Birthday Fun!

Before Christmas break was done, we managed to work in Brandon's birthday party.  We had planned on having a sledding party... so naturally earlier that week, we had a not-so-typical winter warm up which melted & altered much of our snow pack, followed by a cold snap.  Oh well... the boys all still wanted to go outside & give it a try for a bit...
  

They had fun & no one was injured!  Despite being only 10 degrees, they were out for about 45 minutes, so when they came in they were ready for pizza!

Enter at your own risk as up in Brandon's room, there was quite the light saber / nerf gun battle going on ...

We played a few games, with musical chairs being a big hit.  Guess they play that a lot in school.

It was a fun group of kids... some are in Brandon's class, some are from cub scouts & a couple are neighbors!

(Nathan, Ben, Christian, Colin, Kai, Brandon, Braden, Anna & Melanie)

We rounded out the party with a little cake & ice cream...

...  HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO OUR BIG 7 YEAR OLD!

Unwrapping Christmas

Hard to believe Christmas came & went as fast as it did.  We had a lot going on this December with moving & getting settled... and before we knew it, it was Christmas Eve, starting with a Christmas Eve toast!  CHEERS!

We've always do our gifts Christmas Eve & the kids could hardly wait!

We got an awesome snowman measuring stick Brandon made in school... & Melanie made me a votive holder that had a sweet poem inside that is sure to bring tears to my eyes as I reread it in years to come.  Those teachers come up with some of the most creative gifts each year! 

The kids are always so excited with the gifts they pick out for me... I seem to get a lot of candles from them!  Good thing I really like candles!

We always do a special Christmas Eve dinner which is some sort of lamb... this year it was lamb chops.

Christmas morning was quite beautiful with a gentle snow falling in the valley...

... and apparently Santa found our house!

 The kids were eager to get up but quietly waited upstairs until I was able to get Mike to get out of bed... he was hoping for 9am but was lucky to make it to8!!

The excitement of Christmas morning... nothing quite like it & the look of surprise & excitement when they see something they asked for from Santa... priceless!

  Brandon got his BB Gun & snow shoes...

& Melanie got her boy baby (the brother for her doll from last year) & a double stroller for the twins!

Brandon was eager to try out his new BB gun... so after breakfast, the boys headed outside...

... and no... he didn't shoot his eye out!  (Even though it is an official Red Ryder BB Gun!)

Brandon was also eager to try out his new snow shoes, so Melanie & I strapped ours on & we snow shoed over to Gram & Grandpa's house for the Christmas day dinner & festivities.

The Cousins... ready for Gram's wonderful Christmas dinner!

 

The rest of the day is fill with games & fun!

Christmas on the farm isn't just a one day event... the day after Christmas we generally do gifts...

... which spreads out the fun!

Another tradition has been Gram's Christmas Tea she does with the grandkids...

.... followed by a fun afternoon of sledding, when conditions cooperate which luckily they did this year!

 

 We had fun on the toboggan, sleds & with the snowboards Brandon got from our friend Angie!  He's getting quite good at his snowboard... which puts a little pressure on Uncle Chris & Mike to try & keep up!  Once again, it was a wonderful Christmas celebration!!