<>< christmas morning ><>

it didn't take very long for this...

to turn into this!

ford's favorite gifts were his police robot and his pillow pet. {why did i not come up with that idea?}...

luke's were the girls' new dollhouse and minivan...

and duncan's was sophie!


ford got a race track and luke got a thomas travel track...

joseph & mark were pumped about guitar hero to go with their new xbox's!

everyone was spoiled rotten, but i think the kids would have been perfectly content with just their stockings. it was a great lesson for me to learn...and to remember it's not about the presents. God already have us the best gift we could ever receive.

and this is how ford would have spent the rest of the trip if we had let him...playing his new leapster games. it's a good thing they're {slightly} educational.

we've definitely had to set a limit on screen time!

this kid is just like his daddy - after every gift he opened, he put them in a neat pile off to the side and then would go hug and thank the person it was from. a touch ocd with a heart of gold!

christmas in the mountains

we had the most fabulous christmas EVER!

papa and dede took all of us {that would be a dozen folks in all, 6 of them 5 and under}

to Cashiers, NC for the week of Christmas!

it was absolutely beautiful and the most fun vacation i've ever had. full of noise, laughter, great food, great wine, tons of snow, sledding, a constant fire in the fireplace, s'mores, gingerbread houses, cousins giggling, fort building, long talks, and making incredible memories.

thank you papa and dede for making our christmas 2010 one we will never forget!

happy birthday, bug!

happy birthday to the coolest little sister in the whole wide world!

you are beautiful, inside and out.

you're my great listening, wardrobe supplying, running inspiring, chick flick watching, dirty romance novel reading, long afternoon saving, clothes shopping, hard truth telling, gospel sharing, very best friend.

and my sister.

it just doesn't get any better than that!

i love you!

painful

these pictures don't exactly resemble a celebration of the birth of our Savior...i think we'll be holding off printing the Christmas cards just yet!

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picture taking as a family of 5 = pain, misery & torture
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i can see why photographers charge so much...they earn every penny!

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shealy might be designing us a card with 3 squares this year...

one for each beautiful, angelic, obedient little face!

::fun on the farm::

we had a fun time with friends on a farm! hayrides, hotdogs and s'mores...a perfect night! and yes, our method of photography is for the adults to just keep smiling at the camera no matter what the kids are doing...it hasn't really worked for us so far, but we'll keep trying!

at least we have all 5 in a picture together!

*Christmas Cards*

if you're in the market for a fabulous Christmas card, my super talented sister is the girl for you! she can do just about anything you can dream of, and who doesn't want a custom-made, one-of-a-kind card to show off your cute family and spread a little holiday cheer? she also does blog headers, birthday and shower invitations, and birth announcements...she did the dunc's and i LOVE it! her email is shealy.mckinnon@gmail.com if you're interested!

::6 cousins on the plains::

the rays came for homecoming and we took all 6 kids to campus before the game. it was wild and crazy, but lots of fun! they love each other so much and it's so neat to have cousins so close in age. 10 of us under one roof means lots of noise and not a lot of sleep! the big 3 sleep together in ford's room, mark, jennie and emma are in the nursery with emma in the closet,

luke stays in his room, and duncan goes in our closet.

for some reason, whenever papa and dede are here with us they opt for a hotel...

i can't imagine why!