El Paso in December

Right after Christmas, we traveled to El Paso and New Mexico with Maya and Papa to see Marco's family. We visited Marco's aunts, uncles, cousins and great grandmothers. We had a really nice time and decided that maybe the drive to El Paso wasn't quite as torturous as we thought it would be.

Funny fact about eating in El Paso . . . I was served beans, tortillas and salsa with each meal for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I must say I've never eaten beans for breakfast, but this girl can adjust! Marco always says I'm more Mexican than he is because I could seriously eat Mexican food everyday.

Maya opening the Christmas ornament Noah made for her and Papa.

Apparently Maya has always wanted to be a superhero, so she outfitted the whole family! We had a huge superhero "battle" in the front yard.

hamster?

four generations - Papa, Grandma Eloisa, Noah and Marco

Uncle Miguel took us to his ranch. - Noah LOVED it! He wants to be a cowboy, but he was born into a family of city slickers.
Cowboy Noah

Papa and Noah

Noah and Daddy

Dinner at a 50's diner

Merry Christmas!

We kicked off our Christmas Eve day with Christmas doughnuts.

How about a little Grinch to get some cuddle time on the couch?

We decided to make Rice Krispy treats this year instead of cookies. Noah added red and green chocolate chips.

a fresh batch of Reindeer food

our traditional Christmas countdown sans the final ornament

It's time for the star! That means Santa is coming tonight!

my handsome guys all dressed up for Christmas Eve service - I'm so blessed!

Noah's Christmas Eve dinner

the rest of us enjoyed tacos

Noah made a plate of goodies for Santa. He initially loaded it up with about 8 Rice Krispy treats before we realized what he was doing. We had him scale it down a bit.

I read/told Noah the story of Jesus' birth again on Christmas Eve, and we used his nativity set to act it out.

I read him The Night Before Christmas as well.

all nestled in bed, with visions of sugarplums dancing in his head

Santa came!

How did Santa know I wanted boxing gloves!?

Noah on his new bicycle

Noah with his favorite playmate - Daddy!

Yes. That's right. Spiderman lives at my house, and apparently there are lots of bad guys to protect us from!

Be careful! He will sling his webs at you!

Spiderman can roller skate

Daddy sporting his new jacket from Mommy and opening the highway pegs for his motorcycle

Daddy loved his photo calendar

Kathy, Noah and Marco

Christmas 2010

Noah asked for an elf costume for Christmas this year. My mom made him this adorable one he sported on Christmas morning. He uses it as a Santa suit also, and Santa Noah has made several trips to our house this past weekend delivering all kinds of goodies.

Grandmommy and her little elf

Dad, Mom, Richard Wayland, Noah, Kathy & Marco

Christmas 2010

This is one of my favorite Christmas decorations. A few years ago I painted this plate using Noah's footprint as Rudolph's head. I did it here in town at Mine By Design, and I completely copied it from one they have on display there. I thought I'd add it in case any of you with little ones want to do one also. I actually painted it in January a few years ago because who has time in December?

Christmas Playdate

Noah wanted to have some friends over, so we decided to have a little Christmas party/playdate. We served a Christmas-themed dinner for the kiddos and yummy Olive Garden soup and salad for the mommies.
I made this cutie-pie snowman for the occasion.

Christmas tree cupcakes made with Peeps

Snowman noses

stockings stuffed with Christmas goodies served as party favors

Christmas place settings

Christmas trees

Reindeer sandwiches and Christmas yogurt

coloring Rudolph (and adding a red glitter nose!)

my silly child

Miss Maddie and Wyatt enjoying the festivities

holiday fun

Christmas munchkins

The kids made reindeer antlers at the party, and Noah had made Rudolph noses for everyone ahead of time.

Noah, Maddie & Wyatt with their stocking party favors