Merry Christmas!

Cookies for the big guy...(two new recipes and both were awesome.)
The stockings were hung by the chimney...er...banister with care:

Oops--he did it again. Too much stuff. (But so much fun.)

Here are a few cute shots of the kids, enjoying the magic of Christmas morning:

And now...each one with their loot.

Will Sam ever decide to look at the camera for pictures again? The big hit for him this year has been the little 50's diner that he and James got to share, as well as his truck book:

James also enjoys the diner, but the gift he absolutely loves, and what he requested from Santa, is his new Diego bedding. He also loves his Linny from The Wonder Pets.

Being the nut that I tend to be, I like to set up all of the kids' gifts and have them pose with them before we open any of them. They have gotten so used to that just being part of the deal, that the older three (and even James a little), set about setting their things up as soon as we were done opening gifts without any prompting or help from me. I am so proud! I've taught them well. Hee hee.

Here is Savannah with her stack. The gift she asked Santa for was My Sims Kingdom DS game and a FurReal friend. This became somewhat of an issue Christmas morning...Ally had asked for the big animated FurReal cat, but Savannah said that she didn't really want the cat, but a smaller little animal, and "she didn't care which one". So, Santa got her a really cute little puppy that barks and has a little purse/carrier. She opened it and liked it, kindof, until Ally opened up her big FurReal animated cat right after that. It went downhill from there. Immediately after I took this picture of Savannah with her stuff, she lost it and burst into tears. Never admitting that she was disappointed with her tiny pup next to Ally's big cat, but I know that's what it was. I felt bad. (But only a little--she got plenty of great things--and I am super careful to make sure that each kid gets the exact same number of gifts--no more, no less.)

Ally and her haul...she had asked Santa for a Ripstick and that cat:

Josh and his gear. Wow, his stuff is expensive. The winner for him was the ipod and the xbox 360 Gears of War 2 game.

We had another great Christmas this year. We are truly blessed! Merry Christmas!

Cute Pictures, But Too Late

I attempted to take some cute pictures of the kids yesterday as they were all dressed up in their holiday finest. I should have done it a week earlier because I actually ended up with one great picture that could have been used as a Christmas card this year. This is the second year in a row that I failed to get cards mailed out and I'm bummed about that.

But some of the pictures are still so cute, I have to share them.

Little James, all dressed up (and my easiest subject as of late):

The girlie girls:

Now, you know it isn't an official Barraza photo session until things get silly. I believe I posted about that last year, too. Here we go again...

Ally kept turning her ankles over, so Joel commented that we have our Tiny Tim picture and asked her to recite, "God bless us, every one."

So, when it was Josh's turn to get his picture taken alone, he thought it would be funny to imitate Ally:

Girls being goofy:

Sam picking his nose (which apparently is really funny to 7 and 10 year olds):

After about 80 or so pictures, I did get a nice one with all of the beautiful kiddos in the end.

Double Digits

Ally turned ten years old on Wednesday, Dec. 17th. Ten. Wait...what? Ten?

She had a regular school day, and when she came home, I had her gifts out on the coffee table waiting for her...

And I waited on the couch behind the gifts to catch this shot as she walked in the door from school:

Posing with her gifts...her favorite thing being the teddy bear. (She LOVES holiday teddy bears and has a small arsenal of them on her bed that she sleeps with every night). The Mario Kart Wii was a success, too.

Posing with the sibs (minus Sam, who was still napping)...they were all moving in for a better look at what they could confiscate at some future date.

Me and my girl (and please don't pass out because I am actually in a picture. I know...it's insane):

Birthday girl getting ready to blow out candles. She requested banana cream pie instead of cake this year. For her birthday dinner, she asked for spaghetti and salad.

Then last night, she had her three best friends sleep over. Here they are...

They played Wii, ran around and giggled, watched a movie and decorated cupcakes (which is fastly becoming *the* birthday party thing to do here in our home. The kids LOVE it. James and Savannah got in on the cupcake decorating portion of the party:

The finished products:

I can hardly believe yet ANOTHER year has come and gone. Why does it have to do that?

To end this celebratory post, I will highlight ten things I love about my sweet Ally cat.

1. Her smile

2. How her eyes become little half-moons when she smiles

3. Her good attitude

4. Her willingness to not give up when she wants to conquer a new skill or task

5. Her natural athletic ability

6. Her kind, gentle nature

7. Her love for animals (we've referred to her often as the animal whisperer)

8. Her spunk

9. How fun she is to joke with. She'll dish it right back.

10. Her overall sunny disposition

We are so blessed to have such an amazing daughter! Happy Birthday, Allyson Gabrielle!

Why My Heart is Breaking

I don't think there is really anything harder for a parent to hear than the words, "I don't have anyone to play with at recess." Sweet little Savannah is facing this dilemma right now and my heart just wants to break for her. Her best friend has decided they "need a break" and is playing with someone else right now, leaving Savannah high and dry. Savannah hasn't ever been one to have multiple friends at once--she enjoys having one or two close friends over being in a large group. The downfall to that is just exactly what is happening right now. It breaks my heart for her! In asking her what she does at recess, she replies, "I just walk around by myself." UGH! Just rip my heart out right now, why don't you?

One thing I've definitely learned as a parent is that when something happens to your child, you feel the hurt ten times worse than they do.

Eighteen Months Old!

Seriously--where is the time going?!

Sam turned 18 months old on Saturday. His presence has graced us for a whole year and a half. I just cannot believe how quickly time seems to go--I swear it goes faster and faster every single year.

For the occasion, I thought I'd share a sweet picture of my guy. I love his little smile! Since this picture, he has had *eight* new teeth pop through. Um, OUCH.

This was pretty funny...

Every night as we are getting the kids rounded up and into bed, one of the things we do is make a bedtime bottle for Sam (yes, he is still having a bottle at bedtime--bad, I know) and set it in his crib while we get everyone's jammies on, books read, etc. Apparently Sam didn't want to wait until he laid down to have his bottle, so he was trying his best to pull it through the slats in his crib. And he was not very happy when he could not pull it through:

So he improvised: (maybe he's been getting ideas from the girls' hamster)

Silly boy!

James' Fortune

This is the fortune that was in James' fortune cookie last night. It's quite possibly the best advice for my three year old. Ever.

Now is the time for peace in your life. Go along with other's ideas.

Can You Stand The Cuteness?

I took James and Sam in for their annual portraits a few days ago, and although I was dreading it (last year's experience was pretty horrendous with James), it turned out to be really quick and painless! Phew! Here are the shots of my little guys:

This is definitely my favorite one of James--the one that will grace the wall--LOVE IT!
And onto Mr. Sam. This picture is a little too cheesy--and I wasn't thrilled with his head positioning.

Super cute, but a little too far away...

Then she got a perfect shot of him. I'm thrilled with this picture:

And there you have it, folks. Maybe next year we'll actually try a full family photo session (something we've never done--isn't that terrible?)

Halloween!

This was a little bit of an odd year for some reason. For one, it was super warm--the kids didn't even need jackets! Secondly, Josh chose not to participate (gee--what a surprise!) at all this year, so when I was taking the mandatory pictures, Josh wasn't in any of them. *sniff* Third, Ally didn't want to be anything "girly" this year. I think her days of Disney Princesses are over. *sniff sniff* Fourth, we didn't buy a single costume this year. Not one! The kids all found things they wanted to be in the basement. Score!

Despite the changes this year, it was still fun. I love Halloween. It's always been my very favorite holiday. Here are some pictures of the little monsters:

James, the tiger, roaring and smuggling Snickers in his little paws (this was Ally's costume when she was his age):

Here we have Savannah, aka Jasmine, striking a pose--not exactly a genie-esque pose, but still cute (and this costume is also one of Ally's...she wore it in kindergarten)

Here's Allyson with her best friend. Which one is Allyson? The beautiful one with the hood over her face. Lovely, huh?

Savannah and James getting into the spirit of things.

The three hooligans on the porch--ready to get their trick-or-treating ON...
I tried so hard to get a cute picture of Sam, my little dalmation, but he just would not cooperate! I finally got a cute one of him checking out a neighbor's decor.

Afternoon at The Pumpkin Patch

Since the kids are out of school for UEA today, I thought it would be fun to actually get out and do something different. A trip to the pumpkin patch sounded fun. The last time we went was when Savannah was in preschool...three years ago! The weather was awesome (the snow's gone and it's back up to 70 degrees). It was a fun little trip.

Savannah and James:

My new favorite picture of James. I love this kid.

Searching for the perfect pumpkin (Savannah, Josh, Ally, and Ally's BFF):

Sam and James hitching a ride. Savannah looking like her sweet little self.

This was pretty funny...they have an animated man thing (not sure what to call it-LOL) and there is a man sitting behind a watercooler in another part of the tent--out of sight. When the actual man talks, the mouth of the man thing moves and it appears as though it is actually talking to the kids. He'll say things that make the kids believe he is really talking, things like, "I really like that orange shirt with the cat on it you've got on there." Or if he hears a parent say one of the kids' names, he'll repeat their name and say something directly to that child (which he did to James--pretty funny). It's a great gig!