Snow for Christmas

It is the understatement of the year to say we have snow. We have plenty of snow. I guess after every blizzard there is lots of snow, and that is exactly what we had.....a blizzard. It is very hard to tell exactly how many inches we have because it blew and blew and there are amazing drifts everywhere. Our neighbors have half a clear driveway because it blew so hard and then over a foot of snow blocking their door. It is just crazy.

We have headed out a few times including Christmas afternoon to enjoy the snow.

Luke is more then happy to help clear the drive. He not only helped his dad but he also helped the neighbors.

Addie decided to help also. She started by clearing off the table at the front door.

Even max got in on snow fun. He loved every minute of being out.

Addie decided to start climbing the snow mountains as she calls them after Jeremy had some nice piles going from attempting to clear the driveway.

Lucas was way more into sledding the Addie was this go around because it was still snowing this weekend when we were trying to go out and play.

We had so much snow that Lucas snowboard has worked wonderfully. I am hoping to get out and get some pictures before the snow melts. ha ha. Gosh I am funny. Melting snow, we are to get more snow tomorrow night and then a tiny bit more (less then an inch) Thursday night.

I love when my wishes come true.

Sunday after church we headed over to Papa and Nana Clay's house for Christmas. It was a nice relaxing day. Uncle Jeremy and Sherry got to come down also. We all ate then had to take a rest before we could open presents. Kids do not like it when adults have to take a rest before opening presents. Their faces were so sad.

Addie put her pj's on earlier that afternoon. I think a Christmas a day for four days was starting to catch up with her.

Addie got a new tu-tu for Christmas. You should also know this is the second day in a row of wearing it. She also wore it to bed last night. I have a feeling the tu-tu will have to go missing once she gets in the bathtub tonight.

What a wonderful night of being with friends that are like family. We are so blessed to have so many wonderful people in our lives and so many people that love our kids so much.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Kids Christmas a ropin good time

PAPA (envision Addie saying this loudly, she says it loudly every time) PAPA could not make it to Kansas City for Christmas. They were snowed in at home for the weekend. We were to have Christmas with PAPA and Aunt Carrie on Saturday. We decided since Aunt Carrie could make it from the other side of Raymore we would go ahead with Christmas. We had enough food for everyone and then some and then we moved right along to presents. Oh how the kids had the hang of the entire present thing by this time. Hunter and Lucas were both excited to pass out the presents.

Lucas loves to play Santa

Here are Taralyn and Lucas checking to make sure some of the presents have their name on them.

What a cutie opening his Home Depot truck.

Lucas not believing Aunt Carrie got him TAPOUT clothes. This is a new line of clothes at Kohl's and Lucas had his heart set on getting something TAPOUT for wrestling this. Well his dream came true and he just could not believe both Grandma Jan and Char and Aunt Carrie got him something.

Hunter got the evening best present. I learned months ago that Hunter loves to tie things up, tie things together, twist things with string, carry a string. Well what better present for such a little guy then a lasso. I found one and it seemed like a fun idea. I then learned a week ago he received a riding stuffed bull for Christmas. Hey, this lasso is going to be even better I said to myself. I had no idea the night ahead..........

Hunter announced two seconds after opening it and putting it on his shoulder that it was for his bull. He then talked his mom into undoing it into a long rope. Then it was on. He started off with running it through Addie's new baby bed

He then quickly moved on to Uncle Jeremy who was laying on the floor.

It did not take long for Hunter to figure out to run it through the belt loop and then around his foot. Addie decided it was better to be on Hunter's side then her dad's. It was not looking too good for daddy.

Just like at the rodeo you have to tie up the feet.

That's right Uncle Jeremy, roll over so I can tie you all the way up.

It did not take long for the big kids to get in on the action. Luke got a rope burn in the process but recovered quickly.

I have to admit even I could not escape the lasso. Uncle Jeremy provided so extra help for this adventure but Hunter had no problem finishing me off.

It was a wonderful night with lots of fun. It is hard to think in a few short years that Hunter will be Lucas age and Addie will be the age Taralyn is now. Time seems to fly by faster and faster.

Christmas 2009

It was a beautiful white Christmas for 2009. What a year to remember. The kids slept in until a little before 8 this year. I think it was the exhausting drive home on top of two tons of excitement the night before that helped them sleep in. That is what I love at Christmas Eve at the farm it has pretty much always prevented my kids from waking up at the crack of dawn Christmas morning. Sorry for you folks that were up at 5. We were all warm and cozy in our beds with sugar plums dancing above our heads.

For some reason Santa was very good to the kids again this year. I hear it was quiet a project to get everything ready Christmas Even night but Santa always manages to pull it off!

An electric scooter for Lucas with an Under Armor pull over that was super cool looking. Addie Jo got a Disney Princess vaniety that is also musical with a keyboard, whistle, harmonica and tamborine. She also recieve a Cinderella dress that she loved very much.

Addie danced and sang and danced all around in her favorite princess outfit. She even wore it for part of the present opening later on.

Oh Grandma Ann just loves to have her picture taken. Grandma Ann was here Christmas morning because we stopped on the way home in the blizzard to pick her up. If not, who knows when Grandma Ann would have gotten out!!

Addie almost was buried in her presents.

Merry Christmas GG.



After we open presents we had a lite breakfast because we were going to have a standing rib roast, twice baked potatoes and all sort of other goodies for lunch. Daddy always makes breakfast for us Christmas morning and this year was no exception. What a way to start off the day!!

After all the presents are open there is no rush to get dressed or to rush off anywhere. Home is where we are at all day. It is awesome for the kids because they get to play with all their presents and play they did. And played. And played. And played.

This is the new Duck Hunter remote control thingy. Yes, I do think that is the official name. This robotic duck fly's around and you try to shoot it. Hey, the box says it is endorsed by the indoor hunting association, so what could be wrong with it? Oh yeah, it only fly's half the time and you kid has ruled it junk in less then an hour. Merry Christmas. By the way, what exactly is the indoor hunting association?? That just sounds wrong if you are hunting anything besides mice and spiders!

One of Addie's favorite gifts was this doll GG gave her. It had blond hair just like her and is about as tall as she is. She has called it her best friend. So much her best friend she had to have her picture taken with it.

And so did Lucas

And so did I

Then we did stockings.............which had candy.........which was gone from Addie's stocking in under a minute flat.

Lucas loves his marshmallow gun. That was a Grandma Ann special. For some reason Grandma Ann remembered to buy two extra packages of marshmallows for the gun. If I were Grandma Ann I would not worry about being toilet papered but ones yard being marshmellowed!!!

For around an hour Addie lined up her clothes, which she loves all clothes to various dolls she received for Christmas. The dolls never got to wear the clothes, they were told it was because they were Addie Jo's new clothes. Poor dolls, they did not get to wear her clothes or the clothes they came with.

Later on in the afternoon we caught the kids playing so nicely together. They were practicing singing.

We had an amazing Christmas. Our day really over flowed with joy. It is not too often we just to sit back and enjoy a day with such happy kids for such an amazing reason. We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and took time to reflect on the meaning of the season and the blessings you have in your day. It really is amazing when you sit back and take it all in.

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve at the farm. It is every bit of tradition. Jeremy loves this day, everyone at the farm loves this day. To Jeremy this is Christmas. Christmas at the farm reminds me a lot of what Christmas was like when I was a kid at Grandma and Grandpa Benezette's house. Tons of kids, lots of fun and a wonderful time with everyone, too many presents and amazing memories. This year was a bit different was everyone had one eye to the weather. After all Santa only comes to your house Christmas morning.

Every year Aunt Carrie buys matching Christmas pj's for the kids. Every year with the exception on last year we had a crazy idea of making them pj's. We were smarter this year and did not do a repeat of that adventure. Taralyn is the oldest at 9 and Maddie is the youngest at 2 1/2. A lot of kids in a few years.

Ah, the presents are coming out.

your present space, my present space.

We all manage to claim a space in the living room to open our presents. Lined up like trains in some cases.

Poor Gwynn was almost buried alive in her presents.

Grandma Char got a new camera for Christmas. We all hope she likes this one!!


We finished opening our presents then headed out to load the car. That was a shocker for me. There was snow everywhere. It was blowing like crazy and it was cold. It was sort of a shocking moment for me because I really thought it had not snowed that much or that long. It had not snowed that long but it had snowed a bunch. We headed out with Aunt Carrie and kids right behind us. We left the farm at 9 and made it home at 12 with a short pit stop to get Grandma Ann in Belton. It was a drive with lots of stops but worth every second, which is easy to say since we made it home nice and safe.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Christmas Weather

Well it is official. We did get snow for Christmas. A lot of snow or a little bit of snow, that is the question. That question can only be answered depending on where you are standing in the yard or driveway. It blew like no other storm I have seen. I have seen snow drifts but this was something greater then drifting. I will be the first to admit I was a weather doubter. I never think this college educated highly experienced meteorologist know a thing. There is like some sort of bubble around Kansas City that causes us to miss significant snow. It has been like this my entire life so I never think they will get it right. Well Gary Lesak got it right this time. I started to pay closer attention on the weather after the fore mentioned umbrella incident. We were going to be traveling at night with two small kids and Carrie would be right there with us. I turned on the news to hear everything was lining up for some great snowfall totals after a few hours of sleet. Sleet!! Yuck I hate sleet. Timing was going to be important on the way home from the farm!!
We drove to the farm just fine, in sleet and twenty mile hour winds. It hurt when we got out in Platte City to get gas.
The consensus was we would move Christmas celebrations along instead of pacing things out due to the weather. We watched the news before we started the festivities and this is what we saw:
Oh crap the red is coming to us. We are going to be in the red. Blue is sleet and red is snow. Hmmm, getting home could be no fun!!

The time came to go and when I opened that door to leave I could not believe it. There was a lot more snow then I thought, it was snowing hard and it was blowing. I mean blowing. We heard on the radio a few minutes later it was 40 mph winds. Oh crap. Trust me I cleaned up that language a bit for blog purposes!! Carrie, Taralyn, Hunter were all behind us in the truck and we were determined to make it home to Raymore. After all Santa only knows to come to your house!

The details of the drive don't matter. We stopped a lot to clean windshields we scraped and chipped ice off wipers and three hours later we made it home. We made a short pit stop to pick up Grandma Ann so we could all be sure she made it over for Christmas.

The snow is beautiful though!!