HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Out with the old, in the the new!

What a WONDERFUL year 2012 has been.  We have been blessed beyond measure this past year.  We are looking forward to the good things that 2013 will bring.

We wish everyone a very happy and safe new year!
Love~
Sam, Jenny and Eli

Christmas Day – Afternoon

Last but not least....

Around 1 pm, we headed to Joplin to Nana and Poppy's house for our 8th and last Christmas party of the season.  Food was good and we had lots of fun.

Eli helping pass out presents

This one is HEAVY!

Mommy's gift is twice the size of Eli!

Eli decided he'd rather sit on his gift than open it.

Christmas Morning

This was the most wonderful Christmas morning I can ever remember!!  Eli slept in a little later than normal due to being home so late Christmas Eve, so Sam and I had the gift of staying in bed past 7 am!  We woke up slowly, I fixed an AWESOME breakfast of French Toast Souffle, we opened gifts slowly to enjoy each present, ate breakfast as a family, stayed in our Christmas pj's... just did great things as our little family of 3.  It was so very nice.

Playing with gifts from the day before

Opening his gift from "Spiderman Dave" (McCoy)

I think he is telling Sam "open it now!"

Family Pic Christmas Morning 2012 - granted, we don't look so great!

Playing in the tent from Aunt Amanda and Uncle Lee

Our stocking holder with stockings full of gifts

Eli's superhero costume from "Santa"

French Toast Souffle - picture DOES NOT do it justice!

Helping Mommy with her stocking too.

Putting together his incredibly difficult toy...

Resting in Mommy's new chair, watching Eli's new Veggie Tales videos
before our next Christmas gathering

"Helping" clean with Mommy's new steam mop...

... now if only he could do this on the hard floors.

Christmas Eve – Evening Party

Immediately after Christmas with my family, we all traveled to Springfield for Christmas Eve with extended family.  Eli and his cousin, Cameron, had a fantastic and hilarious time playing together!

I have NO idea what Eli is doing with his face in this picture!!

Daddy's new gloves were fun to play with.

Christmas Eve – Noon Party

Woke up Christmas Eve morning and relaxed as family.  Got some baking done, played with some toys, watched a movie… just good times.

Went to Gramma and Papa’s (my parents) around noon for our immediate family gathering.  We had a delicious breakfast casserole and fruit that Gramma made and then opened presents.  Had a great time with lots of hilarious memories (such as Eli’s tent trying to ATTACK me!... still laughing about that). 

Finding goodies in his stocking...

Uncle Lee got him a Chevy remote control truck.  Look at that ornery grin!!

All these new toys and my child plays with a bag... good grief!

His new helmet from Gramma and Papa

My "special" child wanted to leave his helmet on to open the rest of his gifts!

GREAT BIG gift from Gramma and Papa....

Sapp Family Christmas

Tonight was Sam's family's Christmas gathering.  This was party #5 of 8 that we are/have been attending this year, starting from over a week ago.  Thankfully, even though it's been alot, they've been pretty spread out in a managable way. 

As usual, we had too much awesome food and too many great gifts... and we always have fun.

The Cousins 2012: (L to R)
Maddie Mae Hill (23 months), Ava Marie Hines (3 yrs in Feb) holding baby sister, Morgen Sydney (3 months) and Elijah Wayne (20 months)



Eli's mountain of gifts (they are literally ALL for him!)

"Hey 'Cuz, What's happenin' down here?"

Are you SURE there's nothing else in this box????

Even though Maddie got one just like it, they preferred to play together.

As Eli says, "I Camping!"

As I think I've mentioned before, Eli is OBSESSED with camping every chance he gets.  Anything he can get under, behind or between becomes his own personal tent.  We've become very creative at finding ways to fabricate make-shift "tents" in just about every fashion imaginable.  Here he is on December 14th, watching Clifford videos from his living room tent.