Christmas with the Sudan's

The Saturday before christmas we celebrated christmas with my family.

Before we went to my parents house,

we took the kids in their pjs to this adorable new place in east waco

called LuLu Jane's.

The kids loved having hot chocolate and cinnamon rolls in their pj's!

so grown up :)

We then headed over to my parents house

all of my siblings except mary beth and hanj

were over there

so it was a fun time with all the cousins!

these two girls are OBSESSED with mimi

(literally won't let her put them down)

it was so fun opening the gifts

all together

the kids really got into them this year which made it fun!

a marshmallow gun for duncan

PERFECT

a light saber for jayden

PERFECT

i didn't take as many pictures as i would have liked

but it was a fun time together.

we opened presents and then picked up lunch and ate it at a park.

it was so calm and relaxing and a really enjoyable time for everyone.

thankful beyond measure.

Alice's Birthday

We headed to Waco on December 21st for Christmas and time with family.

Alice's birthday is on the 21st so it is nice when we can plan our time to be together with her on her birthday and celebrate Alice before all of the Christmas festivities begin.

Greg threw her a fun party at Uncle Dan's!

an Ogden favorite :)

we love it there!

Alice with her two boys! 

 Barron loved Kyndall!

Duncan and Chase

 The whole gang!

 Love this pic of Jordan and Alice!

It was a great way to start the Christmas festivities!

(more updates to come!)

Candy Making with my Grandparents

Another tradition we have during the christmastime is to 

make candy with my grandparents.

My grandpa makes candy every christmas

and for the past decade or so he has invited us to join him.

 We headed up to Plano to the assisted living place they moved into a couple of years ago.

It is such a nice facility and I am so glad they are there.

 Beautiful Emery Kate

 Hallie and Her pretty mama

 Sugarmonster (what we have always called him) run's the show

 This is yummy candy we make here :)

 The kids also opened some gifts :)

 Jordan got involved in the process too :)

 This Santa Clause sang and was quite the hit with the kids :)

 The sweetest little thing :)

So thankful that we get to do this with my grandparents and that my kids are able to get to know their great grandparents.

Sweet times.

Annual Christmas Cookie Decorating Contest

Last Saturday we had our Sudan annual Christmas cookie decorating contest.

This has been a tradition with my family for years.

See previous posts about it here, here, and here.

 Blake & Amy hosted it this year.

Which was nice (its quite the MESS to clean up when its at your house :))

sadly mary beth and hanj weren't there because B got sick the night before

so we MISSED them like crazy -

they really get the creative juices flowing - so it wasn't the same with them gone!

 Its fun to see the kids get into it this year.

They loved "helping" and being apart.

 Sweet girls

 Jayden took it very seriously :)

 Jordan even decorated cookies this year.

Usually he just eats them - but my dad made a quota for each of us to decorate

so he met his quota :)

 Some of the finished products

 The mess left over

 The winners

 Jason's winning cookie

King Jesus

 to say that he was a PROUD winner

would be an understatement :)

 the losers :)