Christmas Day

Wow, we actually slept till 7:45 on Christmas morning. Boy were the kids excited to see that Santa had come and left the stockings overflowing. The kids love looking through their jam packed stockings. Santa also left the Harry Potter Hogwarts castle, 3 new Wii games, and the ball for the Zsu Zsu pets to roll in. In fact, Jack had already written Santa a thank you letter before we all woke up. He hadn't opened anything, just peeked at what wouldn't fit in the stocking. After a big breakfast and some play time we headed to Eugene to visit our best friends. The kids love to play with their friends. And we love to spend time with Julie and Pancho and Julie's parents. The kids spent alot of time playing football in the street, and yes it was cold and raining. We brought Sam home with us that night for a sleepover. What a great day!

Santa even brought some things for Brownie

Some of the loot!

Julie sets a beautiful table

I think that would be miserable to play in the rain without even a sweatshirt, But not Ellie!

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve started like most of my break days. With everyone sleeping in and me getting to drink my coffee and read the newspaper(my very favorite). Then when my mom came over we made our Christmas cookies. The kids played a little indoor soccer and we watched a movie together while our ham was cooking. After a yummy dinner we opened presents and watched another movie. We also took some time to track Santa on the computer. We had a wonderful day. The kids were very excited by a $50 gift card from Aunt Deb and Uncle Tom and Lego Harry Potter DS game, money, and college fans from my mom. Both kids were so appreciative and excited about all their gifts. I loved seeing their faces. We were able to put out our cookies and prepare for Santa.

Fun with our friends

So I guess I had a little too much fun relaxing because this is all I have for pictures. But we had a great day hanging out at Putters with our very best friends and then heading to their house for a while. My kids are so happy when they get to hang with the Fultons and frankly I am too. I captured Jack's excitement of 19 jolly ranchers, the kids minus Lucy getting ready for lazer tag, and me and my bestie Julie. What I didn't get pictures of are Panch and Lucy golfing, the kids crawling around the pizza joint comando style, jumping on the trampoline in the cold and dark, and best of all football in the street in the cold and dark. And all the while I got to sit and chat with my friends. Win win for everyone!

Zoo Lights

It wouldn't be Christmas without a trip to Zoolights. We love it and have gone every year since Ellie was 1 1/2. This was the busiest it has ever been and the first time we couldn't even find a parking spot. We ended up in the shuttle lot riding on a school bus to the zoo. So we also decided it would be our first year without the train. But it turned out just fine in the end. We saw beautiful lights and spent more time looking at the animals that were awake. The kids are old enough to handle a little disappointment and realize that every bump in the road just makes another family memory. Speaking of memories, we were bummed that Julie and her kids couldn't join us. We have included a picture of Julie's favorite monkey. He didn't give us quite the show he did last year. Maybe he was missing Julie!!!!!!! We ended our night at Red Robin and had another night of getting home at almost 11. But isn't that part of the fun of Christmas break!

Blazer game

The kids LOVE going to Portland Trailblazer games. So we decided to splurge on 200 level seats for a game over Christmas break. And boy is it nice to sit a little closer!!!! They were playing the Bucks and Jack could tell you the records of both teams. He is a little sports fact maniac. The Blazers blew them out of the water, final score 106-83. LaMarcus had another incredible night which made Jack happy since that is his favorite player. We even got the free blow up noise makers(you never get anything good when you sit in the nosebleed section). It was a fun way to kick off vacation!