Christmas 2012

This year was a Walton Christmas year, and we had so much fun up in Vancouver with Dan’s family.  We flew out Friday night, Dec. 21st, and didn’t fly home until January 1st, so we had a nice long relaxing break.

Family Pictures on Sunday, December 23rd:       

On Christmas Eve we Skyped with the Johnson’s in Germany,

had a delicious dinner,

acted out the nativity,

and of course, made our Wonderful Walton Christmas video (see previous post:).  It was a fun day.

Christmas Morning:

The kids were so excited Christmas morning!!

I just love those first reactions as they come down the stairs and see what Santa has brought! 

James found his new Strider bike and immediately started riding it around the house.  He loved it!  

I also love their reactions to their stockings.  They’re so excited as they pull out each item.  “Look!  Tic Tacs!”  My kids are actually really into Tic Tacs right now.  Or, “Oh my gosh!  Pencils!!”  “A new tooth brush!!”  Anything is fun and cool if it comes out of a stocking:)

Then we got started on the presents.  We had a lot of presents with everyone there, and it definitely took a few hours.  We didn’t get tons of pictures, but let’s just say everyone got lots of fun stuff!     

One of our favorite gifts this year – a handmade growth chart from Scott & Elisha and Amy & Chris.  We’ve been wanting one of these for a while now, but haven’t found exactly what we were looking for.  Well, this is exactly what I wanted.  I love it!!  Thank you so much, you guys!   And it wasn’t even that bad getting it home on the airplane!

Brian got Elisha and I these animal oven mitts.  They were a hit and got a lot of playing time by everyone! 

This little guy just couldn’t be any cuter . . . . even being sick with a rash on Christmas!

The rest of the day was just spent hanging around in our jammies and playing with all our new things! 

Wonderful Walton Christmastime

Amy's husband, Chris, suggested that we put a little family movie together for Christmas.  After some combined brainstorming and choreography, this is what we came up with.  Merry Christmas from the Walton family!

Thanksgiving Activities

We stayed in California for two weeks, since we had the whole month of November off school.  The kids just love hanging out with their cousins. We had some good swim parties, went to some movies, did lots of shopping, helped my mom put her kitchen back together, and of course, played and played.  I managed to get the camera out for a few activities . . . . like making gingerbread houses!

There was a lot of Just Dance 4 going on, especially at night.  Kids of all ages loved it!

On Saturday we headed to the Santa Clara County Fair Grounds to check out a model train exhibition.  The kids were into it, and it kind of made Dan and I want to get a model train . . . . just something fun to go around the Christmas tree:)      

It was a great Thanksgiving break.  The time always goes by so fast!  But we’re looking forward to the Christmas season, going back to school for a few weeks, and I’m looking forward to hopefully feeling better soon:)

Thanksgiving

This year we had Thanksgiving dinner at Mike and Beth’s house.  It was a great night.

My mom, and her brother, Russ, carving the turkey:)

My awesome grandparents.

The yummy spread!

Time to dig in!

Mike and Beth, the awesome hosts.

The kids’ table.

After dinner everyone had fun playing, hanging out, and doing different activities.  The kids went to the living room and had fun playing Christmas songs on the chimes John and Kristen brought.

The big boys watched football in the family room.

While the little boys played with the marble track in the playroom.

The girls hung out and chatted in the kitchen.

And the teenagers could be found planking throughout the house!

I’ll just finish off with a picture of us three prego ladies . . . . Kristen and I are due on the exact same day, and Beth is just a few weeks ahead of us.  So fun!!  Hopefully we’ll be able to take another picture like this when are bellies are bigger!