An Early Christmas

WE'RE BACK UP AND RUNNING WITH A BRAND NEW MONITOR! I WAS HAVING SOME MAJOR ANXIETY PROBLEMS WITH THE TWO SECOND MONITOR SHOW WE HAD GOING ON, SO I WENT OUT SHOPPING WHILE NANNY WAS HERE!

Gramma Rose left early this morning. She brought out a load of Christmas presents to have an early celebration with the kids since she will not be trekking back out this direction next month. We had a few for her, so the exchange was on! Even without a tree, we had fun. Here are a few pictures of the evening:

The kids made her a gift from Build-a-Bear. They all gave a little talk into the recorder and now she can hear them any ole time she wishes just by pressing Ariel's hand. She also got an MP3 player from Grady (he stood in line at 4 ish on Black Friday for it!) and he helped her learn to load it up with music. She loves it and used it a few times while she was here.

Stuart was so excited to get into his new toys, he just started tearing into them before everyone else was done opening theirs. Myles and Fiona had a time with a few of his and broke them, so Gramma went out and bought him one more thing....some Diego legos that he loves!

Myles had a great time tearing the paper off and into shreds. His musical toy is a huge hit and we often have to send the kids away with the noise maker.

Fiona landed some great Dora legos and they have entertained the entire family busy building and playing.

Macy was full of Bratz things. She is in heaven with all of the beauty stuff!

The kids all got some super soft larger blankets that they have been sleeping with everynight and then lugging to watch tv under during the day. She taught me how to play Rummy and they had a heck of a time convincing me that there was no possible way you could make a run out of a 2, A, K. I am still convinced that you can make a ring out of it, but those are only my house rules. I came out with my American Express card and told them it was a bridge card just for that purpose.....my spill was, "I googled it while I was in the bathroom and they said you could!". It is now known as the BRAMEX card around here and we laugh about it tons. Just wait until she pulls it out at home and bursts out laughing.....people will think that she is crazy! We have adjusted to the real rules and had tons of fun playing together.

We are heading up the hill tomorrow to cut down a Christmas tree with some friends. I am making some chili, cinnamon rolls and hot cocoa for it! We'll post pictures later.