Memories to Cherish

Before I start I have to tell you... IT'S SNOWING right now! Crazy!

Also... We decided on a name for our new pet rat. "Mia"

Christmas morning... Daniel and I got up at 5:00 and we had an idea how to wake the boys up. We would jingle some bells and bang on the wall with some scrapes (for the sled). Well that's what we did. Over and over and over again. No one got up. Daniel even dropped the bells once. (I will explain why that's funny in a minute). We did this off and on for about 20 minutes, running back into bed after each one. NOTHING! So we just gave up. I put some bells in the back playroom to tell the kids that Santa left them, just in case SOMEONE heard them. Shane kept saying he wanted the playroom clean so Santa could leave presents in there, so he cleaned it all by himself that night, Santa left presents :-). When they went in to open them they saw the bells Santa left and were ecstatic! It was great. Anyway, after our bell failure we just went in and woke up Canberra first. She just wanted to sleep so we left her and went into the boys room. As soon as I opened the door Shane popped his head up and said he heard Santa say Ho HO HO and he sounded like Daddy! It was great. He then continued to tell us that he heard Santa's bells and heard when Santa dropped them! We tried so hard not to laugh! All this time we thought they were sleeping through it! Seth did but NOT Shane. He told us he heard Santa's sleigh and it sounded like it was in Mommy and Daddy's room. We just told him Santa just went over our room so he wouldn't wake them up. A part of us wants to think Shane knew what was going on but was playing it up with us for fun. Who knows. But the bells in the playroom sure got them thinking. That is another story in it's self! When the kids walked into the main room we wanted the bells to ring as though Santa just left. We tried to pull the bells off the window seal with some thread but the thread come off. Nice. So I had to sneak into the room and knock the bells off and hide in the laundry room until they went back by the tree. It worked! They didn't even notice I was gone. They went back into the family room and looked puzzled when they saw that none of the presents had tags on them. Shane quickly noticed their names hanging on the tree with a ribbon tied to them. Each one had a specific ribbon color for their presents. Shane thought Santa was so smart for doing it that way! Each year they will get a different ribbon color to their name. It's so fun! That way when they are older and we can have presents under the tree no one will know which is theirs. I will have more pictures to post once I get them from my parents.


Here are the key chain names I had made at Zazzle with their ribbon color tied to them hanging under the tree...
We wrapped Mia's cage with all thier ribbon colors... Shane knew that she was for ALL of them.


It's tradition in Daniel's family growing up that the stockings were on the couch. They also always had a drink. So the kids got candy, 100% grape juice and a toothbrush with stickers and a cool ball.
Here we put 1 present for each of them in the playroom just what Shane was hoping for...

Canberra didn't want to wake up yet so we left her in bed while we got the boys...


Zander waking up...
Shane... who was wide awake waiting for us to wake up...

Seth actually woke up for us this time!

Here are Santa's bells that were left in the playroom...

I made sticker books for each of the kids so they have a place other than the car windows and walls when they get stickers at the doctors office and birthday parties.

Each of the kids got a paint with water coloring book...


Canberra got a box full of My Little Pony's that I have been collecting all year... I actually found one that I had as a kid... Bubbles!


Zander and his big present...




It's all about TRANSFORMERS!!! I had been collecting them all year... Each of the boys got 2 transformers.

Zander sharing his bow...

Canberra brushing her Annie dolls hair...

Touch and feel books... LOVE THEM!

I took videos of when they finally noticed the ribbons around Mia's cage. They didn't think anything was in there but then Mia stuck her little nose out of her box. The kids were so excited! Especially Zander! He got the biggest kick when Mia started to HOP around back and forth really quick. She sure put on a show for them!




You HAVE to give your rats LOTS of kisses...




We held Mia for a little while waiting for 7:00 to come around to head to my parents house. I put her back into her cage and as I was walking out the door noticed she was up at the top all cute. So I couldn't just leave her there. I took her with us and she stayed on my shoulder the entire time.

Christmas at my parents house...

Now... where do we start...

Savanna...
Canberra and Mariah
Tanna and baby Macy...
Shane got what he really wanted... A talking microscope. What's up with my eyebrow???

I swear I can't have a picture of me without my EYEBROW sticking up! I hate it!!!

Every year I get my parents and sisters a calendar of the kids throughout the year. Some of them are funny and some are just really good pictures that I've taken during the year. I don't post them on my blog so it's a surprise to everyone. I love to see the expressions on their faces when they look through.



Seth got the talking Telescope...

Canberra LOVES her baby doll. She got an adorable little baby stroller to put her in and pushes her all over the house!
Gotta LOVE the expression on Daniels face when he got his Costa Rica Lizano Salsa! Boy that stuff is GREAT! YUMMY! I also got Daniel a book in Spanish so he can keep up on his Spanish and a leather "MAN BAG" so he doesn't have to carry 20 pens, 2 phones, tape measures and his pocket knife in his front pockets anymore! He got me a pair of black high heal shoes I saw but didn't have the money to get them so I sadly put them back on the shelf. Yay!!! I can't wait to wear them on Sunday! They are so cute!


This was a project I have been working on for months for my parents. I went to a tile place downtown and picked out my flowers, one for each of my parents grandchildren and placed them in order of birth. Shane, Savanna, Seth, Canberra, Zander and baby MACEY CLARE WALKER. I had to pick out a rock that would fit all the flowers and then a few more for the future grandchildren. Then I put grout on it. I think it turned out great! It was so fun! My parents put it right by their front door in the entry way.

Back at the house... Zander holding Mia. He is so gently with her... it's really cute to watch him. He is that way with babies too, he just loves them and is so gentle with them. Mia is a good little girl. I held her on my shoulder the entire time we were opening presents at my moms house. She just snuggled up against my neck in my hair and slept there the entire time!