Mystery Boxes

One of our Christmas traditions on Christmas Eve at Nana's house is "Mystery Boxes" for all of her grandchildren and their spouses. She started with 11 but now the count is up to 19! (11 of them were there this year) Opening the box to retrieve the money inside is the challenge. After the boxes have been passed out to each participant, the race is on to see who will be able to figure out the way to open the box. And after the first person, knowing the competitive nature of the room, I think the race is still on so as not to be the last one! As much as I would have liked to have gotten pics of each of them (or all together!), I settled for pics of my 4, especially since I was also trying to occupy Nathan so that Jen and Steve could give their full attention to the boxes. Part of the fun in watching this process is seeing the techniques used. There's always some forms of tapping (pounding?) and shaking, and lots of glancing around to see if more clues can be gleaned, and I'm sure the pulses are also racing!

AND THE WINNER WAS...........................

 "Old Man" Marcus!!! Which was especially impressive because he didn't even hand off little Sydney while he was working on it! Maybe the sprayed-on white hair from the Christmas Eve play he was in at church helped with increasing his wisdom!


My Daddy rocks!



Happy New Year!!

Wow! 2011! That just doesn't seem possible. It sounds almost futuristic when I really stop and think about it. It seems like a blink of an eye ago that we were anticipating the new millenium and everyone was trying to decide how to get used to saying the year 2000. We were so used to saying 19 something. And remember the "Y2K bug" scare? All of our computers were for sure going to crash! But they didn't, and now, 11 years later we have been blessed with 2 son-in-laws and 5 grandbabies! My mind is racing with all of the "milestones" of the past 11 years--too many to write about at one sitting. God is SO good!! and faithful through all generations. I'm looking forward to what He has planned in the days ahead!

AND NOW BACK TO 2010...

Nathan turned one on December 27! Last year at this time we were feeling blessed that Nathan was healing and about ready to come home from a week in the NICU at Mercy SW.

Jen made an adorable dinosaur cake for his birthday. And he was not one to be hesitant about digging into it!

Showing their dinosaur tattoos on their arms

More Christmas 2010

Here are a few more highlights of Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. All of a sudden it's a week later and I'm behind again!

Next year I'm sure Sydney will want to squeeze in with the rest of them!

 
 

Happy Birthday, Jesus!!



                              Amelia and Nathan really like their new horses!



Super Kids!

 My fun project for the grandbabies for Christmas this year was super hero capes. It began with this:

And then the initials were sewn onto the capes .(See the end of post)

The capes are reversible.

But the better pictures were when they put them on!

No, No, No, not the daddies...the GRANDBABIES!

Getting ready to fly

 Let the flying begin!!!

 

A Glorious Morning!

Did you see it? I hope you were up in time to see the spectacular sunrise on Christmas morning! It was as though the heavens were shouting "JESUS CHRIST IS BORN!!!" I went out and stood in the middle of our backyard to take it all in. What a treat!

"And suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, 'Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men with whom He is well pleased'."

 

 
 
Thank You, LORD!!!!

Needing a Nap

Such a sleepy girl! She had a cute little waffle print on her cheek when I scooped her up to put her to bed. 

How To Really Enjoy

Now, this is how to really enjoy a cupcake:
First, place the whole cupcake up to your mouth and begin tasting.
(Also notice another technique in the background by my cousin, Jack, the birthday boy, who leans over and licks the top using no hands.)

 Next, remember to not waste any time by moving the cupcake away from your mouth, but continue eating and pushing the cupcake toward your mouth.

 Finally, when it seems that all of the "extra" and unnecessary pieces of the cupcake have fallen away (either down your shirt or in your lap), you will still have some sweet tastes left on your mouth for licking.

What?? My cousin, Cade, didn't get any cupcake on his shirt?