Christmas Day-Part 1

 Christmas morning came early!  Beau was up at 7:06 which meant everyone else soon followed!  Santa came!!  He seems to be a little messy, but he obviously enjoys his snacks.  He even left the boys a note!

The boys got some fun stuff from Santa!!

 Santa always leaves the boys stockings outside of their bedroom doors, so that is where we always end up sitting to open them:)  Blake and Evan were very meticulous about their stockings this year.  No dumping everything out.  I love it that way!

 Beau Beau just wanted candy.  He would find a sucker, unwrap it and put it in his mouth, then find another, and take the old one and lay it on the carpet and open the new one!  He ate a lot of suckers Christmas morning!

 Evan was pretty excited about his new fuzzy socks!

 Beau got lots of new Little People stuff from Santa.  Fun stuff!  Notice the REALLY long sucker stick.  Probably terribly dangerous....

 Blake and Evan got snow boards!  Now, if it would just snow!  They also got Just Dance 3, a bean bag, and new slippers from Santa!

 Nana and PaPa came over very early to see what Santa brought.  Blake and Beau were getting ready to "sled" off of Blake's bed:)

 Evan getting ready to wear his new Razorback bandana from Santa!

 PaPa with Beau.  Every single time Beau sees PaPa he starts asking to see his tractor:)  He just didn't understand that PaPa's tractor was far away.

We hung around the house for a little bit, then headed over to Nonnie and Poppy's at 9:00 for breakfast and to open presents!

Christmas Eve

 Christmas Eve was a good day!  A blur, but a good day!  We started out over at Granny's house.  We had a big lunch, with lots of yummy finger foods along with our traditional ham, turkey, dressing, and the rest.  It was fun to just hang out with lots of family.  

I left around 1:30 and took Beau home for a nap.  He finally fell asleep around 2:30 and we had to leave for church at 3:30, so it was a short nap.  We had an absolutely amazing candlelight communion service at church.  The first service started at 4:00 which was perfect for us.  Blake read aloud during the service in a "Reader's Theater" part and did a great job!  He read with his best friend Mason, Mason's sister Savannah, and another girl named Abbie.  I was SO proud!  Travis and dad helped serve the Lord's supper.  I was very nervous about how Beau would do.  To my HUGE surprise, he was WONDERFUL!!  He sat in my lap so quiet and sweet for the longest time.  Then he moved to NaNa's lap, and then moved down to Nonnie for a while.  He was never loud and loved all the "mukik".  I was SO thankful that I was able to just relax and enjoy the service.  I needed to get my heart settled a little bit, and this service did the trick!

After the service we went over to mom and dad's for Christmas Eve dinner.  It was SO SO good!!  Mom fixed prime rib, I made a potato dish, and we had asparagus, salad, and croissants.  Did I mention that it was SO good!!  We had our family, Kyle, Amy, and Georgia, Amy's mom Judy, and GaGa there.  It was very good and very fun!  

These two little cuties are going to be buddies one day soon!!

Cute Christmas cousins!

 The tables all set and ready!  So pretty!

 Georgia Leigh in her jammies!  All ready for Santa!

 I absolutely adore this picture.  GaGa with Georgia and Beau Beau!

 I was so glad we attempted this picture.  It turned it really good considering how late it was and how long a day it had already been!

 My babies before bed!

 Nonnie and Poppy and the boys!

After we brought all our presents in at Nonnie and Poppy's we headed home to go to bed.  Beau went straight down and the big boys sat on the couch with Travis and I and read the Christmas story from the Bible.  I love that they always want to do this on Christmas Eve!  They got Santa's snacks and milk ready and they headed to bed.  It was a very good, VERY long day!!

Life Group Christmas Party!

I had my 6th grade girls over one evening for our Life Group Christmas Party.  I just LOVE these girls!!  They are so sweet and I am enjoying watching them grow and mature right before my eyes!  Dana and I have taught them for 2 years, so I feel like I have really gotten to know them.  A side perk is that they are also Blake's age, so I feel like they help me "keep up" with what is going on with him and his age group in general:)

We had pizza and all the girls brought their favorite Christmas treat to share.  We had some really good food!!  They wanted to wear pajamas and I was all for that also!

We had a little entertainment courtesy of Lucy and Sarah Beth:)

 I loved seeing these girls piled all over my living room.  This was definitely the most females I have ever had in my house at one time:)

 We made a fun ornament while we watched some Veggie Tales:)  It has become the "running joke" in our class to refer to Veggie Tales during most all of our "Bible story" lessons.  We spent a lot of time in Daniel this past semester, so we watched "Rack, Shack, and Benny" while they crafted;)

 Some girls were more crafty than others...

 They were ALL more crafty than Mrs. Dana:)  HaHa!  Love you Dana!!

 We also played Dirty Santa.  They really got into it this year.  I thought at one point it might come to blows:)  I just love these girls!

From left to right: Dana, Alex, Sarah Beth, Lucy, Paige, Azure, Nyck, Kaitlyn, Abbie, Holley, Bailey, Lauren, and Carrie.  I'm so thankful for the opportunity to teach these girls.  I know that so much of the time, I think I learn more from them, than they learn from me!

Bartlett Christmas!

 On Saturday we were very busy!  Beau and I went with NaNa to watch Malory's Upward game and the boys went to the Razorback basketball game.  It was Star Wars day and they got some GREAT pics with a bunch of Star Wars characters.  (another blog post:).  Becky kept Malory and Beau that afternoon and Trisha and I did some shopping.  It was SO nice to have a chance to shop without Beau and just enjoy myself!

That night we had our annual meal at Monte Ne chicken.  It is the ABSOLUTE best fried chicken EVER!!  We all look forward to it every year!  After that we headed back to Nana and PaPa'a to open presents.  

Here are NaNa and PaPa being silly!

 All the grandkids:)

 Malory showing off her diary that we got her:)

 Beau really got into the present opening.  He was fun to watch.  Here he is opening his work bench from Trisha, Jody, and Malory. 

 Blake with his Super Scribblenauts DS game and notice Beau "riding" his new tractor.  It isn't a riding toy, but he rode it just the same!

 Proof that Trisha and Jody were there:)

 Evan with his "pile" of architecture Legos.  He told his NaNa that is what he wanted, and she produced!!

 Blake got a new 20 GA shotgun.  He is going to be on the trap shooting team this year so he needed his own gun.  This is the first gun to ever be in our house.  Makes me a little nervous;)

 Every year NaNa and PaPa get the kids a special ornament.  They have been doing it since they were born and it is so fun to see them all every year when we decorate the tree.  She started out getting Hallmark ornaments, but in the past few years has switched to Old World Christmas ornaments.  They are so classic.  I think they will love them as much as grown ups as they do now!

Evan showing off his Razorback hoodie ornament.

 Blake got a "surfing Santa" ornament.

 Beau got a sweet dalmation puppy ornament.  I didn't even want him to hold it for a picture.  Too dangerous!!!

 Beau Beau got a vacuum cleaner and he LOVES it!!  He is pretty obsessed with vacuums.  We have to go to the cleaning closet at church and say "hi" and "bye" to the vacuum every time we go.  He stands at our closet at home and begs for me to let him get out the vacuum.  Maybe someday he will love to vacuum the house for me!!

We had an amazing weekend!  NaNa and Papa spoiled us all.  Our big family gift from them was season passes to Silver Dollar City and White Water for the coming year!!  We are SO looking forward to lots of trips to Branson this year.  Thanks NaNa and PaPa for a great weekend!!

Christmas at the Square

This past weekend we headed to NaNa and PaPa's house for our annual Bartlett Family Christmas.  It was SO fun!  On Friday night we packed up the kids and headed to the Fayetteville square.  It was so pretty!

Me and my baby

 There was a live reindeer.  Beau wasn't a fan!

 My boys waiting to see Santa.  We didn't actually get a picture with Santa because they were charging $5 to take a picture with your own camera!  Whatever.  Beau did actually walk up pretty close to Santa and when Santa asked him what he wanted he said "toys" and "candy".  He's pretty easy:)

Nana and all of her babies!

 The five of us.  We have a picture just like this when Evan was Beau's age.  Love my sweet family!

Travis and the boys with the Razorback!

 Malory, Blake, and Evan

Travis and Beau Beau

 Blake being...Blake:)

The big hit of the night...camel rides!  As soon as we walked onto the square, Malory and Evan saw the camels and started asking if they could ride.  NaNa told them yes, but we figured they would change their mind.  After we walked all around they were still adament about riding the camels.  So, they did! 

Here they are in their "helmets", getting ready to ride.  I was a little grossed out just thinking about  the other 500 people that had already worn those helmets before them:)

 Malory was excited because the camel worker said ladies get "shotgun".  Ha!

They really loved it!!  I love to see these two together.  They play together so good!

Malory holding Beau.  She loves her Beau Beau!!

We had a really fun night, and even more fun the next day!!