Merry Christmas!

Christmas has come and gone, as has 2008, but we hope everyone had a Merry Christmas. We definitely had a Christmas filled December as we had a few gatherings here and there. I love spreading it out because it makes it last longer. The month started off with the traditional State Farm Santa visit, see previous post.

The next weekend followed with the Duffy extended family Christmas. This was the first Christmas without my Grams. Although I know she was there in spirit. It was a little sad at first to think of her not there and it really didn't hit me until the last reminder email we got that mentioned the pinata. We all met at the church in Secor and had it in the hall. We have had several events there and with the large family we have and amount of kids it is probably the best choice because it offers the most room. Each of the children got 2 gifts one from their great-aunt Myra and one from Grams. They all had fun and loved all the presents and of course the pinata. You can tell our family is very kid oriented and comprised of many teachers as there is also always crafts for the kids to make.

Kaylee playing with the Little People Nativity set.


Kaylee playing with one of her new toys. A Baby Alive that talks and comes in a carrier that you can also wear as a backpack or snuggli type of carrier. Yes she has worn it to Wal-Mart and carried her baby.

Ainsley opening one of her gifts.

Ainsley giving some "loves" to her new bear. She loves to make him sing the "ABC's".

Kaylee taking a turn at trying to break the pinata open.

All of the kids scrambling to get the candy from the broken pinata.

My Dad holding Ainsley and watching all of the other kids get all of the candy from the pinata.

My Dad, Sallie and all their grandkids. They all seem so big in this photo, the grandkids that is.

The same weekend we had Kaylee's first Montessori Children's Centre Holiday Program. This was a little surreal for me. I have been to these for the last 4 years, as a teacher, but never as a parent. So while I knew what to expect it was still a different experience for me. It was much fun and of course all the kids were cute. Kaylee did well, when she wasn't yawning. I am not sure if she was still tired from the day before or if it was all the excitement for the program, or a little of both, but in between songs she would be yawning a lot. O'well. We videotaped it, thanks to my brother (shout-out to Weezy!), however Kaylee doesn't want to watch it. I think she gets a little embarrassed. The family came back to the house to eat after. It was a fun day and looking forward to next years.

Kaylee before the program. She's not always very cooperative about posing for me so I was very pleased with this one.

This is a general photo at the program. We were waiting for it to start. I was standing in the back with my brother. I made him video it so I wanted to make sure he stood in the right spot :)
The weekend before Christmas I traditionally make cookies with my mom. This year we thought we would mix-it up a little. We decided to do presents with my mom, Tim and Brian and Sarah. This way Christmas day would hopefully be a little less overwhelming for the girls. We had much fun making cookies and doing gifts. The weather really mixed it up. We didn't have power Friday night so we trucked over to mom's and stayed Friday night. The girls and I had ran to the store after work. My phone had died because for fear we would lose power that Thursday night Brad had us stay in town and I didn't have my charger. So Brad tried to call us while we were at the store to let us know we didn't have power but was obviously not successful. We got home and learned the news and I ran inside with a flashlight to try to pack a bag for us and remember all of the gifts and cooking supplies I was going to take over on Saturday. With everything in tow, and our groceries, we headed to mom's. It all worked out fine and we were able to stay at our house Saturday. I think the girls were very EXCITED to be able to sleep in their own beds. However on Sunday we ended up back at mom's because we lost power again around 4 and by the time it came back on the girls were already asleep at mom's. Thankfully since then we have been at home. Ahhhh country living!

Ainsley playing with her baking set. My mom bought each of them their own.

Kaylee still in her PJ's. She would live in them if we let her. She was getting ready to do the sprinkles, her favorite part!

Mee-maw helping Kaylee with her new jewels she got. Every princess needs some!

Kaylee in her new PJ's. She and her Bitty Baby got matching PJ's. This was a favorite gift of hers!

Ainsley hanging out in her new chair. Mee-maw got each of the girls their own chair. Kaylee's is blue.

Ainsley with her new "My Twin" baby. She loves her babies!!

Paw-Paw T-Dogg helping Ainsley with her present. Not that she needed much help this year :)

Finally Christmas was upon us. We always go to my dad's on Christmas Eve. The kids made some snowman cookies and of course opened gifts. There was a time where each person opened one gift at a time. Thank goodness for kids that don't have the patience to do that. It's more of a free for all. It's very fun though. Kaylee is old enough to go at it herself so I aided Ainsley and Brad was able to take some arial shots of the madness.

All the kids anxiously awaiting gift opening time.

Kaylee with Great-Grandma Schelle. Ainsley would not participate in the photo.

The Busing Family. As I am labeling these I realize many of them are dark for some reason. My apologies.

Kaylee getting ready to decorate some snowman cookies. I should have taken photos of the actual cookies because they turned out very cute. There's always next year :)

Kaylee and Ainsley opening away!

Some photos from a far. It's like our own Toys R Us. This is why it's good we don't do the "one gift at a time". We would still be there :)

Doesn't Brandon look excited. Can't you just see the Christmas spirit all over his face. HEHE!

My sister Katie, her boyfriend Jason, and my niece and nephews.

Christmas morning found that Santa had been to our house. The girls must have been good this year because he left them a wonderful doll house and accessories, Ainsley got a Cabbage Patch Kid and Kaylee at Batman racetrack. They had their stockings filled and of course got a few things from Daddy and Mommy too.

This is what the girls found under the tree on Christmas morning. The house hides the rest of the gifts that were under the tree.

Santa also filled their stockings.........

Ainsley and Kaylee digging in their stockings. Santa must really be watching them because many of their stocking stuffers were little things they play with in the grocery store line while we are checking out....he's good!

Kaylee and Ainsley playing with their house. We had to move it out of the way to try to get them to stop playing with it and open the other gifts. I guess that's a good sign that Santa picked another big hit!

A couple more "present opening" action shots.....now that they can both open their gifts it is fun to watch, but still busy. Daddy videotapes while I assist with clean-up, taking things out of the package and trying to take photos.

Later in the morning Grandpa Bentley, Grandma Ginny, Aunt Kristin and Great-Uncle Marty came over and there were more presents to be opened. Kaylee got her Leapster! She's been playing that and using her new Tag reading tool a lot. Which has been fun.

So excited for this gift!!!!

Ainsley pushing her new baby, from Santa, in her new stroller from Aunt Kristin.

Later in the day Mee-maw, Paw Paw, Uncle Weezy and Sarah joined in on the fun and we had a nice dinner and mom brought our stockings over.

All in all it was a very fun month! The girls made out VERY well as always. We have a lot to be thankful for and the best gift was that we were all able to be together!