Christmas with the Taylor's !

Hanna & A.J. opening their gifts from Santa!

Hanna & A.J. are thrilled. We will be there with you in April, YIPPEE!

Derek planning his trip too!

Jeff & Fiona opening there flip video. This will come in handy later during our Christmas game:)

We had a great Christmas with our families and we hope you did as well. Santa was very good to all of us but we are most thankful for this time celebrating the birth of Jesus, the reason for the season, and enjoying all the traditions we have come to love. Merry Christmas Everyone!

more :)

Santa's helper!
Derek & Tracee cuddling by the fire
Cutie Patutie, Hanna Banana!
A.J. , Hanna, & Derek.
Jeff & Fiona

A hat, a scarf, oven mits, and .....

a present wrapped many many times! It's a tradition at my parents house that we end the night with a game that involves everyone. Everyone really enjoys it and we always laugh till our cheeks and stomachs hurt. It's so fun and we look forward to it every year. Matt and I were the winners last year, will we remain the champs this year too?
just a little about the game. Everyone sits on the ground in a circle. There is 1 gift wrapped multiple times in the middle of the circle and 1 dice in a box. You must roll a "1" to even try and open the gift. But before you attempt to open the gift you must put on the lovely hat, scarf, and oven mitts(which makes it very hard to open). The dice continues around the circle one person at a time until someone else gets a one and then it is their turn. The person who unwraps the gift wins the gift. It gets very competitive and very silly. The greatest thing is even kids and grandparents can play. Here are few pictures of the game as it went down.


Hanna dressing for the work ahead.

Fiona working so hard to get a little piece off.

Derek thinks he can do it and Tracee's cheering him on in the back ground.

My mom inspecting it trying to find the perfect spot!
UH OHHHH, A.J rolled a 1, he steals it from Grandma, and Tracee is thrilled!

And the winner is........

I see the box..
almost there...
I'm gonna win...
Sheri! It's a game called "Eat It". Sheri got to keep the game but gave it to A.J. and Hanna to keep and play.

Christmas Eve with the Ensworths!

Matt put our "santa bag" next to Santa for Santa to guard.

Josie just couldn't wait!

Uncle Matt is such a softy... he let Josie open our gift to her right when we gor there. Josie knows who to ask :)

She is trilled with the Barbie living room set, can you tell?

I just had to get in on the barbie playing, it brough back many memories of the HOURS I spent in Barbie Land. It was great fun! Thanks Josie for sharing.

Just the kids and presents!

Miss Josie, looking so sweet and pretty. she is growing up to be such a nice little girl.
Josie watching max open his gift. these two "argued" who was going to go first...no you, no you, no you. so cute, we decided it would be the youngest that goes first or we would probably still be there tonight:)

"What's in this fancy bag that daddy got me?

she started out very meticulous and then...

the heck with all this tissue paper where's the goods!

More of Christmas Eve

Josie likes her gift from her dad.... a barbie makeup doll!

Nadia is enjoying her self with a little sparkling wine and watching the kids open their gifts.

Merry Christmas!

All the girls snuggling on the couch at the end of the night. what a great Christmas Eve!

My first Cherry Cheesecake...Yummo it was delicious!

Here comes Santa Claus, Here comes Santa Claus...

The Christmas Party this year was hosted again by the fabulous Jen & Mike. She Always does a great job and they have the perfect house for a huge party. She went all out this year and even made special arrangements with someone who is very busy this time of year....Santa! Santa made a surprise visit & brought toys for the kids and even read them the story "The Night Before Christmas"! The kids were so sweet listening to the story. Most of them LOVED Santa but a few of them would not even get close:( Maybe next year. The Party also happened to fall on Mikes Birthday, the big 33! Happy Birthday Mike. We had such a great time and can't wait til the next one. Good job Jen, You are the best party planner ever. You think of everything and it really shows. Merry Christmas!




Santa reading "The Night Before Christmas"


Picture time with Santa Claus


"The Girls" with Santa telling him what WE want for Christmas!


Matt's gift he won in the gift exchange game. he has his Harley now, don't worry about bringing him one now Santa! Kellen even admired his gift.

And Finally the Fabulous Hosts!

Happy Birthday Ann!

Happy Birthday! we hope you enjoyed your day. Thanks for all you do and all your support, we are so very lucky to have as a mom. Thanks for all you do for Josie and visiting when ever possible, she will be so thankful when she gets older. Knowing that you put such an effort into being a part of her life. Can't wait to see you in a couple months! Happy Birthday! We Love You!

Happy Birthday Barb!

We love you! Hope your day was everything you hoped, we sure enjoyed brunch and spending time with you. You always go above and beyond with everything you do for the family, especially with Josie, and we all appreciate that. Josie will one day realize all you have done and and how blessed she is to have you in her life. Happy Birthday!!!!

Road to Recovery.....

Sadie had surgery on Friday the day after Thanksgiving to repair a ruptured ACL in her back left leg. We brought her home Saturday. This was an extensive surgery, they cute her bone and then repositioned it and secured it with a metal plate. She is doing OK. She was whining a lot last night so we had to keep her pretty medicated on pain medicine. Matt and I slept in the living room so we could hear her if she started whining, we didn't really sleep. I think I had 1 eye on her all night! We are having to take her outside on a leash and with a sling under her belly to prevent her from putting weight on her bad leg and injuring her good leg. She does not care for the sling as you can imagine. She has yet to go to the bathroom out side but instead she has been peeing while she sleeps, so i changed her bed about 4 times last night (hopefully it is because of all the pain meds and not for any other reason). Luckily after the first time I put a mattress protector over her bed, then covered it with a sheet to prevent her bed from getting wet. Thank goodness we have 2beds for her!
Wish us luck, she has to be contained in a 4x4 gated area for 8 weeks. We have to use the sling for about 2 weeks. No activity for 8 weeks and then very limited for 4 weeks after that. We are looking at about a 12 week recovery period, UGH!
Good thing I am not working I don't know what we would do if I was. I was more worried about the recovery then he was, I had a feeling it was going to be difficult.
We are feeling really bad about all the pain she is in, but we also know that it was the only way to fix it. She was not going to get better with out it. Thankfully it was something that was fixable.
Until she is COMPLETELY healed, she will be COMPLETELY spoiled!!!!


Her gated area she will be in for 8 weeks.


You can see her leg and all the bruising. The incision is on the side of her leg that is against her belly. Looks so painful!


Poor girl!



The night before surgery, cuddleing with Matt! She had no idea what the next day would intail :(

A day to give thanks!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!!!!
enjoy your time with family and friends!

Free for 48 hours!!!!

You can download this cd free for the next 48 hours if you go to http://www.oprah.com/index
and click on oprahs free gift to you! I just did and now I am ready for Christmas.... just for you Jaime and Matt ;)!