Merry Christmas!!!!

Christmas Day was awesome!! Dad and I got up and started cooking at 7:30 and somewhere in there the kids were yelling, "It's Stocking Time!!!" haha They weren't the least bit anxious at all! teehee!!




Ashlyn was super excited because she got her favorite white chocolate peppermint kisses!!!

And Todd was very excited about getting baseball cards! :)

Jeff, Kate, and Ash were waiting for breakfast to be finish so we could eat some good ole biscuits and gravy, sausage, and eggs. :)

Looks like Santa came to visit at our house! :)

Ashlyn and her Granddaddy

Santa even got presents! :)

Bubs got his first & very own real tool set!

Todd was very excited about his new Bible!!

Ashlyn loves to travel and has been wanting to go to Greece, so she was very excited to get this calendar! Maybe one of these days I will get to take her on a trip!

Kate loved her new dress!

I love this picture! Nothing like a Mother to Son love!

Ash LOVED her gift card so she could go shopping at Youth Convention!

Kate loved her Bible as well!!

Oh dear...this is a scary picture. My hair wasn't even fixed all the way yet...but I have to show off my lovely apron that my coworkers got me for my birthday! hehe Love it!

Love this picture of Jeff showing Todd things in the Bible!

Robyn and I being creative and making.............


Mini Santa Clauses!!!!!!

I LOVED how these turned out!!!


Getting ready for Christmas dinner...

The MOST AMAZING ham ever created!!!! Seriously...we've never had a ham like this before...it was soooooo good!

Cheesy corn with Rotel


Mashed Potatoes. A mixture of regular and sweet potatoes! Mmmm!

Can't forget the veggies....

...or the Green Bean Casserole! Mmm!
The full table at Christmas dinner!


Cake with pineapple/coolwhip frosting topped with mandarin oranges. So good!

Layered Angel food cake...layered with pudding, kiwi, pineapple, strawberries, and cool whip!

Chocolate cake with chocolate fudge icing

Four layered delight! The favorite around here...


I absolutely L-O-V-E Christmas time!!!!! And with all the festivities we must not forget what Christmas is REALLY all about!!! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!!!!

And with that being said, I'll leave you with a couple of pictures from Bubs birthday. His birthday was the day after Christmas, (the big 13!) but since they were leaving that day, we let him open his presents on Christmas night while all the family was there. Happy Birthday Bubs!!! I love you!

He's been wanting this hoodie for a LONG time! He LOVED it!

HAHAHA!!! Ok, so this isn't the most pleasant picture or anything but we laughed so hard! He kept sticking his tongue out and being silly..It was so funny...so just had to share. There is never a dull moment!

Looks like I totally scored on some Auntie points!! He LOVED his new game!!!


Stay tuned for some pictures from New Years!

A Christmas Eve to Remember...

There is only one word to describe Christmas Eve this year...F-U-N!!! I am so thankful that my sister and her family got to come spend a few days with us for Christmas!! It's just never long enough and there are way to many things to try and cram into a couple of days. But, we definitely made the best of it that we could! :) Typically a Christmas Eve around the Ford household is hanging out around the house, playing games, eating, and wrapping presents late into the night. But this year we decided to do something different. And that we did. Well first of all, it seems that we all procrastinated this year and didn't even really start shopping until Christmas Eve. YIKES!! Ok well I had a couple of things but not near enough. LOL So that was definitely an adventure. A fun one at that. :) That evening we decided to go downtown Kansas City and spend the evening at Crown Center and The Plaza! It was so much fun but it was soooooooooo cold! Did I mention that it was C-O-L-D?! LOL My sister and I have annually taken the kids Christmas pictures but since they moved further away this year it was kind of hard to get it all together. So we decided to do it Christmas Eve this year. This post will be kind of long, so hang in there with me. :)
So, we arrived at Crown Center! The kids loved it!! This huge tree was hanging from the ceiling!

Hanging out in Crown Center...Ashlyn, Mom (Grandmommy), Me,Todd, and Katelyn

Todd had his eye on a couple of cars at the toy store

We had a little Christmas photo shoot of the kiddos in and round Crown Center. This is the Christmas store. They are open all year 'round. LOVE IT!!! Katelyn looks adorable in her pettiskirt!!

My kiddos are growing up way too fast!!




Me and my 'baby' girl Ashlyn!

Countdown to Christmas!!!

Todd started posing by himself. LOL



I love this picture of them!!!






Crown Center has this AMAZING Gingerbread village!!! Oh.My.Word. It was awesome!!! LOVE this picture of Katelyn!!!


I went CRAZY taking pictures of the gingerbread village!!! Seriously. This is "just a taste"! :)


And this...my friends...is what the gingerbread village is made out of!! :)


I just so happened to do Ashlyn's hair that night! :)


Outside Crown Center! BEAUTIFUL!! The Mayor's Christmas tree is 100 ft! Every year when they take it down, they make ornaments out of it and sell them to go towards the Christmas tree for next year!



Still out and about outside at Crown Center. Totally loved it but it was so cold by the time we left, we were numb. lol So much fun though! I adore this picture of the kiddies!

My sister, Robyn, and her husband Jeff!

Totally loved all the Nutcrackers down there!!!

After we went to Crown Center, we went to The Plaza since we never go down there with the family at Christmas time. It was pretty much amazing! LOVE all the lights down there!

And we even got a visit with Santa in!!!! Oh...did I mention that he was a DRUNK Santa?! Yikes! The kids weren't really sure how to take him. lol







Loving the kids expressions! lol


One last view of the Plaza!


Before the kids went to bed that night...Katelyn wanted to write a note to Santa because she left him some brownies to eat and eggnog to drink! She also wanted to make sure there wasn't a fire going in the fireplace so Santa wouldn't get burned. :)


Here you go Santa!!



And thats all folks...stay tuned for Christmas Day and New Years pictures!