Christmas 2013 -- The Condensed Version

Pretend this is read like the fine print at the end of auto sales commercial  . . . nospacesnobreathsandsuperfast!

Little Girls Baking Club - Princess Sparkle tied for 1st place!

Finally found some decorations for on top of the closet in the entryway.  LOVE IT!

Celebrated Christmas with a friend that knitted each child their very own hat.

Got to spend time celebrating Christmas with this cutie pa-tootie!

Oh, and the rest of mom's family . . .

but everything pretty much revolved around her . . .

until we found out she is going to be a BIG SISTER!  Congrats, Aunt Mel & Uncle Josh!

The ornament I made for the sibling ornament exchange -- shrunken chip mobile for Jon,

The ornament I received from Steve.  (We don't even try to come close to this skill level.  It would just make us look worse.  Whittled from a couple 2x4s. Hmph!)

The ornament the Knight received from Anna. (An awesome compliment to the ornament I received.)

Church Christmas program - Bud with his age group

Butterfly (far right) with her friends from Sunday School performing their part.

Nana (aka church secretary) being recognized for the amazing support she gives the church staff.

My Knight (aka church treasurer) being recognized for his exemplary work on the church finances.

Christmas Day - Round 1 with Nana & Pappy

Sparkle finally got her Vera Bradley purse & wallet.

Daddy getting a new winter coat.

Bud trying to drag off all his loot before the rest of the family came.

His bag was partially filled with this new tire pillow from Nana & Pappy and this ragtime quilt that Mommy made for his bed.

Christmas Day - Round 2 with the cousins (Daddy's side)
We decided to open gifts in two rounds -- kids then adults.  With 21 of us, the kids don't like to wait their turn anyway.

Round 3 with the adults - So much easier now that we do grab bag style.
Over-sized lap blanket and feet warmer I made for Aunt Pat.

Cousins hanging out in the "kid cave" playing their DSs while the adults hung out and talked.

Sparkle and Daddy working on her new 3D puzzle.

Tada!

Above average temps gave Bud the opportunity to drive around his new orange 'maro!  (He wanted me to take a picture of the front of the car, then her turned it around and told me to take a picture of the back too.)  Love that kid.

Rubber Duckie, You're The One!

Contrary to some {cough} negativity we've been hearing around the house, the kids and I were excited to go to Pittsburgh and see the world-renowned Rubber Duck.  We know that in the "grand scheme" of things, it's not a big deal; however, we thought it was pretty cool that this was the duck's first stop in the US.

News of the duck's first visit to the US was everywhere -- on the news, in the papers.  Most of the souvenirs were sold out with only a few days left before the duck left town.  We met up with Aunt Pat and walked down the busy city streets to Point State Park to see what the buzz was all about.

It was HUGE!  Forty feet tall and thirty feet wide to be exact.  And what about something so big, yellow and cute wouldn't put a smile on your face?  Bud was the most excited to see the rubber duck, and his anticipation grew when he could see the duck through the trees as we got closer.

For a Tuesday afternoon, there was quite a crowd hovering around the duck -- even people from other countries were there snapping photos.

 

Bud wanted to bring his rubber ducky, so he could get a picture of him, his rubber duck and the BIG duck.  (Thank you, duck, for bringing the fact that I threw out a couple bath duckies to my son's attention. {sigh}  Just when you think they'll never notice. Although in my defense, they were gross from being used as bath toys for years.)

A few, short steps away is the Point State Park fountain.  The kids enjoyed looking at the fountain which sprays water 150 feet in the air.  The wind was blowing enough to mist everyone with water.  We didn't hang around long as the weather wasn't very conducive to running around wet.

 

Thanks for joining us, Aunt Pat!  We had a great time!