Christmas Morning 2008

SANTA finally arrived! Grandpa Terry and Lori joined us in the morning for gifts and monkey bread, another Christmas tradition! In the afternoon we went to Papa Felts with Grandpa and Grandma Felt. Favorite Gifts included ice skates, a drum set and guitar, and robots for Colton and Brady. Jarred enjoyed Guitar Hero, new clothes, North Face coat and too many Wii games!!

Christmas Eve 08

As a tradition we always spend Christmas Eve at JR's parent house. We also get Christmas PJ's and a book before we go! The boys said we were having a "Pajama Party". They had tons of fun. Some favorite gifts included Brady and Colton - train set and hockey sticks(Grandpa Terry is working on getting the table ready so we can set the train up this weekend), Jarred - AE clothes and video games and I got new pots and pans and JR bought a TV mount with his cashYIPEE! When we got home the boys sprinkled Reindeer dust in the driveway so Santa's deer could find their way and sat our water and cookies for Santa, then all headed to bed like good little boys:-)

Giving

This year the Stearns family gave back to two of the families in our community that are currently facing tough times. Check out what the family had to give, we hope this made their Christmas' a little brighter.

Christmas with Ohime's

We celebrated Christmas with my mom and her famiy a couple of weeks before Christmas. Teh boys got "boy" dolls which they have named Carson (Colton) and Owen (brady). Brady is very attached to his and they both sleep with them every night. Jarred got a tailgate Uof M bean bag game and best of all learned he will be going to ALASKA with them for spring break...lucky kiddo.

Christmas Cheer 2008

Well I can not believe Christmas has come and gone so quickly. I can say this year was one of the most enjoyable Holiday times though. We were able to see all sides of our families and never seemed too rushed as in Holiday's past! Christmas Eve was a relaxing day at home with our family, a Christmas Eve service at church and dinner with gifts at the Swanson's. Christmas Day was a morning full of happy and surprised faces at our house. The presence of "Santa" was in the air! The innocence at 2 is remarkable and Jarred was thrilled as well. Terry and Lori joined us at 7:30a.m. for Santa and breakfast, we had to wake up Brady! We had a lunch with papa Felt and Grandpa and Grandma Felt and then a dinner with the Swanson side of the family. We have been so blessed this year.

Stearns Family Christmas Party

We had the Stearns family Christmas Party last Saturday. The boys enjoyed frosting cookies and hanging out with their cousins. After you see these pics you may never want to eat cookies at our house again!

Visit with Santa

HO HO HO.... surely not scared of Santa this year! On the wish list...

Jarred - Wii fit balance board, columbia or north face coat

Colton - guitar, skates

Brady - football, skates

More Birthday's

Brady and Colton enjoy others birthday's as much as they are counting down the days to "the 23rd of January" as they say! This weekend I turned 31, which sounds boring but with two little buddies and one almost as tall as me we had a great day!

Visit to PA!

We met Susan and her family along with Angie and her family at a cafe, hung out and caught up!

Scott, Claire, and Kayley pose for a picture, Claire and Kayley had no problem smiling for a picture! They have changed so much, I can not believe its been almost 2 years now that we have been back in Michigan, it seems like yesterday Susan, Angie and I were meeting for lunch on a Wednesday afternoon (the life of stay at home mom's)

Sarah and Adam Bookser had us over on Sunday for pizza and JR's favorite, CC's wings (one thing he missed from PA), they added a new addition to their house, Saddie and she is adorable. We also got to see some of the Smith family while we were there. It was a very nice visit with everyone. We went out for a wedding, you dont see those pictures because we forgot the camera, but that was so nice as well! travel was great and we are glad to be back, cant wait to see Colton and Brady on Tuesday, Jarred is back today, he had a nice time with Grandpa Terry.

More Thanksgiving Day

We had dinner with Grandma and Grandpa Ohime, she brought us new stockings, Brady thought they were boots!!

Colton was more interested in the super hero underware

Everyone was sleepy after dinner!
Brady said he was thankful for Dinner and pickles! Other statements were...Lisa (the babysitter), his blanket (everyone else agrees with that one), Colton, Jarred and toys (you dont see mom and dad on that list:-(

Colton gave thanks for pickels as well (strange children we have), the Christmas tree (we put it up the day before), dinner, and other random things he spots around the house!! It really funny listening to their list, again mom and dad did not make the list!

Thanksgiving 2008

Papa Felt, Brady and Colton hanging out after our 1st dinner

Grandpa Terry and Brady Trying to get the train together after dinner with some help from Dad

It took everyone's help but finally after dinner was done the boys got the train up around the tree! We had a nice time with Papa Felt, and Grandpa Terry and Grandma Lori

More Hockey and the start of the Christmas Season

We put our tree up early this year due to our trip to PA over Thanksgiving weekend, Jarred is working hard to put together the train Grandpa Terrry brought over so the little guys can enjoy it. Jarred is such a hard working kid!

Colton in the hockey shop, he can not wait until he learns to skate so he can play hockey

Hmmm.... could he be anymore like his big brother? Brady wants to be the goalie, we cant seem to find pads small enough for him, maybe next year! He is such a minature Jarred, lucky little guy!

Swimming of course at the hotel.

Celebrating JR's birthday with family

Aunt Linda is so happy because her last day of work is tomorrow!!! Conrats to her on a job well done!

Grandma and Grandpa Swanson

Colton and Brady help Daddy blow out the candles.