Christmas Pics Part Deux

Here's some more of our holiday pictures. This first one is Maddy Moose. Check out her bed-head. lol My three sons (Nick, Kaleb and Jacob) all lined up on the couch Christmas morning.

Nick and Kara, checking something out. The look on Kara's face just makes me smile.

But this look really cracks me up. She was fascinated by this little Snow White baby doll. She pressed her little face right up to the package to try and get a closer look at it.

Here's Kara and Jodie, working on unwrapping something. Just look at Jodie's hair...should anyone really have hair that looks that good first thing in the morning?? lol

This is Kara with the Elmo doll Nick and Jodie got her. She LOVED it. I've never seen one so young get so excited over a toy.

Now check out the look she's giving Jacob.

This is a favorite of mine: Maddy wearing her Harry Potter glasses (and her Harry Potter Time-Turner necklace). She was opening up the last of her gifts while Sydney the Wonder Dog supervised.

Maddy loves Texas so Randey and I had to get her this shirt when we saw it.

This is Maddy crawling up under the tree to dig the presents out Christmas morning.

This is me with the Darth Vader statue Nick and Jodie got me. Way too cool. Love it. (And what granny wouldn't, eh?)

This picture cracks me up...Kaleb and Jacob, first thing in the morning. Not looking too spry, are they?

They started perking up the more gifts they got to open.

Kaleb's "big" gift this year was a GPS system for his car. That boy could get lost in his own backyard so this was a darn good gift for him. Jake asked for an X-Box 360. I had no intention of getting him one of those...Kaleb already has one and so does Randey. How many 360s should live in one household, I ask you? Apparently three, because Randey thought getting Jake one was a primo idea. And, I have to say, Jake was sure surprised. He really didn't think we'd go for that particular wish. I told him he really had his father to thank (or to blame, depending on your point of view. lol).

Here's Sydney the Wonder Dog supervising Randey's gift opening technique.

Finally, Desiree', Russell and Skye arrived, laden with gifts!

Here's Skye, opening her Batman toy from Nick. Nick thinks every child should have superhero toys. lolAnd here's Skye opening one of her barbies. She was so thrilled with everything she got. It was just precious to watch her excitement.

And finally, here's Sydney the Wonder Dog enjoying his Christmas dog biscuit. (How cute is this little guy????)

Okay - I guess that's enough with the holiday pictures, eh? I can't wait to scrapbook about this holiday. It was special like no other one has ever been.

Tomorrow we'll talk Weight Watchers. Yee-haw!

Our Family Trip to Oklahoma

Ten of us drove up to Oklahoma this past weekend to visit family. Here's all of us together at my dad and Wendy's house. (I meant to crop the picture before posting it, but well heck...I forgot to.) We took tons and tons of pictures, but don't worry, I didn't post them all. Just a couple of dozen or so. lol Here's Skye, wearing Maddy's new hat. She really thought she was stylin' in this. lolHere's Nick and Kara, opening gifts.
This is Maddy, sportin' her new OU beanie.

And here's Maddy, opening a gift (I love this sweater...wish it came in my size. lol).

And here's yet another one of Maddy. She's a bit of a hippie...perhaps the ribbon tied around her head gives that away, eh?

This is my step-sister, Leah. She totally cracks me up.

This is four generations of Steeds; Kara, Nick, me and my dad. We do have a better shot of this, but I thought this one was funny because Dad and I have the same look on our faces. :)

And I'm not sure how this picture got into the mix...it was taken before we went to Oklahoma. But whatever. It's still a good one. It's Kaleb, Randey and Kara. Randey was surprised to see how tall Kaleb really is. He just doesn't seem this tall in real life. ha!

And here's Kaleb again. Jodie (my daughter-in-law) and I kind of used Kaleb as our model while we were playing with our cameras. He's the only one who would sit still and smile on command. Everybody else ran.

And here's Jodie herself, probably laughing at something Nick or dad had said.

This is Jacob, wearing his new shirt that Wendy picked out for him (he didn't realize a camera was trained on him!). Terribly GQ, isn't he?

This is Nick...undoubtedly arguing with someone over something. (He's so like his mother, you know).

Now check out these big blue eyes! This is little Kara, eating one of her toys.

Here's Jake again. I can't believe he actually looked at me when I called his name. He usually doesn't if he knows I'm holding a camera.

This is Maddy, showing us what she opened in the Steal-a-Gift game.

This is me and Leah, showing how much younger we'd look with a little botox. Okay, so maybe this wasn't the best demonstration of that, but we were trying.

Here's Nick with his Steal-a-Gift prize. I think Jacob eventually ended up with the hand warmers, though. Good thing, too. Nick lives on a tropical island...don't think these would come in handy there, you know what I mean?

Look at Skye here...she got a dress-up chest as her gift and she absolutely loved it. She modeled for us most of the night. What a cutie.

And here's Wendy Sue. my step-mother. I love her white hair and, while this picture doesn't show you, she has the most piercing and beautiful blue eyes. (Yeah, that's "color" envy you're hearing!)

Speaking of pretty coloring, this is my niece Kelsey. She's got perfectly lovely red hair, eh? I kind of envy that, too.

This is Kara and Jodie. Looks like Kara was telling us something important.

This is Kaleb and his Steal-a-Gift prize. I think Wendy actually ended up with this candle set.

Here's Kaleb holding Kara. Little kids love Kaleb...he's got a way with them. Isn't she cute, how she's waving at us?

Here's my dad, opening one of his gifts. The look on his face says it all. lol

This is my nephew, Derri. He's one great kid, a lot of fun and (almost) always good-natured. :)

Here's Des with one of her gifts. She recently got a camera and has developed a picture frame fetish.

And this is Jake with his Steal-a-Gift prize, a belly dancing kit. This was a gift I picked out for the game. I never intended for one of my kids to get it, though. I thought it'd be hilarious for either Leah or my dad to get stuck with the darn thing. Not to worry...my wickedness came back to bite me in the butt...Randey ended up with it at the end of the game. LOL

We've been having a great time (although I think we all may be looking to sleep in tomorrow...it's been a very busy few days for us lately!) Hope everyone else is having a great Christmas season, too!

I did all my food shopping today and will be baking pies and cookies tomorrow. Right after I attend a Weight Watchers meeting, that is. (Talk about mixed messages, eh???)

Our Family Picture

Here's my little gang...our very first Christmas picture with all the kids and grandkids together. L to R: Maddy, Jodie, Nick, Randey (seated), Kaleb, me (seated), Kara (on my lap), Jacob, Desiree' and little Skye. I'm thrilled we were all able to pose without beating the snot out of each other. LOL

And here's that Pumpkin Pie recipe I promised all of you a while back (Hey! Better late than never, right?):

15 oz can of Libby's 100% Pure Solid Pack Pumpkin
3/4 cup Splenda
1/2 tsp table salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/2 cup Eggbeaters
12 fl. oz Carnation fat-free evaporated milk
1 frozen ready-to-bake pie crust

Mix sugar, salt, cinnamon, ginger and cloves together in small bowl. Beat Eggbeaters and pumpkin together in large bowl. Add sugar and spice mix to large bowl. Gradually stir in evaporated milk. Pour into pie shell. Bake in pre-heated 425 degree oven for 15 minutes. Reduce temp to 350 degrees and bake 40-50 minutes more or until knife inserted in center comes out clean. Cool on rack for 2 hours. Serves 8. This comes out to 3 WW points per serving. Only 1 point if you bake it without the crust!

It's truly delicious. Thank you so much, Susan, for telling me about it. Can't wait to enjoy it at Christmas like I did at Thanksgiving.

Hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas!!!