Christmas Eve

Kenzie practicing with the other kids before the Christmas Eve service.

Aubrey and Ava had fun out in the lobby together

CHRISTMAS MORNING!!!!

We made Jake a family scrapbook from the year

(kinda a gift I might have wanted for myself too ;)

We made the grandmothers tote bags with pictures of the grandkids on them!

Playdough was a hit that morning in between opening the gifts

Opening up the Barbie family... complete with dad, two big sisters, and a pregnant Mom with a baby that comes in and out of her detachable stomach (if only it were really that easy!)

Aubrey helped us by cleaning up the wrapping paper.... yikes!

Make up!!

Daddy loves getting tools!

The BIG GIRL BIKE we were so excited about... darn snow! She hasn't been able to ride it yet!!

We went to my parents after breakfast and had lunch and exchanged gifts. Angie has been talking about these things called, "Sing-a-ma-jigs" since October and was so excited to finally give them to the girls! They are really funny!

It was a special treat to have Mommom and Poppop at my parents house that afternoon!

Memom got them each a bath princess and a play princess... and they keep asking to take baths so they can play in the water with their new princess dolls. So cute!

This one of Aubrey is my favorite from the whole day!

The Boettcher Family 2010... there will be at least 2 more little additions to the picture next year... possibly more ;) So hard to imagine now!

The Baby Powder Catastrophe!

Jake was working late and I was so grateful to have Sam over so the girls had someone to play with besides ME. I had just gotten his diaper changed and sent him off to play with the girls while I called my mom back. I talked to her for maybe 4 minutes, enjoying the happy sounds coming from the girls' room. I decided that since it had been 4 minutes and I was on the phone and hadn't been interrupted yet, maybe I should go check on them. To what did my wondering eyes did appear..............

Gasp: "Mom, I've got to call you back!"

"No one dare come out of this room! I'm getting my camera!"

"Are we in trouble??" "NO, but if you ever, EVER do this again you will be in the biggest trouble you have EVER been in!"

Grateful that we've been taking a parenting class that has been talking a lot about the difference between childish behavior and defiant behavior. This was a really good moment to call to mind all that we've learned!! Jake called in the middle of this and I said, "I need help!" and quickly explained what happened. He was an hour away and I really was on my own! He walked in the door just as I was wiping up the last bit of powder... lucky!

It's Beginning to Look a lot Like Christmas...

As tradition would have it, we cut down our Christmas tree last Saturday.
"We want this one!"

It's all fun and games until someone tells you you can't have your own tree....

We settled on this one, but when we got it in the stand at home, we were shocked to see what a gem it was! It's the best shaped tree we've ever had!

My entire family mocked Jake as he pulled out his power tools to do the job. Notice my dad timing Jake to see how long it took him with his tools so he could compete with his old trusty hand saw. My dad won, but it wasn't really a fair competition because Jake's battery was low!

Andy and Brittany's first Christmas together!

Amy and Andrew settled on a tree that he lovingly named, "The Swirling Tornado or Passion," because of all the twisty branches on it. When they got it home, they realized that the entire trunk was slanted so it is now fully decorated and leaning against their window because they can't get it straight in the stand!

We got a special book to read that night about Jesus' birthday!

The girls were such huge helps with the decorating!

Aubrey's contribution... all the bows on the bottom of the tree!

Our fully "re"decorated tree... after our little helpers where asleep!

So, today was one of the best days of my life! My mom babysat while my dad took me out for breakfast. We had such a great time and talked for 2 hours easy! Then he babysat all afternoon while my mom and I finished up our Christmas shopping. We had such a great time together and we shop exactly a like... easily distracted and looking for a million things at once, but somehow in the end it all gets done! So much easier to shop like this when you're not distracted by little ones pulling everything off the shelves! It was an awesome day and I just wanted to write about how grateful I am!