An Early Christmas

On Dec. 19th, we went up to Dad & Mom Beck's house so we could open the presents that they had for us. We always have such a great time at their house and have a hard time leaving. Thanks for the great presents - we loved them all.

Bradley loves to follow Aunt Melissa around and won't let her out of his sight when he is with her. Luckily she is fine with it or we would have a case of stalking on our hands:).What a relaxing and enjoyable morning! The kids let us sleep until 7:00 a.m. and then we headed out into the hall. The kids all formed a line youngest to oldest to enter the living room. I just love watching them enter to see the looks of amazement on their faces when they realize what Santa has left for them. Tanner was so excited for his new skateboard. He had a small one, but has wanted a larger one for quite some time now. We just have to wait for warmer weather for him to try it out.

Bradley got a train set. He has had so much fun sticking the trains together and pulling them around the house.
Parker - our Batman boy- he lives, sleeps and breaths batman. He was so excited for his new toy - a Batman mask and mega cape. When the straps are pulled on the cape and the wings fly out. He was having so much fun with his new toy that he didn't realize the wing span and was knocking things over:).
Camille got some dishes for Christmas. She has started to spend every waking moment in the kitchen. The last few nights she has been so gracious to make dinner for us. Camille will get some good use out of these.
Johnathan got a Star Wars Lego set. He is so excited to put this together - Johnathan is really good with his hands and can create some incredible things.
Carter got a small guitar. Tanner has a ukulele and enjoys playing it, but wanted something of his own. He has loved carrying it around and playing fun songs he has made up. Camille even taught him how to play "Mary Had a Little Lamb."

After all the presents were open, the craziness started. Our original plan was to leave for California early Christmas morning, but a huge storm was coming through on Christmas day. Instead of getting stuck in it, we decided to leave by 2:00 that afternoon. Packing is no easy feat with 8 people. Luckily the kids are getting older where they can pretty much pack everything up themselves and I end up looking over their bags after they are done. There were some VERY stressful moments, but we were finally ready to leave around 2:30 p.m. Thanks Melissa for all your help during those stressful moments.