Christmas Night with the Kudrons

Mike and Nancy volunteered to have Christmas dinner at their house.  It was fabulous!  The cousins all had a great time.  It's unbelievable how big all the kids seemed this year.  Growing up WAY too fast if you ask me!

Grandpa and Uncle Steve

The kid table... it's so funny to listen to their conversations.  This year, Cameron ruled the table.  He had the ladies all under his spell.  It was adorable.

Nona and Nancy

The Cousins

Cameron and Daddy (Uncle Mike)



Oh my, oh my... look at this teenagers!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone!

Christmas Morning Extravaganza

Christmas morning came all too quick after a restless night's sleep but that didn't stop these bright eyed, bushy tailed creatures.  The hardest part is having to wait to come down the stairs until all the cameras, video cameras, and spectators are in position.

We had to get a picture with Nona too because she had matching jammies too... what a coincidence!

A look at the Santa Loot!

A picture says a thousand words, right?

Grandpa tuned Charlie's new guitar!

Guitar lessons, watch out... here comes Rockstar Charlie ready to take on the world!

Switching venues...Moving on to the presents under the tree

Charlie's special present for mommy and daddy!

Since Mommy couldn't take the girls shopping this year, we opted to make presents for Daddy

Updated photos for everyone! 

The Kindle Fire... the most prized gift for both girls this Christmas

Charlie loves her Kindle Fire too!

Trying out the new beanbags and the Kindles right off the bat!

You gotta love Christmas morning!

The Gift of Grandparents on Christmas Eve

This year, the girls were lucky to have both sets of grandparents here to help us prepare for Santa's big arrival with a little Christmas Eve cheer.  It was a perfectly relaxing night for all.

Gigi brought materials to help the girls make sugar cookies to leave out for Santa.  The little Grace elves helped prepare just the perfect combination of cookie, frosting, and sprinkles.... or better to say frosting, sprinkles and cookie.  haha

Now on to preparing the table for the feast... Steve had a great idea.  We had Fish Company clam chowder for dinner.  It turned out to be the perfect meal for the evening.  Not too much to make one overly full.  And no mess since mommy is on crutches and isn't much help for cooking or cleaning.

Talking politics...like always

Gettin' some special Nona time...

And some special Gigi time...

Just the boys!

A surprise visitor!  Coach Hailey came by to drop off some Christmas goodies!

And the girls had a present for her too!

"Smile!"

Time to open the special Christmas Eve jammies.  Thanks to Gigi for getting them for the girls this year! 

Dinner was super yummy!

Momma even made it to the table in the wheelchair!

Time for reindeer food compliments of Mrs. Baker's kindergarten class.

We made the girls roll up their pants so they wouldn't get soaked in the grass.  Ryan even completed her outfit with Nona's blazer...

The 2011 Christmas jammies

Hunkering down watching a Christmas show before bedtime!

Good night little princesses!  Sleep tight so that Santa can come tonight (quickly!)

Christmas Brunch for the Kiddos

Earlier this month, we went to the Old Ranch Christmas Brunch with the girls and one of their friends.  The girls had a great time.  They got to decorate cookies, get balloon animals made, get their faces painted, and bounce, bounce, bounce all morning long.

Charlie, Ryan, and Ella

Ella and Ryan practicing being little ladies at the dining table.

Charlie has mastered the "pinky up" drinking posture

Yummy breakfast Ry-Ry!

Santa visited all the tables and brought gifts for all.  Our girls said, "Worst fake Santa EVER!!!"



I agree, nothing about this Santa seems real!  It's a good thing he's just one of Santa's "helpers" and not the real deal!




On to the boache houses.. that's Ryan and Charlie up top and Ella climbing the slide.



Plenty of bounce houses to go around for all.

A good spot for Momma to hunker down while the kiddos play!

Merry Christmas from the Grace Girls
(Ryan 7 1/2 and Charlie 6)

Introducing our Teacher for a Day... Miss Grace

Charlie was lucky enough to win the coveted Teacher for a Day auction item at the Fall Carnival and this past Friday was HER big day to show her teaching skills!

First up... Breakfast and "Staff Meeting" with all the real teachers and kid teachers' for a day!

Gotta rush to the class after the meeting to welcome the class in the room at 7:55 sharp.

Teacher introductions...Mrs. Baker said that she was going to sit in the back of the room with her feet up eating Bon Bons because she knew Miss Grace had it handled.

Getting ready to lead the morning events.

 Miss Grace called up students to help her with the calendar.  She was a natural.

(I wonder where she gets it!  Hmm???)

Miss Grace in charge of the daily question of the day graphing activity

Miss Grace had to take attendance and send it off to the office electronically.

The two teachers get to sit back while the students do all the work!

Miss Grace led the class in the school pledge.

And learned how she would be leading small groups in an art activity that morning.  She even got to call the kids over to the table on her own while Mrs. Baker took another group at a different table.

Miss Grace also explained what the kids would be doing at each center.

And all this happened in the first 30 minutes of school... whoa!  After that, Mommy had to go to work so no more camera action but Mrs. Baker said that Miss Grace was an excellent teacher.  She must have teacher abilities in her blood... hee, hee, hee!