Christmas Day-2011!!!!

BOTH boys exlaimed, "Wow! Books!" On Christmas morning. We thought that was so sweet:

Reid got some safari animals that he affectionately calls "Wild Kratts". A PBS kids show they adore:

 Gwen got Fisher Price Little People. A whole little town of them:

Zhu Zhu Pets, I think these little gerbil things are called. I think they are too cute:

 These fun things are drum sticks:

 Sorry Sliders. Anyone heard of it? Fun game:

Reid is about to open pajamas, I think. Both boys got jammies from cousins and Zeke wore his for probably 48 hours straight:

More Little People stuff:

A box absolutely full of dinosaurs. Probably about 30 or more:

Play-Dough! This has been a fun object of attention since we started school back up:

Not wholly sure what this little toy is called, but I think it is super cute, and Gwen loves it:

 

I made these two mugs for Matt. For display only, pretty much. In his right hand is our 2011 family portrait. In his left is a mug that says, "The liberals are coming!" If you follow Rush Limbaugh, you'll know the referencing. On his lap is embroidery hoop art:

Like the embroidery art, I made other wall hangings. A big look right now is fabric covered canvases. I was headed that direction until Matt's layoff. So I got thrifty, cut up some cardboard, covered it in leftover  quilt batting and then my fabric of choice. The fabric might look a bit of a strange choice, but I will tell you the significance. Matt bought this fabric on his mission in Guatemala. He never did anything with it. When we had an FHE night reminiscing his mission with the kids, it got the wheels in my head turning. Voila! I also covered pillows with it. I will post pictures when we get it all set up: 

Matt's brother Russell sent a couple things to us via UPS, I think. We only got one of them by Christmas morning, and weren't sure who it was going to be for. Until we opened it and found this:

The boys are in love.
I got some amazing fragrances from Matt:

Gwen of course lost attention on the goods and went straight for the paper:

Christmas afternoon, we left the kids with their sleepy uncle and went to the homes of those we home and visit teach to share Christmas goodies. I only have two ladies and I made them brown paper packages tied up in strings. Who doesn't love that? Each family also got a simple pine cone ornament:

That night we watched the dvd with the nativity and Mr. Kruger's Christmas. Then we assembled nativity scenes on paper while Gwen drew on herself:

After we wrestled the kids into bed, we played some Yatzee. Woo-hoo! Love that game:

All the people who gave us gifts, in whatever form, whether hand-me downs or other, thank you. This will never be adequate enough of a display of our gratitude, but thank you! You know who you are. You truly made Christmas for the kids and Matt and myself.  May you be so blessed.

~Hoveys