This year Arlan and I were so excited to give the kids their outside play toys for Christmas...a shiny, pink motor scooter and a slammin', fast dirt bike.
Last year Trey snuck downstairs in the wee hours of the morning and discovered his Christmas gift with none of us around. I was so distraught, to say the least, so this year we had a better idea!
Fence them in!!
Can you guess who was up early and excited for Christmas to begin and who was rudely interrupted from a deep sleep.
They tore into their gifts with the speed of lightning!
And even ventured out into the cold to try out their new gifts
But the gift that they were completely in awe over and played with first and the longest was the gifts the they got each other. I took them to "Santa's workshop" several weeks ago and let them loose to pick out any gift they wanted to for the other sibling. They were so excited to give each other their gifts it was difficult to hold it a secret that long.
Both of these gifts were about a $1 but the gift came from the heart with a lot of thought about what the other would like and they LOVED these things!!
Breanne got Trey those capsules loaded with sponge figures! BUGS!
Trey got Breanne fake fingernails and decorating stickers!!I heard them each telling the other 'thank you' more then once in the course of the day for the awesome gifts they received!!
Now don't get me wrong they loved their big gifts but I'm convinced the small thoughtful gifts spoke to their hearts about love for each other!
We had a wonderful Christmas together, relaxing and playing!! The best times ever!
I am currently on Birthday overload!! We've got so many of them to celebrate in the month of December it would make your head spin. Breanne is the first one this year and it was all about Tinkerbell. (for a little girl who can't stand the thought of playing with dolls I was shocked when she decided on a Tink party...but we'll applaud her enthusiasm for traditional girlie things when they come)
Since all the cousins (even the WY ones) were attending I decided on some birthday games and this is what I came up with........a Tinkerbell Treasure Hunt with clues to the chest that was filled with pirate prizes for the boys and Tink prizes for the girls.
Here the kids are openning the chest and reading it's contents. 
We also did pin the star on the magical wand!!
Jason and Dar flew in for the holiday along with their kidos.
There are all the Beiler grandkids.
Just by looking at this photo can you tell who my neat freak with a spoon and my I love 
Every year the kids pick out the tiny cute pumpkins in the patch and as much as I try to talk them out of it they become too attached to the small ones and I cave every time! Unfortunately when Arlan saw the size of them he turned red in the forehead meaning.. How the heck am I going to carve those things, Dana!! So out came the power tools.
This was Bre's first year to enter and they were practicing hard in hopes to get the "blue" ribbon as they put it!
Well, as you can see we got "green"....do you see the "I'll smile even though I'm disappointed" face here. She got over it by the time we hit the rides.
Trey was doing good but kept stopping at the finish line before his sled got over too. I think he had a misunderstanding when it came to the "rules" conversation.
Anyway, he got green too and we were on our way. Better luck next year.
But we were hungry after the show (despite the free Twizzlers they handed out to the kids afterwards) and headed to the Creamery for yummy ice cream. That was our lunch....you got a problem with that?
Breanne sure didn't!! Although I'm sure my mom went home and consumed something healthy and bland tasting to even out her splurge......notice I said my "mom" did that....I didn't....you got a problem with that?
Look closely at the torn up grass and our crazy dog laying right in the line of fire.
