Christmas Time

My friend Dana stopped by to say "Hi" on the 23rd. Ave always loves to hang out with Jada and Madelyn. They are nice girls.

Christmas Eve time. Duke cuddled with Dad while he was in the holiday spirit. He calls him "rat dog" all the time, but I think they are buddies.

Teague, Lando, Ave, and Austin playing some Minecraft together on Christmas Eve.

Link was very silly after his nap. He was making faces at Papa.

Terri, Abbey, and Nicole enjoying eachother's company.

Renee, Nancy, and Dan visiting.

Kyle, Erica, and Sean

Jordan and baby Hawkins, our rare blondes.

Liam is very blond still also! He loves playing with Carter and Teague.

Time for the cousin present exchange!

Teague sitting with Daddy. Uncle Frank is in the background too.

Lincoln got Ave many wonderful One Direction gifts. He knows her so well!

2 pretty sisters

Little cousins! We were missing Connor and Drea, but everyone else is there.

Some of the big cousins. Kind of a dark picture, but I loved having everyone over. We had lots of good laughs!

My 3 wonderful kids. They looked very dapper!

A sisters picture. So happy to be together.

Kyle and I. We never have pictures together. Good idea Kels.

Our little Mom. We just love her.

Terri and her girls. Thanks for being a good sport Terr! We know you love pictures!

Linky and his Mom. Joe couldn't get time off and graciously told Kels to come to Butte. He's a good guy, and we missed him!

They stayed with us, and we loved it. My house is too quiet without Link right now. This is a super cute picture!

Lincoln and Uncle Kyle wrestling.

Lincoln and Carter wrestling. Link was having a pretty fun night!

Hawkins thought feeding toys to Uncle Kyle was pretty great. He's a very good little baby, so happy!

Teague and his pal Jordan. I love that Jordan gets a picture with every kid. They love her!

After everyone left, the kids opened one present each from Grandma and Papa. Teague was so so happy to get the Indominus Rex! Can you tell?

When we got home, Ave and Kyle sprinkled her reindeer food outside. She made it at after school activities. I'm glad she remembered it!

Christmas morning. Teague was feeling kind of icky, but some Cheerios helped. He was happy to get a Gorilla Grodd Lego set from Santa. He said he's been asking for it for a "hundred years!"

Carter got some giant huge Nerf gun. Not my favorite thing in the world, but he loves it! If it makes him happy, that's all that matters (and he looks pretty happy!)

Avers got her own Kindle! She absolutely loves it!

Time to open the Sunburst presents!

Carter had to stop and tell us all some lemur facts.

They loved absolutely everything! So did Kyle and I! All we can do is thank everyone again.

Teague couldn't wait to get started on some Lego sets!

Carter loves his new game.

Time to head over to Papa's house and check out the stockings. As usual, they were loaded with goodies!

Carter was really happy about something here. I can't remember what!

Link got lots of cool CARS stuff. He was a happy guy!

What is this? Good guess...A Nerf Gun! He also got a Nerf CrossBow. Nerf should really love our family.

Teague loves his light up Star Wars hat. He knows he looks good when he wears it!

Baby Hawkins was looking good in argyle! His favorite thing of the day was the candy necklaces!

Landon looks very handsome in this. He has a nice smile.

Avers checking out a new book. She dressed up in one of her new outfits from Sunburst. The sweater dress was so cute.

Happy Dad!

Happy Mom!

Kyle and Teagie

Erica and Teagie - he helped her put together Hawkins' zoo. Sean got Erica that Redskins sweater for Christmas. It is awesome!

Two tired little boys.

Link is always in a great mood after a nap! He had a lot of fun yelling "Papa!"

Papa had a lot of fun yelling, "Lincoln!"

Carter got a really cool Playmation Avengers set from Grandma and Grandpa Barsness. He is hiding and shooting his arc reactor here. He gets very into it! I hope everyone had as great a Christmas as we did! Thanks all!

Leading up to Christmas!

Papa finally had his hip surgery on the 16th. Dr. Gallagher said it was the biggest piece of metal he's ever put in anyone! Way to go Dad! Teague was sick so I didn't bring him to visit. Dad's doing well though. Moving around on his walker like a champ.

We have a lot of snow here! I liked how the lights looked under the snow at our house. Our ornaments on the fence look like they are wearing Russian Fez's too.

Googles couldn't wait to do the Frosty Gingerbread house that Grandma got.

Kyle also loves a good Gingerbread project. They made a good team.

Beautiful!

The kids got out of school on Friday the 18th, and we went straight to Sunburst. We watched Nate's team win easily at the gym. They are fun to watch! Teague enjoyed taking up as much room as possible while he slept in between me and Ave.

Grandma Diana had some cool "Learn to Draw ...." books. We all had a lot of fun with them. I don't want to brag, but this dinosaur I drew is my masterpiece.

Chris and Aly and their kids had our kids open one present from them while we were there. The boys had a great time with their SuperHero Mashers, and Ave loved her Descendants book. Thanks again!

They had a lovely dinner out at the farm the next day. We are very spoiled when we are there! Phil and Mary Jo wanted to watch the kids open their presents from them. Carter was in heaven over his Raeven Nerf Gun! I don't think he's stopped talking about it yet!

Ave got the coolest Puppet Theatre. It's a wonderful idea because she is very creative. She has entertained us with many good stories so far!

Teague got some really cool Marble Works toys. Nate used to love them when he was little, so he helped Teague set up a cool course. They are a lot of fun!

Teague likes to help with the puppet shows too. He's usually always the dragon.

Avers with the Princess Puppet. We were glad we made it up for a quick trip. It was our year for Christmas in Sunburst this year, but they completely understood me wanting to be with my family. As I always say, I'm a lucky girl to have married into a great family. Thank you all so much again!

Ave drew this on the way home on the IPad. It made me laugh! It's her listening to her favorite song right now, "If I Could Fly" by One Direction.

The next day...my sisters and their kiddos arrived! Yay! I'm so happy we got to spend a bunch of time all together. It was a beautiful snowy day, and we decided to head outside. Hawkins was patiently getting all bundled up.

Carter, Ave, and Lando trying to make snowballs. It was a bit too powdery for that though.

2 buddies laying in the snow.

Teague made himself a little throne with the snow that was swept off the porch. What a good smile!

Link was having a lot of fun loading up the dump truck. He threw snow at Kyle when he arrived too!

There are some giant icicles hanging off the roof this year as you can see!

Hawkins just goes with the flow. He did some exploring in the playhouse.

Carter was happy to be able to go outside. We wrapped a plastic bag around his boot, and he had a blast!

Hawkins reaching for his buddy Kelsie.

Not sure what Ave is doing here, but she loves having everyone visit!

I love this picture. Kels threw snow in the air, and it just looks fun!

Sisters and kids. What a great day!