Christmas Eve...

We always head to my moms to celebrate Christmas Eve. It is getting to be quite a large event as my mom has a total of 11 grandchildren! Then when you factor in the 8 adults...it gets kinda tight! I love it though! We started opening gifts at 5 and were still going at 9:30 =]
Gavin gets the honors of passing out all of the presents. Look at all of them! =]

My mom was so glad to have all of her family around her. And Miss Cocoa was tuckered out after playing with all the kids!
We had to make sure there was a picture of me!

Seth & Cocoa...

Miss Madee...

Thane & Jacob with Thane's new Penguin toy...

Caitlin and my newest nephew Daniel...

My niece Alejandria, my niece Kailey and Miss Mia with their new coloring sets....

My sister Tina and her husband Fulvio....

My brother in law Carlos and Daniel....

My nephew Zues (Jesus)... and my sister Elizabeth in the background...

Alej and Allison.....

My dad opening his new computer from mom.

Church Program...'The Gift'

All of the kids took part in our Christmas Program at church. It is called 'The Gift.' It is the story of an angel who is trying to give a the free gift of salvation to us here on earth. But all of the people are so busy with their lives, they dont notice it, So, when she tries to give it to them they can't believe it is really 'free.' So, no one receives it. The songs are cute and the characters are priceless. Caitlin played her flute with another girl and a guy who played his bassoon while the teens sang 'We Three Kings.'

Mia was a little girl waiting for Santa in her pajamas. All the little ones came in singing 'Away in a Manger' and rocking their teddies. It was so sweet!

Madee, Thane & Seth were in the chorus and they sang all the songs. My niece Allison was also there. Both Allison and Madeline had scripture quotes to read. I love performances like these! I am always so proud, and so moved. =]

Christmas Cookies....

I know... I know.... You were looking for this post right? I mean we always do cookies right? Well, we didn't end up making them at mom's house, but we decided to go ahead and do them at home. =] All in all, we made our famous sugar cookies, chocolate chip and peanut butter! =]

Daddy even got in on the action! Thane of course acting up in the back! He is so funny!

I love icing the cookies! It is my favorite!

Look at my cookie assembly line! lol I wonder what the THINK they are getting paid?!?! hahahaha

Mary Kay Christmas Party...

We had our Mid Year Awards & Christmas Party for My Mary Kay Unit this weekend. I host it with some of the ohter Directors in My upline. It was so much fun to see all the consultants in the other units! i love giving recognition and crowning the Queens so far this year!This is Kerry, Me & Karen. nThey are my 2 best friends in the whole wide world. I love that we get to share our lives together not only as friends, but in our work as well!

We had fun dancing after dinner.....

My sister Tina is on my Mk team and came with me this year! We couldn't resist showing our ....well, any way let's just say we were feeling a little sassy! ;)

Mom came too! Ahe was all over the raffle and door prizes! Both left with armfulls of prizes and presents!

Seth's first Basketball game of the Season...

Seth is playing basketball again this winter at the FFY. He is pretty excited about it! I am glad to see him having fun. He is on the team with another of our friend's sons and it will be a good season.

Christmas Party....

We attended our annual holiday party with friends and got to see Santa! The kids look forward to telling Santa what they would like to have! I look forward to taking this pic!

Preston (Caitlin's boyfriend) attended with us this year. He cracked me up when we took this pic! I said go get your pic with Santa and he actually thought I was joking. hahahahaha lol uh,not really get over there. And, so, he did. =]

Caiti looks so pretty with her new hairdo! I love it!

Mia decided to wear her santa dress and dress her baby like her. It was so cute!

And lookey here at how handsome Seth is in his sweater!

Thane too right? Man I have the best looking kids!

My goodness, Madee looks beautiful in purple and she is growing up!

Gavin and I decided we were cleaned up, that we might as well take a pic too! =]

Gavin's parents were with us too, and won't pose for a pic, so I snapped this one! =]

Seth & Mia were cutting a rug and dancing all night. There is always a live band and they loved every minute of it! =] And it was so sweet to watch!

Holiday Choir Concert at North...

Madeline's school was invited to perform with the North High school Concert Choir. It was a big deal and they had a blast.

Madee is in the center and she is out of breath! She also played a basketball game right before this and ran in to join them onstage! =]

After the Parkside kids performed it was time for the mainshow of the Concert choir and the Music Men & Debuteens-which are the show choir for North. Their show was good too.

Then, something happened we did not expect! They do an open call for ALL former CNHS Choir member alumni to come to the stage for 3 songs. I guess this is a tradition and since this was the first concert I have been to since I graduated, I had no idea! So, with some prodding, I went up there! I am on the left second row from the top. It was a hoot! We sang Carol of the Bells(my fav Christmas song!!!), The Hallelujah chorus and Sleigh Ride! I loved it- but Madeline was a bit embarrassed! =]

Holiday Programs...

Tonight Madeline had her Holiday Christmas Concert. It was great! I did not get a picture of her with her trumpet. She was a little stubborn about it. lol They did a great performance and Mr Burton directed. It was fun.

I love it when I get a good picture opportunity and couldn't pass up this lovely display! So, we just had to snap a potential Christmas Card candidate! =]

It was also Mia's Christmas program at preschool. She was all smiles and had so much fun with her class. =] They were the shepherds. She sang 2 songs and did a fingerplay.

Festival Of Lights Parade...

This Saturday the Sound of North performed Frosty the Snowman in the parade. It was SOOOOO COLD!!!

We sat on the corner at the end of the paraden route. The kids kept getting buckets and buckets of candy from all the parade participants! We were having to say no thanks...lol. I think they just wanted to get rid of the candy. hahaha

Caiti is the tuba on the left. What fun! She made a special bell cover for her tuba that said Merry Christmas!