Gardner Family: Christmas 2013

My brother Bruce and his family came to stay with us for Christmas. I was so happy to see my niece and nephew again and to have them get to know my kids a little better. I loved hosting them. I learned all the stuff they liked on my trip to Florida earlier in the month and made sure to have the fridge in their room stocked to their liking. I had taken these apple spice Gin Gin's and peanut butter Gin's Gin's to Florida with me and Liam and Juliette were obsessed with them so I made sure they each had their own pack in the gifts that I gave them for Christmas.

The fam hanging out, doing our traditional puzzle, playing Wii and eating lomo saltado (which Bruce said was the most amazing thing he's ever put in his mouth, better than my mom's and I should start a business and sell it), ya it was THAT special!

Russell is the pro at these, this one was pretty hard, we got pretty far and then took a break, when we came back to it we had found that TK had ruined it. :( We didn't get back to it but a few months later Russell and Ryker finished it together.

Christmas Eve at Gardner's

Not a creature was stirring...the set up is done!

My poor kids were so worried about their stockings this year, They are used to getting so much junk food and soda's and stuff, Well, they were right to be worried they barely got anything to eat but I think I still did a pretty good job of putting fun stuff in there ( it is October now, Christmas 2014 is almost upon us and I fear they have even MORE to worry about this year, our diet has become increasingly more strict).

Russell's bike

Ryker's Bike

Ryker is obsessed with Matchbox cars, mostly because Chase is so he got a LOT of them this year.

We took Brock and Ryker to see Ender's Game for his birthday so we thought he would like to read the book also.

The motorcycle trailer, Rick spent so much time getting it all painted inside.

Such a dork, but he asked for this.

Jade wanted a Buddah for each of the box shelves in her room, it was kind of an undertaking to find so many but I did it.

One of my favorite movies.

Rick got me this lovely tea set and these delicious teas for Christmas. He was real sick for a few weeks with a cold so making a fresh ginger, lemon, cayenne, honey tea, with my lovely new set, several times a day, while I was nursing him back to health, was fun.

At Grandma and Grandpa's Christmas morning.

Matt and Alicia got Ryker some MORE Matchbox cars and a book that they love.

We got Coop, this John Deere blocks tractor.

Lynn and Russ got Ryk this really cool Star Wars Lego set, to go with his really cool Iron Man Lego set they got him for his birthday. We got him a few generic block sets that are compatible with Lego sets but man Legos are pricey, guess that's what grandparents are for.

I love this gift, I am in to prepping so I thought this was awesome.

We got Scott some little African Dwarf frogs. I don't know if it was appreciated but I thought it was fun.

Bunch of randoms for the girls; fuzzy socks, journals, mittens, purses, candy, lip gloss and a necklace.

Being told exactly what someone wants is really easy. Chase was easy peasy.

We got Lynn and Russ tickets to Wicked. They were really excited. Lynn even cried a little.

Oh Lola, our little tomboy, we got her a Ninja Turtle toy.

Cheeta Girls

Christmas at mom's.

I know Julie was looking for some cute little tea spoons and I found them. She has also gotten really into gardening, so I got her a few harvesting baskets and some gardening gloves for her birthday.

I love these pretty chess sets from Peru. I told my mom to get one for Rick. He spent the night playing.

Dev performing for us.

Jess and Leecie, doing the cups song.

Ryk and Teek getting schooled.

Poor Lily was sick,

It was fun having Lena and her family here for the holidays.

Scratching dave with his new head scratcher.

Oh my gosh. I love this baby sooooo much. Could she be any cuter?

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

Bruce had brought some presents for us and We hadn't gotten to them, I was making some tea and he said, "Would you open your dang presents!"

They got me a nice purse....

Brooklynn, some Burt's Bee's stuff...

Umh, you would think by how happy I am, that I don't already have this CD (I do), but he got me the edited version (which I didn't have), and obviously, I was ecstatic. I was happy that I could now listen to Em during carpool (that didn't last long though, Matt called and gave me a stern talking to about it). :(

A tree ornament.

The boys got these water toys that shoot balls.

And last but not least, the reason he was yelling at me to open my presents, an electric water heater for making tea. It really is awesome. I use it almost everyday.

Tea time

We went bowling with the whole fam but met Ed and Val for dinner at Wild Zucchini before hand. Bruce has a special bond with Uncle Ed and was excited to get to visit with him.