december 24th!!

CHRISTMAS EVE!!!!!!!

Man, were the kids wound up today.... as Jeff said, they were like little Christmas elves on Red Bull. Thankfully, they are now in bed.

Alex has started wrapping his own presents this year. Here's the proof that he apparently went to the Larry Graham (that's my dad) school of gift wrapping....
When I told my mom this, her response was "oh, so he uses lots of paper" :-) Why yes.... just a bit.

Here are the cookies we baked today for Santa...
They were absolutely HORRIBLE!!! We apparently skipped an ingredient or two somewhere. Thankfully I had put some cookies in the freezer from our baking day the other day.

Before we knew it, it was time to head to church for the Christmas Eve pageant. Here is what Clara chose to wear...
They both sang in the choirs and did a great job. Afterward, we ate dinner at a nearby restaurant.

Once home, I got the itch to play...
I had first seen this technique here and got the details here.

I didn't really have too much time to play but here's my other shot...
I used my 50mm 1.8 lens and just shoved the paper into the end of the lens. I had to manually focus which is not something I'm good at. I'll have to play again another time.

A tired Clara girl...
The kids got everything set up for Santa...
Cookies, carrots, milk and letters.

Last week they did some shopping for each other and bought some stocking stuffers...
Oh... and starting last year, they hide their Webkinz Lil' Kinz around the tree with the hope that they'll catch a glimpse of Santa...
We dig them all out of their hiding places, line them up on the chair and tuck them in with a blanket. The kids think this is hilarious.

Okay... it's time to bring the presents up!

Merry Christmas!!