Christmas 2010

Well, Brandee wins by one for posting 27 pictures - I'm posting a mere 26! We had a great Christmas even though Mark came down with another cold. (Mark with a cold = grumpy pants!) It was nice to spread our Christmas activities out over three days. It was nice not to have to work so I didn't miss out on any of the festivities. Mark is really starting to understand all aspects of Christmas this year. Next year he'll probably be so excited that he can't sleep! He even remembered that we needed to sing Happy Birthday to Jesus on Christmas morning. He was a little groggy when he first woke up Christmas morning because I went into his room and said, "Mark, guess who came to our house last night?" And he said, with a look of sheer excitement and awe, "Aunt Brenda!" I about fell over! Then I said "no, he landed on the roof with Rudolf and his sleigh and came down the chimmney!" And Mark said, "SANTA!" and couldn't crawl out of his crib fast enough! Interestingly, thats the last time he ever slept in his crib and the last time I'll get to go pick him up out of it - see one of his gifts pictured below!

Well we started our Christmas partying on the night of the 23rd when all of John's fam and all of mine (minus the Norweigans!) Everyone came over for soup and a white elephant gift exchange. Here is Opah with the singing/dancing christmas hat on....
And here is Mark acting just like his Opah!

We are so excited for Josh! He just got the head football coach and assistant athletic director position with Muskogee High School! Here he is coming in that night as he was greeted with....

us! We all dressed in Muskogee green and made some homemade football jerseys. We really are nerds! But it was fun. We are so excited to cheer for Muskogee this upcoming year and finally put this Jenks/Union rivalry behind us! (Go Jenks!) =)

Here's Omah and Josh...

Debi and Barrett during the gift exchange...

Christmas Eve morning putting the last piece of the Advent calander up...we saved baby Jesus for last!

Christmas Eve morning when went over to Josh and Lindsays for homemade sweet rolls!! Yummy! I had two little helpers (aka Mark and Barrett) helping me eat mine so I just had to have two!

Here is Mark scaring Aunt Lindsay with his new alligator puppet from Omah and Opah!

Christmas Eve afternoon we went to Mimi and Hoho's house. Here is Mark with his super cool new remote control car from Josh and Linds that also goes in the water!

Sweet baby Barrett...

These two had a blast playing with each other over that two day period! They played chase until they were worn out! Here they are "sharing" Barretts new chair!

Rudolf the Red-nosed reindeer. He loves to wear this red nose that lights up and flashes while singing the song!

Christmas Eve night - Mark and daddy playing with the cool new parking garage toy from MiMi and Hoho...

Even the dogs knew it was Christmas! They actually played/wrestled each other for about 15 minutes! It happens about once a year so I had to take a few pics!

Well we sat out 3 cookies,a glass of milk, and a sac of reindeer food for Santa. (I realized later we were supposed to sprinkle the reindeer food on the lawn!). Anyway we sat it out right before bedtime. We were all in Mark's room for about one minute when John came out to find that "Santa" had already eaten his cookies! You may note he didn't even spill his milk. You may also notice some of Santa's drool all around the plate! (Rocky Star!)

I got a new puffy coat for Christmas! I was sincerely surprised!

The boys got to open their stocking too!

Mobley with his bone...

Mark got a big boy bed!! In a big boy room! He loves it and really has done pretty well with the transition from his crib. In fact he just said tonight, "I know the rules Mommy." The "rules" are that once you are in bed for the night or for nap you are not to get out until mommy or daddy says its time.

Mark and daddy both got new watches...

Daddy got a new mountain bike!

And Mark got a new red pedal bike too!! He has been asking for a pedal bike for months! Only he has been asking for a BLUE pedal bike for months. We had to brainwash him that he really wanted RED since that was the only color the bike shop could get in his size. (Why not buy one at Wal-mart, Target, Academy, sports authority you ask? You'll have to take that up with John (aka bike snob!)) =)

All suited up for his first ride! We've had the knee pads and elbow pads for a year and he wouldn't ever wear them when he rode his strider bike. Somehow he knew he needed them today because he asked for them!

The first ride!! Daddy says no training wheels....we'll see how long daddy's back holds up!

And last but not least, Gammy and Papa got Mark a big combined christmas and birthday gift. A trampoline! (or jupiter jump as Mark calls it!)

Unfortunately I forgot to take my camera over to my parents house for our Christmas Day dinner and gift exchange with Brenda, Jonathan, and Jennifer! I'll have to get some pics from mom. But I will say one of the best parts was when Mark opened his gift from Aunt Brenda. She got him Lincoln Logs which I'm pretty sure he has never seen before. As soon as he opened it he said, "This is actually what I always wanted!!!" So cute! I think it made Brenda's day too!