Christmas 2011

 Bailey is almost 1 and is learning to walk.  Look at this little charmer!  My sister-in-law Michelle and her 2 kids got to come out to visit for a month while my brother Tim is working in Texas.

 Bryson has the best, super blond hair and is quite a cutie!

 Dadd got loaded with kids on our walk back from the park in Chico!

 The girls got to learn how to play the candy bar game, and of course, loved it!

 Magaw helped Megan with the cutting since she doesn't use a whole lotta knives around here!

 The kids all got to open new Christmas jammies on Christmas Eve and guess what Kendra's were...

 ELMO!  As if there was any question about that!  She was stoked!

 Bryson in his Christmas jammies.

 Mikayla thought this oughtta be her stocking!  Dream on girl!

 I like Kendra's idea for it better!

 Dad read The Night Before Christmas to the girls and then it was off to bed!

 Bryson getting some grandpa time.

 And what do you know?  Christmas morning found a very Megan with a stuffed Ariel from Santa.

 Mikayla got her blue DS.  Can she look any more grown up?!  No more straightening her hair!!

 Kendra got an Elmo 'look and find' book and was way too absorbed with the bow that came on it to even open the book!

 Megan and the giraffe hat she so desperately wanted.  Megan is nothing, if not clumsy, and later on Christmas Day we went across the street to the park to play frisbee golf.  Megan, of course, took a tumble walking in a straight line and the nice big cushy part of the giraffe's head cushioned her blow quite a bit!  She fell on rocks and I can only imagine the flood if the giraffe hadn't been there to save the day.

 Kendra was quite excited to get a baby bathtub from Auntie Keltie along with lots of other cute American Girl doll stuff.

 Bailey was excited to open her presents too.

 Mikayla had a unique way of retrieving all the gifts from under the tree.

 Since Uncle Tim couldn't be there, we skyped with him so he could watch his kids open their presents.

 Magaw gave Kendra some Elmo toy figurines and she squealed with delight and said the names of all 6 of them.  This kid has the greatest expressions and I'm glad I was able to capture them!

Later that day, Grandpa Allen and Satomi came to visit and the girls had a ball with Satomi!  Here's Megan holding her hostage upstairs.  Satomi knit a very cute gingerbread house decoration for us for Christmas.  Mikayla knew they were coming and said, "I wonder what Satomi will knit for us this time?  I'm really glad she's learned to knit, she makes some really great things!"  She does have quite a talent!

The Making of a Gingerbread House

Our fabulous friends in Sacramento, the Garrards, gave us a gingerbread house kit for Christmas.  I mixed up the icing and the big girls got to decorating.

They did a super job working together.

Mikayla was meticulous with her frosting while Megan slapped it on and smeared it around.

Megan was most excited to put on the candies and of course used more than her fair share!

Their finished product.

I'm thinking these g. house kits are a great idea!  Nobody eats them anyways, just buy, assemble, throw away.  The little candy people in the kit were totally cute too!

Our Mini Christmas Stay-cation

 We packed a lot into our two days in Sacto.  We dropped the kids off with my aunt and uncle and cousins and Trent and I went to dinner with friends.  Then, we headed over to our other friend's house to go caroling.  We started doing this several years ago with about 5 families and we make plates of cookies to give away, sing favorite carols and then go back to a house for hot chocolate, goodies, and visiting.  The girls did not want to miss out this year just because we've moved, so we headed back to Sac town to have some fun.  Above is the kids gathered around my grandma's door singing Rudolph to her.

 Silly little carolers

 Back to the house to decorate sugar cookies.

 Playing in the morning with her best bud Erik.

 We got to see baby Luke and Kendra loved holding him.

 I taught Body Pump at Del Norte for 'ol times sake and to get more practice.  It was seeing old friends and I sure do miss my Del Norte gym buddies!  We had a gift card to Lucille's bar-b-que and went there for lunch.  It was the most fabulous food!  If you have one near you--try it!  The tri-tip and pulled pork were amazing, the massive strawberry lemonade Kendra's guzzling was fantastic and everything we tried was just delish!  Can't believe we never went there while we still lived in Sacto!

 Megan thoroughly enjoying the honey butter biscuit with fresh made maple butter they bring to the table.  Seriously, so good!

Then, we went to the movies with a gift card and saw the new Chipmunk movie.  Good thing it was free--I would've been mad if we spent money on that movie! haha  We loaded up the tired kids in the car and drove back to Gridley and went to a family Christmas party that night.  Lots of good, family fun had by all on our little staycation!

Merry Christmas from the Dudleys!

This was our best picture for our cards.  Our of all the pics we took, we only got one, but good thing one was all we needed!  I wish I would've gotten a pic of my parents shaking their booties, wearing dog masks and barking, my dad doing headstands, and snapping away pics on the tripod to help us get a good one.  It was so cold outside, the girls just kept complaining and did NOT want to sit and smile.

 Kendra did a whole lotta this...

 some more of this...

and even more of THIS!

too bad one of our best was WITHOUT Kendra!!

 

I actually liked this one too, Megan was a just a little cheesy!

 I like this one a lot too and might enlarge it for the wall.  Merry Christmas from all of us to all of you.  May your holidays be filled with laughter, family, and good memories for all.  We love you!