Christmas Day

Our kids were so excited when Christmas finally arrived! We got up around 7, and they could hardly wait to go downstairs and see if Santa had come. Here are a few traditional stair pictures.

He came!!! Alexis got Zhu, Zhu pets (this years most popular toy, and nearly impossible to find in any stores) I told Alexis I was glad it was up to Santa, because I couldn't find them anywhere =) Tori got a brand new collection of craft things, which has kept her very busy in the days since Christmas. Levi got Baukugans, his most recent obsession.

Here are some pictures we took capturing the excitement of the morning:

We had a nice relaxing morning. After checking out what Santa brought we had a yummy breakfast, and then opened up our presents to each other. The kids were so much fun to watch. Their excitement for each gift was contagious. After the opening of presents was done, we had fun playing, and putting together our fun new things.

At about 3:00 we headed over to my parent's house where the rest of my family was. We opened up our presents from my parents, as well as from our sibling and cousin gift exchange. Here are some pictures from that.

Levi, of course, had to get Mason Baukugans. He had a blast showing him how they worked =)

We had so much fun hanging out everyday with all of my siblings (minus Daniel and Charbel, who we missed terribly). Here are some of the things that we did:

• We had our annual extended Barker family Christmas party at my Grandpa Barker, and his wife Emmy's clubhouse. We always have a yummy dinner, do a service project of some sort, sing carols, and enjoy each other's company. It was a smaller group then usual this year, but it was still fun. Their are several great grandchildren around the same age now, and they all had so much fun playing together. It reminded me of when I used to have so much fun playing with my cousins at family functions when I was little. Grandpa and Emmy always get all of the great grand kids cute stuffed animals. My girls were thrilled that they got "Ty girls" which they have been wanting for a while.
• Many, Many trips to Target. I think we went at least once per day, maybe more. I love that store, as do each of my sisters and my mom. Here's a funny story from the first time that we went. Katie, Cindy and I all felt so light headed the whole time we were there. We ended up having to stop and share an old smooshed nutrigrain bar that Cindy had in her purse. As I am typing this I realized that it doesn't sound that funny. I guess you had to be there, lol.
• Making lots of yummy treats
• Eating lots of yummy treats
• Kristalyn and I spending hours making a baby blanket that should have taken an hour at the most. That darn sewing machine was on the fritz!
• Playing Bop-it
• The guys all going to see Avatar together, (minus Michael. He likes hanging out with us better)
• Saying over and over that we were going to play a game, but then ending up visiting instead.
• All of the kids hanging onto my dad's legs and him dragging them throughout the house. What a workout!
• Taking hundreds of pictures
• Just spending time together making lots of memories.

I love my family so much and it was so fun to spend the week with them! Here are some pictures that we took throughout the week in no particular order

This is my last post for 2009. Now I can start on my blog book! Happy New Year!!