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.

Birthday Celebration with Uncle Steve

So I started this post at the beginning of October.  It deleted itself.  I almost cried.  I've picked at it a couple times since then, but didn't have time to finish it.  At last, it's finally here . . .

 

 

We met up with my family on October 5th for Uncle Steve's family. We'll occassionally meet halfway between where my family lives and Ohio and where we live in Pennsylvania to get a quick visit in when we don't have the availability for everyone to go one way or the other. I was excited for the opportunity to see Uncle Steve, his girlfriend (Anna), my parents, my sister and, of course, my neice!

This year because of Rick's current employment status (or rather unemployment status), we tried to come up with some creative, inexpensive gift ideas.  We settled on a party-in-a-box idea.  Judging from the expression on his face, it was a success!

This is what he saw when he opened the box.  Inside are balloon containing dollar bills.  The recipient is able to enjoy popping the balloons to receive their gift of money.

To make this gift, roll up each bill and place it in the balloons.  We chose colorful balloons, but solid color balloons would allow you to see the money a little more clearly.

 

An air compressor makes this part of the job much easier (& keeps spit off the money). I'm sure my brother was thankful for that. =)

This was our sad attempt at a card.  In our defense, we were putting it together as we were trying to get out the door and in the car.  The glue nor the double-sided tape would hold the tabs to make some of the balloons 3D.

 Since I don't have time to elaborate, I'll just leave you with a couple more pictures from the evening.