Very Long Christmas Post

I am warning you now, that this is going to be a REALLY long post.  But it has a LOT of pictures, so it balances out.

CHRISTMAS PREPARATIONS

We have had a very good Christmas season.  Once my implant was done and we got back from being out of town, we went into full swing Christmas mode. 

We made Rice Crispy treats for the neighbors.  Xander wanted one purple batch, so we have purple, green and red rice crispies that we took to all the neighbors.

Jareds family has a tradition of making Ham Loaf for Christmas (like a meatloaf, but out of ham).  Here is the picture of the hamloaf before I glazed it and cooked it.  (I didn't make the homemade wheat rolls though, I just used Rhodes rolls).  I think it turned out good.

CHRISTMAS EVE

We spent Christmas Eve at my parents house.  It was supposed to be my whole family (the first time we were all together in a VERY, VERY long time (actually Jared's family gets together more frequently than all of my family)).  But Leisa got really sick, and stayed home puking.  Poor Leisa.

Here is my sister Emily, Crystal and my mom.

Xander got some AWESOME new batman pajamas.  Here he is showing them off.

And here is Xander telling Grandma thanks for the pjs.

CHRISTMAS DAY

Here is a view of our very, very blessed Christmas.  

Jared got a Lego Batmobile set that he had been asking for.
Xander got a "Bat cave".  It came with a Batman, Robin, Batbike, Command Center, and three levels of fun!  He LOVES it.  He won't let Batman or Robin out of his site.  He takes them to bed, outside, EVERYWHERE!

Here is a picture of the other random smattering of things we got (board games, cookie cutter set, movies, video games, and toy dart guns.)

Xander also got a Batman fighting toy thingy (you know the ones you hit and they bounce back up).  Oh, and if you can't tell Xander is REALLY, REALLY into Batman right now.  I think it is because he LOVES to play Lego Batman.

We also got a race track for his cars.

Here are Xander and Daddy putting together Lego's.

Xander and Mom playing Ultimate Band on the Wii (this is the game Jared's company just finished).  It is pretty fun.  My arms got sore.

Then here is Jared putting together his 1078 piece batmobile set.  He has been working on it for about 4 hours, and is half way done.

DAY AFTER CHRISTMAS

The day after Christmas my brother Ike and his family came down, and the adults went out to eat while Crystal and Emily babysat the kids.  It was a LOT of fun.  We went to Outback, and the food was DELICIOUS!!!

Afterwards we came back to our place and played for a little bit (until Jared's scheduled WoW Raid).  Here is Jared and JJ playing with the dart guns.

And Xandra, Xander and JJ playing with the Batcave.

The AWESOME babysitters (they are both single if you know any interested young men).

Then we played ultimate band together.  Xandra was going to town dancing along while we played.  You can't tell from the pictures, but it was ADORABLE!!!

TODAY

Then today, I decided I HAD to fix our sofa set.  For those of you who come here often, you know the back cushions are ALWAYS sinking in.  It has gotten so bad lately, that when you sit down, you get the support bar in your back, and not a cushion.  I couldn't take it any more.  So I ripped off the back cushions to find out why.  This is what I found.

The only thing holding the cushions in place were those green straps, and the cushions were just falling right between them, and making it so there was no cushion at all.  So we went to Lowes and bought some boards, and I placed them in the sofa to fill those holes like so:

Then I had picked up fabric and we covered the boards, and it looks and feels brand new:
Anyhow, like I said it has been pretty eventful around here.  I haven't even had a chance to post pictures since our Gingerbread Party on the 6th  (YIPES!)  Speaking of parties, we are having a New Years Party at our place.  Anyone who wants to come is invited.  We will be making homemade root beer and playing games. 

Well, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!