A BIG little 3 year old!!!

My beautiful little girl has officially turned 3. We will be celebrating her birthday next Saturday. What an amazing little girl we have been blessed with in our life. I cannot wait to see what the next year holds for her! Happy Birthday my beautiful little princess!!!

A Hotrum Family Christmas

Our Hotrum Family Christmas started out at our house in the morning, just the 4 of us. The kids were given the choice of opening presents first or eating breakfast, surprisingly they chose to eat first. So we made up a batch of doughnuts and the kids also had a bowl of cereal. After a yummy but quick breakfast we all got settled in the living room to dig into our family presents. As always we started off with the stockings. I am glad I didn't put in much candy this year, since my mom had given us all a TON of candy the previous night. They got an assortment of little toys and bath soaps.

I got Darrin the Cost-co tin of Almond Roca and he got me a gorgeous new Nativity, it's beautiful! Next we had the kids give each other the gifts they had gotten one another.

They were so excited over this, and they both LOVED what the other had picked out. I would say that those presents were right up at the top with their favorites. Maybe because it was more about the spirit of giving? I'd like to think so. The rest of the presents were an assortment of puzzles, clothes, and their BIG gift. Dylan got a train track for his train table we bought a couple months back and Ally got her Leapster, no more fighting over Dylan's! Then came the ensuing mess of opening all the packages, inserting batteries where needed, and getting things cleaned up. The rest of the morning was spent leisurely letting the kids play and relaxing until we realized it was almost time to go! Kicking it into high gear we got the kids fed, car packed and on our way to Grandma and Grandpa Hotrum's for more presents and dinner! We head on over and hang out for awhile, then when Jude has a nice full tummy we line the kiddos up in front of the tree in hopes of catching an adorable picture. We ended up with this....not bad!

Then the kids got to dig in to the presents. First, like always, you start with the stockings! They got a little stuffed animal, a shirt, and what Dylan was most excited about.....FRUIT SNACKS!!!

Next onto the presents! Dylan and Ally helped me hand them out since I was closest to the tree. Then after they were all handed out we let the kids take turns opening them and enjoyed their joy.

They ended up with some books, games for their Leapsters, clothes, and snow globes. Grandma and Grandpa also got Roscoe and Wilson a present. All of the adults then went to the task of opening our presents while also helping the kids open packages to play with their new stuff. After everything was stuffed into bags and the kids changed and had been playing for awhile Grandma and Grandpa gathered up the 3 older ones. We then sang Happy Birthday to Jesus, and the kids and Grandma and Grandpa blew out candles they had lit in cupcakes. After a little longer we all sat down to enjoy dinner together and to give thanks for family. Merry Christmas to you and yours!!

The Hass Family Christmas

Since Darrin and I got married we decided to start our Christmas traditions right away, the biggest being splitting Christmas up over a couple days. Thus the Hass Family Christmas Eve was hatched. Due to the "Arctic Blast" our Christmas Eve was in jeopardy, luckily it started to thaw and my family was able to make it down to celebrate with us. We stared off just visiting while dinner was busy cooking and then around 5:30 sat down to a delicious dinner of ham, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, and rolls. After finishing up dinner and getting stuff cleaned up we all got set to get busy opening presents!!!! We stared off opening our stockings which were OVERFLOWING with candy and some other assorted fun little items.

The next was a special present from Aunt Ann and Uncle Les, which came with specific instructions that they all must be opened at the same time. So Mom, Eric and I all lined up in chairs and proceeded to open them.

They were these beautiful pewter wall hangings with our Family's name and then each persons name which hung under it. It is beautiful and so special!!

After all that was attended to we all grabbed a spot to sit and the kids proceeded to play "Santa" and delivered the presents to everyone. Keeping with our traditions, we all took turns opening presents. They kids were so amazingly patient and were just as excited to see everyone else opens presents as they were to open their own. Here are some highlights. We got an amazing wood burned sign, designed and burned by our awesome neighbor Jessica Kantola.

The kids also each got a great new pair of pajama's from Poppa and Grandma,

adorable new outfits from Grandma Winnie and Uncle Roger,

new board games from Uncle Eric and Aunt Cagney,

and last but not least new scooters from Poppa and Grandma.

Along with numerous other small gifts...to much to list! We finished up the night by celebrating Uncle Roger's Birthday. It was a fabulous Christmas Eve and we loved getting to spend the time with our wonderful family!!

Happy Christmas Eve!!!

Happy Birthday Uncle Roger!!!!!

Tonight as part of our Hass Family Christmas we got to celebrate yet another birthday. My Uncle Roger celebrated his 51st year young! Here are a few pictures of him blowing out his candle and opening presents! Know that God is always in control Uncle, trust in him and have a great year! Love you and Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday Uncle Nate!!

Today we got the privilege of celebrating the birthday of one of the greatest guys around, My brother in law Nate. We are a blessed to have Uncle Nate be a part of our family. Here are some shots from today's celebration which included pizza, cake and ice-cream!! Hope this next year brings much more that you could ever wish for Nate! Happy Birthday!!