The holidays are also about spending time with friends.........

Here are some of our friends that we shared our holidays with...

*(I actually started this post last week, but just finished it(Sunday) not sure why it still shows the 1st?)

We had a Christmas pizza night & volcano cakes with our friends from school and church, Dave, Denise & Delaney. The kids did a little Webk*nz exchange too! It was a fun night!

We spent New Years Eve with our friends Matt, Julie, Emma, Ellie and Matt and their new puppy Olive(yes they are 3 Matthew's between us :) ). We had lot of yummy appetizers and ordered out Chinese and drank some Bailey's and coffee too! We also became the "champions" of Ping Pong(Dave), Catch Phrase AND Sequence. Yes, we will give them a chance for a rematch :)

We celebrated New Years Day with my best friend Natalie and her husband Brent, and their three precious "babies", the triplets: Jacob, Liana and Sophia. Brent made yummy steaks and hamburgers and some awesome sweet potatoes with ginger. For dessert we had Smores :)

Tomorrow we go back to "normal". I will really miss having Matthew and David at home. I have really enjoyed our family time this winter break, and already find myself looking forward to June.....I hope everyone has a good Monday, I know we will have some "crabby" boys here :)

I wish everyone a very Happy New Year

&

I pray that 2009 is a very blessed year for everyone!

"Tuesday Trips"

Last Friday we headed to the Botanical Gardens to see their annual train display. It is such a neat thing to see, and the boys loved it! We also took advantage of our unseasonably warm temperatures and walked around the garden some. I am SO excited because now I have a membership to the gardens for the entire year! (Thanks to Joe & Penny!) I know we will be putting it to GOOD use!
Last night, we went to see Christmas Lights with Geema(Dave's mom). It is such a neat place. On the way we stopped at Starbucks for a cup of their "signature hot cocoa".
The boys rode camels and fed all kinds of animals, deer, cows, camels etc. at the petting zoo. We also got to see a really cool laser light show about the Christmas Story. It was a fun way to "end" the Christmas season.

Guess what we got for Christmas???

Next October, we are all going to the Bahamas and Key West. We will be celebrating Penny's(Dave's step mom) 60th birthday. There will be around 40 of us, from both sides. We will be spending 5 days and nights together. This will be our 1st cruise and we are very excited!

Thanks Joe & Penny!

Christmas 2007

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

1 Corinthians 13:13

We celebrated Christmas Eve this year with My Dad & brother. We had it at our house, instead of my parents. I think this was just the "easier "way to do this year..... We went to the 5:00 candlelight service at our church. Then came home and had a pork roast with all kinds of things to go with it. Then we opened presents..LOTS of them! My Mom was "known" for spoiling the boys, and I think my Dad wanted to do less, but still, went a little crazy :) The boys got sooo much fun stuff! I got a really cool ring that says "Always my daughter, now too my friend." My Dad said that it was from my mom, but actually it makes me think of both of them. He got me lots of other sentimental things too! Thanks Dad :) I got my brother and my Dad the shirts that have the bible verse, Isaiah 40:31, which we had read at my Mom's funeral and was marked in her bible. We had a great Christmas Eve!

The boys opened these new pj's on Christmas Eve. They were so sad to say goodbye to "Super Elf", so I let them kiss him goodbye, until next year :( Then we sprinkled our magic reindeer food outside for Rudolph.....Of course we also left Santa some eggnog and homemade cookies!

Yea! It is Christmas morning! Santa was here :) He brought Matthew his IPOD shuffle and Pokemon Ranger DS game, he left Michael his Smart Cycle and his Kung Fu Panda DS game. He also left a very cool new basketball game AND some really full stockings!

Dave and I were not "really" supposed to exchange, because we got a new television(not here yet), but a BIG gift! I still got a Wii Fit(a family gift too) and he got a new blue tooth wireless speaker for his car. The Wii fit is so cool! The boys and I played it today, and had a blast :) P.S. I CANNOT ski!

In the pictures above, you can see a few highlights. I LOVE the new bags that I got for the boys Webkinz. They are so cute!

We are on Christmas break here, which I LOVE, but I will be posting here and there....

I had a wonderful Christmas and am so blessed and thankful to God to have such wonderful family and friends! I am looking forward to 2009.....