Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Post Christmas Fun

Sunday morning found us all together again as a family before, sadly, this beautiful weekend would come to a close. We, again, laughed hysterically.....I totally missed video taping Will putting Emery's school glasses on, while using the ruler as a pointer, and having the kids line up on the floor while he had them say in unison: "It don't matter if your black or white {which he had written on the chalkboard}......then he busted out in dance and song! Maybe you're not laughing at all and it's more of that "you had to be there moments" but oh my gracious you sooooo should have been here!!
We ate and relaxed and visited before saying good bye to everyone.
Then I was far to sad to clean up the crazy mess in our house and there was too much fluffy white stuff outside to stay inside. We bundled up & headed out to find some hills to race down!
Post 1st run down the hill!!
Emery's 1st run down........
.......the aftermath of her daddy pushing her 4 year old body waaaayyyy toooo fast!
The only thing that could have made the sledding a bit more fun was to have had 4 sleds instead of 2 but who needs a sled when you can go down on your belly!
We found a small jump that we took turns on......
Probably more funny to watch than funny to experience!
Just by chance our friends Chris and Stephanie Gehrke came sledding to the same spot we were at and we all got in some good laughs at each other! We did one couples race......Jon and I were laying on our bellies face 1st.....me lying on top of him! Pretty funny and we WON!
Wouldn't it be great to be a kid and carried back up the hill?
The girls rolled around in the snow one more time before we headed home for some hot chocolate/cider!
We hope to see much more of you white fluffy stuff.....you make the Hughes family EXTREMELY happy!
Just in case you need to laugh at someone else's expense please view below video's which Jon so kindly taped of me going over the jump!

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Christmas at the In-Laws

After a few quiet hours at our own home Christmas morning we headed over to the In-Laws!
We drove through a winter wonderland.....literally oooooing and awwwwing at the beautiful white fluffy stuff that had dumped on us!
Hughes offspring....sometimes it's just not possible for everyone to smile AND look at the camera at the same time!
Brax got the best gift of all.....his own jumpy donkey!
The original Hughes 4!
Over lunch we had a perfect view that we could not WAIT to get out in
These girls are like dogs.....let them loose in snow and all they want to do is eat it and lay in it!
We bundled up, really, we each have like 4 or 5 layers on & we were ready for a fun afternoon!
Some of us weren't as prepared & had to borrow gear from the older folks & froze their backsides off but had fun none the less!
We found a perfect kid size hill and sledded forwards and backwards and sideways and double and triple and single and standing and on knees and on bikes and on feet and side by side......well I guess you could say we had some fun!
And since we were in a meadow of sorts, we found it only appropriate to build one while singing "In the meadow we can build a snowman......" kinda in a joking way but it's really what we were doing!
He's perfect right?!!
Well we love him anyways
After coming in to warm up I realized that work had called and needed me to come play......so as sad as I was to leave my family and the fun we were having I was thankful for the time I did have at home! When I arrived at work someone was transferred in from an outlying hospital, in full blown labor, too early to save her baby, on Christmas Day. They had tried so hard to get pregnant but couldn't, started and almost finished with the adoption process, found out they were pregnant, cancelled the adoption, and now lost their baby, on Christmas Day. I don't know why things happen when they do, why they do, or how they do. But I was soooo quickly reminded of what I have to be thankful for, even 4 hours at work......

Jon and the girls picked me up from work and we ended the night at my sisters house......having hula hooping contests, snuggling, eating, talking, and LAUGHING HYSTERICALLY! I told you we really had a perfect weekend!

We arrived home to this, not sure I can let the magic of Christmas go this year.....I'm sad about it, thankfully we don't take decorations down till New Years Day.....so I can relish in it for a few more days!
Hope your day was merry and bright!
I was woken up with a beautiful gift Christmas morning.....a phone call from work telling me I could stay home for a few hours! My babes were quite upset in the days leading up to Christmas because I had to work. So you can imagine my heart was overflowing when they were most excited to see me lying in bed as they burst into our room at the lovely {I type that with the utmost sincerity} hour of 8:30 am!

2nd on the list was this BEAUTY!! Our 1st White Christmas as a family!! I grew up with more white ones than not but here in TN it's rare to see a flake of snow much less a WHITE CHRISTMAS!!
We then observed the mess of that old jolly man!
Kayden had wanted him to leave a written response to her note {which he did not!} but turned and looked at the logs and said "well that's his response"!!
I'm always amazed every year that the stocking stuffers seem to bring the biggest smiles!
The girls were unsure as to what this strap was that Santa left behind.......
until they found their guitars!
Daddy might have been just a wee bit excited too!
Thinking of gifts to give this year proved quite simple as they each have their own interests!
For Kayden that has been creating and sewing.....using any leftover scraps of mine that she could get her hands on! LOVE IT! So when I found an old suitcase, in perfect condition, at a thrift store several months ago I knew exactly what would fill it's space!
An array of fabrics, yarn, scissors,
jar of buttons, button makers, cutting board, ruler, measuring tape
various shades of thread, embroidery loop, needles, ribbon, ect! She was in AWE! Really!
For Emery it's been all things classroom related, she has spent hours playing school. Both alone and with her sister!
So a chalkboard wall was painted late Christmas Eve!
Our friend whipped up this BEAUTIFUL kid size podium with her initial!
and she was gifted all sorts of paper, teacher glasses, jar of chalk, eraser,
a file and folders,
stapler with pink staples, highlighters, pens, pencils, scissors, tape and tape holder, glue, ect!
Next came their blankets and they were SOOO happy of course it made me smile!!
One last thing I made was pillow sized ugly dolls.....sewn from thrifted vintage pillow cases and left over felt, yarn, and buttons!
Instant fun!
And for the next couple hours I sat back and smiled as I watched them enjoy this mostly home made Christmas!