Merry Christmas!!!

Christmas Morning

Once again we sort of had two different Christmas mornings. Connor woke up early and couldn't wait to open his presents, and we couldn't get Ella to wake up, so we let him open his presents and then she opened hers once she was awake enough to realize Santa had come. Connor got a new guitar for Christmas that he was wanting really badly. He also got some video games, a guitar strap, and a few other things...he's definitely reached an age where he gets one major present and just a few smaller ones. Ella got a mini trampoline (which she has almost worn out already), a swing for her baby, a new chair, some new princess outfits and accessories, and a tumbling mat along with a few other little things. Connor also got a BB gun, rip stick, a small video camera, and a megaladon tooth. Ella got a Princess vanity, a new doll house, a princess castle, a cupcake maker, and a new baby. All in all everyone got too much and now I need to have a yard sale for all the "old" toys no longer being played with! :-)

And the joke's on.....CONNOR!

Our kids always get to open one present on Christmas Eve and it's always the same...new Christmas PJ's. This year David and I played a joke on Connor and got him Spiderman pajamas that actually have feet in them...they were like the little kid footy pajamas. They were terrible!!! Why they make those type of PJ's in a size 12 is still a mystery to us, but we wrapped up a pair for Connor like they were really his new Christmas PJ's. He took it much better than we thought he would and he even agreed to try them on...after he came out in them we finally let him in on the joke. He was very relieved that we were kidding. He told us that we might as well have gotten him a pink bunny suit (those of you familiar with the movie A Christmas Story will understand what he was talking about!). I did ask his permission before posting the pictures below...he thought it was pretty funny once we let him in on the joke.

Christmas with the Gwins & Bullards

For some reason Ella was acting shy when all the Gwins were over for Christmas...she attached herself to her uncle Barry (my dad's brother) and made him carry her everywhere. She even made him help her open her presents! She and Connor enjoyed playing with the moon sand they got...I enjoyed cleaning it up...
Christmas with the Bullards (my mom's family) wasn't as wild as usual this year, but with 18-20 people there it's always busy! Connor enjoyed hanging out with Paige and Clara and Ella enjoyed playing on Andrew's drums and singing Karaoke with the girls.

Guitar Showcase

Connor began taking guitar lessons this past June from a high school classmate of mine, Chuck Cleckler. They just had their first showcase (I'm told that when you take guitar lessons it is not cool to call it a recital). I'm going to try to load a video below of him playing one of his songs...Connor is sitting on the left so I couldn't film him well from where I was sitting, but you can still hear. He and the other two kids are playing Paranoid by Black Sabbath (Ozzie).

"The GRIZ" Division 1AA National Championship Game

David, Connor and I went to Chattanooga to watch the Montana Grizzlies play in the 1AA Championship game. We left Friday afternoon, watched the game that night, spent the night in Chattanooga and had to be back in Birmingham at 9:00 am the next morning for Connor's basketball game. We had a good time, but unfortunately Montana lost...badly. We did meet a few Griz fans that also live in Birmingham. It was amazing how many fans the Griz brought with them from Montana...they had around 10,000 people there. The championship game for this division is held in Chattanooga every year. This is the second time we've made the trip to watch the Griz since we moved back to Alabama. Unfortunately they've lost both times...we're beginning to think we're bad luck! :-)