Christmas Morning 2012

Our Christmas tree and the stockings before the opening....

Both girls were excited to look in their stockings.  Each one had asked Santa for something specific... Sarah had asked for the movie, "Brave".  And Phoebe had asked for "a tot of candy and a tot of books!"  They each got what they had asked for plus a few other surprises.

Santa brought Silas a soft K-State football and K-State pacifiers.  He brought be a Snickers bar and the movie, "Despicable Me".  Eric got the movie, "Flywheel" and a CD.

It was fun to see Sarah and Phoebe's reactions to their presents this year.  They both were obviously very happy when they opened a few of their presents.  Silas did not care what was in his packages... he just wanted to put anything he could grab into his mouth....mostly tasting as much wrapping paper as he could grab before one of us took it away from him.

Sarah picked out some beautiful Amethyst earrings for me!  She picked them because she knows that I love K-State and thought that they would go good with my purple clothes.  Phoebe gave me a cherry with chocolate glaze cake ball mix for my cake ball maker.  Great gifts!  Good picking!  Eric got lots of K-State and Chiefs gifts.  You can't go wrong if you get him anything having to do with either one of these teams.

Some of the gifts that Sarah was most excited about were her new Leapster 2 game system and games, the new Tinkerbell movie called "The Secret of the Wings", and the Brave bow and arrow set.

Phoebe seemed the most excited about her new "Boo" doll from the movie Monsters Inc., her books, the Little People set of Jasmine and Aladdin, and the small Tinkerbell toys.

After opening gifts and playing with them for a short time we packed our bags and headed to Olpe for lunch with Eric's family and then on to Emporia for Christmas and dinner with my family.

Hastings Christmas Gathering

We got together with the Hastings side of my family for Christmas on Sunday, December 23rd, in Hesston at Dale and Jan's house.  My mom's birthday was the next day so we celebrated that a little bit too.

BIG NEWS!!! My sister, Lindsee, got engaged!  She and EP decided to announce it on facebook that afternoon after they had told all of our close family members and friends, so they received lots of text messages and facebook comments congratulating them all day long.  It was fun to see them smiling and reading congrats and well wishes from their friends and family!  It was also fun to discuss wedding ideas.  She asked me to be her matron of honor and Sarah and Phoebe to be their flower girls... It was exciting to talk about colors, flowers, and decorations.  Everyone had lots of good ideas to share!

EP and Silas got along great!  Now we can call him "Uncle Eric".  Yay!

Everyone was very generous with gifts for all of the kids again this year....

Phoebe and Sarah especially like these new scarves that Aunt Jan made for them.

Some of the adults participated in a gift exchange.  Some of the gifts exchanged were Broncos t-shirts (although, I think the same people that brought them went home with them), a KU hoodie, salsa and jelly, blankets, movies, towels, Hobby Lobby gift card, trail mix, and vintage metal signs.

Eric makes this funny sound now, near Silas's neck and ear, that makes him smile and laugh.  It makes me laugh too when Silas gets all little boy giggly... too cute!

When my cousin Jessica was born I was in the 7th grade.  I was so excited to have this new baby girl cousin!  When I saw that she had blue eyes just like me, I started calling her my "blue-eyed buddy", and I occasionally still call her that.  (Apparently this may have caused someone (Lindsee), to feel a little left out... She has green/hazelish colored eyes.  She finally after all these years told me this at the Hastings gathering while Jess and I were posing for this "blue-eyed buddy" picture.... Then looking around at everyone's eye colors at the table she declared that she and Camryn are the "Crazy Hazels"...or something like that.  Well, whatever makes you happy.  I am just glad to have my "blue-eyed buddy" ).

Hastings love a good game of "Pounce".  Some people also call this game "Nerts".  It is a crazy fast game played with lots of cards.  And the more people that play, the crazier and more fun it gets.  Notice in the Pounce game being played in the picture below there are eleven people crammed around the table.

Teams of more Pounce players shown below... Dad and Drew, Lindsee, Jackson and Beki, Camryn and Johannah, Mom and Jess, and EP and Me.  Mom and Jess were the winners.  They are good!

Merry Christmas Hastings family!  Thanks for a good time and great memories again this year.

Gifts From Texas

We opened the gifts that were sent to us all from Texas on the 24th.  The girls got some great music, games and princess things from Grandma Sharon.  I got a Coke ornament and Bath and Body Works Vanilla Bean Noel lotions.  (One of my favorite scents! Yay!)

Silas got a cute little spring outfit and a musical toy.

Both girls couldn't wait to look at these new princess books from Bret, Andrea and Ayden.  Sarah really like the Pinkalicious puzzle from Grandma.  Phoebe was very excited about this new princess carriage set from Grandma.  She wanted to stop everything and play with it immediately!   And, Sarah had one other gift from Grandma, but we had her wait to open it until Christmas morning because it went with something that we had gotten for her.

Lastly, Eric, he thought his present from his mom was great!  Coffees, jellies, salsas, and seasonings.  A perfect gift for him!

Thank you Sharon, Bret, Andrea, and Ayden for all of our great Christmas gifts.

Dedication

Ready for church...

We had Silas's dedication on Sunday, December 23rd, during our church service.  Silas was very attentive, watching Pastor John King, and smiling at him throughout the dedication.

Prayer ~ "Our Heavenly Father, we thank thee for this service of dedication, and pray thy blessing upon these parents of this child.  May the child grow up to be a person after thine own heart.  May these parents be enabled by thy spirit to train this child, that he may grow in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and with man.  We here now dedicate Silas to you in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  In Jesus' name we pray.  Amen."

Our family with Pastor King after the dedication.

Our Family left to right: Eric Paul, Lindsee, Paul, Gloria, Sarah, Silas, Eric, 

Me (Stacee), Wyonna, Phoebe, and Charles