Decker Christmas Party

Celebrating Christmas early this year with the cousins. It all starts at Papa and Nana's house with gingerbread houses. Then we have dinner and a night filled with fun and games. 

This might be his last year, but he was a good sport and made his house, though I think he ate more candy than what actually made it onto the house,

Taryn busy putting frosting "snow" on her house.

Camrie is always the most dedicated to her house.  She takes this very serious and always puts time and effort into her candy house.

Poor Taryn's roof kept breaking, so Dad to the rescue.

Mitch giving some helpful tips.

Time for dinner.

The talent show.

Kyle was surprised with a birthday Star Wars bag filled with star wars things. (My dad thinks he is so funny.)

Getting ready to act out the birth of Christ.

Ready to go put on a show. We all forgot to bring our costumes, so we did our best with towels and belts.  The kids were good sports. (Especially since there was only one angel costume and lots of little girls who wanted to be the angel.)

Shepherds and wise men.  It was a rough year.  We will have to practice for next year.

They did great!

Jaren would not participate.

All comfy and cozy.

Shockingly we are still missing quite a few grand kids.  But it is so fun to get who ever we can together.

Papa read the night before Christmas.

Then there was a knock on the door with a big bag left at the door.

More gifts.  Santa was too busy to visit this year, but he left a gift for everyone.

The girls got puppies with a little bag to carry them in.  Dayton got a watch and Jaren got some balls.

An impromptu sibling picture, but missing 2 sisters.  Dave, Jaci, Kim, Cache, Kristen, Brady. Jamie was in Virginia and Jenny was in Arizona.

Kyle's Birthday

Mixed in the craziness of Christmas we get to celebrate our favorite guys birthday.  Lucky for him it was on a Saturday and he was spoiled all day.  We started with breakfast in bed after a lazy morning. 

Can't forget the presents.

Time to go out on the town.

We took the kids with us to a fun steak house for a late lunch/early dinner because I had a surprise for Kyle that night.

Here we are at the new Star Wars movie.  I didn't want to go, but I knew Kyle would so I got tickets before Halloween and surprised him. There were some crazies there all dressed up and the place was packed, but it was fun night out.

Snow Day

We got our first snow storm of the season and it was a good 8 inches.  The school sent out an e-mail that said it was up to the parents if they sent their kids to school. So I made an executive decision and decided it was a snow day.

The kids watched cartoons while I went back to bed.  Then we had pancakes and watched a movie.

Then it was time to put them to work.  We got all our snow stuff on and headed out in the snow to shovel the driveway and play.

There seemed to be more playing then shoveling.

It is hard to tell, but Jaren is licking the snow off the driveway.

When I asked Dayton to help him, this is not what I meant.

Who knew a playground could be so much fun with snow all over it.

Snow angels... or trying to make them.

Jaren LOVES to play in the snow, but he does not understand why it is so cold and wet.

Our sad attempt at a snowman.  By the time we started making him Jaren was done and the snow was not good snowman snow, so we gave up and went inside.

After you play in the snow you have to have hot chocolate with marshmallows and whip cream.

Then it was dance party time.

We had warmed up enough to go back out with Dad for some night sledding.

He built the kids a mini snow hill that they took turns sliding down.

It was pretty awesome.

Even Jaren went down a few times.

Ice Skating

A quick dinner at Chick-fil-a and then on to the ice for some family skating.  The kids have looked forward to this since last year and it has become a favorite Christmas tradition.

Got our skates and are ready. Jaren was not invited, so he was home with a sitter.

Taryn was so brave, last year she would not let go of my hand and this year she wanted to do it all by herself.

And she did awesome!

Dayton changed his skates 7 times, but once he found the right size he was off and the rest of us could not keep up with him.

The girls love to skate with their Dad,

There were more then a few falls.

Best Daddy ever.

They were trying to dance on ice.

They took turns playing with Mom too.

Thank goodness he is not too old for his mom, though I am afraid he will be taller soon.