On the third day of Christmas....

our tree

...we went to the C's for the Reed family gathering (Saturday December 26th). Andrew was extremely clingy - my guess is he was overstimulated from three days of celebrating- so I didn't have a chance to take many pictures. We ended up leaving pretty early, to get Mr. Cranky home and into bed.

riding Andrew's new trike before the party

Larry, Scott and Grandpa Reed talking bourbon

Alex, Evyn and Emily

Keisha

Olivia and Vince

On a side note, my plan to catch our blog up to date over the weekend was thwarted by a certain inquisitive little boy.... Andrew was able to find the end of the USB cord that connects our camera to our computer, and apparently shorted it out with drool. I can still transfer pictures manually - but it's a much slower process!

Christmas 2009

Today is the last day of winter break. What a busy two weeks it has been! Evyn has been home from school for 12 days - and I must admit, I've loved every minute of it. She is excited to go back to school. Yesterday she received a letter in the mail from her teacher, and a classmate stopped by, making her even more eager to return to class.

My goal for this windy, cold last day of winter break is to get caught up on posting our holiday pictures- starting with Christmas day~



Christmas morning both kids were up at their usual time, despite the late evening prior. Evyn quickly found the gifts from Santa* under the tree. Andrew, again, was less enthused about gifts than he was the bells and ribbons on the packages.






Two of Santa's gifts were instant favorites... a china tea set, which- by request- was immediately washed and put to use, and a working cash register (Evyn already has plans for more sales).




Andrew liked the saucer sled that Santa brought!





After Andrew's much-needed nap, we were ready for our afternoon guests - Grams, Pops, and Aunt Chris. And more gifts!




*A note about Santa- we'd been uncertain whether we would "do" Santa in our house. The first few years, we didn't. Scott's parents had taken Evyn to see a Santa each year, but she never really asked questions or showed an interest, until last year (which coincided with watching Polar Express for the first time). This year she made a decision - yes, by choice!- that she was going to believe in Santa. We have a funny video of her, declaring her decision, if I can figure out how to edit it I'll post it.

Christmas Eve 2009

The annual Christmas Eve bash with the C's and the B's
was at our house this year.

(click here to see last year's pictures.... back when Evyn still had her
chubby, little-girl cheeks.... my how she's grown!)

Andrew did great, much better than I had hoped for. I put him to
bed by 8pm and he slept straight through the noise of the party,
which lasted until midnight!


Before the guests arrived:







Andrew opened a few gifts before going to bed:






Everyone listened intently to Emily:



Food! Cakes, cookies, fruit salad, roast beef tenderloin, pasta salad, sweet potato & crab soup, and more:




Then, the kids' favorite time - gifts:

Snow fort: day 2

After a day and a half the snow stopped falling and we started digging out. Scott and Evyn were back at their snow fort, and a neighbor girl came to check it out and play.






Andrew ventured out for about as long as it took to snap these pictures. He wasn't keen on the cold or the snow- which was fine by me, as I'd already been out most of the morning shoveling!