Christmas excitment

Ah - Christmas morning - can you imagine our first one to rise??  Yup, Nick at 5:15 - thankfully he managed to keep himself in his own room until 6:15 - and than he snuck into our room.  He tried to cuddle, but he felt like a caged animal.  Finally at 6:45 we succumbed to his excitement and headed downstairs.  Santa had magically visited us!

Nick and Shane were excited to say the least.

it was wonderful hearing their screams of joy over the gifs and presents.  In this photo Chris managed to capture 2 favorites - Drew's basketball ball and nick's Patriots shirt.

and a patriots shirt for doggie - high on the list.

My favorite gift from Aunt stosh - love the football hats!

After all the festivites at home - we packed it up and headed to springfield VA to celebrate with the Leadbetters.  Guess who we spotted on the road.

I figured he would be back home sleeping by now - but apparently not.

Merry Christmas!

That night Chris instituted a Christmas puzzle - here was the first one!  Its a weihnachtsmarkt in Germany that i discovered in the Leadbetter's basement.  Finding the puzzle was my only contribution.

Check out this crew the next morning bellieing up to the bar.

snack time!

the cousins play AWESOME together.  Shannon and Wyland arrived at 11 Thursday morning.  The big kids went out to play football and the other guys divided up among their favorite activities.  Robbie the expert puzzler.

Shane the cycler while not playing football.

And here is our football game.  I have a feeling this game will only grow throughout the years.

fantastic action shot!

we came inside for our cousin's gift swap.

I selected Winslow this year and was super excited to grab the doll she was hoping for!!

Shane was excited with the Hess truck!

The adults even did a little yankee swap - from Lamb to Starbucks and scents - rather festive!

Something about this moment I had to snap a photo.

We managed to coral the whole crew together for a family photo!  Nice looking bunch.  We were chatting the last time the whole family was together at the Leadbetters for Christmas we were swapping bridal magazines.  Guess a few things have changed...

about 7 to be exact.

Merry Christmas!

A little more football training before we head home.

Christmas Eve

Christmas eve turned blustery in Ashburn - so much that we even spotted snow flurries!!  No wonder Pauli camped out by the fire.  can you blame her?

Love love love this photo.

A little family shot before Christmas eve service.  We actually had the whole family in the sanctuary.  It was alright - we surely weren't the only ones.  

we turned a bit of the lights after service and came home to snuggle and watch polar express before bed.  This will be our first Christmas alone - together - that is magical!

just a quick video as i want to remember what my boys sounded like this year...  just their voices, the feeling - sometimes it does take a video to remember.

http://youtu.be/ia8T7qHFYbA

The simple Christmas

There can be so many activities and tasks meant to augment the Christmas experience its sometimes a struggle to choose only a few to make an impact.  We were able to make cookies for our local fire department.  The boys got a little tour of the trucks too.

  

Here is the inside of an ambulance - i hope this is our only chace to see the inside!

A little front seat firetruck time too

later that weekend our Chrurch sponsored an evening of cookies and carols - It was our chance to sing a bunch of songs.  Nick and Shane even got a little time with the drums.

Shane's is kinda blurry...  but he is up there!

And of course cookie making.  this is a yummy gingerbread man from Oma Sue - drew ate every bite!!

this was a bonus fun that we put together.

Of the 3 - this one is my favorite as for some reason the activities feels a bit like the normal activity for us...

http://www.jibjab.com/view/PiC56gPiQwynp7tSz_EIVQ

here is our sledding race.

Best past is drew tossing the snow ball at shane.

http://www.jibjab.com/view/p8dZGw3uQPaqLjhgKoO_qQ

And I love Chris's jumping bean inspired dance moves in this one..glad it doesn't take too much to entertain us...

http://www.jibjab.com/view/9OEKjmrmSVqch1aVl6UrDQ

The Christmas parties Wyland's 70th!

'tis also the party season right?  friends, work etc.  

We have enjoyed so many simple weekends leading up that this weekend was packed full.  Friday night was the office party night - Love the beard and Chris in purple.  Plus, I was super excited to wear a dressed I nabbed while shopping with Chelcy in Austin. 

Photo booth is always a hit - the party was fun - over 400 folks there and we knew 8 (I knew 2)  they raffled off great stuff saving the international plane tickets to 11pm.  we were too old to stay through that time so we handed our raffle tickets over and begged them NOT to tell us if they won....

Saturday night was a party in the making for 70 years!!  Wyland Jr - turned 70 on Wednesday.  

The children orchestrated a wonderful party with their families, Wyland's siblings and close friends throughout the years.  

Here are the boys - MC'ing the event.

Wyland's older sister Emily was asked to speak on life growing up with her younger brother - she wrote a little poem titles I have 2 brothers.  In appears Wyland was a bit of an instigator...

Next Ken Burgess spoke on life in College with Wyland and Barbara

Don Hazen and Sherry Hazen spoke about life in the Army with Wyland (30 years in the Army!)

Than Tracy (his niece) got up to offer up a gift to Wyland.

We even had a special visitor for the evening.  Wyland III looks ever so comfortable on santa's lap.

Wyland Jr knows how to warm up to the jolly guy!

Oma Sue is close friends with Santa =)

I love any chance to sit with my German santa =)!

Barbara even hopped in for a little naughty and nice chat.

Sherry Hazen made her way to his lap too =)!

As with any event, I wish I had more photos - but being with friends and family from all walks of Wyland's life was truly a wonderful experience.  

Some notes on Wyland - 

He is all about mission completion (correct tools of not)  

He is NOT a details kinda guy.  

His best life decision was marrying Barbara!  

We are so fortunate to be able to celebrate with him and we are thankful for his health and involvement in our lives today as well as the lives of our boys.  We ran a slide show that night and I would love to post all the photos - but here are some favorites and classics.

Happy Birthday Wyland!