Merry Christmas!

What a fun Christmas!  I so enjoy this time of year with family and friends.  It's been a busy last week but I wouldn't have it any other way.  We started our Christmas celebrations with our friends, Shane & Nichole, McClain and Clay Miller on Christmas Eve the boys watched the bowl game (Shane was pleased with the outcome) and Nichole, her mom Anita and I played "Aggravation" lots of fun!

The next morning we woke........... 6:23am........ to find that Santa had visited during the night, it was fun watching JD open his presents, but it took forever, we kept having to corral him to keep opening the next one.  Our little Bean had fun with the tissue paper and holding the presents.  

She is also starting to crawl............ watch out JD.

After we opened presents at our house we headed to my mom's for more Christmas celebrations.  There was lots of food and the family came and went as they pleased.  It was good seeing and celebrating with everyone.  JD got a firetruck from Mimi and Papa that was a big hit!  Thanks mom, everything was yummy!

Then on Sunday we headed over to Mimi LouAnn's for a Christmas sleep over, lots of fun.  We had a big dinner on Sunday afternoon and then headed downstairs for the gift exchange, it's so fun seeing all of the little ones so excited.  JD and Bean got a farm barn, animals and an elevator that he has been so excited about.  (My Grandma Holtz would be so tickled that he enjoys that so much)  Then later that night we had "Chocolate Surprise" a Rupp tradition (that I really look forward to).  There is always a lot of sitting in the kitchen talking about, whatever, but it's always the place we end up, so much fun!!  The next morning we all got up had some breakfast casserole and sat around some more and then headed home. Thanks LouAnn for your hospitality, lots of fun!

Here's Ella all dressed up, showing off her "2 front teeth" (JD calls this her Santa dress)

Make's mommy laugh out loud.

So, just this morning......... oh I have 2 funnies.  We'll start with last night.  Rick and I took the p-nuts to see Santa over in Elkhart, JD climbs up on Santa's lap and the first thing he blurbs out of his mouth is "I want a DEER Santa!"  Santa then had to ask him again to make sure he heard him correctly, ..... I smiled and told him, yes thats what he wants for Christmas, a deer:)

Then this morning after church, Rick and JD were downstairs playing tackle football, Rick was lying on the floor and JD comes charging at Rick flys over the top of him and lands on his head.  Rick quickly gets turned over to make sure he is alright.  Rick says, "JD, are you alright?"  JD gets up and rubs his head and says, "Sorry daddy, I forgot, I thought I was in the lympics" (not the olympics, but the lympics)  We laughed so hard!

It's Christmas time!

This is one of my favorite times of the year and with a new little one to share it with will be so much fun!  I just got all of my wrapping done a few days ago and the presents placed under the tree.  I hadn't yet placed Ella next to the tree to see what she did, she first grabbed and present and turned it over a number of times, then played with an ornament for a while.  She finally thought it was time to taste the tree.............

tasting the tree.

All in all I think she really like the whole idea of everything!

Crazy days!

Wow, what a whirlwind this last week has been between Dr's visits for JD's surgery and Ella not feeling well, we've had enough of Dr's for the week.  These pix's were taken just before JD's surgery last Friday morning, he had to have tubes put in his ears and then a little reconstruction work done as well, what a scary day and we're so thankful everything is done and he is doing extremely well, it is truly amazing how resilient kids are.   

Ella's 7 months old!

Oh, happy girl, she sitting up, (one of my favorite stages), she inches like an inchworm, loves when she sees her mommy, she has 2 teeth and loves to try them out on everyone.  This girl loves her sleep too, she takes 2 naps that are between 2 1/2-3 hours and then takes another catnap before bed.  Also, to see the love she has for her brother is priceless, he can do anything and she just gives him this adoring, loving smile............. i hope that lasts forever.

JD helping dad with the drywall mud!

Look at these cuties, my nieces, Andrea, Berkley & Claire.
Jd, Rick and Ella surprised me with this beautiful tree, what a trooper, Rick took the 2 little munsters out to get a Christmas tree and set it up while I shopped the day after Thanksgiving,......thanks again honey:)

Welcome first snow!!

JD and I built his first snowman,.......... twice!  I can't believe the amount of snow that we got and it was the first snow of the year.  You should have heard JD yesterday looking out the window and saying, "come on snow, stay on the grass."  I love being able to do these fun things with him.

First, we had to go for a ride.

Then we got sticks for his arms.

Then we built and dressed him......... oops, we forgot his arms.

There he is hugging Mr. Snowman.

What a fun afternoon:)

Ella's 6 mo's pix's

What a perfect day for pix's Lesli Stewart came and shot Ella's 6 months pix's and it's going to be a difficult decision on which ones to choose.  Here are some of them......

Ella's 6 mo's old and Happy Birthday to Rick!!

Oh my how time is going so quickly!  This has been a big week for Ella, she just got her first tooth in on the bottom and she is trying it out on everything............. I mean everybody.  

She is also sitting up for a minute or two at a time!

My 3 favorite people, Happy Birthday Rick!!

I made this little hat for her, so much fun!

JD and Rick carved this pumpkin out last week and every night he's sits on our deck and looks into our patio door.

Trunk or Treat!

Check out the spider (JD) and that cute puppy (McClain Miller).

These 2 were so dog-gone cute:)  Our friends Shane and Nik invited us to their church fall party where the chillins could go to a number of cars who had their trunks all decorated and they could get a treat................. They did so good saying, "trunk or treat" with their wee little voices.............. they also remembered their please and thank you's.

Then inside they had fun jumping in this giant blow up balloon gym!!

Here's the other 2 trunk or treaters, they observed and learned from their older siblings how they can do this in a few years.  The monkey on the right is Clay (McClain's brother) and the pumpkin on the left is Ella.

Here's Chloe, Mia, Max, Conor and McClain.

Tailgating at MSU!

It was so great getting together, wow 2 weekends in a row, that never happens!  We had such a good time!

Here's a happy guy with another "W" for his Buckeyes.

Girls night!

Wow, ladies what a fun weekend!!  Thank you everyone for making it out, it meant so much to me that we could all get together.  I truly feel that when we still get together, no matter how long it's been it is just like old times, the conversation, the laughs and the real closeness.  I really feel blessed to have you all as my dear friends and I hope, no, I know our friendship will always be like this.  I'm also glad that we've all found happiness in the ones we love and I can see how much support and love we have from our husbands and it hasn't changed how awesome you all are.  Liz, your the last to have your life completed and we couldn't be any happier for you and Jim, I could see how happy you are and you deserve it.  I love you all and thanks for making this happen, safe flights home!

PS.............. JD's sad you gone:(