Rhea Family Christmas

This Christmas was a little different. Powers had to work over the holidays so London and I packed up and headed to Columbus a few days before Christmas, picked up Renny on Christmas Eve, then the whole fam headed to Birmingham for Christmas morning. It was wonderful! I got to spend good quality time with the grandparents, London was really cute and in a precious mood, then Christmas morning was so much fun! London loved Christmas, but she got a little overwhelmed. She opened 3 or 4 presents then had the general attitude of 'I have new toys here... why would I open 30 more?" She was very cute, but it was a lot to take in for her!
The twins were flippin' adorable! They both opened new dress up outfits, immediately stripped all of their clothes off except for their underwear... in the middle of everyone.. and dressed up in their new diggs! It was so funny! Naked pictures and new outfit pictures are below! We all laughed about Caden and Elizabeth getting the game 'Operation' for Christmas and Andaddy ended up at the dining room table testing his skills! Renny and Charley made the 2 prettiest elves you've ever seen.
We were so thankful for Barry and Lauren opening their home to all of us and were so blessed to have been able to celebrate Christmas with Me Mommy and G Daddy!

 Caden opening his tickets to the Monster Truck show!

 My little chickadee stopped at a gas station on Christmas morning and got BOILED PEANUTS as a snack!! Yuk! Boiled peanuts at 8:00 Christmas morning!! She housed them though!!

 We all decided to cut back this year.... crazy amounts of presents! Next year we are FOR SURE cutting back!!

 Caden got all his trucks ready for Christmas morning too!

 Lizzy opened her Super Woman outfit, got naked STAT...

 and VOILA! She's transformed into a super hero!!

 Annnnnd.. Caden opening his Police outfit... getting naked...

 and Officer Friendly at your service!!

 Yes. She is that beautiful in real life. 

 Series of super huggy pictures...

 ....

 then there's this ole pal hand on the shoulder that my parents pulled out! :)

Amy and Ryan Christmas in Pictures

Amy and Ryan came to visit shortly after christmas. She took some adorable pictures and I stole them from Facebook to post on the blog! I sure hope this is okay with Amy! Here are pictures of their Christmas here. The rest of the families christmas will be posted today!! yay!

 ADORABLE. Isn't this precious??

Boyfriend and Girlfriend

This relationship is finally taking hold! Adorable Colin is probably 9 months or so older than London. He comes from a precious family. Powers and I love his mom and dad, so naturally, we arranged London and Colin's marriage immediately following London's birth. HOWEVER, we went through a spell where Colin was not so fired up about London. London was curious in him, but he did not like her stealing his toys. HOWEVER again, since Colin's return from California (where he lived for a few months) things are looking up! We have had a number of dates, they have seen each other at church a few times, and London talks about Colin ALL THE TIME! Anytime London sees a picture of a little boy, she calls him Colin. When we go to church she asks, 'Where's Colin'? All good signs, right??

Here are the cute couple playing a few weeks ago! They are darling together, right?

Buying time...

This was my first year to experience the end of year at  my job as office manager. I'll just say this. I finished all my 2011 calendar items Friday, then came to the office with 40 emails that have to be done today... so, I'm slowly, SLOWLY making progress on my Christmas 2011 posts! We took ALOT of pictures! The goal is to have it up by Wednesday. Sorry for the delay, but sometimes I just have to prioritize the fact that I don't draw a paycheck from the blog and have to push it to the back burner at times. Would change that in a heartbeat if I could!!

So to buy time here is... some stuff.
1. Caden went to a monster truck rally with his dad. I'm positive it was THE highlight of his life to date. He didn't say much to me about it when they came over to visit, but he did use London's shopping cart toy as a Monster Truck and ramped everything he saw while doing super loud 'VROOOOOOOOM' sounds! Barry said the only hiccup was that Caden was worried the fire breathing truck that came and destroyed all the other trucks at the end of the show was going to come into the stands and get them. Oh, my heart. I love that little boy!

2. What I tell London all the time: "I love you so much!'
Her response: "I love you too much!"
Me too, baby girl. Me too.

3. I was blow drying my hair yesterday and London came into the bathroom and said "mommy drow blying hair.' Yup! Sure am!

4. London's adorable. Here's proof. Her school picture from earlier this year. I didn't share it on ye ole family blog because I gave copies of this for christmas presents, but now, I can share!! Isn't she a doll? I know, I KNOW!! So cute.

5. My little brainiac: (is it a sin to brag relentlessly about your kids? If so, Ill ask for forgiveness as soon as I click 'publish'.) We can say our ABC's, count to 10, know all of our colors, and can sing around 10 songs from beginning to end! Still my favorite being 'Oh Praise Him' in which she closes her eyes really tight and shakes her head back and forth whilst singing! :) So, with her ability to memorize things quickly, Im going to try to start teaching her scripture. What better way to hide God's word in your heart?! I'm excited about this little adventure!

Okay, lots more coming soon...