Mollie

MawMaw Wilma gave Mollie a new baby doll.  Mollie has been putting her new baby and Cow Baby to bed in the doll cradle she got for Christmas.  As I was getting Mollie ready for bed Saturday night, I asked her what her new baby's name was.  She thought for a few minutes then said, "Macaroni."  She ran to tell John that her baby's name was Macaroni.  John suggested that she name it "Mashed Potatoes and Gravy."  Mollie said, "That is a good name Daddy.  I will go tell Mama."  So now her doll is named Mashed Potatoes and Gravy.  We've got to work on this.  Maybe we can shorten it to Maggie.

Elder Christmas

The weather was terrible on Christmas morning.  There were severe thunderstorms all along our drive.  Thankfully, the tornado warnings were always behind us.  We didn't stop for lunch to stay ahead of them.  I had a sleeve of crackers that I gave Ben and Mollie.  They got restless and I was able to reach around and turn on their DVD players.  I couldn't stop to change the movie but could keep hitting play on the remote control.  They watched Frosty the Snowman four times and I managed to select Frosty Returns once.  Every time the traffic cop swallowed his whistle, Ben gave his duck call a good blowing.

 This is Janey doing her "present dance."

 We seperated everyone's gifts into piles and then they tore in.

 Janey opening her jewelry box from us.

 Ben opening his youth basketball goal (still in the box).

 Mollie and I with her doll crib.  She got this cute Abby Cadabby costume from Jim and Fran.

 Jim and John opening their presents.

 I don't know what Ben is doing, but he had changed into the Mickey Mouse pajamas Nana made him.

 Nana with her new bag.

 Cinderella on her pogo stick.

 Playing Operation.  This didn't last long since the little ones didn't want to follow the directions and the big ones got very frustrated.

 A house full of presents and what is the most fun thing to do -- pop bubble wrap.

 The girls popping bubble wrap, too.

 Getting ready to blow out the candles on the Happy Birthday, Jesus cake.  (You can barely see the string around Ben's neck, but he's still wearing his duck call.)

 Mollie waiting for her piece of cake.

 Ben drew Mary and Joseph and hung it on Nana's refrigerator.

Mollie and Cow Baby in their matching gowns that Nana made.  Nana made gowns for each of the girls and their babies.  Ben wants her to make pajamas for Cat now.

Christmas Morning

Santa, of course, knew to leave Ben and Mollie's presents at MawMaw and PawPaw's house.

 Coming down the stairs with Ted and Cat.

 Easing down the stairs by herself.

 I love how excited Mollie's face is when she finds Boots, the monkey from Dora.

 Ben is excited because he knows that the gift he wants most is in this pile from MawMaw and PawPaw.

 Zac sitting by his small pile of presents.  He had a lot to say about the size of my pile compared to his.

 These are my presents.

 Ben opening the only present Zac bought himself -- a duck call.

 Both Ben and Mollie got new cowboy boots from MawMaw and PawPaw.

The microphone!  Really a karaoke machine with two microphones for both Ben and Mollie.

Here is a short video clip of Ben and Mollie trying out their new karaoke machine.  They look kind of purple because the karaoke machine has disco lights.  You can see the complete chaos of wrapping paper and gifts behind them.

Christmas Eve

We always go to MawMaw Wilma and PawPaw Sherman's house for Christmas Eve.  Everyone was there this year except Uncle Larry, who was working.

 Our yearly attempt at a picture of all the great-grandchildren.  At least no one is crying this year.

 Ben is super excited about his gift from MawMaw and PawPaw -- a flashlight, chapstick, and a teddy bear that he has named Ted.  Ben loves Ted.

 Mollie with her teddy bear.

 Emalee trying out several of her presents.

 This year the weather was perfect for fireworks.  No rain and warm enough to be outside without bundling up too heavily.  Ben declared that he could do his fireworks by himself and he did.

 Mollie excited about the fireworks.  The first big firework scared her to death but she calmed down and had fun.  She wanted her daddy to help her.

 Olivia joined us for fireworks for the first time.  She had a lot of fun.

Olivia would run to Daddy after she shot a firework to make sure he saw it.

 Daddy with his cane.

After we leave MawMaw and PawPaw's house, we stop and visit Mr. Marvin and Lynn.  Lynn always has a gift for the kids.  As Mollie was unwrapping hers, she was saying, "It's Barbie.  It's Barbie."  We don't even know how she knows about Barbie.  She doesn't have any others.  She doesn't watch TV with commercials.  Yet she knows about Barbie.

Gingerbread Houses

Unknowingly, Mama and I both had plans for the kids to decorate gingerbread houses.  She had bought a super-cute gingerbread barn.  However, we could NOT get the roof to stay on.  I had brought a box of graham crackers and the ingredients to make royal icing to make individual "gingerbread" houses for each of the kids.  These were a success.  Mama and I both agreed that we would do them again next year, but we would make the houses ahead of time and give them time to harden before we gave them to the kids to decorate.  

Emalee was able to build her house by herself. 

We just kept filling in the cracks with icing until it held.

 Ben and Rylee working together to decorate a house.  The red icing was from the barn set.

Sampling the icing.

It all washed off, thankfully.

 MawMaw helping Rylee.

 Everyone having fun decorating gingerbread houses.

 MawMaw helping Mollie.

The completed houses.

The Week Before Christmas

I have a ton of pictures from Christmas, of course, but here are the last few that were on my camera from the week before we headed to Mama and Daddy's house.

 We made salt dough ornaments.  Ben and Mollie really enjoyed decorating them with lots of glitter.

 Mollie is painting on glue before adding glitter.

 Mollie was very into blue glitter.

We made cards for the residents of a local assisted living facility and delivered them Friday morning.  I wish I had a picture of Mollie from Friday morning.  She was wearing her red coat and hat and was so cute.  She knew she looked cute and didn't want to take it off even when we went inside.

Christmas Cookies

 This morning we made chocolate chip cookies for our neighbors.  (Mollie got her clothes wet helping wash dishes so she took them off.)

 Ben is the official egg buyer and cracker at our house.  He carefully checks each egg before we buy them at the grocery store.  He's dressed as Prince Phillip from Sleeping Beauty (our most recently movie night selection).

 Taking cookies to our neighbors this evening.  Ben insisted on dressing as Santa Claus.

Waiting for Mrs. Judy to come to the door.