Christmas Eve

We had our traditional Christmas Eve celebration at Nonna & G.G.'s this year. Beau, Wade & I started the evening at church and I have to say how impressed I was with how Wade did at the service. It was completely packed, but we had seats on the end ready for a quick exit. But with only one train and a lolipop, we made it through the entire service. I was so proud of Wade for behaving so well!

Wade had a blast playing with his cousins (as usual), but was not into taking pictures at all. Every "posed" picture attempt ended in huge crocodile tears and a flop on the floor. So you can see a little of what the party was like in action.

There was no craft competition this year like we've had in the past. But don't you worry...we've already set the stage for Christmas Eve 2010: Gingerbread Houses. I'm already coming up with ideas.

Sheesha with Caleb, Hayes (Alison's little one), Wyatt, and Cae. If you look really closely in the bottom left, you'll see Wade showing off his "downward facing dog" yoga move. We like to say he learned yoga from his Nonna.


"So here's how you do it..."

Wade and Lauren playing blocks
Cae is so good with the little babies. He's gotten lots of practice this year with baby Colt.

Lots ot pictures of baby Hayes. It was his first Christmas...

This is the one and only shot I got of the 6 grandkids. As you can see, Wade refused to cooperate. And no, he's not napping...

And Mr. Grouchy still couldn't recover for a family shot...

But as soon as we took him to change into his PJ's, he had a whole new attitude!

Now that Lauren has gotten a little bit older and able to hold her own with the boys, Wade really plays well with her. They're only 5 1/2 months apart, so I'm sure they'll be close for years to come!

Everyone relaxing after a big dinner

Wade gave Caleb his "cousin" gift this year. With so many of us, we all draw names and give one gift. I always love giving gifts to Caleb because he is genuinely excited about every gift he ever receives. Guess Who was one of my favorite games growing up, so I had to pass it on...

Wade got the movie Cars from Colt. He's only seen parts of it, but he already loves it. So when he opened it all he wanted to do was stare at the cover! We've since watched it about 500 times

Look at our Star Wars troopers ready for battle

Wyatt goes straight for Beau...

GOTCHA!

Alicia, Michelle, Kathy, Alyssa, & Linda

Supper Club Christmas

My college girls Supper Club Christmas was at my house this year and we were so lucky to have Carolyn and Kimsey in town for the festivities. It's been a small group since Alex and Brooke moved away, so we were excited to have more of our girls together. I shouldn't complain, we did have 3 weddings & and a summer girls trip this year so we've all been together more in 2009 than any recent year. But sometimes I feel like we should all still be 19, living in bunks on top of each other, sharing one bathroom with 12 girls, and having awesomely fattening meals prepared and served to us 3 times a day. Call me crazy.

Anyway, our Christmas tradition is to have an appetizer pot luck with a dirty santa ornament swap. This year we spiced things up and did accessories instead. We're crazy like that....watch out.

Here we all are sporting our new accessories. With 3 pregnant women in attendance, it helped to swap one size fits all gifts :)

Molly and Stephanie modeling scarf options in case anyone wanted to "steal" this lovely gift

Here's the fun clutch Carolyn opened and was SO excited about. Not so fast Carolyn....

Kristin stole it, so she got stuck with the pashmina I gave :)

Crab Christmas

We had our annual Crab Christmas with my dad - Enzo. Since we all have so many traditional Christmas meals and parties to go to, we decided a few years back (it's at least the 5th or 6th year?) to change things up with a crab dinner instead!

The whole Reuter gang: Diane (my dad's longtime girlfriend), Angie & Colt, Shawn, Alicia, Enzo, Caleb and Cae (down front), Kriya & Wade, Beau, Michelle & Lauren, Nathan & Wyatt, and Sylvia (my aunt, dad's sister)

Cae and Sheesha getting some cuddle time in before the insanity began

Too many cooks in the kitchen...

That's why I chose to relax by the fire...

Is this precious or what? "Mommy, please don't leave me"

This was such a fun gift idea. Each of the bigger boys got a disposable camera in a "spy kit". They had so much fun going around and snapping their own pictures of the party. It was a fun "keep them busy gift" and memory maker in one!

Whatcha get Sheesha?

Nice look Uncle Nathan!

It must be something good!

There's always some wine knowledge to be learned at an Enzo party

YUMMY!!! Crab time. My sweet husband was nice enough to crack and pick my crab for me this year. I wasn't quite feeling up to par and little tastes were about all I could handle.

Craz Caleb

Michelle and sweet Lauren

Wade's special gift was his first official Thomas the train set. He was in AWE. And that was before we even found batteries to make it work. He laid like this for hours on the floor. No kidding.

He was pretty good about sharing his new prized possession...until...

Lauren sat on it....Cae took it apart....and all H#%L broke loose. No not really, he just told them to step away from Thomas or suffer the consequences.

My mom and stepdad Greg joined the festivities this year. It was so great to have my entire family together at one holiday event! Thanks everyone....we had a blast and are looking forward to Crab Christmas 2010 :)

Christmas Party Playdate

Maggie, Charley and Avery hosted a wonderful kids' Christmas Party just a few days before the "big" day. It was so fun to see all the different aged kids playing well together, sharing toys, and getting complete sugar highs. After lunch, we decorated cookies and somehow the boys and girls naturally separated into different rooms like it was a 7th grade dance party. Who knew it started so young? All the girls were in the living room artistically decorating their cookies, while the boys congregated in the dining room to smear on some icing and scatter some sprinkles before devouring their masterpiece.

We had so much fun celebrating with everyone on Christmas Eve Eve Eve Eve! Thanks Sarah and Ragan (the elves behind the fun!)

The kids all sat so nicely for lunch! I couldn't believe it

Teasing the dogs...

"Ummm, Capri Sun goooood"

It was all fun and games until "group picture time". All the kids sat so nicely while parents made fools of ourselves getting their attention. Did I say ALL?? Just kidding. All except my little Santa's Helper who insisted on pulling his regular shenanigans when it came time to pose. I mean seriously, is it that bad Wade? Does it really constitute a full blown tantrum? I think not.

Poor Drew was given the task of holding Mr. Tantrum Thrower and even managed to keep his smile! GO DREW!!! YOU ROCK!