I think MY family has the MOST

I would like to challenge anyone to see if you have more ornaments on your tree than we do. Do the math. The children get ornaments each year from their Thomas grandparents - Kassade = 14; Keyton = 12; Konley = 9; London = 1. Plus since Russ and I have been married they have picked one out each year 3 X 3; 4 X 2; London received a total of 3 extras and then you add in all my ornaments from when I was a child and adult years 30+ and Russ' 10 or so. We could have at least 100 - that is crazy. I do need a BIGGER tree. I don't put all my ornaments out from when I was a kid, just my favorites. I always looked forward to picking out an ornament and if we happened to go on vacation some times it would come from there. I seemed to favor angels. With my brothers we have even had arguments over the years on who had what ornament.

I got smart last year when I put them away. I got a box for each child and put their ornaments in it and labeled it. No sorting them all out this year, I just handed them their box.

London hanging her gingerbread ornament from the Thomas grandparents. Each grandchild has a different theme; Kassade - stars, Keyton - bells, Konley - stockings, and London - gingerbread people.

The little red reindeer was my very first ornament - 40 years old!

Our finished product

Christmas Light Issues

This was our year to have issues with our lights. Russ got them put up and I decorated the railing and other little parts. Everything was working except the icicle lights, reindeer, and Christmas packages never got plugged into the extension cords. We had a wait a couple days because we had a blast of cold weather with snow. I went outside one evening and the big bulbs were out and then 1/2 of one of the railing strands was out - what next!. Last Saturday we finally had another unseasonable warm day. Russ got extension cords hooked up, wrapped them with electrical tape, checked fuses and then we were set to go. I just bought another strand of 100 lights since they are only $2.50 at Wally World and threw the old ones away. I just wasn't going to mess with them. This is the results of our labor minus lighting the upper part of the house. I didn't think I would miss the peak being lite but it does look a little naked to me.

My camera has this function that you can make lights look like stars, hearts and squares. I was trying to figure out how to work it. A little fuzzy but not too bad.

Do You Believe?

The other weekend we went to Bradly Fair (local shopping area) for their tree lighting ceremony. They have a live 35 ft tree - this is the tallest Christmas tree in Wichita. Susan Peters, a local newscaster was there and they broad casted it live on KAKE TV. It was a fundraiser for Wichita's Ronald McDonald House, two Olympian swimmers signing autographs, and the big surprise was Santa.

Susan leading the count down. . .three - two - one

ta - dah!

The anticipation of waiting to see Santa

I am whispering sweet-nothings in her ear about Santa so she won't be scared. Russ said that I would scar her for life and she would need therapy, but I knew better. He was so sure that she was going to scream and cry. The plan was I would put her in his lap and Russ would quickly take a picture.

She looks pretty happy to me and little distracted - we just couldn't get her to look at us. She never cried or freaked out with Santa. Maybe he was the real Santa :) and she believed?

Family Pictures

I realized one day that the only pictures we had of Russ, London and I were when she was just a baby. So I asked Megan to take some for us. When we picked up Megan, she looked at London and asked if we should do this another day. She had been crying and her face was all red and tears streaming down her little cheeks. I really wanted to do this before it got too cold and said that she would be fine. Ha - as you can see from the first picture this is how our photo shoot went. Megan did manage to get some good ones. She so patient with us and London.

London loves to laugh with you

Okay, we are working on the kisses, for some reason she thinks it is funny to add the tongue. It used to be a nice little peck.

Now, this is our little smiley girl

My favorite

I got this idea from a picture I saw, only their baby was looking at the camera smiling.

Walt Disney

The second part of their trip was land - the went to Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios. Russ didn't take many pictures in these parks but here are few. They also spent some time at Sea World and Discovery Cove where they swim with the dolphins.

Going Ashore

They had two day trips. The first one was at Nassau, Bahamas. The kids were waiting for the ship to dock. Keyton's interpretation of Mickey Mouse (I guess).

Atlantis

Going ashore for the day. They went shopping in the market - Russ got me a Prada and Kate Spade purse. Yes, they are real, they just have small flaws so they can't sell them in the stores. He also picked up a beautiful conch shell for London. They took a glass bottom boat cruise.

Kassade getting her hair braided.

The second stop was Castaway Island. This is Disney's private island. There was water activities, snorkeling, BBQ buffet, different props from movies to look at.

The Flying Dutchman from Pirates of the Caribbean.

Kassade and Keyton got to go para-sailing. Russ and Konley were going to go but it got too windy.

Kids messing around.