Friday, January 29, 2010

Christmas 2009

Regan and Riley making a birthday cake for Jesus.

Christmas Morning - first glance at stockings


Singing "Happy Birthday" to Jesus.

Regan has a book - present opening has officially slowed down now.

Reece wrote a letter to Santa and asked for a real baby Giraffe. That was not going to happen so she got the next best thing - a webkinz giraffe. She is VERY excited.

Reece named her baby giraffe, Sarah.

This year we started a tradition that we heard from our friends, the Stepps. We all took a trip to the dollar store the week before Christmas and bought each other presents. Everyone got a shopping basket and $4.00 and went on their own around the store and picked out presents for everyone. Regan and Riley took turns helping Reece around the store. It was so much fun. At one point, I ran into Regan and Reece in one of the aisles and Reece tried to put a bag of marshmallows into my basket. I asked her "what are you doing?" She replied, "I want you to get me these!" I then responded, "Reece you can't tell Mommy what to get you for Christmas!" An older couple was walking by and they just started laughing and the woman replied, "Oh come on Mom that makes it more fun!" They got such a kick out of us. Reece then proceeded to take the marshmallows back and tried to put them in her sisters' baskets. She finally ended up getting them for Riley as a present and figured she could just eat some of Riley's. We took almost an hour to find all our gifts. We had such a great time and will definitely do it again next year. Opening the dollar gift presents ended up being the highlight on Christmas morning. The above photo is Tony opening his gift from Riley - she got him a sports watch. Riley got mommy a puzzle, Reece a coloring book, and Regan a book. Regan got daddy a flashlight, mommy a dishtowel, Riley a princess book, and Reece a princess cube puzzle. Reece got mommy a puzzle, daddy playing cards (which she picked out all by herself - we were impressed), Regan a big bag of gumballs, and Riley the marshmallows that she wanted. Tony got me a porcelain box that I can store jewerly and it has a nice saying about "love" on it. Tony got Reece the hairbows, Regan a word search puzzle book, and Riley a puzzle. I got Tony a devotion book for dads, a cooking CD for Riley, a David and Goliath DVD for Reece and a book about space for Regan.

Regan got me a dish towel from the dollar store - good job Regan!
Tony got Reece a set of pink barrettes and a pink headband. She was so thrilled. She kept hugging daddy over and over again and saying, "Thank you daddy, thank you daddy, thank you daddy." She wore them the rest of the day, week, month.... Ok so she hardly ever takes them out. I think next year we just need to do all our shopping at the dollar store. :)

Reece got a big girl scooter

Mama Cook and Papa Doug opening a photo book from us.

Mama Cook is very excited about the photo book. She is saying "YAY!!!!"

Still looking at the photo book.

Reece loves her monkey PJ's from Grandma and Grandpa Crissman. Perfect for our little monkey.

The girls got photo albums from Mama Cook and Papa Doug. Check out the sea of paper...

Regan is very excited about her webkinz Cat.

All the girls with their webkinz pets. This is the closest they are coming to a real animal! Riley got a webkinz dog that she named, fuzzy puppy.

Tony got a "Bald Eagle" photo framed from his Mom and Dad. Perfect since his Indian Guides name is "Bald Eagle."
Riley really wanted a guitar for Christmas but she told us after we had already bought a bunch of her gifts. So, Papa Doug brought up his guitar that he used to play but does not use anymore. It is in great shape and Riley was very thrilled. I am hoping to eventually take guitar lessons and then when Riley gets older she will learn too.

Riley reading to cousin Lizzie at Mama Cook and Papa Doug's house. We went to Atlanta (unexpectedly) the day after Christmas for several days.

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