Christmas Day 2008!

It was beautiful Christmas Eve and morning with more snow that fell. Christmas Eve we went to my sister's house and celebrated with my parents. It was relaxing and the kids had a great time.










One of our trees snapped from the weight of the snow. It was the nice tree that in the summer shaded the sand box. What can you do?











My parents at my sister's house.













These are all the cousins that were there Christmas Eve. They were so excited to open gifts.











Jacob got this building set from Grandma and Grandpa. He loves building things and it looks like you can do so many different things with it.












Jonah asked for a coat from my parents and he got one. He loves it. He wore it all Christmas morning also.











Noah picked Nolan this year and Rebecca made him a hat that says his name on it.












Christmas morning, Rebecca's sister and brother in law came over with baby Thomas. We put him under the tree. I think he was a little shell shocked by all the lights and gifts.











Nice picture of me after putting chocolate in my mouth from my stocking. I always love playing with the kids' toys. That is the most fun. I also got the set of Star Wars movies, so Jacob and I slipped away mid day and watched episode I. It was great to kick back and watch a movie. Then we also played some Wii.

Jacob giving a Kindergarten book he wrapped up for Thomas. A little too young at this point, but never too late to start I guess.

Noah went shopping for a green necklace for Rebecca, and he sure found one. I told Rebecca it was too bad we didn't have church today, because she could wear it proudly. She gave me the eye on that comment. It was very cute because Noah said that he got it because green is her favorite color.

Here is the necklace on. I thought it was perfect with the pink robe.

All the kids made gifts for each other this year so that they had to really think about their brothers and figure out what they would like. Jacob made a stand for lollipops and gave them to both brothers. They thought this was great.

Here is Noah stand. It fell over before so some of the lollipops were on the floor.

Aunt Hannah playing baby duty with Thomas.

I actually can't remember now what they were opening, but it was a gift for all the boys. Aunt Sarah and Uncle Josh got a Wii for the family gift this year. The kids were beside themselves.

Here is Uncle Josh and Noah (with his shirt off) playing boxing.

Grandpa Doug showing Jonah how his remote helicopter worked. I have to say, it is very cool because you can fly it around the house. I sure have a lot of gifts to try after the kids go to bed at night.

In the afternoon, my parents came over and Rebecca's Aunt Nancy and uncle Owen and her cousin, Amanda. It was great to see everyone and nice that we didn't have to go off anywhere that day.

Jacob got a globe from Grandpa and Grandma that glows with the constellations at night. He loved it. Last night, he had it on in his room just staring for awhile. Nice gift.

And here are the kids with the Wii remotes. Noah is red, Jonah is green, and Jacob is blue. Now there will be no fighting, right? We'll see. Today we are just hanging out in our pajamas and looking and playing with our toys. Have a great day after Christmas.

The LeRoys

Pre-Christmas Celebrations and snow!

This past Saturday, part of the family gathered (Mike and Andrea and their three kids and Stacy and Tom and their three kids, our family, and my parents). Since Mike and Andrea live in Spokane, we were able to have a great meal and exchange some gifts. Rebecca made a hat and scarf for her niece, Hannah and she also made a wrap for Andrea. She loves doing this during the Holidays and she is really good at it to boot.





This was most of the family gathered around waiting to open gifts. It can get busy fast with so many little ones.












Noah and Nolan were on the floor wrestling at some point, almost knocking over some one's coffee so they had just been encouraged to leave the wrestling for outside. Those smiles say it all.










Hannah with her hat on and scarf around her neck. looks good.












The big snow started on Saturday around 2 p.m. and didn't stop until early Monday morning. I think we ended up getting around 8 or 9 inches on top of the 2-3 from the couple of days before.
This picture was when it had just started. Little did we know that getting home that night was going to be harder than we thought.







Jonah kept running out on the front porch looking at the snow totals. His cheeks werewind burned from being out in the snow earlier that day.











Astrid gave Jacob a puzzle and a magic pen that writes invisible until you turn on the black light. All the kids thought that was great.











And there is uncle Mike wearing the bows in his hair again. There seems to be one picture every year when he is caught wearing a bow. Administrator by day, goofball by night.











Dana, who is 16, is the oldest of these cousins and puts up with a lot of little kids who think the world of him. They all want to play with Dana and he is always a good sport with him. There are times when you look over and you just see a pile of kids on top of him. It is always fun to have Dana, Hannah, and Astrid around for the younger kids.

Andrea got her wrap from Rebecca and she loved it. It fits her well and it will keep her warm in the cold temps in Spokane.

Dana in front of the tree. Soon to get his license. Then he can drive around all
cousins and his sister at the same time--yeah right.

These are the Jacks that Noah got from seeing Santa the night before at our party we had at our house. They sat on the floor and played for a long time. So good to see a simple game come back in style and hold their attention. I think they ended the game though throwing them at one another. It was a good distraction while it lasted.

This is a picture out our back window looking at Rebecca's parents' home. It was beautiful, but certainly more snow than we are used to.

All the kids went out in the snow on Sunday while it was dumping and had a great time. They seems to never get cold. Jacob was out playing for a long time.

Noah loving the snow and ready to throw that nicely made snowball at me. I ran after taking the picture but his aim was better than my maneuvering. I was hit in the back of the head.

Picture of the driveway on Sunday night. It was pretty but it won't be fun to shovel it tomorrow.

We took this picture before we went out sledding on the big hill behind our house.

Perfect hill as long as no cars came. We stood at the top and bottom to make sure the kids could get a good run in. It was fun to watch them wipe out.

Jonah is always so extreme with everything he does, i had prepared myself that he may be the one to break an arm or injure himself. All was fine at the end of the day. He was just beat by bedtime though.

A picture of Noah plowing through the snow. He preferred the green plastic sled because he felt he could control it much better. We have had so much fun in the snow and tonight more is on it's way. Maybe another 2-3 inches to coat everything over again. More pictures to come. Have a great Christmas Eve day. Merry Christmas. LeRoy Family

Winter Fun, and the Beginning of Christmas Celebrations!

Here's the boys on Thursday when we finally got the snow the weather channel had been predicting. Though the boys missed all of the end of school celebrations (not to mention didn't get to give all the peanut brittle we had made for their teachers), they gladly traded it for all the snow fun they've had!

School was cancelled on Thursday and Friday--we got about 4 inches of snow Thursday, and with our hills and lack of resources in the county to deal with all of it, school was cancelled again on Friday.

Jonah and Noah got to do some sledding on the hill at the top of our street. It was such a fun community time. There were kids of all ages, including several adults gathered at the top of the hill. They all shared sleds with each other and took turns going down the hill. There was even a system established for the down side and the walking up side. One of the guys rigged up a jump on one side, and the kids caught some serious air.

We turned Jacob's room into the movie room when all the cousins were over and they loved it. Even though Jacob would like to keep the television in his room, it's not going to happen.

This is Rebecca's attempt at taking a picture of us at arms length.The first one was an upshot and showed our double chins, so we had to re-take it.

Santa did come by and even Rebecca was able to tell him what she wanted for Christmas. Santa said that he is still watching to see if she has been naughty or nice.

The kids were the most quiet all night when Santa arrived. Prior to that, it was like a frat party around here with all the noise. Santa walks in and they all sat down and didn't say a word.

Even Rebecca's mom was able to catch a picture with Santa before he flew away in his sleigh.

This year we had the true kids table for dinner and decorating cookies.

We were looking all over the place for these two and it took me a long time to find them. Like I have said, you always have to watch them closely.

Rebecca said I am never in the pictures because I am always taking them. So, here is my sister and I.

My cousin Marcy and I at the end of the night. We had a great time and it was fun to have people over. We did do the white elephant gift exchange and it was fun. We read the Night Before Christmas and every time the word "the" was stated, we had to pass the gift. My dad ended up with a large fork for a wall hanging. You remember, the kind that was popular in the 70's. My Mom got the cross with a silhouette of a cowboy on it. My dad was so excited.