It was a banner year for Val and Dave as well, as all of their kids were home for Christmas! Cody is in the Air Force, and there have been too many Christmases without him, but this was not one of them!
Jake, Lindsay and Madi came, too, as did Kelsey and Matt, who had driven up to Bellingham from Puyallup.
There were lots of gifts, and it was so wonderful to be able to see everyone! Madi had so much fun with her presents, which included an adorable horse tire swing from her Grandma and Grandpa. Cody and Jake put it up for her, under a big tree, and she loved it! She will have great fun on it this summer, under the shady tree.
We got lots of great pictures of everyone, too - not often that we are ALL together!
Lee had decided to get an i-Pad, after giving it much thought, and in preparation for that, he decided to "brick out" his Toshiba laptop. He decided to give it to Dave, since he was the only one in the family without one. Dave was very surprised and pleased, and is going to get lots of use out of it, for his business. Plus, he can now IM with everyone!
One of my favorite things to get for Christmas is family portraits, and Lindsay and Jake gave us great pictures of them and Madi - wonderful!
So, as you can see, we had a spectacular Christmas!
The day after Christmas Val, Hailey, Lee and I headed to the mall to do some after-Christmas power shopping! We managed to find some great deals, too!
We spent lots of time just visiting with everyone. I was working on a hat for Lindsay, so I brought my knitting along. After I finished the hat, Val and Dave's little miniature Dachshund, Maxx, tried to climb into it! Maxx is their only short-haired, shivery dog. Val suggested that I knit a great big hat like thing for Maxx to climb into. So, we went to WalMart, and she found some nice thick, warm yarn. I started to work on the "Map Sack" When Madi was little, she couldn't say Maxx, so she called him Map. As usually happens, Madi now says Maxx perfectly, and the rest of us call him Map - hence the "Map Sack". When it was finished, we put it on the couch and he burrowed right in! Dave insists that these would sell, but I think that I'd need an army of knitters to make it work.
Cody and his friend Abby, and Trevor, came for dinner on Tuesday night. It was great to see them and visit with them, too, as Cody had been pretty busy making the rounds and spending time with his buddies while we were there.
What a wonderful Christmas holiday we had, surrounded by the blessings of our family! Now, if we could just get Jim, Gary and Joyce here for the holidays, it would be totally complete!
Lindsay with her Christmas stocking
Madi, opening the presents in her stocking
Now, what's in here?
Putting her baby in the sling that is attached to her new stroller
Hailey, Jake and Cody, opening presents
Dave's new fishing hat - note the "headlights" on the brim!
Cody and Dave, opening gifts from Lindsay, Jake and Madi
Is this the coolest, most portable fishing pole, ever??
It looks like Dave got one, too! We saw the way he was eying Cody's!
Happy fishermen!
Madi assists her Daddy and Uncle Cody as they put her horse tire swing up
How fun is this!? Madi loves it!
Dave and his new (to him) laptop! He thought that it might have been a joke at first....
But it wasn't!
Kelsey and Matt arrive!
Madi, and Kelsey and Matt's gift to her - a teddy bear with a change of clothes!
Matt and Kelsey opening their stockings and gifts
Kelsey and Hailey
Hailey and her new "signature color" hat
Lindsay's new slippers
Lindsay and Kelsey
And how adorable is this? Our gift from Lindsay, Jake and Madi.
And a wonderful family picture, too. Thanks you guys!
Valarie and her girls - Kelsey, Hailey, Val and Lindsay
The kids - in the back row: Hailey, Lindsay and Kelsey
In the front row, Steven, Cody holding Rylie, Jake and Madi and Matt
The whole group - how cool is this??
A big day for Miss Madi - she was watching a movie on her DVD player and fell asleep.
I'm knitting on the Map Sack, and Maxx is watching, and waiting.
The finished product, sans Maxx
Maxx in the map sack
Cody, Abby and Trevor
Cody and Val
A very merry Christmas and a great holiday, surrounded by kids, grand kids and great granddaughter - it doesn't get any better than this!
Happy new year, everyone! May you all be blessed with health, family and friendship in 2011.
3 comments:
Great post! It feels like I was there : )
Thanks for sharing all the pictures...everyone looks great!
yay!! better than I could have possibly done myself ;) It was a great Christmas and I think next year is going to be even better!!
Great to see all the smiles. Love the dogs; Maxx reminds me of the daschund I grew up with!
Post a Comment