Christmas 2013!!!!

Merry Christmas!  We had a fantastic Christmas at the Sampson house. 

A little story for you.  Many of you know my little Jaron and what a total pest he can be.  The kid can be such a brat, but then he can also be super sweet.  Here is the story of what happened on Christmas Eve. 

After our party (see previous post) we let the kids open one present.  It was pajamas (surprise!) and they were excited to go put them on.  Mackenzie has grown a lot in the last three weeks and the pajamas I had purchased for her were too small.  She cried and was very sad that she had to wear old pajamas (note the red cheeks and tears in this picture):

After everyone was ready we decided to write notes to Santa.  Jack and Mackenzie both simply put that they were good and would appreciate certain gifts.  Then it was Jaron's turn.  I asked him what he wanted Santa to bring him and he said, "Ummm... a rainbow ball and some new pajamas that fit Mackenzie".  Paul and I looked at each other, a little stunned but wrote down what he wanted.  The  rainbow ball is a rubber ball that lights up when you hit it which was already attached to one of his gift.  Basically this kid is pretty content with life how it is and he just wanted his sister to be happy.  Very very sweet little monkey.

Here is a picture of right before the kids came out and the kids heading down the hall:

 

Jaron got a cash register.  He kept asking how Santa knew this was what he wanted - so cute!

 
Kenzie received a fish that she named Sharkie and a sewing machine.  Mom has said repeatedly that we could not have a fish in our house as there was no room, but Santa felt like we could make room.


Jack got a DS - and a bag of coal as a reminder to be better behaved in 2013 or no presents next year :) Jack also received a Saints jersey from his Dad - which he was super excited about.
 
Jaron also received new pajamas for Mackenzie.  He unwrapped them and being super excited gave them to his sister.  It was very sweet.

And here it is folks - the after....it is amazing to me how months of shopping, preparing, sewing etc. can turn in to this in a matter of minutes.


After we were done opening presents, we went down to the Sampsons for more festivities (check out the outfits the kids chose to wear Grandma Buckley...they love what you sent)

Every year we have a letter gift exchange.  Everyone draws a name and one person draws the letter, then each gift has to begin with that letter and be under a certain budget.  This years letter was "D" and the gifts ranged from Darth Vader to Dr. Pepper (bet you can't guess who got that).  Jaron had drawn Grandma's name so we went shopping.  He was insistent that Grandma really wanted "Dart Guns....d...d...d.."  Jaron bought a set that had 2 guns so they could play them together.  Here is a shot of him being super excited while she opened them:

At the end of the day Jack and Paul settled in to play some Madden on the Wii in Jack's new jersey. 
It was a great day at our house and we feel so blessed.  Hope you had a very Merry Christmas!

Christmas Eve - The Party!

Mirror Mirror on the wall, I am my mother after all ....

Christmas Eve growing up always meant a big party with soup in bread bowls, a pinata, and depending on the year we would end by singing Christmas carols. This year our tradition pretty well matched that, except in paper plates :)

Our good friends Bonnie and Kurt Anderson and the Snedaker Family joined us for our Christmas Eve festivities.  After a great dinner, it was time for the pinata.  Jaron and Paul were responsible for picking the pinata and candy this year - so we had Pepe the Donkey....we later learned it was actually Pepe the Llama :)

Here is the before shots of the crew:

We started the beatings with the youngest - Emery.  He really gave that Llama a beating: 

 

 Jaron, then Cavin....

 One piece of candy fell out, so this is the the crew waiting (not very patiently) in anticipation

 

  Mackenzie and Sadie were our girls in the crowd - very adorable:

 

 

Then our strong boys went at it - Jack and then Owen:

 

Each of the adults got a chance as well - Bonnie, Kurt, Angie, me, and Brandon: 

  

  

 

Paul got to be the Llama holder.  He had a really great time, but had felt like he bonded so he didn't want to get any hits in. 

The pinata lasted a few rounds.  Then we spent some time around the piano singing carols.  The older kids showed us what they learned at School - I apologize that the voice you hear the loudest is mine :)

It was a great party, and the perfect way to set up an amazing holiday!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

It's Christmas Time!  We have officially decked our halls:

For Family Home Evening we made a Christmas Train out of Rice Krispy Treats.  Each of us got to decorate one car (from left to right) - Jack, Beth, Paul, Mackenzie, Jaron  We also made a second train for our favorite Home Teachers :)

For Scout we went to see the Garden d'Lights at the Bellevue Botanical Garden.  If you live in the Seattle area and haven't been, I would highly recommend it.  They make entire scenes all out of lights - it is Beautiful.    

Christmas Eve - Sugar Cookies

Every year - roun' Christmas time, people come up  to me and say, "Karl Malone - what d'hell Kwanzaa"

Just kidding - if you don't know what that is from, get on YouTube and look it up.  You won't be sorry.

Anyway, every Christmas Eve I like to make and decorate Sugar Cookies with the kids. To allow other parents that "last minute shopping" trip, I ask that they drop their kids by so we can play with them too.  This year we were lucky enough to have the Snedakers and Battys come by.  

Paul and Kenzie made the cookies: 

 

Then we had the frosting extravaganza:

   

Thanksgiving in Utah - November catch up

Thanksgiving this year was at the Buckley's.  We headed down to Utah and 90 minutes in to our trip our car stopped working - there was no power.  Luckily we had enough juice to make in to Ellensburg.  We found a car shop and tried to get to it, but ended up having to be pushed off the rode.  A really  nice man stopped and called a tow truck and also a shop.  Then our friends Rachel and Aaron were able to come pick us up and let us crash in their front room.  The next day we were able get back on the road.

But....I lost all of the pictures I took in November - so here are the ones I could steal.... 

Here are some pictures of the crew from the turkey bowl:

My parents arranged for a photographer to come and take pictures of the entire tribe.  Here are some shots of the original Buckley tribe and the original 7.

  

We also got the opportunity to go to the final Utah State Aggies home game of the season.  We were there for the award ceremony when they won the WAC.  It was a lot of fun!