Holly Jolly Christmas

Love the look on Joelle's face as she opens up the gift that is her Pony.  It was really the only thing that she asked Santa for and it was so great that she got it. 

 

Golf shoes for David and make up for Megan makes for happy children!



 

 

 



 

Joelle got her fill of Barbies and Barbie accessories!

 

 

Daddy got Mommy a new Laptop so that she could continue doing a good job on the blog and make movies from our videos:)  I was shocked and so excited and happy!  All in all everyone was very happy:) 

 

Patches

 

On Sunday, Dec. 23rd we went to the Arizona Animal Welfare League to look at some dogs.  Unfortunately after Thanksgiving we had to give Libby back.  She had become very aggressive and we were worried that she would hurt someone.  We did research on breeds and had a very good idea of what we did not want and some breeds that we felt would work for our family.  We saw 2 dogs that we really liked.  We met the first dog, but he was just too large for us.  He was a great boy, but would not work for our family.  After we met him I wanted to meet Patches a beagle mix.  He was so cute and on the smaller side. 



 

He ended up being our match.  He is only a year old so he does have some puppy in him still, but he is such a good boy.  We took him home and he has not had one accident in the house!!  He does not seem to have any of the separation anxiety that Libby had either.  We can put him outside and he doesn't freak out! 



 

So far he has been pretty good with only chewing on his toys!   When he does go for something that he should not be chewing on, all we have to say is no and he will walk away. 



 

He wants nothing more than to hang out on the couch with us and watch TV!!



His favorite spot!!  With his humans on the couch relaxing:) 

 

Christmas Party

 

Time for our Christmas party!  This year we headed over to Tyson's house for a gathering of good friends, good food, and good times. 



 

 

The kids were very excited to have some gifts to open!



 

Joelle loved her new baking set.  She has been making us things ever since!



 

We even had an adult gift exchange.  It was a good time:) 



 

5 Years OLD!!

 

WOW!!  I can not believe that my baby girl is 5!  She brings so much joy to our lives every day!!  I still remember the day I went to the hospital to deliver her.  My water broke and I was having mild contractions in the middle of the night.  We got everyone up at like 4 am so we could go to the hospital.  It was raining outside, not a hard rain more like a drizzle.  We were so excited that the time to meet her had finally come.  She sure didn't make it easy on us!  After 18 plus hours in labor they finally delivered her by C-section.  She was most beautiful baby I had ever seen.  It has been amazing to watch her grow and develop her own personality through the years.  She has become a very happy, talented, smart, beautiful, and confident little girl.  I couldn't be more proud of her:)



 

Joelle had her birthday party at Brunswick Bowling Zone!  The kids had a blast.  I wasn't sure how the bowling thing would go over, but they had these ramps and the kids loved it!



 

Look at that form!!



 

The kids had pizza and lemonade.  The cool part was that the bowling was Cosmic Bowling so it was all flashing lights and music!!



 

All the kids got to go to the arcade and play some games as well. 



 

We didn't have time to open presents at the bowling alley so we brought them home.  This was Joelle's favorite gift, she LOVES Doc McStuffins!!  Now she refers to everyone as her nurse.



She also loved this gift from Mom and Dad.  She draws pictures all the time and then wants us to guess what she drew, not always as easy as that sounds!!  She had a terrific day and is so happy to finally be 5!

Must Be Santa!

 This year Joelle saw Santa at Bass Pro Shop!!  She was pretty bashful and didn't speak to him, but I was just glad that she got on his lap and smiled for the picture!!

 

 

The Bass Pro Shop had quite the setup as you can see!!  After we got Joelle's picture taken, we went to the Fish Company and had lunch.  We got to see Uncle David and visit with him for a bit. 



Fa la la la la....

 

 

This year I got a little crafty with my Christmas décor!  These trees were made out of tomato cages and lights!!  They turned out so well.

 

 

 This is my bulb wreath!

 

 

This is the Christmas card holder that I made.  Pinterest is my new best friend as you can see:) 





 

Ahh, red lights.  The outside décor is in honor of Grandpa Niekamp.  His favorite holiday was Christmas and he always decorated his outside with red lights.  This was BEFORE they had strings of red and he would buy lights and paint them!!  His house was always the essence of Christmas for me.  The tree was decorated with glass ornaments and there was a train track that ran around the base.  The front door had the best jingle bells to announce when anyone entered the house.  I remember when I was younger and our family would go to Ohio for the holiday, we would enter the house and my dad would always say, "Ho, ho, ho, Merry Christmas" as we entered the house.  My grandpa also always had a 3 tiered glass candy dish on the kitchen table with the best candies!!  This year my grandpa passed away after Thanksgiving and my family tried to do it up in a way that he would have liked!



 

I also made all these wreaths, not that they were very difficult as it is just garland, but they did turn out nice.  

 

Thank goodness the kids still like to help put the ornaments on the tree!!  It would be a big job if I had to do it all myself.  

Thanksgiving Pratt Style

 

 This year was the first time that David and Megan were coming with us to a Pratt Thanksgiving.  We loaded up the truck and packed everyone in for the long ride!  And a long ride it was!

 

 There is nothing better than spending time with family over the holidays.  We missed Thanksgiving last year and I was reminded how much I missed it!  When you have such a large family and live far apart, you really cherish the times you do have together. 



 

Steve and his brother Chris look more alike the older they get!! 



 

This is just a small amount of the food that was there!!  There was more in the kitchen and a entire dessert table that was full as well.  Steve's mom really does up the meats and my sister in law Myra covers just about everything else!

 

The kids enjoyed the food and the time with family!!  We were so thankful that they were able to join us this year.