MY BRAGGING RIGHTS

So occasionally I have days where I think "I'm the luckiest mom in the world". Yesterday was one of those days. Blessing #1:Rob had to work in the morning (nothing new) but he actually got off at a decent time and took Abby with him to run some errands while I took a nap with the other two. Blessing #2: We went to a friend's wedding last night and when we got home 6 of my friends were parked in front of my house to take me out to Chili's for my birthday. Who doesn't love their chocolate molten cake?! We chatted, laughed and vented until about 10:45, good times. I love you guys! Blessing #3: upon arriving home at about 11:00 (after getting Emily's minivan unstuck from in front of Michelle's house...hilarious) I walked in to find all of the kids asleep, downstairs, with Rob, in the tent. How hot is my husband?! He is such a fun dad (sorry I hate it when people say stuff like that on their blog, but sometimes it really needs to be said). So I got to sleep in my own bed (all alone was sad, but I got over it) and didn't have to worry about anybody coming in in the night to announce they had to go potty, just to have me tell them to go ahead and go. I love announcements like that. Or worry about Shelby waking up so that I can go back in and cover her up and say goodnight again. Love her. Anywho, just thought I'd brag a bit about how lucky I am. Now for some pics...And the stockings were hung by the (window) with care. Go ahead and take a closer look...
Yeah, that's right, this is the new addition to our Christmas decorations this year. My very talented friend Heidi made these for us. She is a champ at the old sewing machine so I hired her out. We love 'em.
I love that Rob's mom made these guys do this picture again. So every year from when these guys moved into this house (30+ years) they have had this picture taken. When someone leaves they aren't in the picture anymore. So Brian has been in there alone for a few years since Cheryl got married. Bri, the one in red for you single ladies, just got home from his mission this year so all seven are back together again and good old Barb made them hop in there places once again. Love her. (PS, if you didn't know these are all Rob's siblings) Thanks for the extra pose Christy!Every year Santa comes around on the fire engine and the firemen give out candy canes. You can't tell in this picture but it was terrible weather this year, a blizzard I dare say, but we still braved it and got our candy canes.Here is a picture from Rob's parents house at the Christmas gathering. It is total pandemonium, but my favorite party of the year with his family. You can only see 13 grandkids, but the total is 17 with one more due at the end of this month and ours due in April. PANDEMONIUM I TELL YA!And here is a picture of our Christmas morning. I love this! Wrapping paper everywhere, toys everywhere, chocolate being eaten at 7:00 in the morning. This is great. We read Luke 2 the night before with the manger scene in the lower left hand corner and let the kids put the characters in when we read about them. Is it a problem that we already lost Baby Jesus? Is he vital in this story? Riiiiight. So we pulled another Baby Jesus out of my nice porcelain one and he worked just fine. I love my Little People Nativity scene though cause the kids can play with it and it's not a big deal (of course until they lose Baby Jesus:)Here is the first day of the new year in primary and since I have a new Sunbeam I decided to take pictures of everybody cause they all looked cute. Here's Abby, the poser.
Here's my new little sunbeam. Doesn't he look handsome. The tie even stayed on all day.
And, of course, don't forget Shelby. Yeah, she looks like she got into a brawl before this picture. We're just happy she's smiling.

I think that about covers the bragging for now. Sorry I tend to go on but I like to go into detail for posterity purposes. Until next time...