Wow. Christmas seems so long ago! We went down to California again for Christmas this year and drove, which we haven’t done in 2 years I think. We drove through the night there, which was horrible, but on the way back we drove during the day and that wasn’t too bad at all. The kids did great and it seemed like it went by pretty fast.

We had so much fun. The kids got to play with their cousin, Emmy, two of the days we were there and they had a blast. After the first day when I was putting the kids to bed, Lindsay told me that she wasn’t going to have any fun the next day because Emmy wasn’t there. That girl idols her cousin and it’s so cute. They do have a lot of fun together.

For three years now, the kids have opened one gift on Christmas Eve, which is always pajamas but even so, Lindsay was still surprised. They looked adorable in them!


After opening the pajamas, Lindsay wrote a note for Santa and we put some cake and some boogers on a plate for him. Everything was gone in the morning so Santa must have been hungry by the time he got to our house.

Christmas morning was a lot of fun! Logan HAD to play with everything the second it was open, but would always come back willingly to open another one when it was his turn. He got SO MANY new trucks and tractors and things with wheels. He especially loved the train table Santa brought. It’s pretty cool! Lindsay had fun opening everything and couldn’t wait to get everything opened. She loved the dollhouse Santa brought and immediately put her new boy barbie to sleep. Santa had a hard time getting Lindsay’s present to California, but he eventually found a way and boy are we grateful to his elves! She waited patiently for her turn and watched as everyone else opened their presents. She almost looked as if she was having an OCD moment and couldn’t wait for everything to be opened so that we could clean up the mess or something. Oh wait, that was me. No not really. Here are a thousand pictures to show our morning.

Opening stockings

That’s what Lindsay thinks about Reese’s PB trees. Crazy girl.

The truck book that Logan told Santa where to find and the only thing he kept asking about before we went downstairs. “Did Santa bring me my new truck book?”. I’m SO glad he came through!

New barbie clothes!


Playing with her new boy barbie.



Jeffy looked FABULOUS!


Grandma and Grandpa Snider





Giving each other hugs for the presents from each other.

She was a little excited to get that movie.


Playing with the Wedgits blocks. They are awesome and the kids love them!

Singing us a beautiful song!!

Thanks to everyone! We had a wonderful Christmas visiting with Jeff’s family and with my parents and grandparents. We are so blessed and are so grateful for all of our blessings and we feel blessed to have all of you in our lives. We hope you had a wonderful Christmas season and hope you have a joyful 2010!

This move proved to be harder on Lindsay than I thought it would. I figured she’d be fine since she’s so young, but for awhile there, she shed a lot of tears about moving. One of the reasons why was that she would no longer be going to preschool with Mrs. Ari. I feel so blessed to have had the opportunity to have Lindsay in her class. She genuinely wanted Lindsay to do well and challenged her with everything, not just reading, and taught her so much. Lindsay looked forward to preschool everyday and missed it the days she didn’t attend. She became really good friends with Mrs. Ari’s daughter, Aspen, and got really attached to her new baby towards the end. She was sad that she wouldn’t get to see baby Azure get bigger and was sad that she wouldn’t get to see Aspen every day. It was hard for me to see her so sad, but I knew she would bounce back and make new friends and be okay because she’s a like-able girl, that Lindsay Lou. Thank you Mrs. Ari for teaching Lindsay for that year and a half. I am grateful for your concern for her and for you taking the time to make separate lessons plans just for Lindsay. We love you and we miss you and we’ll come visit soon!