Special Gifts Given Or Gotten

 This is the cross-stitch that I made and gave to Liam for Christmas.

 We put together this picture of my Dad and Ken's Dad for Kari and Todd.

 I had this made for my Mom.  It has the names of all 11 of her great-grandchildren on it.

We received this beautiful copy of a watercolor that was done of Seth.

Christmas Day - Part 3

 In the afternoon, we played with things that were gotten as Christmas gifts.  I helped Annika build one of her Lego kits.

 Kyle and Saben played with his new chess set.

 More helpers to build the Lego set.

 Seth, the pteranodon, just destroyed a structure made from the CitiBloks he got for Christmas.

 Kari, Annika, and McKenna.

 Saben using his new microscope.  We also taught Saben to play Mille Bourne, a card game he also got for Christmas.

Kari and Todd jumped right in to help make dinner after I finally got the kitchen cleaned and was ready to be out of it for awhile.

Christmas Day - Part 2

 Betsy knitted the cute little scarf that Kari is wearing for her present.

 Seth got a "Whack-a-Mole" game that he enjoyed playing with.

 He also got pteranodon dinosaur wings.

 Clothes for her new American Girl doll.

 Saben got a microscope.

 Seth also got one of the dinosaur characters from the show "Dinosaur Train", which is one of his favorite shows.

 Annika enjoyed her chocolate dessert!

 Making sure to get every drop, she licked the plate clean.

Everyone gathered for dessert after opening gifts.

Christmas Eve and Day - Part 1

 The stocking were laid on the sofa with care and Saint Nickolas had definitely been there!

The Christmas tree waiting for Christmas morning.

 Ken trying to keep Seth busy while we wait for the Youngs.  He (Seth, that is, not Ken) was having a hard time waiting to open presents!

 Finally it's time to open gifts!  Great-grandma is getting a thank you hug from Annika.

 Let's see what Betsy got.

 Saben decided to model Annika's new headband.

 Annika and Daddy putting together one of her new Lego friends kits.

 Two boys in two boxes.

 Lots of helpers to open Great-grandma's present.

Waiting for her turn to open another present.

Sunday Lunch

 After church on Sunday we met at a Mexican restaurant for lunch.  There were 16 of us there, although the picture shows 14 people.  Ken was taking the picture and Caleb was napping in his car seat.

We also got to see Meera's new puppy as we were leaving.  She had just gotten it that morning.  We then, headed over the pass to go home, but had to go over Blewitt and Snoqualmie Passes instead of Stevens because it was closed due to trees with lots of heavy snow on them falling on the road.  We brought Mom home with us, so she could spend Christmas with our family this year.

Christmas In Wenatchee

 Saturday, Dec. 22nd was when we had our Christmas in Wenatchee.  Mom and Denaye are holding our newest members of the family.  Caleb was born in May and Liam was born the end of Aug., we hadn't met either of them until Saturday.

 Ken was rough-housing with Denaye's kids.  Isaac, on Ken's back, was jumping out of the chair behind him and landing on Ken's back.

 Kiera and Caleb, with Liam to the side.

 Trying to read a book with Isaac sliding down Ken's back.

 Ken said the kids were his slippers and he was walking with them clinging to his legs.  (Jayden didn't want to have anything to do with such silliness.)

 Andrea, Meera, Lois and Mom, getting ready to eat lunch.

 Amy showed Melia and Kiera how to look for presents for themselves.

 Liam liked his new toy.

 Jayden took a nap while gifts were opened, so she got to open hers by herself.

 Tea party time.

 Reading with Caleb.

 Isaac loved his spinning tree toy.

 Isaac and Jayden enjoying a toy.

Caleb, all decked out in his formal wear.

Trip to Wenatchee

 When we headed to Wenatchee on Friday afternoon, it was sunny and we had some great views of the mountains.Since we got ourselves a new camera for Christmas, it was a good time to try it out!  My first picture of the mountains had lots of telephone poles in it, and I kept trying to find a view without the telephone poles. 

 Ken finally saw a bridge, so we turned of the road and went over the bridge to get this shot...

 ...and this shot.  Shortly after we left Monroe, we saw a reader board that said the pass was closed at mile marker 79, I think it was.  We thought we should turn around and try going over the other passes instead.  After we turned around, I called my Mom to tell her what was going on and that we would be later than we had planned.  She had just heard a news report on the radio about the closure and told us that it was a fatal accident and that the pass was supposed to open again at 4pm.  So, we turned back around and went on over Stevens Pass.

 We made it to the top of the pass with no trouble, but a couple of miles down the other side, we saw the back-up.  We only had to wait 30 minutes before traffic started moving.  We found out later than someone who was waiting closer to the accident, had to wait for 2 hours for the traffic to get going.  We also found out that the accident was caused by a tree falling onto a car.  The snow has been so heavy, that a lot of trees have fallen down across the roads.

 We finally made it to Leavenworth and it was beautifully decorated, as usual.

By the time we got to Wenatchee, we were hungry and ready to eat, so Meera and I looked at the menu and figured out what to eat while we waited for a table.