Well we survived the Holidays and had a wonderful time!! Right before Christmas Santa Claus paid us all a visit and the kids loved it -while the parents were excited about the picture opportunities! We had my brother's family there and our close friends Erin and Zar with their two girls. It was so funny to see the different kids reactions! Kennedy was just open-mouthed and could hardly stop staring. Josh was all excited and hyper, Charlotte was scared to death and wanted nothing to do with it, and Zachary wanted to pull the beard off. Good times!!


I love this picture of Boo looking at Santa with these huge eye's that scream- "Stay the heck away from me!" After awhile though- all of the kids warmed up and we all had a great time! When Santa came he sang some songs with the kids and we got this picture of Zachary when we were singing Rudolph the red nosed reindeer. I love it. The little nose blinked bright red and Zachary thought he was quite the stuff.

On Christmas Eve McCarrey and I had the family over to our house. We had a big Turkey dinner and then we all sang songs and read the Christmas story out of the New Testament. It was fun because it was the first time that we had hosted the party at our house. We seriously missed Neil and Annie and the boys though! With as much fun as we had- it just wasn't the same without them! We did English Christmas crackers where two people pull an end and it bursts open and there is a party hat and a toy of some sort inside. Everyone loved that- then we mangled a few songs with Bell Chimes and that was pretty fun too. Christmas morning was AWESOME!! Before we even had Kennedy up to see the tree and open presents we got a phone call from our Birthmom and got to talk to her for a little while! I LOVED it- and was so touched that she wanted to talk to us on Christmas morning. I am ultra sensitive I guess because every time we talk we both end up teary. She is just such a wonderful person and she is going through one of the hardest things, that I can't even comprehend. We visited for awhile and it was seriously the best present I got for Christmas- that little reminder of the package that she is holding for us. Such an amazing thing! After that- we took Kennedy downstairs to the tree where it was just magic! My parents came over and we opened presents. It was so fun! I was so wrapped up in the moment that I kept forgetting to take pictures! AHH!! But I did get a few so I guess it's ok.

This is one of the few pictures that I got of Kennedy- but I think it is so great! She had just started to open one of her presents and she saw what it was on the box and it was that prefect moment when she looked up at me to say "Oh my goodness it's a ....!!!" I think it is just priceless! Kenna got the things on her list...a teddy bear and a variety of Little Einsteins toys. Plus- crazy amounts of other spoils from Mom and Dad and Grandparents. Mac and I had such a great day!

After we finished opening presents we went over to my folks house for Christmas breakfast. Then we went over to McCarrey's grandparents house to visit them. Kennedy was so cute playing with their Nativity set and "putting them all down for a nap" even the cows and the sheep. We are so lucky that Mac's grandparents are still here for Kennedy to get to know. Family is so important- and we love them! After that we went to Mac's Dad's house to visit with the family on that side. We had a great time and the kid's just loved playing together. This is a picture of all of them- except for Aaron and Holly's family- who are in Kentucky and Aunt Sage who lives in London. We missed them lots and lots! So in this picture we have Kennedy, Morgan, Nyaangatr and Anyango- (Omat and Gizma's kids- they are our adopted brother and sister from Sudan) Kayla and Ryan. After we played at Grandpa Dub's house we went to visit Mac's mom's side of the family. We went to her house and played with all of the cousin's on Grandpa Don's side. Kennedy had so much fun with everyone. I feel so bad that I don't have pictures to show! All of the girls were making necklaces and bracelets with beads and that was fun- and Kenna has always adored playing with her cousin Jeremy who is about 12 and is very sweet to let Kennedy follow him all over the place. We feel so lucky and so blessed to have so much family close to us! It makes everyday life so much better to be surrounded by people that we love. The only thing that would have made this Christmas better is if everyone who was out of town could have been there. Anyway- hope everyone else had a wonderful Christmas!! Now that the holidays are over- we are just getting ready for our new little one. They are inducing our birthmom on January 30th! The countdown has begun! YAY!