christmas was wonderful

finally after some manipulation to my photos, blogger is working. weird that my photos have been the same size all year and now, when trying to load the last ten, it gives me issues. whatever!
anyway, christmas was so good.

the tree looks so much better with the gifts surrounding it rather than shoved in the corner and against the wall. that's where they've been all month in hopes that river wouldn't get them. she only tore open one gift this year. it belonged to buffalo grandpa. :)

here is flower's pile.

the stuff on the sofa is from santa(he doesn't wrap our gifts). she got the slippers she really wanted, some new sheets, underwear, an art kit and book on tape.
the snow flake wrapped gifts are from kg, me and river.
the other wrapped gifts are from sturgie's and lynnette.

here's my loot.
my santa gifts are the unwrapped things...a printer, frames and a game.(he also snuck in a flat iron since mine broke on the utah trip)
the candy wrapped gifts are from kg, flower and river.
the tree wrapped gift from the sturgie's.

kg's pile.
from santa he received new pots and pans, a game and melting pot cookbook.
the striped gifts are from me and the girls.
the ho ho ho gift is from the sturgie's.

river's loot.
she received a sit 'n spin, sheets and socks from santa.
the snow man packages are from kg, flower and me.
the other gifts are from sturgie's, lynnette, and lisa.

santa also brought a vacuum for the family.
we got really lucky. we have credit card miles that have built up since 2005 when we started flower's adoption. we don't have plans to fly anytime soon so when i received a catalog to a 'miles mall' offering goods for our miles, i took advantage. we got the pots and pans, printer, and vacuum with our miles and didn't even have to pay shipping and handling. not a dime out of our pocket! it kept our christmas from being dismal and i am ever so grateful! we have needed all three of those things for about two years now!
those cards in the tree are to my parents and from my parents.

this is always our christmas morning feast.

the girls were so excited with their gifts!

these games from the sturgill's are so perfect! we've had lots of fun playing them. thank you!

river received this adorable apron from sturgill's!
we gave her some books.

this will be so fun to fill up with photos from school! thanks lynnette and fam!

both our parents came over first thing in the morning to exchange gifts and watch the girls open presents. it was really fun to have them there.

after our parents left, and things settled down, kg went to bed and the girls and i played with our new things. flower was really good at tic-tac-tow and checkers!

river gave her this game and it's also really fun!

i got this apron from the sturgill's. i was so shocked when i opened it because i also gave kris an apron! great minds think alike and i love mine! i put it on and got to work making a dessert for that night.

flower gave me these cute slippers. it's kind of funny because she asked santa for slippers, therefore when i took her shopping, that's what she wanted to get kg. well apparently that's what she wanted to get me as well. they are so soft!

kg spoiled me with MORE lee's caramels. complete and total heaven!

kg gave me this cookbook. yum. i love her recipes!

he also gave me this book. i love a good christmas read.

the girls gave me this game. can't wait to play!

kg gave me some skin for my phone. i love it.
it reminds me of a couple of buildings in downtown boise.

this is flower's new outfit that we gave her.

i've had a couple of pictures i wanted to display which is why i asked santa for frames.

while in utah at ikea we found these perfect shelves for hanging photos! for my obsessive complusive need to have pictures hung straight and perfect at all times, these are the best things that have ever happened to me! the shelves are straight and won't ever wiggle like pictures do. and now i can change out pictures as often as i want without having to constantly put holes in the wall.

i didn't get any other photos but here's the rundown:
--kg...i got him beatles trivia, a game called fred which is sure to bring big laughs!, and lots and lots of shirts. the girls gave him some great indoor/outdoor slippers. he got a great apron fr0m sturgill's. we were gifted a movie/food giftcard from his paretns and movie gift card from my parents!
--river...we gave her some more sheets, a vtech learning game(which my parents also gave her. great minds again!) and books.
--flower...we gave her some more books on tape. she was given some educational workbooks from my parents.
and things got crazy so i don't know what she or river got from kg's parents. i feel bad about that. :( but thank you so much to everyone for the great gifts of thoughtfulness!

that night we went to kg's parents for dinner and games. we enjoyed visiting with everyone.

his brother erik also decided to spoil everyone. as unneccessary as it was, it was really fun to see one of his brothers spoil my girls!

flower loves her my little pony stuff!

here is the aftermath from the wonderful meal. oh it was good!!

river got a cute baby doll.

and a dora doll.

he also gave kg and i these mugs and a game of tripolee.

he gave his dad these work shirts. he has his logo put on in mirror image so he would know who he is when he looks in the mirror. funny.

we also played some games and had a really great night. perfect ending to a perfect day.
we are truely blessed and i couldn't have asked for a better christmas!
i hope yours was wonderful!