The Bailey Buzz: What I will always remember about Christmas '08

*Staying up until all hours of the night playing video games with Ryan or my family. Two words: Raving Rabbids. There was lots of uncontrollable laughter involved.

*Everyone got to meet Russell for the first time!(Or second)

Russ & Aunt Belle

Russ with Grandma Janet

Russ with Grandpa Steve

Russ with Uncle Zach

*The snow! It snowed an incredible amount this year, right after we got there. Driving conditions were a little scary, but nothing we hadn't seen before.

*Sam's first real snowman building experience. He was so excited to go outside and play in the snow! He helped Aunt Emily & Ryan build a snowman. We got a picture of it and then Sam totally clobbered it! "Knock it over!" He would yell!

I was amazed at how well he did in the cold. He had to have been freezing but he was crazy about playing in the snow! We had to lure him back inside with something fun or he would get so sad he had to go inside the house.

The day after he built the first snowman he wanted to go out again and "Build snowman!" So, I went out with him and we did it again. He was so enthusiastic about it, I had a lot of fun! Ryan made fun of my snowman for days afterward, just because he was a bit more handsome than his snowman.

Sam, all ready to go outside!

The first Snowman with Auntie Em and Dad

The second snowman with Me

I personally think they both have great character!

*Christmas Eve dinner at the Hadfield's(Ryan's mother's parents) I ate dinner with Darlene and Reed(Ryan's grandparents), at the kids table after the kids were finished eating. They are pretty amazing people, full of love for their kids and grand kids.

*Christmas Eve at the Bailey's

We opened Pj's, a Christmas tradition.

*Christmas Morning

Santa brought Samuel a Mack Truck and a few cars to go with it. (Wingo, Snotrod, DJ & Lighting McQueen) It was his favorite present. I took a video of him opening another gift from his grandparents and once he got it open, he took a look and then decided to close the box and go back to his Mack truck.

Here he is pouting because he doesn't want to open his other presents. He only wants to play with Mack.

He warmed up to the present idea after a minute.

Russell with his new Zoobie. It is adorable. For those of you who may not have heard of them, a Zoobie is a stuffed animal/pillow/blanket all in one. Samuel got a Zoobie also. It's an Orangutan

*Samuel's obsession with his cousin Audrey. Serious obsession. He would follow her everywhere, even the bathroom! We had to explain to him that "friends need space". It helped only slightly. They got into a lot of mischief together.

*The half finished Gingerbread house. It's tradition for me to build a gingerbread house every year. I managed to build it but I only got about halfway through decorating it. Sad yes, but with two kids, my time was seriously limited and what time I did have, I just wanted to spend it doing things with everyone!

Ryan was so proud of me! My OCD usually kicks in and I feel overly compelled to finish what I started despite missing other more important things. I still feel slightly guilty not having finished it completely but I don't regret all the other things I was able to do because I neglected it.

I will take this opportunity to apologize to my mother, for leaving the unfinished house on her dinning room table and to Adam my brother 'n law, I hope you can still blow it up in style.