skater!

Keeping baby girl warm!

Love this girl and her daddy!

She did this alot!

Love this little cutie too!

Ryne loved the noodles and shrimp!  Fa Ra Ra Ra Ra!  :)

We were worn out after our big day and came home to pretty much crash!  We had to repack for our trip to Camden but called it a night soon after.  We had a really great day and made alot of CHRISTmas memories.  I love my little family and I feel so very blessed every single day, but even more so on CHRISTmas! 

CHRISTmas in Texas

We were road warriors this CHRISTmas!  We were lucky enough to get in a mini van (aka swagger wagon) because all our stuff would have never fit in the previous rental or J's car.  The van was nice for the trip, but I could never drive one on a normal basis.  But we were thankful for all the room on the trips!

Swagger Wagon captain!

We left Wednesday and headed to the Francis house.  We were so happy to get there.  Reese is not a fan of the car, which made it a long trip in!  Once we got there they surprised Ryne with a little cake for her birthday!  They weren't able to make it to her party so we thought that was so sweet!

Reese hanging out with Uncle Lance!

Ryne and her birthday cake!

After cake they let Ryne open her gifts...a Bitty Baby!  Ryne named her Brooklin and loves playing with her.  I ended up taking the girls to bed and Jeremy snapped a picture of me and Ryne when he got in bed.  Ryne is such a snuggle bug so she was loving getting to sleep with us on the trip.  I had like zero room...but it was sweet to snuggle with my girl!

 The next day we went to watch Alvin and the Chipmunks.  It was really cute!  Ryne loved getting to sit by her cousin Eli!

Reese actually watched a little bit before falling asleep.  She was laughing at some parts!

That night we had a yummy dinner and then opened presents.  Ryne racked up with all kinds of fun stuff!  Jeremy, Reese, and I did too!  I think the hit of the night was the floating remote control shark thing.  It was pretty cool!

 The next morning we grabbed breakfast with Lance before heading to the Janosko's house.  Unfortunately while leaving we ran onto a curb and hit a big decorative rock.  It didn't hurt the rock but messed up the under carriage of the swagger wagon.  Oops!  So...Merry Christmas to us!  ha! 

After that we made it to the Janosko's.  We visited for a little bit and then headed to watch The Muppet's.  It was also cute!  That night we ate dinner and just relaxed.  The rest of the family showed up in the morning and we had a great time visiting with everyone!

Our family!

Reese was being a bit of a mommy's girl (I have to say I don't mind that one bit!) and she was only happy in my arms!  So Jeremy had to take over the sweet potatoes!

After lunch we opened presents and had fun in all the chaos!  Ryne opened a couple and then found her stocking with CANDY in it...that was all she was worried about after that!  She was good about sharing it though!  :)  We all got some really good stuff and I think everyone had fun!

How many people can we fit on one couch?!

I love this little stinker! She wouldn't let anyone hold her but was okay sitting in her bouncy seat as long as I was right beside her!  :)

Sad Reesie!  She had the teens attention though!

This both breaks my heart and makes me smile!

Ryne decided she would just have her picture taken with Star instead!

After enjoying some time visiting we had to hit the road for home.  We really enjoyed our time in Texas and it was so good to be able to celebrate CHRISTmas with everyone!