Christmas 2010

We had such a fun Christmas! The kids were at such a fun age and we had such a special time celebrating as a family this year. Jim had so much more time off this year, so we were able to really spend a good amount of time with each of our families. We have so much to be thankful for.

Getting cookies ready for Santa

Christmas pajamas!

Getting the reindeer food ready to scatter in the yard for Santa's reindeer. Anna Lee was so sweet as she shared the food with J.D. and explained what he was supposed to do.

Santa's Surprises!

Anna Lee asked Santa for a Rapunzel tower...at the last minute. Santa had a hard time finding one to bring her! But the squeals Christmas morning were worth it!

First remote control car/train...loved it!

Powdered donut Christmas breakfast...at the kids' request

After opening Santa presents, we headed to Waco for a wonderful week with Jim's family. All of the kids and grandkids were there, and we had a great time together!

We tried to get this picture a thousand times and still didn't get a good one!

J.D. rocking on Daddy's old rocking horse. Jim's mom painted this for him when he was J.D.'s age. So special to watch J.D. riding it now.

Passing out presents with Pops

I loved seeing our niece and nephews excited about their presents!

J.D. was only interested in his Sonic drink while we opened presents. And he was serious about it!

J.D. also got a special stool with Jim's name on it...that was Jim's when he was J.D.'s age. So sweet.

The kids all had a great time playing the Wii together. I loved this picture!

GranDee and Pops had a birthday party for the three December birthday grands. They each got their own over-sized cupcake (that we then all got to eat!) It was super fun to all get to celebrate together!

Anna Lee loved her new Tag books.

And she loved getting to read them with Kasen...

and with Grandmother.

After Waco, we traveled down to San Antonio to celebrate Christmas with my family.

We all had a great time!

Anna Lee loved her new Leapster Explorer

Dad got the funniest book from Kara...Awkward Family Photos. Hilarious!

Kasey, Kara, and Mom loved their new ACU shorts. :)

Kasey gave J.D. this complete train engineer outfit. It was so funny to see him dressed up in it!

We even got him to blow the whistle!

A "P" for the soon-to-be Mrs. Pope!

We had a musical concert with Kara's present to J.D.

Kasey gave J.D. this blow-up ball pit. Too bad she had to be the one to blow it up :)

Good thing he loved it!

A welcome mat in every language...for the family world-traveler.

Facebook for Dummies. Hehe.

I made Kasey and Nathan a scrapbook of their engagement pictures. It was so fun to look through them all again! The wedding was so soon!

Kasey gave Anna Lee her first pair of skates.. She was NOT a natural at skating. To say the least. More pictures coming soon.

But J.D. was pretty good at his new 4-wheeler!

We got to see our sweet Ninnie while we were in San Antonio. We all love her so much!

At home in Abilene, Anna Lee and I had so much fun decorating the house...and her room! for Christmas. It was fun for her to get into the spirit of the season with me! She even had her own Christmas tree in her room that she had a blast getting to decorate...with lots of pink, sparkly ornaments. Surprising.

We celebrated with Aunt Donna, Uncle Jack, my cousins Catherine ("Cappy" to the kids) and her son Clay, and Mama Dell. They were so sweet and loved on our kids with sweet gifts this year.

At the end of the Christmas break, Kasey and Nathan had a wedding shower here in Abilene. The sweet women at Hillcrest gave them the sweetest day of blessing and showered them with so many amazing gifts. They felt so loved and blessed by the whole day. Our sweet Aunt Donna hosted such a beautiful party. We got some fun pictures of the day. We love Uncle Nathan! He was so sweet to J.D. while we all spent time getting ready for the shower.

Anna Lee even got to come to the party!

Christmas was over...And the wedding countdown was on!