Christmas Eve...

I just LOVE Christmas. My favorite part is watching all the kids get sooooo excited over each and every present. Tonight we had a great party-- lots of food, kids, presents, and laughing.

Brecky got a cute undie and bra (more like a shortie undershirt) set which she was thrilled over. She talked about it all night. She went straight to her room to put it on.
Chris and his Mariah...
Jodi knit me a scarf-- it wasn't quite done yet. She is too funny!
Chloe was just starting to get into the presents. I think she was more interested in the paper.
Caleb and his new snow board-- YIKES!!!
Max and his true love....
Em and a big boy remote control car...
Zoey and some new jammies (she too went straight to her room to put them on).
Grandma got Rugby his most favorite thing in the whole world-- GUM. This kid will do anything I ask if I promise him gum and now he's got a whole can all to himself-- life is good!

Christmas...

Last night we reenacted the Christmas story and the kids really enjoyed themselves.

The three "wise guys."
Mary and Joseph...
Zoey read a few verses for us...
The whole crowd (which is not an easy feat to manage). Merry Christmas!

Here are the boys singing a sweet sweet song...

Merry Christmas from the Barlows...

I'm taking a little liberty in posting some Christmas love from the Barlows...

... all because two people fell in love...
Maddie and her mommy trying really hard to keep their eyes open for a picture. (both have B.P.D. pretty severely)Chris and his side-kick Max
a little mommy sandwich...
Chloe has learned how to feed herself like a big girl. Yeah Chlo!
Our favorite dog Owen who completes the Barlow family quite nicely. He's so pretty!
Chloe, Maddie, Max and Caleb what a great looking group.
Caleb and Owen (hey, I think Cabs makes that same face when I give him a kiss)
Chloe vs. Spaghetti! (I think the spaghetti won)
Chloe will take your call now... "please hold for my Mommy..."

Tim and Da Boys...

Today Tim starts his Christmas vacation and you'll never guess what he did first...

He took on both of the boys and got them all jazzed up for the day.
I think he's got them right where he wants them...

Listen to the smack talk they've got going on...

Barlow Babysitting...

I got a chance to babysit the Barlows tonight and I had a little fun with it.

I did Owen's hair (yes, he is a boy dog). Hey, you leave your babies with me and they will most likely come back with bows in their hair. It's a risk you have to consider.
I probably should have been concentrating on Ms. Bean's hair instead. She woke up with the craziest nap hair ever! Too cute!

The big concert...

Tonight was the boy's big preschool Christmas concert. We had a great time. They all looked pretty cute in their "fancy" clothes and they were very proud of their performance.

The triple trouble. Emerson, Max and Rugby cheesing it up before the show. (the funny thing is they are in age order but it sure doesn't look like it) (hint-- Rugs is the oldest)
The beautiful greeters and program passer outers. They took their job very seriously. If someone didn't get a program they sought them out to get one to them. Very persistent little things, aren't' they?
Rugby's Christmas present (him as an angel)
Emerson's present-- the cheesiest angel I've ever seen!

Good job boys! You rocked!

Just a few funny pictures...

The last few weeks we have been experimenting with the kids sleeping arrangements so that there will be no more talking and goofing around. Well, apparently we've tried one two many combinations because Brecky got up to go potty in the night and couldn't remember where she should go. She ended up crashing in Zoey's bed and we had to take her back to her own room. :)
Santa and his little helper...
I love when they play dress up!
Yes, the hat was a little too tight. You can tell because it's smooshing his eyebrows all crazy.
Em ate dinner with his new winter hat on-- I think he likes it...

Not Tim's Best Day...

This has not been the best few days for Timmy. Last week I was gone and he manned the house all by himself (really well, I might add). This week I had to have double knee surgery and so he couldn't put his apron away for very long. I'm doing fine and everyone is surviving here but Tim could be better. This morning he dropped the shampoo bottle directly on his little toe in the shower and split it open. Then he cut his hand open trying to do something for me.... and then to top it off, he went outside to shovel for the millionth time and came in with these pants. They happen to be his favorite corduroy pants (that he shrunk while I've been out of it... apparently he thought I said everything should be washed on HOT HOT instead of nothing should be washed on HOT HOT-- only sheets) (so close and yet so far from right). Well, between the ice and the shrinkage he ripped them from top to bottom and no, I can't fix them honey... poor poor Timmy.... I'll be back in commission soon! Hang in there buddy!

More snow...

We got a lot of weird snow again. This time we got some freezing rain to coat everything. It looks so pretty in the trees. Everything seems to glow.

This is out in the back yard. It's hard to see but the ice is glistening in the trees.
Rugby and the latest outdoor toy-- the snow fling. You stuff it into the snow and it makes the perfect snowball. You use the stick to fling it and the stick also doubles as a distress horn. The kids really love these little gadgets.
Breckyn stopping for a little snow snack...
Em and a bigger snow snack...
Zo and her snow fling...
Dad and Z outside testing out the new toy. Yes, this shirt is from the Christmas tree lot that we cut our trees at. It's pretty funny and very fitting.

My littlest friends...

I got a chance to see some of my favorite little friends last week. We jammed ourselves into the car where ever we went. Poor Cheri got the back seat because she has the smallest buns (wait, maybe that should be poor me for having the biggest buns..... naah, front seat rules!)

Here are the back seat smooshies.... I taught Cam to say, "Leca, favorite!" It drove Cheri nuts-- but I was loving it. You teach that kid anything and he'll just keep repeating and repeating and repeating. I think we are going to switch him from the turtle to the parrot. You can see just a hint of "big teaser" in his eyes.
This little guy didn't care where he was as long as there was food... He is such an amazing little man. Rex is a really good baby with a smile that melts your heart.
Our fearless driver-- aren't you suppose to be looking at the road Cass?!?
I love these big blue eyes. How handsome!
This is my little hot nugget. He let me snuggle the guts out of him. I just love to be the aunt instead of the mom because being the aunt you don't have to follow any rules-- it's just the good stuff. I had sooooo much fun seeing my littlest friends, they are pretty cool.

Let it snow...

Saturday we got about 4 inches of snow followed by a lot of sleet and freezing rain. It was nasty but we tried to take advantage of the snow part for a little Saturday afternoon fun with the kids. It was really wet and really really cold-- they loved it!

B and Z in the snow (If this was California that might have been a surf board and they would be in swim suits but since we live in the tundra it's a sled and those are parkas) (and parkas aren't that flattering truthfully speaking)
The reward after the cold-- hot chocolate!
I just couldn't resist his cheeks in this hat-- too cute!


Here is the gang enjoying some fun in the snow...

This is the "oopsie" of the day...

The girlies trying to double up on a sled-- those were the days. I remember trying to do this on a much smaller sled with Cheri and getting the giggles so bad we almost peed our pants.

The big party...

Today we had a Christmas party for the girlies and a few of their friends. They had a great time and so did we. I made stations for the kids to go to and it went pretty smoothly.

This was the snowflake and gingerbread ornament station. They were too into it to even look...
Here is the beaded wreath and candy cane station...
The card making station. (the girl on the end is Madison Z's best best friend)
The very popular cookie frosting station.
They loaded on everything I put out... very creative!

Breckyn was asking about making it an even bigger party next year. (that was before the party even started-- she's a big thinker)