Real meaning of Christmas

So last night I found out a friend of mine wasn't going to be able to have a good Christmas for her and her kids. After talking with Jake and the kids we decided that we knew what to do with the extra money that we found we had. This year has been very good to us and we wanted the kids to see what the real meaning of Christmas is. Lei has never had a hard time this time of year he is just so caring and wants everyone to be safe and happy Xia on the other hand I felt was getting the wrong idea of what Christmas is all about so we wanted them to be part of this whole process as much as possible. So we took that extra money and at 10:30 last night the kids and us went shopping for some toys for the kids. When we got home the kids were so excited about the presents for the family that they had to wrap them right away. Then this morning I was able to take my friend shopping for cloths for the kids as well as for her and then we went and found shoes and boots for her. She had a hard time finding something for her because she never buys herself anything so it was so nice to see her find something nice. My kids can't get enough of the giving thing now. Lei was commenting as we were cleaning the house that it felt so good to get to give then it does to receive. Xia has also finally gotten the true meaning as well I think.
On another note my mom called me this morning and told me that she ran into a lady that has a down syndrome girl that I babysat and had in my primary class for years. The mom is an only child and has no family and my mom asked if she had a will so that if anything happened to her Maddy would be taken care of. When she said no because she had no family mom said that she and dad would take her or that Jake and I would be willing she was so grateful. Mom then called me and said "I thought I should let you know that I volunteered you." I said that I would love to have that honor. Maddy was such a good girl. At 17 she was finally able to be baptized and she got to be baptized by a down syndrome boy. I am just glad that both my mom and Maddy's mom know that I would have no problem with this it just makes me feel so good because it means that I have shown that it has never bothered me and they know that if there is anyone that needs a home I am willing to do what I can to help out.
That's all for this post "Merry Christmas to All"

School Pictures

I have been very luck in that I get school pictures at a huge discount and for the most part they are wonderful. Well this year we had the company Lifetouch come and do the school picture. I later found out that they are the same company that does the JcPenny portraits. Well like I said I got a huge discount and it was a good thing because I think that all the poses were fantastic.
Here they are.





I think that these ones of Xia make her look so grown up. How ever she is beautiful in all three of them. I love the color of her dress against her skin color.









Now we have Lei. Let me tell you getting him to cooperate was a challenge. I want you to notice the shoes. I it was enough to get him to wear the tie so I gave in with the shoes. However it does fit his personality with the shoes and it could have been worse they could of been ugly shoes and not his nice "Nike". He also has is famous ca-lick that no matter what you do it won't go down and cooperate.

Pictures as promised.

The gang in Idaho on Thanksgiving. Yes we did the 2 1/2 hour drive up the morning of then stayed 2 hours to have dinner and chat then turn around and drive back. Jake had to work in the morning and I went shopping with my mom and sisters at 3 in the morning then went to work. I love that tradition that we started we never really get any wonderful deals but we just enjoy the time together without any kids or husbands, We also get to get to shop for each other in the mean time if we have each others names.

This was the sunset as we were leaving Shelly and we couldn't resist a picture the way you could see the stream of light rising between the trees in the mist was just breathtaking.


Hafey Thanksgiving the Sunday following the real Thanksgiving.






Now for my house at Christmas time. The first thing to come out is my Precious Moments Nativity. This was my first big Christmas presant form Jake 10 years ago. I fell in love with all the dolls the first time I saw them but they were so expensive. Jake saved up and bought my the whole set all and all totaling around $500. Needless to say it has been my favorite presant yet becasue it was the first Christmas that we were married and I hadn't planned on ever owning the set because of the price.


Next is the tree and stockings. Notice I don't theme my tree (its as crazy as me :))




The last is our "story a day until Christmas"

Snow Party

When starting out on his bucket list on this day Jake had decided to make a snowman with the kids. I want you to notice how involved they are. Notice Xia in the background and Leighton is nowhere to be seen until the end.





This next picture is where Leighton comes in this is about 20 minutes into the process.



The finished product wasn't even a snowman Lei called it a snow bull and then proceeded to ride it.



Again if you were paying attention Xia was noticed in the back ground and towards then end her finished project was a couple snow angles. She couldn't be bothered with all the pushing and rolling involved. In her words "that's too much work!"



This next few are of our friend Ladd who is living with us (notice the wonderful snow attire) is teaching Xia how to do a snowball fight. All Xia was doing was running up to people hitting the snow onto them and then she would run. In the meantime she couldn't figure out why everyone was throwing them and hitting her while she is running at them.



In this one you see what I mean once Xia spotted you with a snow ball she would fall on the ground and wait for it to hit her.

All in all Xia's face summed it up!