Sunday, December 29, 2013

Riley's Christmas

We noticed a trend in our camera this year as all the pictures were of Riley only.  I'm always behind the camera and Matt avoids getting his picture taken so I guess it's really no surprise.
 Riley loved helping decorate the tree this year.
 The one time it snowed up here she got to help daddy shovel the driveway.  She was very excited to finally wear her "snow man pants"!  It took quite a bit of coaxing to get her back inside.
 Christmas at mom and dad's was a lot of fun.  It was great to see her get excited over her stocking and presents.
 Stickers apparently were a big hit.

 When we got home she got surprised with a new play kitchen! She loves it and plays with it everyday.  We've been having a lot of pretend sips of hot chocolate and apple juice.
She was also surprised with a a Little People barn and play house.
Thank you to everyone for a wonderful and memorable Christmas!

Christmas in Caldwell!

 Welcome to our Winter Wonderland here in Idaho!
We had a wonderful time together, and wanted to share a few photos with you all. 

The Rowley Family pulled in Sunday evening, and the Zirkers arrived on Monday.  The Oakes family drove back and forth from their home in Meridian every day to be with us, too.  We sure missed the MacKay family!!  (We hope they had a great Christmas, too!  I'm sure it was a LOT warmer there in Las Vegas!)

My buddy!  Dallas was fascinated to see the laundry go 'round and 'round in the washer ;oD

 Everyone had fun playing Wii - even GG took a turn bowling!  We're so glad she stayed day and night with us most of the week. 

We had lots of great food, and lots of fun activities together:

All bundled up in downtown Caldwell to walk through a beautiful light display.
L to R:  Jett, Dallas, Tucker, Charlotte, Jayson, Ashley, Sue, Mandy, Brycen, Ava, Carter, Drew, Riley, Kimbre, Matt - and Steve's behind the camera!

Tucker and Jett performed several piano pieces for everyone.  They are both A.MAZ.ING!  
Our reading of Luke 2 and singing carols was a bit noisy with plenty of distractions, but we made it through.  

Happy Happy Happy!
 Then it was time for bed ... before Santa comes!  
All the grandkids opened their new Christmas jammies on Christmas Eve.

Christmas morning was SO fun!  Here's a few pics of the chaos and excitement.

 "Hey, kid - don't shoot your eye out!"
Target practice is definitely on the agenda!
 
Jett, Tucker, and Ava spent lots of time outside in freezing weather practicing their skills!  That is, until their fingers froze and they had to come in to get warmed up!
They all got the hang of it pretty quick!

Kimbre and Jett spent some time reading their new books!
 

Do these little cousins look related or what??
They certainly got their exercise each day playing on the stairs. They are such good, happy babies!

 Papa played with his RC helicopter nearly every day - Thanks GG!
He let the kids fly it, too.
Brycen on the stairs watching Papa's flying skills.
 Miss Riley - what a cutie-pie!

Little Lady Charlotte - all in pink!
 

The theater candy machine and movie posters were a big hit with everyone!  THANK YOU!
 (Notice where Carter is??  He's our climber!)

Naptime!  (this activity [?] occurred more than once ...)
 

We drove over to the lake for a walk on this beautiful, clear day.  
The lake has been frozen over for quite some time, and Papa and the kids went out to play catch for a while. 
 
The ice was really thick.  When Papa dropped a boulder on the ice, the echo under the ice sounded really cool!  Jayson cleared away a patch of snow for an ice slide.
 The sunshine felt great, but the breeze was frigid.
 It wasn't long before we all went back home to warm up.

I just had to add this picture - the proverbial "give a kid a toy and he plays with th..."    Silly Dallas!

It's been a great holiday.  Nana and Papa loved having everyone here just to relax and enjoy the season.  Thanks, everyone, for making special memories with us!  We love you all!   xoxo



Chicken Chatter

We indeed had a double yolked egg, as noted in the last Chicken Chatter post.  Here's the proof:
One of our chickens always lays an egg that is darker brown than the others.  Today she laid a beauty - our second double yolk-er this month!
Her egg was not quite as large as the previous double-yolked egg (from a different chicken), and it still amazes me that our chickens are producing so well despite the frigid temperatures this winter.  The other eggs were  normal, light brown eggs.  We're still getting four eggs per day, which came in handy over the Christmas holiday!  Yummm! 

Saturday, December 28, 2013

Jolley Family Christmas Party

MONDAY, DECEMBER 23, 2013

Jolley Christmas Party

My favorite party of the year, the Jolley Christmas Party.   It's been 4 years since we've been to one, so we were really looking forward to it.  It was the first time the Jolleys have gotten together since Grandma Jolley died.  It was strange not having her there.  I missed her.  It was great to see so much family and my cousins' kids.  Our family is so big now, we had the party in a chapel.
The program did not disappoint.  It never does.  It started with Ella and Claire doing "The 12 Days of Christmas."  It was hilarious! Bella kept saying, "mess, messy ceen up ceen up mess." 
Jacob and Lisa did a cute piano duet.
We had all the great-grandchildren sing a long together,  I was shocked that Bella went up.
Brynlee singing...
Kate and Maxwell singing.  Sweetest ever.
Mom "elfed" my Dad, Mark and Drew into a video.  She also did one for Joan and Cindy too.  The video I took of it is too long for the blog.  So so funny!
Paul, Mathew, Jordan, Darrin, Davis and Jesse did the Kmart commercial.