Trip to the Snow

The day after Christmas we decided that we needed to see some snow. Madison has been talking about it for awhile now. She's still upset we didn't get to see any in Tahoe in November. We headed for Bear Valley but ended up in Twain Harte due to my stellar sense of direction ("sure babe, 120 hits hwy 4 eventually") It doesn't. We eventually found a great place to stop & had a blast making snow angels & building a snowman.

Snow bunny ready for some fun

Luke is finally ready to go! We had a little trouble with his boots...I think his feet grew since we bought the boots 4 days ago...

Heading deeper into the forest to find some good snowman-snow

Daddy & Maddie-Moe working on their snowman

Luke heading off to do some hunting

Mommy & Maddie snuggling (we are getting close to departure time)

Trouble! Madison kept trying to add a head to her snowman & Luke kept taking it off & throwing it at either her or Mike. He thought it was hysterical! She did not.

Luke taking a break from annoying his sister with Daddy

Heading out...Madison informed us she needed some hot cocoa (which she had never had before) so we were off to find some

Luke & Maddie enjoying their first hot cocoas

It was a great day!

Christmas Dinner

After long hard naps we headed back over to Bagga Judy & Grandpa Silly's house for Christmas dinner. In addition to the Christmas Eve crowd we had Uncle Jason, Aunt Jill, Gigou, Jerry & Aunt Beth...so much fun!

Luke heading over to say "hi" to Aunt Jill

Uncle Jason playing the "caught a fish" game with the kids

Bagga Judy's gorgeous tables

Luke's turn to be the fish!

Aunt Jill teaching my daughter not-so-nice manners :-)

Luke...didn't touch Christmas dinner but for some reason loved minced meat pie! Yuck.

Maddie keeping it simple with ice cream

Bagga Judy, GG Boss, GG Doris, Bagga Glen & Bagga Jan relaxing after the delicious meal

The never ending Christmas! Gigou, Jerry & Aunt Beth showed up with bags of goodies. Luke got a CARS tent (which he LOVES!) and Madison got a Cabbage Patch Doll! I was so excited, I was a total CP addict when I was her age. Best part about it was that it looks just like my first one :-) Thanks Gigou & Jerry!

Auntie Beth gave the kids the most adorable flip flops. Only problem is...they are Allens! Their feet are a lot larger than normal. Poor Maddie is hanging way over the edge. It was a great idea Auntie Beth & Luke's camo ones are awesome :-)

The little monkeys & their Bagga Glen. They were so well behaved that it was 10 pm before we even headed home!

Luke was getting a little tired but Madison was still anxious to pose with her Bagga Jan

Merry Christmas!!!

Merry Christmas!

Christmas morning arrived & sure enough...Santa was here!!! The first thing Madison said when she climbed into bed with us was, "Mommy, do you think Santa came?" It's so much fun now that she finally gets it.

Slowly taking in the scene

True to his word Santa delivered a big girl bike!

Santa & his reindeer must have been hungry! They are pretty messy eaters :-)

Santa brought Luke-man a new CARS race track! You can never have too many...

Time to dive into the stocking!

Madison testing out the horn on her new ride

Getting ready for Santa

After a fantastic Christmas Eve dinner we headed home to prep for the big guy in red! Madison & Luke dutifully laid out cookies & milk for Santa & carrots for his reindeer. Madison also laid out a plate filled with her bubby's (pacifiers) for Rudolph to pick up! In a few months she'll be 4 years old & she agrees that big girls don't sleep with bubby's :-)

Laying out our bribes




One last "bub"! Luke, who has never liked bubby's, joined in the last "bub" in an act of solidarity

Can't wait to see if the big man pays us a visit!

Christmas Eve Dinner

For Christmas Eve we headed over to Bagga Judy & Grandpa Silly's where we were joined by Bagga Glen, Bagga Jan, GG Boss & GG Doris. We enjoyed a yummy crab dinner before heading home to get ready for Santa!
Bagga Glen & Madison...Maddie waiting patiently to open her Christmas Eve gift (in the Luker family we always got to open one gift on the 24th)

The kids discovered Bagga & Grandpa Silly's grand piano...we're definitely going to need to put them into lessons if they plan on entertaining the crowd in the future :-)

Luke plugging his ears to Madison's piano playing

The kids on the piano bench (Madison practicing her disturbing "cheese" smile)

Bagga Judy's beautiful table

Luke climbing all over a crab-coma Daddy

A keyed up Luke moves onto climbing all over his sister

Taking a break on Bagga & Grandpa's telephone booth chair