Emmy's 1st Christmas...

Well, she missed unwrapping this year but has no idea what that's all about anyway!  She's a cute package all wrapped up with a bow!

And, to our "True Friends" Secret Santa...

We had two Secret Santas this year and the Olson family are our "true friends" for sure!  They did such a cute 12 days of Christmas and left presents like... gift cards for family fun, cozy blankets and hot chocolate, new game for all of us to play, lots of yummy fruit, new movies, brown sugared ham, hoodies for everyone, a beautiful and HUGE fresh poinsettia plant,  a 2009 Christ calendar (which I love all of the pictures inside), etc. and each gift was left on the doorstep every night with a piece of this cute nativity set and a note from "your true friends".  We had a hunch that it was the Olson's, but the last nights note confirmed it!  Thank you to them and they have been such great friends this year and we appreciate them so much!

12 Days of Christmas...

Thanks to the "Elves" that stocked our shelves and the AWESOME 12 Days of Christmas!!!!!

Leave it to Mom & Dad to come up with something so creative and helpful!  It was also a venture FULL of sentiment and we loved it so much as I'm sure all of your kids did...  we love you!

Our "little" family Christmas morning!  It was a very calm morning and kind of nice that way without a lot of unwrapping going on, just Lauren!  We definitly missed our older kids though who were all gone with their other parents/families this year, and Emmy who was still asleep!  

I want to publicly thank ALL "10" of my brothers & sisters for their thoughtfulness this Christmas as they played santa for me and Kevin!  I will never forget it... YOU GUYS ROCK!!!!  I was of course super excited and all cry-baby at the same time when I opened and read the cards.  I know it's been a tough year on everyone financially and that was really sweet and I love you guys!  Not just because you give me nice presents either!  I hope you all remember to let us help where we can too, because it's great to get help, but we love to give also!!!!  Keep that in mind when YOU are in a bind... call us!!!!!

Thank You Aunt Tawna...

The pictures kind of say it all!  Princess Pei Pei was VERY happy Christmas morning with her princess garb, stickers (she loves to decorate herself and others!) and her puzzle.  Thank you again for playing Santa this year!

Happy Anniversary Mom & Dad...

You guys are such a good combination and always seem to balance eachother and compliment eachother!!!  Thank you for always being such a great example of what marriage is and should be and I hope you have a blast whatever the fun plans are for tonight!  We love you!   :)

Merry Christmas.....

Love, 

The Goodwin Family

Christmas Eve Traditions...

Thank goodness for good ole traditions!  Christmas Eve was great and just a dose of what I've been needing!  It hasn't felt quite like Xmas until now.  We got to hang with our gracious hosts, Mom& Dad and Papa K, Jade & Jeff, Tawna & Nathan, Summer & Jaime, Bob & Jen, Frances & John, Stephanie,  Papa & Grandma H, and ALL of the Grace cousins were there and all of our kids and their cousins!  It was a lot of fun, great sandwiches (go DAD) and good conversation as always!  Tawna and Jade were a huge help to Mom, Tawna running 2 different crafts for the kiddos and Jade helping with the sandwich orders, and getting stuff out to people and whatever Dad & Mom needed in the kitchen!  Frances brought her yummy Arrowhead Cheese Dip (I think that's the right name) and it is always soooo yummy!  It was gone fast and licked clean almost! (We should post on Nana's Nook if we can get permision from Frances).  Anyway, I love my family and I am so glad that this tradition has gone through the years with us!!!!  Thanks Mom & Dad!

Quads Finally!

Kevin fixed the kids quads today so they could have a fun day riding in the back!  He is so talented... I don't know how he does it???  He takes things apart and they look like they'll never go back together and somehow it does AND works too!  He had a lot of fun with Daron working on the bikes and then all the kids had fun riding.  I freaked out when I saw Daron riding Lauren in front of him and apparently ruined the fun somewhat when I requested that NO ONE ride doubles unless Kevin wanted to ride Lauren with him!  I just didn't want anyone getting run over for Christmas!

Authentic by Nan...Bo Peep

Lauren has loved to dress up EVERY minute of EVERY day since Halloween and has worn through 2 princess costumes, so we went digging in the basement and turned up a couple of costumes that Nan and Mom made us when we were little and Lauren loooves them!!!  Maddie loves them too and wants the

 Bo Peep all for herself, but I told her they had to share.  Thanks Granny for passing them on as I know how precious they are!!!!  Kevin & love you and appreciate your time & talents way more than we can express gratitude for!  You are an amazing Granny!:)

Belated Birthdays...Part 2

It was Oma's 60th birthday on the 10th of December.  She is such a great mother-in-law and I am so grateful for her in my life!  She is so incredibly calm, patient, creative, and service oriented.  She is always there to help us along the way in this crazy life and such an awesome Mom, wife and Grandmother!  We had a party here at our house and invited all of her side of the family and it was a lot of fun.  We had soup and chili and rolls and such for dinner and then Kristen made a yummy & beautiful cake that just screamed Oma!  It was the perfect cake indeed...

We love you Oma!

Belated Birthdays...Part 1

Happy Birthday to my Dad!!!  His birthday was on the 17th and we did call and wish him a happy day, but I wanted to do a post about all of the reasons I love him!  He is such a great man and has always been a great example to me.  He is such a straight arrow and I admire him for that.  He is never wavering and what true conviction and will power this man has!  I have always thought I was a lot like my Dad in many ways, but I wish it were in these ways!  He is always willing to help out no matter what needs to be done and he works very long hours already during the week, but he helps out anyway.  He takes such great care of my Mom and is a great Dad and Grandpa.  We (all of us and our kids) call him Grumpy, instead of the traditional Grandpa, but it is a term of endearment for sure!  He loves to fly his plane and take the grandkids up with him and dreams of flying the pipeline someday when he retires, combining a little bit of work with something he loves to do.  He is so generous in so many ways and such a hard worker and I hope he knows how much we all love him!!!  I hope that he had a great birthday and that he remembers all year how important he is to me and what a wonderful patriarch of our growing extended family he is!!!  I love you Dad! :)

The Tree Table...