A Christmas Treat

We received a wonderful Christmas treat on December 27 - Ryan's friend Adrian came to stay with us for two days.  He moved to Texas over the summer.  The two boys have been in touch since then texting and calling each other and have been planning a Christmas visit.  It was so fun to hear all the laughing that was going on as they played and talked in the same way that they always have - since they first became friends in kindergarten. 

We took them to this really fun place called Airworx.  It's full of
trampolines.  They have an area for dodge ball, slam dunk and
free jumping.  The kids love going there.  We don't mind taking
them either - it wears the kids out and it's not very expensive.
Win/win.  The only problem, Doug took  his laptop and we
were going to try to watch a show on Netflix but their
Internet wouldn't work.  Oh well, we just had to have fun
watching all the crazy kids instead.

Ryan in the slam dunk section.

The two boys waiting for their turn in a game area.

Adrian and Ryan

Christmas Morning

We had a very nice Christmas.  We did not get up super early - about our normal time - 6:45.  We got right to presents and then Doug & I had to get our dishes ready for the Christmas lunch with my family.  Doug made the turkey - which was fabulous this year! - and I brought the sweet potatoes.

Ryan checking out the tree.

The stockings

Ryan passed out the gifts this year.

The newest nutcracker for the collection - a skeleton.

Sam & I.  He was very interested in every single gift that was
being opened - you never know they might be food!

If Sam was a gift this is what he would look like.  Poor guy wearing
some gift wrap.

Ryan putting together his Lego minifigures.

Ryan immediately built his new land speeder.

And here it is all finished.

Like I mentioned earlier, we went over to my niece, Brooke, and her family's house for our family dinner.  It was wonderful.  Plenty of turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, vegetables, gravy and homemade rolls.  And please do not forget the pies - apple custard and one of my holiday favorites pecan!  YUM. 

Later that evening, my oldest brother and his wife came by with our gift.  We got to visit with them for a bit and then they headed over to my folks house to give them their gift.  We weren't far behind.  It was nice to end our Christmas day at my parents house visiting and enjoying more Christmas treats.  By the time we made it home, we were so tired and ready for bed. 

Thanks everyone for helping us to celebrate Christmas Day.

Christmas Eve

This holiday has been a very smooth one for some reason.  I would like to say it was due to really good planning, but that is probably not true at all.  Really, I think what it comes down to is just getting the stuff done that needed to be done.  I know how very simple that sounds . . . but let's be real, sometimes the simple things are the hardest.  This year, I worked on one or two projects everyday until everything was completed.  And . . well . . . it was super nice to have everything done & ready to go a full day and a half before Christmas Eve.  I cannot tell you how nice it was to spend Christmas Eve relaxing.  I'm hoping that I can do it all again next year - I guess time will tell.

Now, don't get me wrong, there were some projects that I really wanted to do this and did not get done.  But these were projects that were more for me to complete than anything.  And so, they will be ready for me next year to work on - because this year they just weren't meant to be completed.  And I am totally okay with that. 

Okay, okay so on to the photos - I mean, I'm pretty sure that's why you are here anyway - and not to listen to me ramble on & on.

As is our family tradition, we went to my brothers house for the evening on Christmas Eve.  We always have Mexican food for dinner, a Christmas story telling - and reenacting - singing and of course our fun family gift exchange.  My father also shared some memories of his childhood Christmases and how very different they were than we experience today.  It was a fun evening.

Our yummy Mexican Christmas Eve Fiesta

Now that is a table full of presents.  These are the gifts from the
exchange.  There were some pretty fun gifts this year - Lego set,
the biggest container of cheese balls you've ever seen,
a reindeer piggy bank, candy, socks and toys.

Another view of that massive pile of presents.

Ryan was the first to pick and got a box of
post-it notes - which got stolen by Kelly.
He then picked his next gift which was two
packages of sparklers.

When we got home, Ryan opened his gift from
his Grandma & Grandpa Harper - Christmas
jammies and a gift card to Walmart.

Ryan setting out some cookies for Santa.  He
was in bed by 9:30 ready for Santa to come
the next morning!

Happy Holidays from the Harpers

We hope that you are having a wonderful holiday season.  As we spend this day of giving and receiving gifts, with family and friends, we look forward to another wonderful year in 2011.  Here are a few images of Christmas 2010.  Several of these images have been featured on my photography website.  Check it out if you'd like to see more.

The Harper's 2010

My Little Curly Q

Flower For Mom

The Face



And finally, here is the gift that I made for my
family this year.  I hope they enjoy hanging
this up for Christmases to come.



One More Day of Decorating

After having to reschedule two weekend in a row, we finally made it over to my parent's house to decorate their tree.  We went over on Ryan's last day of school before Winter Break began.  He had a half day and so off we went.  It was nice to get over there.  Ryan has decorated their tree for the past four years or so.  I'm so glad that this is something he is able to do and spend time with his grandparents.  Hopefully someday these will memories that he will cherish.

Grandma & Ryan getting decorations for the tree.

Grandma gave Ryan this ornament to put on
our tree since it's a French Horn.

The completed tree.

And as a special treat, my mom made
us potato dumplings for lunch.  They were so
yummy and always a special treat this
time of year.

The dumplings cooking.  So good!

December Band Concert

Ryan's band concert was this month.  It was really fun to see how the band has progressed from beginners to intermediate players.  What an improvement!  They did such a great job.  And afterward we celebrated with some DQ.

The beginning bang looking on as the Intermediate Band plays.
This is pretty much the entire brass section - just missing the
baritone in the picture.  This year Ryan is one of two French
Horn players.

Ryan playing on his horn.

Ryan's friend - Shawn playing in the
percussion section.

The decorating finished with the Coke tree

We spent much of November and about half of December passing a cold around.  First Doug got sick, then me, then Ryan, then Doug again. It was so fun - okay not really.  Not at all.  It was mostly just a cold, but strong enough that it wore you out, but not too strong that you couldn't do anything.  Just somewhere in the middle.  So, we ended up decorating our trees in two different nights - usually we do everything on the same night.  It was very nice to get everything finished up and then just enjoy all the pretty lights.

Doug and Ryan decorating our Coke tree.

And all done!  The star is on and the tree was lit afterwards.

Love The Holiday Candy

Christmas is always such a fun time for new Holiday Flavors in candy.  I absolutely love mint flavored candy - especially mixed with chocolate.  And it seems like every year there are more and  more fun chocolate mint candies showing up at the stores.  Here is one of the new items we just had to try . . .

Mint Musketeers!

Anticipating the first yummy taste . . .

Finally getting that first bite.

Thumbs up!  Ryan and I both loved it.

Decorating our Tree

A Long Time Ago . . . we decorated our house for Christmas.  We actually decorated several weeks ago.  It was a fun weekend getting everything set up just right.



Our brand new pre-lit tree!  So easy to put up!



Ryan & Doug decorating

Getting ornaments out, but I just had to take a break to
pet Sam.

Ryan & I adding more ornaments to the tree.

Even Sota (short for Minnesota) helped add decorations
to the tree.

Ranger sporting the antlers.  I took several pics of both dogs
with these antlers.  This is the only one that came out - they
really do not like wearing them.

Putting the star on the tree.

Our new finished tree.  I love all the lights.

Who Needs A Pillow - I'll Just Make My Own

I have said it before and am pretty sure this is not the last time you will hear this from me.  Sam is one crazy dog.  I mean very, very unique.  I could probably say it every day for the rest of my life and it still would not be enough to really get my point across.  Just when we think we have seen the strangest thing from him, he does something new.  And what's really sad, is that he is starting to mellow out quite a bit. 

We had a pretty cold couple days about a week or so ago.  I mean really cold for us - highs in the 50's.  Yuck!  and BRRRRRR!  So, we pulled out the warm clothes and the slippers and such.  Doug had been wearing his slippers but took them off right at the couch.  And here is the pillow that Sam decided to make for himself.  I mean he's already got the "blanket" on by wearing his hoodie.  He just needed something soft to rest his head on er I mean in.

Yep, you are seeing that right.  He has his nose down inside
the slipper.  It was very toasty in there.

Thanksgiving Wishes

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  We spent the day at my parent's home with two brothers, a sister-in-law and a niece and nephew.  It was a great meal - as you can see - tons of food.  Which meant lots of leftovers.  Doug was unable to join us because he was home sick & sleeping (or watching some movies).  He did get to enjoy the food that was brought home.