Happy New Year 2009!

Our New Years snowman.

He was a work of art.

Everyone pitched in. Mars formed the bottom.....Jake, the middle.......Max, the head......Zane found the twigs for the arms.......Gus, he just tromped around blowing the party horns.......Daddy put all the pieces together...........and I, of course, took the pictures.

Then........after our New Years party-in-the-snow........we couldn't leave without demolishing our hard work.........because we have mostly boys........who are naturally fascinated with destruction..........

So.....one swift karate-chop kick......with the kids screaming with delight and..............

Mr. Snowman was history...........

.............just like 2008!!

Christmas

Christmas came and went once again, and all the weeks & weeks of planning & shopping & baking & wrapping for this one amazing day......were all SO worth it!
The kids all slept in Marlee's room Christmas Eve, and we don't let them come out into the living room until everyone's awake, and no earlier than 6:30! I think I got 3 hours of sleep!

Gus had no idea what was going on at first, walking into the living room that had transformed overnight into a kid's fantasyland! Like a dream!!

But he caught on real quick & was all about the present opening.

He loved his little roadster car, but his fave was definitely the Little Einsteins Red Rocket.

I decided to not pick up my camera at all this Christmas morning, & instead, sit back and soak it all in.......all the magic of Christmas morning. No scurrying around trying to get a shot of this, or that.....(I stink at getting present-opening action shots anyway).

It was so nice.

Mars' numero uno Christmas gift this year.............the ipod!

.....and the Costco case of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups (that she will blow through by the end of Christmas break).

We need more Legos like I need a hole in the head.......but what do you do.

They LOVE them!

Santa brought almost everyone a longboard!!! .......even Daddy!

We're so excited to go for a ride around the neighborhood when it's not so rainy!

After a magical Christmas morning & a yummy breakfast at Grandma & Grandpa's, Brian headed to the Sun's game with the older kids.

Sooooo, Gus went down for a nap, Zane was happily playing with all his brothers' toys since they were gone, and I took a big Christmas nap!!! ........to the soothing sound of the falling rain..........I was feeling some serious Christmas spirit!

What an amazing day!

Dang cute kids!

These are the kids of one of my bestest friends.

And they were such naturals in front of the camera......especially this one (above)......she came up with the BEST poses.

She was freaking HILARIOUS!!!

All these GORGEOUS girls! (no fair)

I LOVE this one.

Oh Michelle........you're in BIG trouble!! She's way too cute!

And this is what baby J thought of the whole thing........(hee hee!)

Inflatable Fun

We got a smokin' last-minute deal on Craig's List on this thing.
It sat on our front lawn for 4 days...........beckoning to every neighbor kid within a mile, I swear!! They came swarming like little ants. I wish I had taken a picture when there were literally 30 kids on it!........I'm not exaggerating!!
It was really fun...........(except for the herds of neighbor kids coming through my house getting drinks & snacks.....4 days in a row!!!)

It was super inflatable fun!!

These guys ROCKED!!

Now that the Christmas cards are all out, I can share these.

This was the craziest shoot! So much work! But so much fun!!

They totally ROCKED IT!!! .....those headbanger Garns...........they must get it from their Mom...........she was such a rocker chick back in the day.............man, the stories I could tell...........I'll save that for another post! (ha ha ha)

It's Beginning to Feel a Little More Like Christmas.....

Aaaaahhhh......Christmas sugar cookies........one of my many weaknesses.
It just wouldn't be Christmas without thousands of calories of these babies!

You can't even tell from this picture........

......but this big green ball has a huge chunk of it broken off in the back.

One of the MANY ornament tragedies this year.

Instead of everyone making their own gingerbread houses, we decided to combine a few kits to make a gingerbread mansion!!

It was an architectural wonder!!! (not really)

It was pretty cool, though......... with a dog house in the back even!

.......but then we ended up putting it out in the garage because it was so big & took up most of our kitchen table.

Mmmmm.....YUMMMM!

We absolutely adore Christmas lights.

Brian went all out this year, as usual. We'll stand out in front of the house & admire the lights until our toes are frozen.


A rare, quiet moment........I love these moments........

Breakfast of Champions

Sad, but true.

Gotta head to the mall today.

I might need a few of these!

Grandma's Christmas jammies!!

Grandma made all the grandkids Christmas jammies..........

Each pair was different.........

And sooooooo cute!

We wish everyone could have been at the Christmas party.........

.......cuz it was crazy fun!

We had a BUMLOAD of Mexican food,

Jolie found the almond in the cake (we think) & won the mystery gift,

We played Bingo with prizes for the winner of each game,

After not winning the first several games, Zane threw his Bingo board & declared, "I'm done with this!",

We opened Grandma & Grandpa's gifts & took pictures.

All the while, Jen & Cory were still stuck in LA traffic when they should have been HERE!!

Sheesh!!!
We had some seriously fun family parties this year, back-to-back, and I must say....... rather glad they're over! check mark!!!

Oh What Fun.......

.......it is to play.........a Christmas family kickball game!!!!!

After a little soup in bread bowls, we all ran over to this softball field for a little kickball & hot cocoa. We even set up a sound system to play Christmas music that made it even better!

Team Red claims that the game was rigged (poor sports) , since Team Green, made up of all the little kids, won the game.

But, the truth is, those elementary school kids know their kickball! ....... And the teenagers were a little rusty on their kickball skills!

Maybe next year, girls!!

It was a great time!!

Then, we went back to our house to open gifts..........

Poor Jenni broke her femur 2 weeks ago & made the drive down from Flagg, through snow, to be here!

We're SO glad they made it.

Mars is so lucky to have all these cute cousins right around her age.

We love, love, love our cousins!!!