Baker Christmas

Schedules worked out this year for our Baker Family Christmas to be on Christmas Day. It was nice to have a reason to put off cleaning up the wrapping mess at home for another day! We headed over and, as usual, Dad had a big scavenger hunt planned. I didn't get to photograph like normal because I was a participant and I was running like mad trying to help Cade get to his clues! Cade and Elaina both won a grand prize of m&m's and a target gift card. 

Pile o' peeps after hustling in the hunt:

In an after dinner game Elaina got a fake mustache and she thought she looked just like grandpa! Ha! Twins:)

Mom read us a children's storybook version of the story of Jesus's birth. 

And then it was time for presents! 

The boys racked up this year scoring some awesome remote control boats from Aunt Tracie and Uncle Jared.

Elaina got everything she ever wanted when she got an Elsa dress and Elsa barbie doll! 

Plus the sweetest little book!

 Jared got some prints for his office....hey! He said he wanted a picture of a liver! (And just so you don't miss him, there's Grant- Mr. "I don't want to be in any pictures!"- he WAS at Christmas:)

 My Daddy-o

and two of my most favorite people:)

A Christmas Day picture of all the gals:

Tracie and I were trying to get a sister pic but someone was all cute and photobombed us! 

 Ahh.... there we go! What about that new hair color Tracie's sporting? I like it! 

 We wrapped up a great Christmas with family. I love nothing more! The next morning, despite the cold, these 3 were working their boats. Pretty cool! 

Christmas Morning!

This year our Christmas tree was a little janky. I put it up and only half of the lights worked. So, I strung some extra lights on it to mask the problem. It was golden for about a week and then something blew and we only had a couple sections of lights. Oh well. It was too late to be buying a new tree and redecorating so we just embraced it. Santa dropped off a few gifts even though it was poorly lit:)

The kids were all piled in one bed waiting for the moment they were allowed to run downstairs.

We read the bible story, sang Happy Birthday to Jesus, said a prayer of thanksgiving and then they were off! 

A few nights before Christmas we were eating dinner when Elaina, out of the blue, puts her finger to her lips and said, "SHHHH. It's a seeeecret." I said, 

"What's a secret?" and she said, "there's a baby crib in your closet and it's a surprise, so shhhh." So, because I'm an awesome mom I told her it wasn't for her, it was for Amelia and that she shouldn't tell her about it. She put her head down on the table and cried. What a pity... But, look! I made it all better just a few days later!  

Bony Marony and Grant both got just what they wanted but never in a million years thought they'd get....ipad minis.

Stocking loot:

Cade is a money collector so that's what he got this year. I never thought it'd be so hard to buy for an 11 year old but it was! He's saving money to buy a car.....he IS his father's child! 

Along with his ipad, Grant got a video game he'd been wanting. 

And, my favorite present of all at Christmas. Straight out of his piggy bank and stuck right in my stocking. I love that kid! 

Christmas Eve

We headed to Bob and Elizabeth's for Christmas Eve festivities as usual. The kids always love the time they get to spend with their cousins. 

Elaina enjoys playing with Amelia. I'm sure Amelia gets tired of playing dolls and "little kid" stuff with her but she seems to tolerate Elaina following her around everywhere pretty well:) 

The Crew with Nana and Papa:

I had more pictures and then unfortunately accidentally deleted my memory card:( So, I stole just a few from Wendy. She had this one of Elaina opening her present. 

Lanie picked out her own outfit for Christmas Eve and she requested that her hair be in a "hotbun". I obliged and styled it for her but I refused to spray it with sparkle glitter like she asked. Girl likes some sparkle!

 That evening we headed to the candle light service at Zion as is tradition. The kids have become so much more well behaved as the years have gone by! This was Elaina's first time to actually get a candle of her own. She was mesmerized.

It's a wonder we even let Rhett have one of HIS own. He's still a nutty kid when it comes to fire and scissors. There's just a crazy streak running through his veins:)

It was a great night of celebrating Jesus's birthday and hanging with family. That's all Christmas is about! 

The Making of the Christmas Card 2013

I had every intention of taking the kids to the park or something and taking some great pictures of them for our Christmas card this year. But, as always, life happened and the next thing you know Christmas is in a couple weeks and we have to snap a spur of the moment shot for the card. Oh, well. Spur of the moment is better that no moment at all! I coaxed the kids outside on an afternoon that was about a high of 32 degrees. It was FREEZING! 

 Even thought they complained everyone gave me a good smile for at least these three photos. 

 This ended up being the picture I used for the card only for the mere fact that looking at it makes me smile and feel all happy inside. It just looks fun!:)

Another year's Christmas card in the books. Ahhh. Sigh.

Gymnastics!!

One of the best things we did this year was enrolling Elaina in gymnastics. She LOVES it. The kids get trophies once they have been there for a year and we had not quite made it to the year mark at the trophy presentation but that didn't stop her excitement. She was over the top about the blue ribbon. I wanted to document not only the blue ribbon, but the fact that she refuses to remove her granny panties when wearing her leotard. It's really ridiculous looking but, hey, sometimes you have to choose your battles and this is one I'm backing down from. Granny panties or not she's the cutest gymnast out there:)

Wedding Fun

Bobby and I were excited to have a weekend away in Atlanta together to attend Daniel's wedding. I always enjoy a good date night but date weekend is even better! 

It's even better when it's date weekend with good friends:) We had a pre-wedding dessert party the night before the big day. It was a good time catching up with several friends I haven't seen in a while. 

This wedding was "black tie" and I honestly have never spent so much time (or money for that matter) getting myself ready for a wedding that I wasn't actually in! It was fun getting fancied up though. 

 I really loved my dress and I hope that I can find somewhere to wear it again. It's too pretty to just hang in the closet for the rest of my life. I may wear it to the Mother's Day Lunch at the boys' school. That wouldn't be awkward at all.

 We took a trolley from the hotel to the hotel where the wedding was taking place. 

It's fun going to a baseball player's wedding because you can do things like take a selfie with Chipper Jones in the background:) 

I didn't really get any pictures of the ceremony but it was beautiful....straight out of a magazine really. 

I caught up with more friends at the reception.

And, got a quick pic with the groom in his second wedding day outfit that included some ridiculous shoes. 

 The reception was like a winter wonderland and my cell phone depicts it poorly but you can get the gist of the grandeur. 

Second dress, second tux, high dolla' shoes.

Bobby and me (Bobby would like to add the disclaimer to this picture that he's not as large as he appears. It seems that my dress and his tux are blending together creating the same phenomena that added twenty pounds to him in my senior prom picture). 

 Fun, fancy weekend with friends!