Sheldon Christmas

Here is all the Sheldon girls.

Zachary and "his best friend named PeePaw"

Uncle Ben and Preston

Aunt Ashleigh and Uncle Sloan got him this adorable pop-up book of the Chronicles of Narnia. Too Cool!

We took his bike to mom and dad's since we stayed the weekend there. I know, he isn't wearing a helmet...but notice in the pics below, he didn't have the chance of falling with all the supervision! :)

I love this pic...

And this is when Zachary got a little more brave and took off! We all got our exercise that afternoon trying to keep up with him!

Yes, mom ran some too!

Then it was decided that unless we wanted the next little one to come way too early, I better stop!

Christmas Morning at Our Home

Our Christmas season, as I am sure everyone else's was too, was incredibly busy. It felt like every week after Thanksgiving was another party, play, get-together...etc. But as busy as the season is, I am always thankful in my heart for having the opportunity to share this time of year with my family.

Christmas morning this year was exceptionally fun...as Zachary really got excited about Santa, etc. We woke up at home that morning, had our fun there and then headed to my parents' for our Sheldon Christmas. Zachary got tons of stuff...I think Santa might have gone overboard just a little, but oh well. :) His favorite item from Mr. C this year was his "big boy red bike!" I heard the phrases "wow" and "oh man!" so many times that morning, it was PRICELESS!! Anyway -- here are some pics from early Christmas day.

Santa and Rudolph made a mess with the cookies and reindeer food!

Santa gave Zachary and Nathan some walkie-talkies to play with...now if we can only get Zachary to push the talk button at the right time! He has it a little backwards! :)

Priceless.

These are pictures of the sunsets from last year at out cabin in Mackinaw. They are for Nathan's new office at work. His "new" office...I think I forgot to share that he got a promotion at the Barrel!! Great job Nate!

I know I look horrible...but I was actually running a fever this morning! :( Working at the Children's' Hospital mixed with respiratory junk season does WONDERS for my health this time of year!!

Our big present to each other this year is a trip away in a couple of weeks. (Well, my idea - I just included my present in here too!) And even though Nathan found out about it weeks ago due to our stupid UPS man -- we are still looking forward to it! As most of yall know, Nathan had the dream of going into the Airforce to be a pilot, but his heart murmur held him back. Well, I am taking him to Dayton, Ohio to visit the National Airforce Museum in a couple of weeks. We have a lot of stuff planed that weekend, so check back for more details and pics soon! We leave on the 9th.

Barnes' Christmas

Saturday morning we all went over to Daddy & Doris' house for Christmas breakfast. Afterwards, we headed over to Mama & Jimmy's for Christmas lunch. After a lot of food and way too many presents...we headed home. As always we all had a great time together...especially the cousins! Here are some pics from the festivities!

This is when we were all checking out Daddy and Doris' house plans. The break ground in the spring.

Madison loved the chocolate fudge pie!

Sorry Hunny!

Okay -- so every now and then Nathan thinks that it is funny to dress up like a total dork and parade around the house like he is all that....I FINALLY GOT IT ON CAMERA! Look out ladies -- he is all mine! (I'm afraid to say...) ;) I love you Nathan...and I know, you are gonna get me back for this one!

~~~~~

This is right before he realized I had a camera behind my back....

And this is right after he realized it!!

The REAL Santa

Wednesday, Zachary met the real Santa at the mall! ;) He ate it up too! We went in the early afternoon, so by the time it was Zachary's turn, there was no one else in line behind us. Zachary stayed and talked to Santa for almost 10 minutes - just shootin' the breeze with him. He told him exactly where we were gonna leave the cookies for him...

"I'm gonna leave you some chocolate chip cookies on a white Christmas plate under the Christmas tree. They will be under the tree next to the red present that has the green bow on it!"

...it never ceases to amaze me how detailed Zachary is! When we were leaving, we got about ten steps away and Zachary tells me that he forgot something. He runs back up to Santa, gives him a big ole' hug and says, "Santa, I love you!"

Santa got teary eyed!!!! It was a great memory -- I am so proud of my little man!

Little Lights Christmas Party

Thursday was the Christmas party at Zachary's preschool. We had a lot of fun and I was so thankful that I could be there. They did some crafts (which are now hanging on my Christmas tree), we ate some finger foods and then had a surprise visit from Santa Clause. Which -- my little one picked up on very quickly that it was not the same Santa that we had seen the day before at the mall! And he picked up on Santa's accent which sounded just like Mr. Mike at church! :) But after some quick-wit thinking by mom...all is well! Preschool ended early so Zachary and I headed to Nathan's work to take him out for lunch. All in all, it was a great day.

This is when Zachary heard the "jingle bells" from Santa coming down the hall...

Zachary's Class

Zachary and Isaac

Addie, Bethany and Zachary