.... Christmas memories

Before Christmas rolled around, bad weather was settling in. My sister in law Tiffany was keeping tabs on the weather for us (as well as my dad, mom, in laws... and friends here in Texas!). Mike informed me as soon as I came home from work on Wednesday, to "pack up and we're leaving as soon as you're ready". We were out the door by 7:00 that night. We drove. We drove & we drove and we drove. We drove ALL night! I stayed awake with Mike all night long (OK, I fell asleep for 20 minutes, but I did wake up refreshed!). We didn't hit bad weather at all! Just a few areas of bad fog outside of Dallas, and rain when we came to Kansas City!

My parents called early that morning. 5:30? 6:30? I can't remember, but it was early. I think they were excited to see us. That's OK, but we were so excited to see them as well! We stopped in at Cracker Barrel at 8:00 that morning to have breakfast with them. It was so delicious! We parted ways with them, and finished our 10 minute journey to my in laws home. That day we prepared for our great Mexican food feast (OK, I didn't prepare, my mother in law did!). I slept that afternoon, trying to catch up on my sleep! My girls were quickly swept away by their cousin Presley, who made sure to keep them busy every second she was around them! They all played so well together! That night, we had a wonderful dinner, played some games, and had a great time.

This picture was stolen out of love from my sister in law Marcie's blog.... :)

That night, Maddie & Presley laid out the cookies & milk for Santa. Maddie wrote a note for Santa asking for the things she was hoping to get.

"Santa" wrote her a note back! And took a bite out of the cookie! And drank the milk! Man, if I were Santa, I would've finished that cookie!

Now, my girls are not early risers. They slept in. You can tell by their expressions (and their father's expression) they're still sleepy....

Sadly, the pictures I took of Katie were in a bad light, so most of her pictures turned out bad. But I did get a few here & there. She opened almost all her presents by the time I had sorted out most of the presents w/ the family. Stinker....

THESE books, according to Maddie... are THE best! Loved Amazon's $5 price for them!

My girls bought each other gifts this year. Katie bought Maddie a book (one of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid book), and Maddie bought Katie a "Teen Bop" magazine with some Sour candy Katie loves. Both were in love with their gifts!

Here is Katie with her big gift this year... a digital camera!

Maddie (& Katie) have both been begging for scriptures for a LONG time. Since Maddie was getting baptized two days after Christmas, we decided to buy her scriptures. She was so surprised!

Both girls also bought Mike & I gifts. I took the girls each out one time, and they bought for Mike. Katie bought Mike peanuts & Hot Tamales. When I took Maddie out, I asked her what she wanted to buy her daddy. She said "Hot Tamales". Ha ha! I had no clue Mike even liked those candies, but they did! I was driving along the highway on the way to Target, and Maddie sees "Freddie's Custard", which is a restaurant that sells yummy custard. Mike takes the girls there every now & then for Daddy/daughter dates. Maddie said "Daddy hasn't taken me there in a long time". So I said "well, do you want to buy Daddy a gift certificate and write him a letter?" She was ALL for it! So, we bought a gift certificate, and she wrote him a letter telling him it was for their next Daddy/daughter date. So cute!

This was Madison's big gift this year. She wanted the Bitty Twins, but seriously, that was one doll more than I wanted in my house. So she got the doll that looks like her. She named it "Christina". or "Madison II". Ha ha!

As for me? The girls bought me a beautiful scarf, Sharpie pens that come in 24 colors (Caribbean colors, to be exact), a nutcracker snow globe that Maddie's been wanting for a few years now.... and Mike bought me my Polar F6 heart monitor I've been eyeing for a year now, and a small pair of binoculars, for more theatre shows this year! Now I can sit in the cheap seats and actually SEE!