Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Christmas Morning

Christmas morning came to the Lochhead house the morning of the 24th...  Gracie came into our room at 7:00, wondering if it was time to get up yet.  As I started to mumble that it was still too early, Jeff's foot nudged mine and he whispered, "Mommy, she's SO excited..."  Well, I'm not sure WHO was more excited...her or her dad!  We rolled out of bed, much to a bouncing girl's delight, and woke Joshy to go see if there were presents under our tree.  Sure enough!  Gracie noticed right away that something was amiss on the stair railing... "Mommy, why did you take the stockings down?"  She quickly spotted them resting on the ottoman.  We read the Christmas Story out of Gracie's Bible, took a kid shot in front of the tree, and dove into the tearing of wrapping paper...


Gracie's gift was a unicorn that came with a play mat that zips into a carrying bag.  Very quickly, all sorts of animals and treasures found their way into her treasured box.

Joshy's gift was a Boomer the Fire Truck track--much like his Handy Truck Trick-Track that he has been loving.  He really wanted to help Daddy put everything together--and battery installment is his specialty.  He knows exactly which shelf in the refrigerator holds the AA's.

The family gift was set of "Marble-Run" blocks.  Both kids love to build blocks with their Dad.  I just watched on  as they built, built, built...rolled, rolled, and rolled...and then Joshy wrecked!

Gracie did get new star undies in her stocking...

 ...a Toy Story sticker book...


 ...and Joshy got some Thomas Trains!



And quite possibly the best part of the morning was putting up/revealing the final step in our advent calendars...  This set is on loan to us from Auntie Debbie and Daniel.  Joshua loves to put the little ornament-books on their tree!

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Happy Birthday, Jeff and Colleen!

This year Jeff's birthday was on a Saturday--the day after we got out for Christmas break.  He took the chance to go to Seattle overnight with Matt to see Johnny and Jeremiah, so he had an out-of-town birthDAY.  But we celebrated the next week--the 21st--with his mom, whose birthday is the 20th.

 Happy birthday, Daddy and G'ma Colleen!  (Jen made these delicious ice cream pies for dessert!)

We scrunched into our house...always sweet to be like sardines!  Notice how big Anthony (3), Lauren (9 months), and Henry (4 months) are getting!!!

Granny and Pappy were happy to drive across the neighborhood to the party--"They live close by, of course!"



I snagged Henry for a little auntie-nephew time...and Josh and Janie had the best time crawling through Papa Scott's legs.  :)



The Birchill (Lochhead/Largent/Showalter) cousins--all under the age of five!  Can you believe that Bonnie and Lorne are responsible for all of this?  :)

Happy Birthday, Jeff and Colleen!

Friday, December 23, 2011

Weber Christmas 2011



The cousin holiday shot!  :)  Megan, Brooke, Abby, Gracie, and Josh.  I almost deleted some, but then I thought that the Josh progression was pretty funny...he cannot be contained! 

We had 40 people feasting in the garage!  G'ma had it all dolled up for Christmas...Jerry carved the ham...Tom and Diane poured the beverages...and we all fought over Judy's potatoes.

Bernie had the magic touch with little Henry.  He had to skip his nap (Henry, although maybe Bernie skipped his as well) so he made the circuit napping on all the uncles' laps.  Rori is Gracie's birthday buddy--she's 3 1/2, just like Grace!

 Brooke, Kelly, Maggie, Tanya, Bernie, Marie, Matt, Ben, Luke...

 Marty, Henry, "Our Kim" as Gracie calls her...

 Same table...just checking out Bernie's plate piled high...

 Papa LeRoy, Tom, Jerry, Katie, Lindsay...

 
 Joshua looked so sharp in his little vest outfit--borrowed from cousin Anthony.

G'ma Trudy and Papa LeRoy just celebrated their 65th wedding anniversary at Thanksgiving.  They still spend most of their time giggling and telling stories.

 Sheyanna, Dad, Jerry...Nathan on this side of the table...

 The great-grand-girls found the storage cupboard under G'ma and Papa's stairs and it instantly became their "HOUSE."  All the toys from the upstairs toy box were brought down, pillows were found missing from the couches, and even dollhouse furniture found its way into the cubby.  What fun it was cleaning it out that evening!  :)  Little playing packrats!

And of course, G'ma let them play with her doll and its clothes...

Joshy and Abby bonded over reindeer antlers...

 Great-grandkids about to open presents...

My cousins...whose diapers I'm pretty sure I changed at some early point in their lives...are all grown up now.  Tanya, Matt, Sam with the college MULLET, Maggie, and Luke.

G'ma Trudy made jammies!  She used to make them for us each Christmas, and now our kids get to benefit!

The kids shed their clothes instantly and put on these great jammies!  G'ma loved every minute of it.
 
Benjamin and his bride...

Mom and Katie...

Papa Greg with his grand-girls...and Father Michael made it to our celebration.  Dad had to watch his language.  Kidding.  They actually had all sorts of things to talk about...

 Levi and Josh

 
Abby, Rori, and Megan...and the pajama picture.

Me and my sweet husband.  No one I'd rather be on this journey with...  :)

Megan and Josh snuggling

Cousins Nick, Nathan and Ben...all fathers or soon-to-be fathers...missing Ryan!
 
My mom's five brothers--Pat, Tom, Marty, Bernie and Jerry.  Tom refused to move, as he was lucky enough to play a part in the Henry Sleeping Tour 2011, so they surrounded him for the picture.

So, my grandma has these lovely little pictures that hang in her bathroom.  The funny game we play involves me turning them around before I exit the bathroom and she finds them hanging backwards after I leave.

But this visit, she was waiting for me...and I was caught red-handed.  I laughed out loud as I turned around "Caught you," on my first flip.  :)

Weber Christmas was on a Sunday this year--the 18th--so we stayed a couple nights at the farm before heading back to Spokane.  On Monday, Mom had the day off, so we bummed around the house, finished calendars, made and frosted (and Gracie sprinkled!) cookies, and shopped in Moscow during nap time.  Of course Josh had to see the kitties in the shop and the fake owl in the barn...and we admired the train around the tree upstairs.  And started counting Baby Jesus(es)...Mom has a FEW nativities in her house!

Josh is getting so big!  He helps make his PKU formula each morning.  He likes to push the button on the gram scale as we measure out formula and milk.  Look at those cute jams!

What a great "first round" of Christmas.  :)  We are so blessed to have oodles of family to love!