Christmas 2011

Christmas is over! I swear it seems to come & go so quickly....we actually still have two Christmas' to go to. One with the whole Sancken family (as soon as Grandma Barb is ready) and one with my mom and JD (which will hopefully be this Friday). We're anxious to give my mom her gift b/c we know it's a good one! Of course I can't say what it is on here b/c she might read this before Friday. :o)

All of us "big" kids were surprised when we had Christmas with Joanne and we all opened a gift that had an iPad 2 in it - YAHOO!!  I've been wanting one of those for a loooong time. I was also super excited to receive a video camera from her for my birthday/Christmas. I plan to video tape our preschool days and then put together a DVD for each family at the end of each school year. Now I just gotta figure out how to do that! The grandkids were surprised by Grandma with a trip to Disney as soon as school is out in May. They will have SO much fun and I'm so jealous!!

Travis surprised me with a trip to Vegas in March during the week of Spring Break! Of course I've known about it for a few weeks now b/c he just can't keep a secret from me (which is sweet). We are VERY excited for the trip!! We will be staying at Treasure Island which is on the strip and is also exactly three miles from Pawn Stars - so we will definitely be making a stop there. I think we're also going to go see the Hoover Dam. We're staying for five days so we'll have plenty of time to see/do a lot of different things. Can't wait!!

We gave Lexi, Kiegan and Patrick each their own Android Tablets which are a cheaper version of the iPad (and other gifts of course). Plus we're going to do a weekend away to Grand Bear Lodge here soon too. Maddie is the easiest to buy for b/c she's happy with most anything! It seems like the older the kids get, the more expensive their gifts get and the harder they are to please. :o)  But overall everyone had a great Christmas this year.

Now I just have to make myself take down ALL the decorations one of these days.  That's the worst part!

The countdown is now on to Maddie's third birthday on New Year's Eve - can't believe it of course! Most people assume she's four b/c she's so tall (as of September she had grown 3 inches since her two-year check-up in January). The girl LOVES purple so our plan is to have a birthday party in January for her all decked out in purple! I'm sure she'll love it.  :o)  We plan to spend most of New Year's Eve day with her and then heading over to Fairbury to ring in the new year with our camping group. I'm sure there will be a large number of adult beverages consumed!  Not necessarily by us (although we'll have our fair share), but those folks can put 'em away!!

Ok - it's off to bed for me (and a certain little girl who once again didn't nap today)....