Uncle Owen started our visit off on the right foot. He made Elliott pose with an (unloaded) gun. Elliott is boy enough to like guns, although not as quite as much since he saw one fired, and heard the noise it made!
My silly little girl snuggling Mommy and her blankie.
What are the kids so fascinated by?
Oh... chickens roosting in the kitchen.
Again, thanks to Uncle Owen.
Ashley points them out to Marilla.
Looking underneath the table, where they went to roost when Owen brought them in.
Thanks, Owen. Live chickens in the kitchen was what I always thought was lacking in our Christmas celebration.
And Ashley, sainted wife and aunt, cleaned up the little Christmas present the chickens left.
Evan with his Gameboy Advance. Even though he's 30, he was quite excited to buy that (used) in December. And Olivia, who was very silly and sprained her ankle in the haymow two days before Christmas.
The cousins going out to play! Of course, they only lasted a few minutes, but they were cute in all their padding!
Rilla, who has filched Cheyenne's corn bag.
Gilbert, just chilling.
Chilling in one of his favorite spots, the Bumbo. He was watching the fascinating...
Gingerbread house construction! Thankfully, the aunts and Evan had WAY too much patience and did this with the kids.
Golden tresses of my niece.
It was a group effort.
The cousins holding it while the frosting/glue dried.
The process took up quite a bit of time... and quite a bit of the table.
Cutting out gingerbread cookies with some of the extra dough Daddy made.
My beautiful, slightly sleepy-looking daughter.
The golden-haired child again. Hard to believe she had dark hair at birth.
The only tip I would give Bet is to NOT wear black turtlenecks on her daughters on baking day.
Elliott concentrating on his cookie-construction.
For some reason, I don't have a picture of the finished house, so this is the best I have. Pretty impressive, considering how many little hands touched it!
Candy decorations! Thanks to Aunt Bet for buying the kit-- and having the patience to deal with all the little kids helping!
Evan putting the finishing touches on his and Olivia's project-- a gingerbread barn!
Pretty impressive!
Little Marilla, who never had one sip from a bottle, was fascinated with this toy bottle.
Meg and Rocky, posing picturesque-ly for my camera's pleasure.
Kid's getting crazy with Aunt Bet's presents-- jingle bells with cool little animals attached.
Train on the back of the chair-- and poor Elliott's neglectful mother must have forgotten to button his onesie when I changed his diaper. How nice to think
back to when Elliott wore diapers! :-)
Elliott hiding between the couch and the stair railing.
Smiley Orianna!
Elliott with his screaming slingshot monkey! Aunt Bet definitely knows the cool presents to get!
Rilla with Elliott's monkey. There were four monkey flying through the air for most of the day Christmas. Their arms are rubber, so you can shoot them like a slingshot. Of course, the kids figured out that they screamed just as satisfactorily if you just chucked them hard. The adults had fun aiming them at each other, though!
Orianna in her old-fashioned flannel nightie. Not sure what she's doing in this picture, but it's probably something slightly shady-- no toys on that shelf!
Rilla with her Playmobil. Grandma spoiled the kids-- they each got a little Playmobil set.
Tori helping Orianna with her set.
Cheyenne's birthday present from Aunt Bet-- perfectly awesome pink leather boots.
"Hmm, quite the picture, Rilla!"
"Why can't you just smile like your beautiful cousin?"
"Or at least look pensive and sweet?"
"Of course, your mother looks like she's picking her teeth in this picture..."
Well, scratch that about Lily's picture-taking manners-- that's quite the mouth of candy.
At least Cheyenne smiles nicely.
GREAT smile, Lily!
Uncle Evan is always popular when he's playing a game on the computer. In the bottom corner there is the Playmobil supermarket-- that got quite a workout!
Gilbert, in his own personal little ball house.
Cotten girls playing with the dollhouse.
Santa's helper is gorgeous.
Bet brought over some Madame Alexander Happy Meal toy dolls. The kids played with them the entire day, rather happily!
So now that I've posted Christmas pictures, I can go enjoy Florida beaches with a clear conscience! We're leaving Wednesday, can't wait to get down there-- the kids are beside themselves with excitement! And I guess I'm not exactly dreading it! :-)
My little Rilla, fallen asleep on Daddy's lap. Auntie Lisa had taken Elliott and Cheyenne ice-skating, and Evan wanted to wait until they were home to put Rilla down for her nap. She crawled up on Daddy's lap, though, and lasted about five minutes! Sleepy baby...
We were wanting to bring our tent to Florida, but we hadn't put it up in a couple of years. We set it up in our living room to make sure everything was clean and hole-free.
I can't decide if the tent is just really huge, or our house is even smaller than I realized!
The kids loved playing inside it for a few minutes before we took it down again.
What my floor looks like after Rilla eats a bowl of Cheerios. I'm not sure how she can broadcast them over such an area.
I threw out my Downy ball last week! I bought this ball when we first got married-- it's been through a LOT of washloads!
I got to throw it out, though, because I have a new washer, with an actual fabric softener dispenser!
And a new dryer. They are so spiffy. Evan got a really good deal on them on the weekend after Thanksgiving. Such a good deal that they were back-ordered until February. They were worth the wait, though! The washer is a top loader, but it's a high-efficiency model.
Rilla, singing hymns and hugging her baby.
Elliott drawing. I usually only see him draw during meeting, and that's usually a bunch of scribbles, so I was glad the other day when I saw him drawing, and it was all recognizable figures.
Rilla had to draw, too.
Bright, happy eyes!
And another pair.
Rilla reading to her baby. She is very into babies right now, it's nice to see the doll accessories that Cheyenne has kind of outgrown being used again!
