Teeples Family Christmas Eve Party 2009

For some 30+ years the Teeples side of the family has been celebrating Christmas Eve with a yummy dinner of cold turkey and ham, hot funeral potatoes, Grandma Teeples' homemade meatballs, pickled mushrooms, and salads and rolls.....and lots of homemade goodies! We make a new Christmas ornament every year......yup count them up...that's over 30+ ornaments for everyone! Sometimes the ornaments are individual...sometimes by families...how does Kathy and Melissa come up with so many new ornaments each and every year?

This year our grandkids got into the art of making ornaments....they are really creative!

It is a great tradition....and I think that my mom has the most unique Christmas tree around....30 years of pictures of her family!

Eliza and Erin making the perfect ornament!

Stefanie showing off this year ornament.....the next picture is of her and Rich...this is the picture that will hang on this year's ornament!

For 30+ years we have been lighting the Birthday cake and singing Happy Birthday to Jesus!

My mom has 11 grandkids and they each light a candle!

Then it is on to presents.......

Paxton is getting the hang of it.....he just liked eating the paper!

Stefanie and Bailee Bug waiting for their turn to open a present! Kylee (Scott's daughter) is on the left and Brooke and Tyler are on the right!

Our Family Christmas Party 2009

We held our Family Christmas Party on Dec. 24th at 2:00pm........we all met on our front porch for a new family picture...and started off our party with our little Nativity! Don't the eight oldest grandkids look great.....this is my favorite picture of the day! Below is Bailee and Eliza playing Christmas tic tac toe!

The grandkids lining up for their grand entrance in the Christmas Nativity....

The cutest part is that they take their specific roles so seriously!

This was Paxton's and Cohen's first Christmas....Paxton tried opening a present with big sister Sage to help him! Cohen at 4 1/2 months really could care less!

Stefanie, Rich and our Miss K...(Kenadee)!

Little Jade is our resident princess...I gave her a dress-up set of princess clothes and she immediately stripped and put this one on.....Stefanie gave her earrings and necklaces and she added those to the outfit! Jade loves to pose for the camera!

Jake was really cute this year....really into opening presents....although I didn't catch his face, here he is opening a present with his dad, Jon and little Paxton looking on.

Curtis, who should have wished for 4 new front teeth, was pretty excited with his remote control semi and race cars!

Sage and Kenadee, both 7 yrs old, are our family entertainers...so the perfect gift for them was microphones for all those singing performances!

This is such a cute picture of our bug...Bailee! She looks so grown-up....she is our family artist, so a 201 piece art kit....is just right for her!

Hunter....Hunter...Hunter....ever time he came to my house this past fall, he would go straight to my Penny's wish book and look at the hunting play sets.....how could I get him anything other than that!

Baby Cohen and Mom and Dad (Jason and Erin) enjoying his new rattle....Cohen is such a cute little rascal! I am so glad that his test at Primary Children's Hospital went well this week, and that everything is okay!

Below is David and I's new Christmas picture.....why is it that we look so old?

Eliza and her baby brother, Cohen...enjoying the Christmas fun!

The following pictures are just random pictures of the party....Jason seemed to be enjoying something here...

We took turns opening presents....and I can't tell who everyone is watching in the picture below!

Stefanie, David and Michelle also looking on from the other side of the room!

Merry Christmas Family....I love spending time with each of you...and love you all so much!

Cookie/Gingerbread Night

We had our 100th annual Teeples Gingerbread/Cookie night on Monday night Dec. 21st! We had a great time eating pizza and breadsticks, frosting and eating lots of great sugar cookies, made by Amy and the kids, and the kids had a fun time decorating their gingerbread houses! Below are all the finished gingerbread houses and all the smiling happy children that made them!
Little Jake (2 yrs) wanted to sit on my lap....but he DID NOT want me to help him! He would push my hand away if I even tried to help him! The fun thing is he just had a tiny little cookie and he frosted that thing for at least 15 min.

I think that this might actually be Ricky's first stab at frosting a cookie! The rule is if you eat pizza, then you have to frost cookies....somehow all these years Ricky has gotten away without frosting cookies!

We didn't have as many cousins as usual...but those that were there enjoyed themselves!

Mom and I trying to see who could take the best (or is it worst) picture! We are both famous for closing our eyes!

My sister, Kathy's, kids came....she doesn't get here from Colorado until Wed. the 23rd....

The picture below is all of us eating pizza...thanks Grandma Teeples for the great food! I actually set up the kids tables in the laundry room....two reasons....if they spill on the linoleum, no problem...and when the noise level got out of control (which it always does) we could just shut the door! I did check my washer and dryer for leftover pizza tho'...Jake is famous for hiding his garbage in my washer!

It is really interesting watching the kids each year decorate their houses....when we first added Gingerbread houses to Cookie Night (which we have done forever) the grandkids would do just one side or two of the houses and call it good! Now they are being more creative, and adding people and chimneys and this year Bailee even added a clock to the front of her house, and Sage added shutters to the windows! They were all especially cute!

I made sugar cookies for David after our second date...way back in 1973 or 74...and sugar cookies have been a part of our Christmas since before we were married....I am pretty sure that I even sent some to Belgium while he was on his mission!

Below are all our grandkids...from oldest to youngest!

Bailee (9 in Feb)

Below is Sage 7-1/2

Below is Kenadee 7 yrs old

Hunter (below) will be 6 in Feb

***Curtis 5-1/2 yrs old somehow got deleted so I have added him

back at the top of this post*****

Miss Eliza Mae is 3 1/2 yrs old...and she was so precise in decorating her house

Jade will be 3 in January

Below is Jake, 2 1/2 yrs old

Paxton (below) who is almost 9 months old - even got to taste his first cookie!

And Baby Cohen 4 1/2 months old was just happy to be here!

It's What Christmas Is All About

The decorations are all up, the presents are all wrapped, the snow is finally here and I just wanted to share my favorite decoration in my house with everyone, because after all................this is what Christmas is all about!

Have I Ever....

I got this off of Stefanie's blog....and I thought I would copy it here....the object is to bold all the things you've done in your life!

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you're not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Visited a castle
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo's David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Save a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Spent New Years Eve in Trafalga Square
75. Fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guard in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been a passenger on a motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Have been published
81. Visited the Redwoods
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Kissed a stranger at midnight on New Year's Eve
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone's life
90. Testified in court
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Got a tattoo
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee