Christmas & Then Some

I don't know where the time has gone! Starting before Thanksgiving (I'm still working on that post.) we have been crazy busy. I'll try to break it down, mostly with pictures of our last month +.

Christmas Cards
Somewhere around the middle of December, when we started getting Christmas cards from friends, I realized I hadn't even thought about ours. Soooooo, I met D at the park for a play date/photo shoot and here are some of the 30 or so pics I/we took. Pretty sure you can tell which ones didn't make the cut. Next year I'll just order Happy New Year cards to take some of the pressure off. Heck, by 2012 I'll probably be welcoming summer with our family photo card!









Little Christmas
Around the same time as the last-minute photo shoot, my Dad's fam came to our house to celebrate Little Christmas, as we call it.

Papa & Luke


Jonathan with Luke


Sarah & Nonnie


Nonnie & Jack


Nonnie, Jack, & Papa Jim


Papa & Jack honoring a Bell family tradition-Making weird, scary faces while holding a flashlight under your chin looking through a window after dark. Hmmm, it never seemed so creepy until just now. And probably something for which one could be arrested. Oh, well, it's been around for generations and we're keeping the tradition alive!




A Couple of Shots of Luke's Bed Head
I never would've let J's hair get this shaggy. For some reason-mostly due to the fact that the boy's never had much hair, I guess-I've been hesitant to cut Luke's. Maybe I'm desperately holding out for a curl. Just one curl!

Yeah, I see no sign of one, either. :(



Trip to Georgetown
While B was hunting in S. Texas (the weekend before Christmas-yes, I got major points), the boys and I headed to Georgetown to visit Gran and Bepe. We got a special treat since Aunt Molly and cousin Ellie happened to be in town, too! We had a great time. Thanks for hosting, Gran & Bepe!

Ellie & the Boys


Bepe & Luke



Gran loves to read to Jack. Jack loves for Gran to read to him. Jack does not like me to take pics during reading time with Gran.


Swing pic before we head home



Christmas Eve
Cori and Chad had the fam over for Christmas eve. We attended a Christmas Eve service in their town at the local Methodist church, which was really nice. They even had a children's program, which I hadn't seen in years. I'm thinking I said goodbye to those sweet programs when I began attending a C of C. Do some C of C's have children's programs?

Back to Christmas eve...and back to Cori's house. Ryan and Jack played so well together. You can't imagine the noise level (a solid 8-9) when we turned our kids loose at their house! So much fun to hear them playing together. :)




Luke in the middle of unwrapping presents.



JoJo & Pops with the grandkids

JoJo and Pops were so sweet to have us for several days before Christmas. We had such a nice time and got a good visit. Jody and I cooked A LOT, which was so much fun. :) We finally caught up on our visiting and the food was fantastic, if I can say so myself! Love, love, love my sweet mother-in-law!

The best family pic we got all weekend-Luke, sweetie, you look a little like a horny toad. I say that with love!



Christmas Day
The boys headed to see what Santa brought






More cousin time!



Last grandbaby to take baths in JoJo's sink???




Christmas in CS
We headed home from Dallas on Sunday and had Christmas with my mom's side of the fam. Soooo much fun! I only got one good pic.



Home At Last :)
Our first morning home we had to try out our new farm animal pancake molds Aunt C gave us. I'd say they're a success!




B & I are super excited to head to S TX this weekend to hunt. When I told Brian's great-aunt about our New Year's trip, she exclaimed (at a level 8, volume-wise), "Why that's your second honeymoon!" Yes, Aunt Callie, we'll count it as such. And we appreciate it more now than ever. :) Yea for grandparents and Aunt Sarah who made our trip possible!

Now, just as soon as I finish my Thanksgiving post I'll be ready to enter the new year, which, by the way, promises to be just as busy as 2010. Much love to all our friends and family! Happy New Year!