Christmas 2011

Merry Christmas! yes, Merry Christmas 2 days later. Christmas may be over but my kids are still singing Jingle Bells, Little Drummer Boy, and Santa Claus is Coming to Town. Christmas was so much fun this year. The kids didn't ask for much which on one hand was nice and of course on the other made it a little difficult to figure out what to get for them. Either way they had a wonderful Christmas by celebrating the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ and also by a little gift giving and receiving.

 Christmas Eve

waiting for cousins to come over for Christmas Eve

now the following pictures were taken especially for grandparents. i can definitely say that we TRIED and i can definitely follow that by saying we were semi-successful in taking a somewhat decent picture...

...at least in this one everyone is looking forward. to see ALL the many other attempts see my online album and have a good laugh.

now times were a tad easier when we let ellie go her way and bribery was much better understood by these 4 little cuties...

i love, love, love this shot!

and this one is pretty cute too!

open wide!

Long Boys

awe... family pic

at least ellie isn't screaming in this shot ;-)

Christmas Morning

this little boy has been on a Superhero binge and got loaded up on Spider man, Batman, and Captain America. he was in HEAVEN!

just love the expression on her face.

Captain America!

abueli sent this awesome sweater-jacket from Colombia. The kids love them! my favorite thing about them is the hood and colors! they are AWESOME!

now, for the big present. juliette only asked for one present this year, a bike. back in October she learned how to ride her bike w/o training wheels. we were so excited for her! then some time in November (b/c i had taught her how to skid) she blew her back tire. luckily she made good use of her bike b/c she's had it since she turned 3 and she is almost 6. so, we got it for her and this is how she found it:

 part 1

part 2

part 3

part 4

part 5, the grand finale

did i mention this was going to be a really long post... i just can't help myself, i took so many great pictures! it is Christmas, enough said!

PS - finally after all the dressed up pictures were taken ellie finally gave me an awesome pose and smile: