Jelly Beans

For Christmas, Ry got a pair of roller blades, so. . .since Madeline already had a pair, we took advantage of some expiring coupons and went to JellyBeans twice the week after Christmas.  It was so fun to watch them learn and get the hang of skating, though my boy sometimes gives me heart palpitations!

Doing the Hokie Pokie!

I love his passion!

Christmas 2010

Whoa. . .it SuperHero Squad II for wii!!!

Transformer walkie talkies. . .AWESOME. . .now if only he could learn to press the button down when he talks, and let go of it when he's done. . .so cute.

It's craft time for the girls.

I have no idea what she's opening here, but what a cute and funny face!

Kinex!

Mommy's sweet babies and husband surprise her with a special gift!  The best part was seeing how excited they were to give it to me and watch me open it.  I LOOOOOOVE my family.

No longer will we just play this game in the aisles of every Target we enter, because we now own it.  BopIt, here we come!!!

Oh my goodness, now Mommy and Maddie have matching boots, and you know we are going to wear them together.  Watch out because soon we'll also have matching earrings!

Christmas Day at the Wells' brought great joy and excitement as we celebrated Jesus' birthday.  As soon as Madeline and Ryan woke up, they ran into our room excited to see if Santa had come.  After going down to turn on the coffee pot and the tree and garland lights, we let them come down and see for themselves whether or not Santa had come.  Of course, they were beyond excited to see that he had come and that he and the reindeers had snacked on the cookies and carrots we had put out for them.  Once all the gifts were opened, we told them that they had one more gift from Mommy and Daddy that was in the basement.  We led them down, and their reactions were priceless when they laid eyes on the trampoline.  There were lots and lots of squeals and screams and jumps.  

A few hours later, we had a wonderful lunch of ham, carrot souffle, rolls, stuffing, potato cheese soup, and sesame seed green beans.  For dessert we had angel food cake with strawberries and whipped cream.  And as another surprise we told Madeline and Ryan that we were taking them to the movies to see Tangled.  It was such fun.  We love to see them belly laugh at movies, and Tangled had many moments that provoked those precious laughs.  That night we took Bobo for a walk and enjoyed hanging out together and talking about Jesus and how wonderful it is to celebrate his birthday.  It was a very, very special day.  We are so grateful for our sweet family.  Even little Ry said, "I love our family", over and over again.  Hearing that, of course, makes our hearts do flip flops.  Too precious.  Thank you, Jesus for these special days.

Christmas Eve 2010

Madeline and Ryan spend hours each week playing figures.  To add to their collection, Madeline got Ryan a few new figures.  Ryan holds up Goliath.

Ryan watches as Madeline opens up the earrings he picked out for her.  I love the expression on both of their faces.

It is so fun to give gifts to Madeline because she just LOVES them.  Here she is reacting to another pair of earrings from Ryan.

The gifts they got each other this year.  So sweet.  We love their love for one another.

Daddy marvels at his new bottle of cologne. 

Daddy loves his sweet babies.

Christmas Eve slumber party in Madeline's room.

Of course, Bobo wants in on the action.

 

Christmas Eve was a wonderful family day.  We had homemade Cinnabons for breakfast and spent the whole day anticipating Christmas.  We worshiped at The Summit as a family, which was a really special experience.  It was the first time Madeline had worshiped with us, and I could tell she was moved by it.  She even raised her hands in worship and shared afterwards that it was an incredible time.  Following the service, we stopped at Sheetz for chai teas and headed home to exchange some family presents.

Gingerbread House Decorating

RyRy squeezes icing onto the gingerbread house.  What the picture does not capture is him squeezing so hard that the icing squirts out of the top of the bag.

My pretty princess.  She loves to decorate and create a piece of artwork.  She takes her time, thinking about where to place each drop of icing and how to arrange the candies to decorate.  I love watching her. 

The Gingerbread Makers.

RyRy Makin' Us Laugh

This morning, while playing 'keep the balloon in the air', Ryan states, "Come to Papa" to the balloon.  I guess he heard the phrase somewhere.  Oh my goodness, I laughed SOOOOOOOOO hard!!!

Madeline's Birthday Party

This year Madeline wanted a snowflake party, hence the Tarheel blue and white decor.  I think Daddy has more of an effect on her than she thinks. . .Tarheel blue seems to be invading our home.  And do you notice the hanging snowflakes.  Those were Madeline's idea and they were fabulous.  She used cookie cutters to cut them out.  My creative sweet pea.

Girls love crafts.  We colored ceramic Christmas ornaments, and made foam picture frames.  Madeline, of course, chose the angel ornament.  She really loves angels right now.

Her sweet friends watch her open presents.

Take a deep breath and BLOW.  How special is this?  Madeline wanted a snowflake birthday party, and it actually SNOWED during her party.  The pinata had to be canceled, but it was worth it.  Thank you Lord for this extra special blessing!  Madeline is so sweet at her parties.  She just LOVES having all of her friends in one place at the same time. I think she is more of an introvert than an extrovert, but she does get energized by having all her friends together.  It is a special blessing to watch as a parent.

Ha, ha

Last week the 3 of us went to Jason's Deli for lunch.  I noticed some plain clothing police officers carrying weapons.  I discreetly pointed them out to Madeline and Ryan, and specifically highlighted their guns.  Madeline then piped in, ". . .and look at their handkerchiefs!".  All I have to say is that it is a good thing there was no food or drink in my mouth, because it would have found it's way out.  I laughed so hard.  She thought that handcuffs were called handkerchiefs.  Of course, now it is a fun thing we joke about at home.