Merry Merry Christmas!

A late night and early morning. make for a fun Christmas...right? Everyone woke up at Mimi and Papa's house a little after eight. There were two very excited kiddos. We made them wait at the top of the stairs...had to double check that Santa actually came!

Yep...he sure did and left them his annual note. Looks like he sure was hungry too!

Wow...he must have required a big sleigh to haul all of these gifts!

First everyone opens their stockings. Mimi always puts a few extra surprises in everyone's stocking, so this is actually one of my favorite parts of the day.

Then it's presents time. I have probably 200 more pictures...but these are a few of my favorites.

There will be another little "Rechtoris" next year!  Mimi made the new baby something perfect for next football season...I think they loved it!

Annual PJ picture...can you see Nick's excitement!

Time to PLAY!!! New AG camper, lego tables, CARS accessories...

After a great lunch we played some more and got some pictures.

So thankful for all the wonderful memories we were able to make with everyone and HAPPY BIRTHDAY JESUS!

Merry Merry Christmas...Eve

This year we got to spend Christmas Eve with the Morrows!  This is when they do their "big" family celebration, so we were able to spend time with all of the cousins, which was a lot of fun for the kids.

Granny and Pop always love to give the grandkids their presents separate from everyone else...like it's their own special moment. Ava was beyond excited to get a Kindle Fire and BB of course was in heaven with a new CARS scooter and accessories.

It's always time to play and act silly when Uncle Adam is around....geez look at his hair!

I did PJ's for all the grandbabies...this was at the very end of the night after everyone left, so to say they were DONE is an understatement.

After we left Granny and Pops we headed to Cornelia to Mimi and Papa's house. They sprinkled their reindeer food...

Put their PJ's back on and made hot chocolate and cookies for Santa.

Ava wrote a letter to Santa...BB signed his name. It won't be long until he's writing a letter of his own.

Then it was off to bed!

Out of the mouths of Babes...

I write most of their funny quotes/sayings/stories in their little journals...but his one was too sweet not to share on the blog. 

Today, while Ava was at school Bennett and I were home. He was playing in the playroom and came running into the family room. 

He says "Mama...I didn't say a bad word!."

I say..."Bennett what did you say?"

"Mama I didn't say a bad word"

I then respond, "Bennett you know there is one person who knows if you did or not."

He says "Mama God wasn't in the playroom."

Well Bennett,  "God knows everything, he is everywhere and sees everything we do, so HE knows if you said a bad word or not."

"But Mama I thought he lives in my heart!

"He does buddy, but he also lives everywhere else."

Satisfied with my answer, he ran back and started playing. A few minutes later he comes running back and says "Mama God told me I said a bad word."  Looking very sad I explained that when we do something wrong, we ask for forgiveness.  He then asked me to help him ask God for forgiveness, we did, said a prayer and he went back to crashing his cars.

 

It amazes me everyday at the lessons we can teach and learn to/from our children.

 

Fall Fun and Halloween!

Fall, my most favorite time of the year and what a busy, crazy, one it was!  Fall was full of Bennett's first grandparent's day, his first fieldtrip, fall festivals, Halloween and then Thanksgiving.  Before we know it it will be December!

Bennett and his class headed to Southern Belle Farms for their fieldtrip. It was such a fun, pretty fall day and everyone had tons of fun!

He enjoyed his first Grandparent's Day with Mimi and Granny!

Then it was Pre-school fall festival time.  We pulled out the Jack Sparrow costume one more time.

 

 They had so much fun "horse racing."

Halloween fell during the middle of the week, so we just decided to spend the night together and planned a fun night eating pizza and having our very own scavenger hunt!  This year we had a sweet octopus and her sidekick the not so scary shark.

 The last clue of the scavenger hunt...at each clue they got a prize...instead of candy.

 We spent a fun Thanksgiving with Nick's family this year.  I only got one picture of my two little turkeys, as we were too busy spending time having fun! To say that we have an over abundance of things to be thankful for would be an understatement.  God has richly blessed us and we thank him everyday for guiding our family along his path.  I pray that we can continue to glorify his name in the coming year!