Christmas at Papa & Karen's

Everyone had such a fun day. We drove up after church and cooked out hamburgers and hot dogs. Then it was time for presents.

The favorite ~ the Wii!!! They loved it. Artie and I had played at our friends' Jack and Nikki's but the kids had never played before.

Terry and Papa

Brenda's video is too long, but her moves are so funny to me.

Troy trying to beat Stephen boxing.

Yeah!! All Christmas pictures are posted!!!!! I made it before January was over!!!

Christmas with Granny

We celebrated Christmas with Artie's family at Rainbow Lake Pavilion again this year. I love it there. It's so big and roomy for all the children. I don't have to feel like they are about to break anything and they have a fun time.



Here is Bobbie with most of her grandchildren. Here they are with the older girls - Amber and Brooke's husbands. Yes, out children do make up over half the picture!! Hey, when you're good at something - don't you think you should stick with it? :-) Matt (back row left) is the best to see here. He lives in Florida and we don't' get to see him that much. He's grown so since I've seen him last. He kept the kids mesmerized with money and card tricks.


Emily got baby furniture from her grandmother. A crib, stroller and high chair - just what she was needing!!

The little boys all got big trucks full of matchbox cars - what could be better. They play for hours on their car rug in their bedroom lining up all their cars and picking houses.

The big kids played their swap game.

and then the adults got their turn. I got a lamp for my living room and Artie got a gift certificate for Canyon River restaurant - which we enjoyed very much... It was a lovely evening.

Christmas Morning

Before the children are awake....

The stockings

Here they come...

The only thing Terry asked for was - Hungry Hungry Hippo.

Bobby wanted a leather coat - isn't he a little young to be asking for a coat for Christmas?

Stephen had as much fun with Hungry Hippos as Terry did.

All the little boys got new animals. They were cool - from Planet Earth - and each had a DVD that showed their animal in it's natural habitat.

Terry - penguin

Bobby - Jimmy the elephant

Stephen - Oscar the chimpanzee

The boys all got building things - Tinker Toys, Magnext, Lincoln Logs - and bicycles - they are at such a fun age.

Emily had a doll Christmas - she got a new girl doll and twin babies. She also got a kitchen so she can cook for them. She's so good in the real kitchen, it won't be much longer that she plays with a toy one... I want her to stay little as long as she can.

Emily also got this beautiful book - Little Mommy. It went well with her whole doll theme. I love this book and had it when I was little.

Brenda got some Jonas Brothers and Family Force Five music. A camera and her favorite - a phone with unlimited text messaging. See how fast they grow up - no dolls or babies or kitchens...

Here she is with a Jonas Brothers poster for her new room.

Troy (have we lost our minds?) got an electric guitar. He keeps it in his hands most of the time. He is currently learning his scales.

It was such a fun morning. God is always so good to provide for us.

Icing Cookies for Santa

Christmas Eve PJ's

Every year the kids get one present to open on Christmas Eve. Usually it's Pj's. This year we couldn't disappoint.

(2008) (2007) It's fun to look back and see how the girls have grown from last year.

Brian wasn't with us for Christmas Eve this year - but we still made sure he got his pj's - you can never be to big for monkey pj's...

Christmas Eve Chili

Eating our Christmas Eve Chili while watching the Nativity Story. The children didn't make it through the movie this year. It is such a beautiful movie, I think next year we will have to watch it before Christmas eve.

See that present under Emily's dinner??? Looks like maybe a Christmas Eve present...




















Stephen's maybe a little bit excited?

Elmo was in his Christmas Spirit too!!

Christmas Eve

Here are the Christmas pictures. This is our church's Christmas Eve service.


Iman, Brenda, Emily, and Emily

Artie and the boys

Bell Ringers

Bobby and Stephen were bell ringers for the Salvation Army with their wolf pack. They took an hour slot in the middle of the afternoon and it was freezing that day!!! People felt sorry for them out in the cold and seemed to give even more money. They took turns and when it wasn't there turn they waited in the warm door way of Belks. (They have about 5 layers under their boy scout uniforms and jeans.)

Christmas Parade

Stephen and Bobby in the Christmas Parade

Wold Pack 53

Emily (wearing a do-it-yourself hair-do) and Terry (very cold) watching the parade.

French Braid

Brenda's working on her French braiding. She's getting good ~ (a lot better than her mama!)

Swagbucks

I signed up with swagbucks today. Looks pretty cool. I found the site through a blog I like - economic endeavors.

Here's her description of Swagbucks:

"First, it's simple. You earn "Bucks" for something that you're probably already doing - searching the internet. With one click you can install the Swagbucks search bar on your toolbar in Firefox or IE, and when you do a search, it'll give you your results from Google or Ask.com.

By using Swagbucks for your searches, you can earn "Bucks" randomly. On the very first search I did, I earned 2 Bucks! In the first two days, I was up to 14 Bucks, just by doing my normal searches that I would have done anyways, with or without being paid.

You don't need a lot of points to claim a prize, either. With only 45 Bucks you can get an Amazon gift card, and with 50 Bucks you can get a giftcard for Starbucks. There are other prizes as well (DVDs, XBox games, an iPod shuffle, etc.), but gift cards are all I'm interested in.

In the past 2 months, I have earned a $50 Best Buy card (for Hubs for Christmas) and 5 $5 Amazon gift cards. And I consider that free money, since it was earned by doing nothing but searching the internet, which I would be doing anyways.

Another perk is that Swagbucks offers incentives for getting your friends to sign up. You earn every buck that your referrals earn, so if you have a blog (like me), put a referral link on there and promote it! It's a win-win for you and your readers, they get paid for their searches, and you get paid as well."


You can also check out her Christmas shopping using her Swag Bucks too. Pretty Cool~~


So, I'm trying it out. We'll see how it goes. If you's like to try it too, please use my referral link here to do so.

Emily's School Program

Here are some of my catch-up photos. This is Emily's school's patriotic program. Emily is on the top row in the middle in a blue shirt. It's kinda hard to see her, but here is a close up.

Here is Emily and her daddy. What a cute date he makes!! He rushed in from Charlotte to be there for her.