It Was A Merry Christmas 2012

 Get ready for some picture overload! We had a FANTASTIC and exhausting Christmas!!  

Ben has been reaching his 80 hours every week (and then some, but for legal reasons we will stick with 80 ;)  So we haven't seen him much!  He is up and gone before the kids and usually doesn't get home until well after they are in bed....unless I let the girls stay up to see him.  So we don't see him much, but we LOVE it when we do!!!

The girls helped me make these little Nativity crafts for our neighbors and friends...we also made about 50 little reindeer...for the girls' classes and friends. I can't believe I didn't get a picture of them!  They were the ones that you squeeze the cheeks and you get a kiss inside.  Anyway, they turned out fun but were a LOT of work!

 Here are my little elves delivering gifts to the neighbors :)  They had so much fun!!

 Holdyn and Kimber are so fun to have home together....they are best friends and truly come up with the cutest things to play and do!

 Here is Holdyn at her school performance.  She did a GREAT job!!

 Ben was lucky to get off a few days for Christmas...so after he got off at 6pm on Friday, we hit the road!  The girls and I had the truck packed and ready to go as soon as he got home.  We made it to Fredonia about 2 and then unpacked and hit the sack by 4am.   The next morning we were excited to hurry and get over the the Baker family party!  It was a HOOT!  The girls LOVE LOVE LOVE to play with all of their cousins!  It was so nice that they could play outside too!

 It wouldn't be right if Adam and I didn't do our trumpet duets :)  I must say,

We still ROCK!!  Ha ha ha!  Addi even jumped in for some trio's with her French horn.

I have video, but no snapshots of Holdyn...she signed and sang...Rudolph the Red-Nose Reindeer and Silent Night.  Kimber was in and out.

 We played some hilarious games!

 Kimber and Holdyn were SMILES the whole day!

 Pin the nose on Rudolph was a hit!

 Joel also tried to gain the favorite uncle status by driving the kiddo's around with the lawn mower and Grumpa's John Deere trailer!  SO FUN!

 Cody, rocking his cuteness!

 We had one of The Best Christmas Pageants with Holdyn starring as the Angel!

Megan, Adri, and Alli were quite the Wisemen!

 Ben and I earned the right to be Mary and Joseph by finally having a son of our own.

(Kimber missed this whole couple of hours...she was NOT feeling well, but was back to herself after about a 4 hour nap and a few visits to the bathroom...sorry too much info.

 The two cuties in one of their favorite places....with Grandma in the kitchen...doing one of their favorite things...watching the popcorn popper!

 Holdyn engineering Grumpa's train!!

 LET THE FUN BEGIN!  Christmas Morning!

 Yep, Cody got a little patient Bear that he can be the Dr. for ;)

 The girls scored toothbrushes....these girls would be happy if they could get a new toothbrush every week!  They absolutely LOVE them!

 Santa also brought them princess scooters!  As you can see, they LOVE them!

Grandma and Grumpa's house is THEE best place for scooters and bikes!

 The girls were still ALL SMILES!

 Cody, putting a bandage on his bear.

 The kiddo's with Grandma and Grumpa!

Thanks for letting us share Christmas morning with you!!!

 One last picture before we headed out!

 The girls camped out on the sofa with their Christmas presents having a ball!  Just a few hours of sleep after we drove in the driveway and unpacked and we sent Ben off to work again.  It was fun to have him for a few days!!

 Who knew undecorating could be so much fun!  The girls took turns decorating each other as a Christmas tree....and giggled the whole time!

 Once the tree was down they went straight to one of their other favorite things....fort building!

 Cody, just chillaxin and watching his sisters play and build towers with my new Jenga blocks!

For some reason, I didn't have my camera on me in Fredonia with the Cluff family and missed the whole thing!  We had a blast there too!  Thanks for the WONDERFUL GIFTS and most of all thanks for sharing Christmas with us!  We made some great memories as we celebrated the birth of our Savior!

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!

December FuN!!

 Here is Ben and his girls....all 3 were sleeping soundly...notice the throw up bowl on the floor in front.  This picture was the day after we returned from our Thanksgiving trip.  YEP, we brought the flu bug home with us!  Kimber and Holdyn both had the barfs and squirts on the long drive home and made for 2 looong nights in a row.  Glad we are all feeling better!

 Here are the infamous stockings...knitted with love from Grandma Baker!  We were super excited to add Cody's train stocking to the collection this year!

 The girls LOVED helping plaster the tree with ornaments!

 The kids and I also did our outside decorations!  

Of course we missed Ben's expertise, but we got'er done!

Nothing like sipping on some hot chocolate while the vest is shaking Kimber ;)

She is pretty talented to be able to drink during the vest treatment!

 The camera loves these two....and so do I!!

 Painting our gifts for the neighbors!  I would post picts of the final product but some of them are going to family and I don't wanna spoil the fun!  I'll put some picts up later of the finished masterpieces. 

 Here are the girls waiting for me to get Cody out of the car to go into the botanical gardens.

 Here are my gingerbread kids!!

 Kimber had her Pre-school Christmas program today.  Her hair was straightened and looked super cute.....dang rain!  Good thing she is cute no matter what!

 They sang Rudolph the Red nosed Reindeer with their antlers!

 They also Sang Frosty the Snowman with their magic hats!!

We are also lucky enough to have a fellow Washingtonite family that recently moved into our ward.  David Miller (my neighbor growing up) and his cute family have been in England with the Military and he was just stationed here in Albuquerque!  We had Ava come play with Kimber most of the day today while Dave and Diane unloaded their stuff!  It was super fun!

We are making every day count as December is flying by!!!

Thanksgiving with the Cluff Family 2012

 After some good Eatin' on Wednesday at the Baker house, we headed to the Cluff Compound in Fredonia, AZ.  All of Ben's siblings were able to be there!  It was good to see everyone!

Mary and Rebecca are jazzing it up in the kitchen, while Aimee and Ben peeled potatoes!

 Kimber loved having Grandma Crazy read to her!

 Here is Jacob with his prized smoked turkey!

Here is the table...ready for eating!

The girls, AGAIN, were in heaven!  Playing and gettin good and dirty!

 Kimber, Taylor, McKayla, Holdyn

 More Cousin fun in the Tree house. 

Emma, Brigham, Cameron, Nolan, Taylor and Holdyn

 Kid table on the Patio.

 While the other kids were outside playing, Alex, was nice enough to come and sit with Kimber while she did her vest treatment.  Then she fixed her hair!  Kimber LOVED every minute!  It is hard to sit there and do her treatments when she can see and hear the cousins outside screaming and playing.  Thanks again Alex!

 We got to go up to Uncle Karl's to ride on the wagons!  The girls had SO MUCH FUN!

Even Ben got to drive the wagon ;)

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!