Christmas morning

There was much joy and rejoicing on Christmas morning. There was also a lot of video instead of pictures taken of some important moments. Oh well!

Brock getting his first glance at Riley's much talked about Big Boy Bike.


The suckers out of their stockings were the first big hit of the morning.


Daddy and Bronco watching the action.


Bronco ready for his close up.


Daddy took some very dark and blurry pictures.



Look at the camera!


Goggles that went with the tool set from Grandma and Grandpa were lots of fun!



Having fun with the alligator game Uncle Dan and Aunt Nakissa sent.



Riley on his new bike!


Playing(and fighting) around their new truck track.



Open?


Gimme!

Christmas Eve

We got some good pictures of the presents and the order before the chaos of Christmas morning commenced.

Ikea chalk/dry erase board


Big boy bike and a bunch more


Brock's pile


Riley's pile


Trouble wishing he had a pile


Our pretty tree


The 4 wheeler! This was a big surprise. Josh had won a bunch of Honda points for being a sales manager. He went to their points site and found this. It wasn't supposed to get here until January but showed up on our doorstep Christmas Eve! It was a cinch to put together and I think it's been the most loved present of all. And we didn't have to pay for it! Merry Christmas to us!


Our Kincaid Christmas tree. The boys managed to break off pretty much every lamppost on the thing. Punks.


I made this cinnamon baked french toast for our Christmas breakfast. Delicious!

Gumbo!

Over Christmas break Josh made us gumbo. There isn't a recipe really. Start with a big, yummy roue and go from there. It's full of crab, shrimp, scallops, and andouille sausage. That along with onions, celery, carrots, okra, tomatoes.....gracious. Too much stuff to list! We made a batch so big it took my 6qt dutch oven along with another 6qt pot. We have a ton in the freezer to last us through the winter.

Mmmmmmmm

The Cabinet

The boys are always playing in the empty cabinet in the kitchen/dining room. Bronco decided to use that space for unknown reasons.


But isn't he super cute? I said as much so you know what happened. Look at me, Mama.


Why are you in my spot?

Family time

Hanging with Daddy


Hey, Mama, can I have that camera?


No, baby.

Time to wake up Riley!


Have y'all noticed that Bronco is in most of the shots now? Since we lost Denver he's with us pretty much all the time. Our skinny outside dog has turned into a chubbing, inside, lap dog. We don't mind it.


Brock is always on the floor. He'll lay down anywhere.


My boys

Christmas Photo Shoot

If you got a Christmas card from us, this will look familiar. I bought matching pj's for the boys and forced them in front of the tree so I could take come pictures.


Brock was way more interested in playing with his hat.


They cooperated better than I could have hoped!

First real haircut

FINALLY

I have been butchering my poor children's hair since they had enough hair to cut. I just refused to pay $10 a pop for a little boy haircut! The Guy put his foot down recently and said it just wasn't fair to our poor kids for me to make them look funny. I relented because the last few times have been really awful.

Before pictures:


Poor child has about 8 cowlicks.


You can still see a bit of the uneven mess I made last time.


During:


Bribery!! Thank goodness for suckers.


We had a few unhappy moments but, for the most part, it went really well.


After:



Chillaxin' at home.

Spinach Salad

Mmmmmmm

I had already made oven bacon so I had crispy bacon as well as bacon grease. Make sure you have both--either by frying bacon fresh in a pan and using it or using both from your fridge.

Dressing:
Melt(or use fresh) some bacon grease(maybe a tablespoon or 2). Add in brown sugar and apple cider vinegar until it smells right. I like mine a bit sweet so I use a good bit of brown sugar. Add bacon. Boil to reduce a little.

In a bowl, mix:
Fresh spinach
mandarin oranges
slivered almonds

Poor dressing over and toss. Enjoy!