Christmas Morning 2009

Stephen reading the story of the true meaning of Christmas...celebrating Christ's birth!

Christmas Morning...Santa Came!

silly bands and Cinderella's castle...

Charlie didn't ask for much besides the Wii, so Santa surprised him with a new guitar!

Christmas is never complete without new nail polish and lipstick!

Little man was excited about his Little People Farm!

More surprises!

Christmas Eve before heading to Aberdeen... (for some reason my blog won't let me put my pictures in order on this post??)

Santa really ate the cookies??

Christmas Eve 2009

Christmas Crafts

This Christmas break was full of activities, but we still managed to find some time for Christmas crafts. We made cookies a couple of times (no pics), a gingerbread train a shrinky dink Christmas tree(our absolute favorite). Or maybe I should say-my absolute favorite. I loved getting shrinky dinks when I was a kid. I hope Charlie and Molly had as much fun as I did putting it together.

First, you have to make the tree out of pipe cleaners...

...then color the shrinky dink ornaments...wait for them to shrink in oven...then decorate the treeTA-DA! The Shrinky Dink Tree :)

We decided to make a gingerbread train this year instead of a gingerbread house. There were a few more pieces to put together, so we got a little sloppy. We have never been accused of being very crafty in our family. I think you will agree once you see the pictures. M had fun sneaking pieces of candy along the way though!

I don't think Martha Stewart will be calling us anytime soon:)

Christmas Programs 2009

This year instead of both of my children performing at HBC we had two different Christmas programs to attend. The first one was "Christmas Around the World" at Thomas Street Elementary. I must admit, I didn't realize how spoiled I was at HBC. We could barely find a parking place even though we arrived plenty early, we didn't get a good seat for pictures without sitting on the floor and Charlie's class was seated on the bottom row! I couldn't even get a glimpse of him from where I had to stand with Gray's stroller. Stephen sat on the floor up front to get a few close up pictures. I really haven't gotten used to public school yet! I'm not sure I will. Why can't they stay little forever???

Charlie looks real excited to be there...

..."asleep on the hay"Gran and Pop were good sports to come...little did we know they wouldn't be able to see him either!Gray was a good sport too...it was past his bedtime!
Molly's program this year was, "The Night Before Christmas" They all got to wear their Christmas pajamas. It was super cute. Here she is with Ms. Mona after the show.

..."sleep in heavenly peace"
Is this not the sweetest? I think the line was, "Jesus we praise you"

rocking their babies...I'm so thankful for sweet teachers at both schools. They are both having a great year...I just wish HBC went through high school :)

Christmas Brunch with Santa

After a busy week with Molly and I rehearsing and performing in Harrisburg's Christmas festival (I can't believe I don't have one single pic!) the last thing I wanted to do was cook Sunday lunch. We decided the annual brunch with Santa at TCC would be a nice way to visit with Santa and have someone else do the cooking. Here are a few pics from the morning...

Family picture

I'm so glad this saved us a trip to the mall when school got out!! Charlie asked for a Nintendo Wii, two different kinds of light sabers and a guitar. Molly didn't ask for anything...just surprises.There was a quartet playing the guitar and singing Christmas carols...the kids loved it!

...even this little guy...but he wasn't too crazy about Santa:)

Disney 2009

On November 18th the original Leeper Clan...took the entire Leeper Clan...minus one brother-in-law and two nephews...plus one mother-in-law to Disneyworld
We had a wonderful but EXHAUSTING time. Here are a few of my favorite pictures out of over 200 taken!!

The plane ride...Molly and Charlie had both flown once before but Molly didn't remember it...she was super excited!

Gray and Charlie enjoyed cuddling with Daddy and Mamaw during the two hour flight. We had all gotten up very early to make it to Memphis on time!The first afternoon was spent at Magic Kingdom. We had very short wait times, and I'm very glad we went there first. By the time the Thanksgiving holiday crowd arrived, the wait times had gone from about 10-15 minutes to over an hour!! The rest of the days are a blur...not sure where we were on what day...not that it really matters!! Maps...double stroller...we're ready to go!
Molly and I rode Dumbo first!Molly was amazed at the dolls in "It's A Small World"
My nephew Drew was such a big help. My kids love him and he was more than willing to ride with Charlie when we needed him to. Here they are waiting on the show, "It's' Tough Being a Bug" at Animal Kingdom.

Christmas lights show at Hollywood Studios...very cool!The highlight of Charlie's vacation was definitely Jedi Training at Hollywood Studios. He had to wait in line over an hour hoping to get picked to get on stage to be trained by a Jedi Master. After that, he was ready to fight Darth Vader. He is a HUGE Star Wars fan and this experience was the only reason he wanted to go to Disneyworld. I'm so glad he got picked!

Listening intently to his instructions along the the other future Jedis...Practicing his light saber skills...Finally, the battle with Darth Vader...He said, "I sense the force is strong with this one" when Charlie walked up!One of his favorite characters...Darth Maul...a little scary to me!

Pretending to be a droid...

Gray was such a trooper! He took great naps in the stroller, and all you had to do when waiting in line was give him a dum-dum-sweet baby!!

Molly's favorite day...Norway Princess Breakfast...waiting with Elise to go in..

Molly and Mamaw

Gran and PopMolly and Belle...she also met Ariel, Cinderella, Snow White and Sleeping BeautyPop and Gray met all the princesses too :)

Mickey Ears!

Chef Mickey Breakfast....

Charlie (6) Erin Ruth(7) Molly(4) Emily Ann(9) Anna Catherine(7)

After each exhausting day...nothing was better than sweet dreams!