The "Hat" Tradition

One of our fairly new traditions (started by Uncle David and Amy) is the hat tradition. On Christmas day everyone has to wear a Christmas hat...at least for a little bit. It makes cute pictures and is really fun. Every year David and Amy buy new hats the day after Thanksgiving...wear them shopping...and then add them to the Christmas hat collection. Here is a sampling of our many hats.

Christmas 2006

Wow! Has it ever been a whirlwind these past couple of weeks. I finally have a chance to sit down and journal our Christmas events.

For Lee, Krue, Kiefer, and I our Christmas goes something like this:

Christmas Eve - Go to Lee's parents lake house for appetizers, go to church, eat HUGE dinner back at the lake house, open presents, kids put on their Christmas PJ's and go to bed, we stay and socialize with all forty-some members of Lee's extended family.

Christmas Eve Night - Drive back home, go to bed.

Christmas Morning- Wake up, Krue and Kiefer see what Santa brought them, look at stockings, fire in fireplace, Christmas music, coffee and cinnamon rolls...very special time for just us!

Christmas Day - Drive to my parent's house, arrive just in time to make our VERY TRADITIONAL Christmas brunch (Cherry Turnover Team Rocks!), begin our marathon present opening...it ended around 5 or 5:30 pm this year...seriously! So much fun.

Kiefer the Elf...Christmas Eve Morning

The boys all dressed up for Church on Christmas Eve
Kiefer's Christmas PJ's
Christmas Morning...Santa Presents!



Coming down the stairs to see what Santa brought (out of order)
Krue waking Kiefer up Christmas morning

My cousin Melissa with Krue and Kiefer
A shirt for Uncle David from Krue.

(David always does a Moooohahaha laugh with Krue!)
The Infamous Cherry Turnover Team!
Mamaw and all of her Grandchildren Christmas Day

Krue opening presents
I love dill pickles and get several jars of them every year from my Uncle David.
Krue got a really cool piano from Baba and Papa Joe!
Aunt Ali teaching Krue how to "move".
Lee did a little "movin" with some help from cousin Maralee and Dance Dance Revolution!

It was a wonderful Christmas for all of us!

Krue's Christmas Program

Last Wednesday was Krue's Christmas program and party at preschool. His class had a 15 minute program with cute songs and movements. The kids hardly sang (the large audience was pretty overwhelming for a 7 two year olds) but it was still really cute. I was proud of Krue and Lauren because they were the only two up there that did all of the motions and sang so we could occasionally hear them. Krue puts on quite a performance for us at home so we know he can do it! Afterwards, the class had a fun party with lots of treats and games. Would you believe that Santa showed up again! I told Krue that he must be a good boy because that Santa Clause keeps following him around everywhere he goes :)

Kiefer cracks me up in this picture. You can just tell what is on his mind!

Have a Wonderful Christmas! Ho Ho Ho

Elkins Christmas

Last Sunday we celebrated Christmas with my dad's side of the family (The Elkins). My mom and dad hosted a wonderful party. Santa even showed up!

Kiefer was amazed with Santa. He just starred at him the entire time!
Krue was a little stand-offish with Santa.

My sister, Ali, took Krue up to see him...but I couldn't get a good picture.

Here are all the great-grandchildren at our party. Our Elkins side of the family is growing! Five of the children are under 1 1/2 years. It will be interesting next year!

It was so nice to visit with this side of my family. We only get to see these relatives once or twice a year.

Habanera Christmas Party 2006

Last Saturday Lee and I attended our second Habanera Christmas party. Habanera is a club in town made up of business people that get together four times a year for themed parties. It is really fun for us because we are in the club with our really good friends and neighbors, Neal and Melanie Blythe. It is a chance for all of us to get glammed up and go out with no kids for a night. So nice!

Christmas Is Almost Here!

The boys are getting excited for Christmas! Krue likes the decorations, lights, and festivities. Kiefer likes the wrapping paper and paper ornaments :) Krue is really starting to understand what Christmas is all about this year...most importantly, the birth of Jesus.

The boys sitting in front of our Christmas tree.
Our babysitter, Erin, bought a gingerbread house for Krue to decorate with her.
They did a great job! How nice of Erin to do this for Krue.

Kiefer's Favorite Things

As many of you know, I love to take pictures! Especially of my boys. Here are some fun shots I have captured of Kiefer over the past month.

Some of Kiefer's favorite things:

Eating toast in his highchair...
...a good massage from Baba...
...crawling backwards...and winding up in the funniest of places...

...taking baths...
...playing with soft, stuffed animals...
...and reading a good book.

Just a happy little guy!

A Week of Firsts...

This has been an eventful week for little Kiefer. He has experienced two things for the first time ever! His first haircut and opening his first present.

Lee's Aunt Shelly cut Kiefer's hair for the first time. Nothing major...just a trim. Kiefer sat on his Daddy's lap and held very still. (The buzzing from the clippers was pretty tempting to look at though!)

While we were visiting my parent's house this week, Kiefer had an explosive diaper incident. (Funny, haven't we heard of this happening before? Luckily I had plenty of space and helping hands this time.)
I forgot an extra change of clothing...so my mom brilliantly pulled out a Christmas present she had wrapped for Kiefer. This was his first time opening a present and he had so much fun with the bow and the paper. He just tore into it and enjoyed tasting everything. The package contained a bunch of cute outfits and a board book.
Thanks, Baba, for saving the day!

Dear Santa

Dear Santa,

I've been a very good boy this year. Please bring me the following:

A Christmas Tree
Baba (Grandma Elkins)
A Basketball
Kiefer & Mommy
Mrs. Funk (Preschool Teacher)
A Birthday Machine that goes around, around, and clap, clap, clap (From Little Einsteins)
The "clapping piece" from the Birthday Machine (I don't know why?)
Winnie the Pooh
A Merry Go Round
A Waterfall
Leo & Annie (From Little Einsteins)
A T.V. (Geesh)
A Kitchen
Flowers

Love, Krue

(As told to Mommy on Dec. 1, 2006 Age 2 1/2)