Christmas Eve

So this year we have been blessed beyond measure with the birth of Sammy, great family, and great friends!  Even keeping all that in mind, we have had no greater blessing than the birth of Jesus!  Without him we would be destined to a life lived in hell, and because we have him in our hearts, we are truly able to celebrate the true meaning of the holiday on Christmas!!!  We've been trying to inform Joey about the real reason we celebrate through Bible reading, her Veggie Tales nativity and songs.  We've been singing Happy Birthday to Jesus :]  All of that said, come Christmas day, she was only interested in the presents :]

Let's back up though, the whole celebration started Christmas Eve with the Stout side of the family!  We went to church and had a blast!  They asked the kids to come on stage to sing and dance!!  Joey was so cute, and I'm so sad I didn't have my camera to take a video of the whole thing.  She danced and sang and shook her booty and I kneeled down in front of her watching and tearing up.  I always cry when I see her do things like that!!!  She was so cute and during the service she kept asking when we got to go back on stage :] Who knows, maybe one day she will be singing on stage with a microphone and everything!!!

After church we headed over to the Stout house for some dinner, and present opening...

Uncle Bret handed out the gifts as usual!

Grandma held the little girls :]

Joey got a new color wonder book and Aunt Lisa helped her figure it out!

Dakotah loved his book from us!!!

Sammy got a blanket from Grandma!!!  It's so cute and soft :]

Aunt Becky got a Fancy Nancy doll.....oh wait, I think that's Mily's :]

Brittany was so surprised at her gifts from Grandma :]

Sammy got clothes and they obviously tasted yummy!!!

Johnny and his new orange Adidas sweatshirt...

Aunt Lisa helping Sammy figure out her new toy!!

So we were all done opening gifts and we were all just hanging out in the living room.  All of a sudden, Mily and Joey came out of Mily's room...we didn't even realize they were gone...and they were wearing Mily's new fairy dress up clothes.  We're not sure who got Joey dressed, but that is the skirt she has on as a top :]

We could not stop laughing, and I was actually in tears and we all had side stitches when we stopped laughing :]

She had the real top on as panties over her own panties of course!!

Ahhhh, much better!!!  Doesn't she look so pretty???

So Christmas Eve was a blast, and we got lots of fun stuff!  Stay tuned for Christmas day!!!

Cookie Day 2010!!!

So each year, the girls of Johnny's family get together and make Christmas cookies!  I asked where the tradition started, and was told that my MIL used to make the Christmas cookies and then the girls started helping out...years later it became their job or rather their joy!  We joined the crew this year and got put to work at Aunt Amy's house on cookie day!!!

The girls had tea parties :]

We even got Johnny to wear an apron!

The girls going over the recipes...they have an entire book with sheet protectors and everything....there was a very tense moment when someone took a recipe out of the sheet protector and let it on the counter....people were blamed, fingers were pointed, everyone agreed never to do it again :]

all the ingredients...

Johnny was in charge of the chopper...he loved it!!!

The girls got to help with some cookies!  Jackie would roll the dough, Claudia would dip them in egg whites, Mily would dip them in pecans, and Joey would place them on the cookie sheet :]

Our next job was to open up all the hershey kisses for the peanut butter blossoms

The whole process wore Sammy out :]

The girls got to help cut out the sugar cookies too!!!

Push hard!!!

Aunt Jackie passing on the tradition to the girls!!!  Maybe they will be taking pictures of their kids helping with the cookies one day!!

Sweet cousins :]  Mily and Joey are so fun together!!!  The conversations they have are hysterical!!

Toffee :]

What a fun day!!  Can't wait till next year!  Maybe Sam will be able to get in on the action!!

Bath Time :]

Bath time has gotten really fun around here for the girls!!  Let me back up......Since my last 3 months of my  pregnancy with Sammy, Johnny has become the primary bath giver!  At first my belly was too big and my back hurt, and once Sammy came, it was too hard for me to bend over the tub with my c-section scar.  Now Joey wants to take a bath with Sammy and Johnny is the only one who has the arm reach to make this happen.  So when Sammy first started in the bath, she looked like this.....

She didn't really like them, and she was all curled up in her tub!  Now she loves bath time, and she loves taking baths with Joey!!  Here's some recent bath shots....She's outgrown her baby bath and moved on to the duck bath {when we registered for gifts with Joey, this was the one thing Johnny was excited about :]  He wishes it came in his size...and here it is}

Even though the duck takes up a lot of room, Joey is perfectly content with her little play area :]

She can stand up like a big girl with minimal support from daddy :]  Look at her cute little birthmark on her back by her elbow :]

She's starting to splash and reach for things in the bath!

{love this picture :]}

Joey likes to pour things into Sam's bathtub!

So basically what happens is that Johnny will bathe Sam while Joey gets to play a little.  Once he's done with Sam I take over and get her lotioned, diapered, and pajamaed....just look at this sweet little girl...

Yay!!!  I love bath time!!!

Once I'm done getting her ready for bed, it's Joey's turn to get lotioned and dressed for bed!  So anyway, that's how bath time goes here, and it's a fun system we have at the Stout house!

Santa's Village 2010 :]

So the Christmas season is here and it just wouldn't be the same without a visit to Santa's Village in Richardson!  Here are some pics from the night :]

Joey getting ready to go into the houses....

Joey got a fireman sticker....

and she got to "write" a letter to Santa

I asked her what she wanted and she said Dora Snacks and Stamps :]  Easy enough!!

We spun the wheel and decided if we could recycle what came up....

she got to play instruments in the music house.....

and she collected more stickers as the night went on!

She got a cookie from Mrs. Clause :]

The perfect evening to the night!!!!  We'll see you again in 2011 Santa's Village!!!

(oh, and here's how Sammy was the entire time :]  Such a good baby!!!)