The Hancock's

If you look on my blog history, you will notice that my posts are very few and far between in December. It's because we are just having too much fun! Christmas was so wonderful this year. It all worked out perfectly despite all the craziness. We had a great time visiting Than's grandparents and a fantastic time visiting with my family in Wellington and then went home to have our little family Christmas and then the next day drove up to Oroville to have Hancock family Christmas. It's the Christmas that never ends!!! My kids were so thrilled that they got to open presents THREE times. I would put up my pictures but I left my camera in Nevada! I never do that! And I would never do that since I was supposed to take Kaylee's family pictures! ARGH!!! So, my family christmas I have no photographic proof of, but it was awesome. The kids had the look of magic in their eyes. Santa put his basketball hoop right outside the window behind the tree and when Pacen noticed it, his mouth dropped so wide he was so surprised and he played basketball for the few hours we were actually home. I didn't want to distract him so we watched from the window while he was replaying some game while he played. He was talking to himself and making plays and it was just precious. The girls got lots of dolls and have been playing dolls and my little ponies non-stop. Gentry got a little baby that actually cries (Thanks a lot, Loren! :) ) but stops once you put in the bottle but Gentry hasn't quite nailed that skill down yet. But Camry has the stance down....knees a little bent, hold the baby with one arm, balance the bottle with your chin while you wrap the baby in the blanket with your other arm....I wish I had a picture of that. She looked just like me! I love it. They each got their princess babies that they slept with Christmas night. We had a slumber party that night and stayed up late watching the disney parade that I recorded for us. Pacen & Cam were a little frustrated that they couldn't hear Justin Beiber sing over the high pitched screams of the little girls. Here are some other highlights of our Christmas....

***Spending the night with Than's grandparents. Carolyn has so many nicknacks that the girls loved playing with. Claira was especially attached to these little flowers stuck on the end of toothpicks. She played with those the entire time and Carolyn sent them home with her.

Gentry and Herm have a special relationship. He can always get her to smile and he just got a kick out of watching her "clean" the window. She would dip her napkin in an empty bowl and then go wipe off the doll cabinet. Than is very lucky in that he still has his grandma and grandpa still living and we do try to take every advantage to see them. I'm happy that my kids will have memories with them. Not very many kids get to play with their great grandparents.

***Seeing my grandpa. He's my only grandparent still living and I'm not sure how much longer he'll be alive for. His poor body has been worked very hard in his life and I'm not sure how much more it can take. Gentry is his namesake and I think that he is tickled pink about it. He didn't stay very long on Christmas morning, but I was happy that I got to buy him a Christmas present this year and he seemed to like it.

***Hanging out with the rest of my family. My family is kind of strange in it's organization since my mom's mom married my dad's day (you can figure that out later!). And a bunch of them ended up settling there in Wellington, Nevada so we had my Aunt Nancy and Uncle Mike (my dad's brother), my Uncle Wayne (my dad's brother), Grandpa Gentry (my dad's dad), Aunt Virginia (my mom's aunt) and Janet (my mom's cousin) and the three of us girls and our families. We aren't a large group, but we are a fun group! We play cards and chat and tell (some of us just listen to and laugh at :) ) dirty jokes thanks to Grandpa, and Erin played war and golf with the kids and we chased babies and ate delicious food thanks to Nancy and opened presents and our incredibly over-stuffed stockings and just had a great time. We had to drive a lot this Christmas, but we saw lots and lots of family on both sides.

*** That brings me to hanging out with the Hancock's and all the hancock cousins. We've been in Oroville since yesterday and the kids have been playing non-stop. Than and I miss living in Utah a lot, but we are always grateful that we live in California so that we can be close to family. We had a super fun cousin present exchange and we gave everyone our presents and we're all together and it's just fun. All together we have Walt & Becky and scotty, Sam, Becca & Kyle, Shauna & Ben with Heidi, Kaylee, Daisy, and Blake, Chris & Kaylee with Olive, William and George, and all six of us. What is that....23 of us! The babies are all playing and right now as I type Gentry keeps putting the pacifier in George's mouth and then takes it and puts it in her mouth and then back in his. It's a fun game. And the really fun thing is that Sam is bringing his girlfriend home for all of us to meet her tonight!! Welcome to the craziness.

***Walt and Becky got the kids a trampoline!!! I can't wait to get it home and set it up. Or have Walt set it up....it's going to be awesome.

***Than got me a tennis class for Christmas!!! It's for 8 weeks and I can't wait!!!!

***Gentry was soooooo cute when we were opening presents. She started doing this little dance when she gets excited and she was so happy playing with all the presents.

***Camry noticed that Santa's wrapping paper was different than our wrapping paper. She is so stinking observant! We have to be on our toes with that one!

***Claira's favorite thing was this disney fairy stories. She opened that one first and she would go back to it after opening each present. Who knew a five dollar book would be a favorite?!?!

***Christmas pajama's!!! They were so dang cute and so dang excited about them. Once they were on, they were crazy for a few minutes and then we told them it was time for bed and the bee-lined it right to bed and were asleep within minutes. I love my kids.

Alright, there are more things I want to remember but I have to go be a mom again. The movie is over and the chaos has returned. Just the way we like it. :)