Christmas Pictures

The Holidays this year were very nice. We have so much to be thankful for in our family. My parents and my sister, Sandi, came down here to Phoenix for Thanksgiving at my house. (Mom did all the cooking, thank goodness. I just set the table and created the ambiance!) My sister, Cami, took some beautiful family pictures of all of us. It was such a lovely afternoon. I just wish my parents could be closer - the boys just love them so much.

Santa was also very good to us this year. Here he is with the boys, making a surprise Christmas Eve visit to Grandma and Grandpa Clouse's:

Here is Thomas and Andrew dressed up for the traditional reading of the Birth of Jesus. Thomas as a shepherd and Andrew as a stable cow. (We are determined to get our money's worth out of that Halloween costume!)
I thought I would share a couple pictures of some home-made Christmas gifts I did. In my very first sewing project ever, I hand-stitched this tooth bear for a couple of nephews who are in their tooth-losing days:

(thanks for the pic, Afton)

And then for my mother-in-law, Margo, I made these ornaments with all the ancestor's pictures in them:

I thought they turned out really cute. (Thanks for the idea, Carolyn!)

Andrew finally started crawling last month. Now he follows Thomas around and tries so hard to play with his toys too. He just loves Thomas. Usually Thomas is really good and sweet with him, but if Andrew gets to some toys that Thomas is trying to do something with, then I always hear Thomas whining, "No, Brother, no!" Then sometimes he'll even yell for me, "Mom! Brother needs his nap - come get him!" Little stinker!

Ryan applied for and got a new job. It is a paid internship at Larson Allen, an accounting firm, and he is so excited about it. This whole week he has been gone to Minneapolis for training. I finally get him back home tonight! Yeah!

Ryan finally graduates from ASU next semester in Accountancy. Then he will start his Master's program (another 2 years). I can't wait until school is over with.

But I am very proud of Ryan. He is such a smart and hard-working man. He has been so diligent with his school work - something I really admire about him. I couldn't ask for a better provider, husband, and father!