Merry Christmas to All!

What a fun day! I hope your Christmas was filled with as much excitement as ours was. We got up early to the sweet sounds of the boys wispering, trying to not wake us up while checking out what Santa left. We managed to spread out gift opening to make it last a while. That's unusual. I seem to remember past Christmases tearing through the presents and by 7:30 we're ready to take a nap! When Christmas fell on a Sunday 2 years ago, we weren't late for 9am church...Anyway, back to today...

Dean with his cool Ben 10 Deluxe Omnitrix. I'm still not sure what it is, exactly. But he said that now he knows Santa is real because he asked for that and got it. :)

Evan likes dogs, balls and blocks. Santa knew that.

Drew is excited about his Cosmic Catch. I'm excited that Dean kept it a secret for about a month. I thought for sure he was going to tell.

This is Edie, no, excuse me, Ledwina, modeling her present Blue made-- a lion costume!

And this little bit of video was requested by a few of you.
Enjoy. I know we did.

Pie's Blog

I guess we all blog about what we love. Go find out what Pie's passion is.

We're Ready for Christmas

We've been busy with Christmas preparations. I've had the camera out a lot, but not a lot of time at the computer to share all the pictures. Here goes:

My Christmas wish came true! We are now the proud owners of a lovely fake Christmas tree. I had convinced myself that since I couldn't find any amazing deals on a pretty tree, that we would go live one more year, Pie would be happy, and I would wait for the after-Christmas sales to get the one I wanted. And then I went to Target and saw my tree 30% off. Not amazing, but certainly a respectable before-Christmas sale. But I didn't get it.

That night we went out to find a real tree for FHE. It was cold. Edie was whining. I was holding a bundled-up Evan. So that left Pie to deal with Edie and hold up the trees for me to inspect. The boys had to comment on each one. We were there for about 5 minutes before Pie was done. He said, "Forget it. Just go get the fake one." I did not have to be told twice! He took the kids home and put them in the bath. I went to the warm and merry Target store to pick out the perfect Christmas tree.

The next night we decorated it.




Last Saturday moring was the annual Primary Breakfast with Santa. Beebe was kind enough to come with her fancy camera and take pictures of all the kids sitting on his lap. Edie refused. She preferred to crawl around on the floor, growling, telling anyone who mistakingly called her "Edie" that her name was actually Ledwina the Lion. Drew and Dean took good pictures, though.



Last night we made gingerbread houses with Beebe and Conrad. We made 2 and the boys took it as a competition. Beebe, Drew and Dean on one team, Me, Edie and Con on the other. My team chose to eat the candy rather than decorate with it. Evan was left to his own devices in the kitchen while we worked. When the daddies came home from work, they were asked to judge the winner, but neither one would. I caught Drew this morning licking a candy still stuck on to the house. I made a mental note right then to avoid eating any of it!




After the gingerbread house mess was cleaned up, we went to Rocklin's version of Candy Cane Lane to see the light displays. The kids loved all the displays, the boys liked the Pokemon one especially. There was an Aladdin one that Edie liked, but she wasn't posing for pictures. Conrad liked all the trains. My favorite was the Santa kneeling at the manger. It made me laugh.

Davis Girlfriends Get Together

Last night was our annual Christmastime Davis Girlfirends Get Together. Only about half of the Davis Girlfriends still live in the area, but Tracey is here visiting family from Iowa, and what is a better excuse for everyone to gather than that?

Helen offered her beautiful new house for the occasion. All together we were 7 friends and 22 children, with one on the way very shortly. Mike C. was a very good sport about being the only husband there and played with the kids and made dinner and did dishes. I'm sure he picked up tons of toys today, too, seeing as Helen is 8 months pregnant.

The kids took off upstairs as soon as we arrived. They completely entertained themselves. The mamas got to visit and catch up with each other until dinner. What a treat! I love these gals and I love hanging out with them. What a great evening! It could have only been better if Michelle, Heather, Jeanette and Rachelle could have been there, too.

It was almost time to go when someone (Andrea?) realized that no one had taken any pictures for our Girlfriends in other states, so we got some quick ones. They were still taking photos when my little group had to go.




I think Tracey is planning on posting her pictures, too, but we may have to wait for her to go home for that.

Happy Birthday, Pie!

We had a big, big birthday party for Pie last night. Since I'm younger, I don't have a problem telling the whole of the internet he's 35 now. We had his work buddies, some college buddies and brother and all of their families over for dinner last night. It was a houseful and lots of cooking the day before, but boy, was it fun! The kids were (strongly) encouraged to stay downstairs after dinner so the grown-ups could hear each other. I really like all of Pie's friends and their wives and it was nice to visit with them for a while. I should have remembered to get the camera out, but I didn't. Pie just wasn't as cute eating his cake as Evan was a couple weeks ago!

The cutest elves I've ever seen

If this doesn't put you in the holiday spirit, then you're a big Scrooge!

Party Pictures

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, EVAN!

Evan's party was Thursday night. The Monsons, the Pay Fardaneshes and the Elders came over for dinner and cake. Evan enjoyed his cake, of course.


The big kids were very helpful when it came to opening presents.

All the kids had fun with the band instruments from Grandma & Grandpa Stewart. We learned that the wood floor is much louder than the carpet. Pie went online that night to find us an area rug!