CHRISTMAS 2007

For the sake of time, I'm going to group all the pics together over the last couple of weeks.

(Above is little Mary Kate in her car seat - the five arrive!!!!!)

The weekend before Christmas we had our grandchildren (Dana's & Will's kids) over for the "annual" gingerbread house making (& eating =), baking "Christmas tree" cookies, etc. They are arriving here on Friday afternoon and are spending the weekend with us. What excitement!!

Owen (7) brought his latest creation to show Grandmom & Grandad. He built it all by himself. Dana says he'll disappear (in the shed) for a couple of hours and then appear with a new bench or barbaric tool or candle in a log, whatever he's inspired to build that day. He's really extremely creative, but sometimes his creations can be dangerous, in which case Will either hides it (I think he has a museum of Barbaric tools by now) or he destroys it, like the pen Owen put a needle into at the point.

That's Andrew (9), the cowboy, in the back, moving with lightening speed.

It does not take them long to get the toys out. Tim (10) loves building with tiny Lego pieces. Here he is with Christian's space Lego from when he was young. It's given them hours & hours of pleasure, and some of the things they build are amazing. (Thanks Christian!)

So sorry, but some of the pictures are blurry. Hey, it's not easy to even remember the camera when they're here - I'm just glad I took it out and had it in my hand when they arrived =)

This is little Megan (5) with her larger Legos. (They think these toys are ours, and Al & I play with them when they are not here =)

Owen and Andrew love playing chess and are becoming quite good - especially Andrew who beat me fair and square. It amazes me that they understand the moves. It seems like just the other day they would tramp the chess pieces all over the board like checkers, and then proclaim themselves winners. Al is the one who spends the time playing chess with them and teaching them.

Sean is now an excellent chess player because of all the games he played with his father and brother. When he was little, he'd ask me to play a game with him whenever he got beaten, because he knew he'd win =)

This is the same old chess set that we've had for years, and that every child played with - even Sarah & Meghan, the Aguilar twins, when they could barely walk. Whenever we lost a piece we'd always find it, even if it was a few days later down a vent or in between a cushion. This may seem like a little thing, but I know it's the Lord. He spoke to me years ago about this chess set (which was symbolic to me), that if I would let go and not worry, He'd be in control. We've never lost a piece! Even little Mary Kate walks around with chess pieces in her hand as well as her mouth =).

A quiet moment - and there aren't many of those =) Grandad is trying to take a map. Shhhh!

I stopped playing Chinese Checkers with them to take this picture.

Timothy with his creations. (What a face!! "Do I have to smile?")

Here's Grandad trying to take his nap - and impossible task with five little grandchildren around. Rather than covering his head, he should have had earplugs.

(He needed a nap after a hard day's work so he could have enough energy to make the gingerbread house).

OK everybody's ready and it's time for Grandad to get up (of course there was no sleep, but he did get a little rest =)

Did we say eating is not allowed?
Mysteriously holes appeared in the bags of candy.

New rules: Try to leave some for the gingerbread house too =)

Even Mary Kate gets to sample some candy (of course). Amazingly there was still some left to decorate the house with.

This was our best house ever because we had a construction Co. (Sangree Construction Inc., nothing but the BEST) build it.

Last year we tried it when Grandad was at work and it was our worst year - the thing collapsed at least three times, with so many little fingers poking and licking and "building" =)

This year they actually waited until the "mortar" dried and the house was stable before decorating it. They all had a great time, especially Tim who planned the design. He said he thought it turned out great! We all agreed!

There's Mary Kate with Dana's doll when she was wee little. She just loves the "bee bee".
She actually walked around with two a lot of the time. She was a happy camper once she had her "bankie" (blanket), "pacie", and "bee bee", and the boys were not torturing her by sticking her pacifier into the nutcracker's mouth, and holding the leaver down at the back so she could not pull it out. She is so gentle, but sure knows how to get everybodies attention when she wants it.

Talking about nutcrackers, we were gluing them all weekend, and one still has no nose. Soon after they arrived I was in the bathroom when I heard Andrew say in his usual low voice "I didn't break nothing yet!" =)

Finishing touches!

On Saturday night Mommy came to pick them up because Grandad and I had a Christmas party to go to. You would have thought Mary Kate had died and went to heaven when she saw her Mom. She was happy before, but was ecstatic when she saw Dana. It was so precious! She shrieked with delight and laughed as she held her Mom ever so tightly, with her cheek next to hers. (Sorry about the blur - everything moves really fast when the grandkids are around =)

How precious is this!!!

Timothy made and calved a walking stick (for hiking) for his Dad for Christmas with Grandad's help, and here he is carrying out all the backpacks on it. A cute picture!
They are leaving for the night, but will be back tomorrow.

And we're ready to "step out" to a Christmas party that we always look forward to each year. Great food, and we get to dance together! Fun, fun, fun!

Dancing together! We sure enjoyed ourselves!

The really nice thing about this is that we only had to go next door as the party was hosted by the Anginos at Felicita. The weather turned lousy with sleet and freezing rain, but we could have walked home if we had to.
The ice storm that we had. (This is our lane and our house is on the left).

This is our first Christmas in our little cottage and we love it. It is so cozy and quiet, and although we still have quite a bit yet to do to the outside, we are enjoying the beautiful surroundings.

Sunday and the grandchildren are back, enjoying the snow and ice. We all went for a lovely walk together. We sure have wonderful places to walk, and the children sure enjoy it.

We enjoyed them so much, and made memories that we'll probably all remember for a long time. We missed Addie and Storie so much but maybe next year they'll come for Christmas =).

This is our "company Christmas luncheon" and Sean always makes it. This year I believe he only worked for Sangree Construction for half a day, and in fact that was the day =)

We sure are so blessed to have Sean home for the holidays, and for two whole weeks too!!!!

Flibbydibbydoo!!!!!!! (although we really do miss Christian, Holly and our girls =(
Next to Sean is Max, who Al loves working with, and says "he has the gift". We thank God for the wonderful employees He's blessed Al with over the years.

These are our dear friends, Bruce and Vickie Aguilar whom we've known for years.

We went out together for dinner just before Christmas, and what a wonderful joyous time it was. We had such a special time together laughing and chatting over delicious food, and even singing along with the live entertainer who sang and played his guitar for three hours straight without taking a break. Bruce and Al had requested a couple of "oldies" which he played for us.

It was a lovely night out, and we made the most of it!

We sure are blessed with with good friends and family.

Megan all dressed up on Christmas Eve.

We had Will, Dana and the children over ( and of course Sean ) Christmas Eve night and then went to their church with them.

We had a good time together, and after eating, the children opened their stockings.

What an exciting time that was, and to see their little faces light up was enough for us - but they were so grateful and kept thanking us. The boys each got a Dickie camouflage wallet with a dollar in it, and I think this was the biggest hit in their stockings. Megan had different things, so we just stuck a dollar bill in her stocking. Well, you would have thought it was a hundred dollar bill. Maybe next year we'll just put a couple of one dollar bills, and skip the shopping altogether =)

There's Will and Mary Kate, "poulez chopatoulis" alias "boo boo" (as the children call her) all dressed up on Christmas Eve. I wish I had taken more pictures, but as they came in I got all excited and forgot the camera for the rest of the night (this happens a lot I'm afraid).


We had a lovely quiet Christmas Day, the three of us, Al, Sean and I, as we have our Christmas at Will and Dana's with all the kids on Boxing Day, the 26 th. We have always celebrated it as Trinidad, which is where I'm from, was a British Colony and it's a big British holiday. So all my family, in Trinidad, Canada and England, as well as the US, are also off celebrating on Boxing Day . We got a web cam for Christmas and after calling everybody the day before, we were able to see as well as talk to Trinidad, England and Iowa. What a gift that was! They were able to see us and we were able to see them, and the best part is IT IS FREE!!!

I look forward to staying in touch, especially with Christian and Holly and our two precious grandchildren in Oklahoma, and being able to watch them grow up.

I'm so grateful for the technology we have today, although it can be frustrating when things go wrong - like my new video cam that I can't download as yet.

Well, stay tuned.....next time VIDEOS!!

Late Boxing Day at Will and Dana's...watching a video together after all was said and done.

GOD BLESS YOU & HAPPY NEW YEAR ONE AND ALL!!!!!