Another Christmas season has come and gone and I'm just now getting around to posting pictures of our festive activities. I'll start with the annual hanging of the lights on the house. This year we scaled it down a bit because of time. Justin was outside for two days instead of three. We had a few malfunctions but in the end we were happy with it.
Next you'll see the Christmas tree. The kids had my camera one evening and were taking pictures of the tree and this was one of them. Madisen said this one looks like when you lay on the floor and look up at it.
Here we are at Christmas Eve. We were very busy that night going form the dinner at Jusitn's moms house and then over to my mom's house right after that. We had a lot of fun. At Justin's moms house we had a talent show that every family had to contribute to. The Jones' wrote a poem recapping the year, the Vivier girls sang Santa Baby, the Potter's danced as if they were the Peanuts gang from Charlie Brown's Christmas and Madisen sang "If I could Fly Like a Snowflake" aloe since Tanner is too cool to participate.
This is my foam gingerbread house. I bought it because I hate trying to build one from the kits you can buy at the store. They never stay together and are a mess and in the end they look like I gave it to a bunch of toddlers to have at it. This one looks awesome but that is after 3 hours of hot glue and frustration. I think I am going to scrap gingerbread houses from my list of things to do at Christmas.
Here we are a few days before Christmas at my moms house to do Christmas with Grandma and Grandpa Pender who drove down from California to spend an evening together.
Madisen started asking her Grandma DeMille for a Snuggie for Christmas in October. She would tell me every time she saw one in the store that Grandma was buying her one for Christmas. So here is is a Snuggie from Justice which she LOVES!!!
This is me and all Justin's sister on Christmas Eve and his Mom's house
Christmas Eve in our new jammies by the tree before going to bed so Santa could come
Madisen asked Santa for Zhu Zhu hamsters for Christmas. This is the only picture I have of her showing me her presents. Bad mom I know.
Madisen was so concerned about Santa's cookies and milk this year. We set out pumpkin chocolate chip bread and a big glass of milk and she ran down the kids and went immediately to the plate to see if he ate his treats while visiting our home during his long night.
Tanner wanted and iTouch from Santa. He sat on his lap and gave details about what it was and what it did. That night we came home and we went to the website santas.com to check to see if the kids were on the nice or naughty list. This was about three weeks before Christmas Eve. Madisen was on the nice list and Tanner ended up on the "maybe, keep trying" list. But for that three weeks he was nice to Madisen, volunteered to clean the toy room and bathrooms, He was a whole new kid. As you can see Santa was impressed with his effort.
Last but not least this year Justin and I had everyone over to our house on Christmas night for dinner which was so much fun. We had prime rib, turkey and all the sides. It was a great ending to a great holiday season.
This year the kids were really focused of the true meaning of Christmas and always looking for and opportunity to serve someone somewhere. They helped each other in small little ways quietly and without seeking recognition for it. It brought such a wonderful spirit into our home and has refocused us on the important things in life. So Happy New Year!!!
We spent a lot of time at Disney Quest which is a huge arcade in Downtown Disney because it was so cold. This is a picture if us entering the Pirates of the Caribbean game. This was a blast. We put on the 3D glasses and had to shoot down the ships and buildings with the skulls on them to achieve the highest ranking of Masters of the Sea, which we reached 4 times!!! 
This is me and Justin inside out hotel the Polynesian at Walt Disney World.
I sent the kids upstairs to brush their teeth and climb in bed. A few minutes later I said prayers and tucked them in to their own beds. With hugs and kisses handed out I went downstairs to finish up primary stuff on the computer. An hour later I went to up to check on the kids and go to bed and I found this! Madisen snuck into Tanner's room right after I went downstairs and they had been playing Super Mario Brother's the whole time I thought they were sleeping. Tanner is obviously not worried about getting caught!
