Christmas Part 3

Honestly, I blame the children. If we didn't have any kids at Christmas, these posts would have a lot less pics and a lot less cuteness.

So, Christmas Day at the Grant Household, take two.

New long sleeve running T for me, yay!!!

My 'Dapper Dan' reading one of his new books.

Ethan putting Mommy to sleep.

It doesn't matter if we have 2 or 20 people at Christmas, mom will always make a turkey to feed a small village. I'm not sure she even knows they come in smaller sizes.

(see the cute Christmas dishes in the background? Mom got these when we lived overseas. I LOVE using them during the holidays!)

You know i take tons of self pics. And they look like this....

Dad thought he would join in on the fun too.

(he actually told me to delete this pic, but my camera, my blog :)

Sunday night we were ready to eat something besides turkey so we ran and picked up Chinese. I was so proud of the boys using chopsticks!!

Even 2 year old Ethan got in on the action.

Other than a few select toys, the boys played in two cardboard boxes most of the time. This is where I found Ethan...i'm sure they don't come any cuter.

NYE plans?

Last year Daniel was sick on New years, and let's just say, he owes me. This year, I'm WAY excited because we're going to a fancy wedding tonight! I've never really been cool enough to have amazing NYE plans, so this excites me all the more.

We're going to dress up and party the night away, i can't wait! You will def be seeing pictures!

what are your plans/traditions for new years??

Today i'm going to get a massage that was part of Daniel's Christmas present to me. I. can. not. wait. I love a good massage that leaves me hurting for a few days. If i'm not in pain, they're not doing it right, ha!

Grandpa update: Grandpa is in triple bypass surgery right now! Pray for quick recovery and ultimate healing! We saw him a few days ago and he was looking pretty good. I'll keep you updated!

love

laura

Christmas Part 2

After Christmas in Oklahoma, we drove to Texas to see my family. We got there on Christmas Eve and stayed till Monday. Sarah and the boys (Mike had to fly) came up Christmas afternoon.

My mom's obsessed with Christmas. She plays her music all year round, decorates in October, and keeps a couple things out all year.

My grandma made all of our stockings!

the tree!

2009 Christmas

2010!

Then the boys came!!!!!!

Grant squeezed me so hard- i loved it!

Grant's shirt says "I love my aunt"

love this! Ethan is such a ham!

You can't tell, but we're all dancing and cheering about opening stockings.....

The boys found Papa.

  

Here are some pics of us opening gifts. Ethan delivered our stockings.

The BIG present!

i love how oblivious Sarah is to what the boys are doing....ha!

Showing off Gogo's (grandma) new purse.

Love this book! I'm hoping that someday i can call myself a marathoner!

She's so cute!

Dad getting his kindle!

Ok, there's still so much to share, so i'll have to do a third post, ha! But, wanted to share a few Grantisms from the weekend.

When Grant opened his new Cars sleeping bag (which he never asked for and didn't even know what it was yet) he said "This is exactly what i wanted for Christmas!" and kept saying it over and over even though he had no clue what it was.

We gave Grant a book of bedtime stories, and he crawled up next to me and said "Will you read this to me since you're my best friend?" Break my heart!! I would've given him anything he wanted at that point!

When Grant was eating, Sarah was talking to him about doing something. And he said "Okay, my vanilla baby." We all died!!!!!! what is a vanilla baby???? we're still laughing about that one.

Stay tuned for more!!

love

laura

Christmas Part 1

Christmas Eve morning, we headed to Daniel's parents to celebrate with the fam. But of course, not without hitting up the Bux and getting our caffeine fix.

Daniel was ready for presents!

Baby J soaking it all in...

Here are some random pics from our morning...

The best gift...a little wind up dradle. it was a huge hit.

We spent the morning opening presents, then had a big breakfast with Grandpa Paul (not the grandpa in the hospital). Unfortunately I forgot to take pics of the food, i got too caught up in the eating to remember!

I got a ton of running stuff this year. I'm excited! I've been wanting this for a while so cars won't hit me when i run at night.

And if you're looking for something great to read....I wholehearedly recommend this. I love almost everything by Francine Rivers, and this book tops the charts. I loved it!

We also were able to give our World Vision gift that we purchased in honor of our parents this year. We bought 4 chickens and medical supplies for children. It was one of our favorite things we gave this year, and want to make it a new tradition for the future.

Next up...Christmas in Texas!

love

laura

Cookies Cookies Cookies!

Last Sunday, we had our Chinese students over that we host, to make and decorate sugar cookies. Truth be told, this was my first time to make sugar cookies from scratch. I've made icing before and other cookies, but sugar cookies scared me.
What better way to overcome this fear than to invite people and over and make them all together? ha!

I made my mom's Wassail-apple cider, ginger ale, cloves, cinnamon sticks, red hots, and an orange. yum!
 

Getting ready!

I basically read the instructions and let them do all the work! kidding....

I might have been a little bossy. Daniel said i wasn't, but i sure felt like i was!

Dexin wanted to mix everything on high. it was a little scary at times.

We made about 6 dozen with one batch!

They started getting really creative and instead of using the cookie cutters, making their own design. I stuck with the cookie cutters :)

The ones that look like a child iced them, that would be me.

For dinner we had chili and cornbread!

 Merry Christmas!