Christmas Time!

 We had a great time getting into the holiday spirit in December.  First, we threw a kick-butt Christmas party in Klive's kindergarten class!  I even made sparkly snow play dough got a bunch of tiny dress-ups so the kids could make their own dough snowmen. I'm pretty sure that makes me a good room mom!  I also took the girls to see the local production of The Nutcracker.  It was just lovely!

 

 Now, to Christmas Day!

When the big day finally came, we pouted a bit because Kolby had to work.  Then an epic snow storm hit! It was so big that church got cancelled! That's big!!! I guess not a lot of people wanted to brave a trip to the hospital in a blizzard, so Kolby got to be home for part of the day!

 Our other favorite part of Christmas was having Uncle Buck, Aunt Karen and Beka snowed in with us! I think it's becoming a tradition!!!!

 Here are a few present highlights:  June crocheted this amazing octopus hat for Kolby.  She's pretty talented!

 Tooder was much healthier than he was at Thanksgiving.  I think he really enjoyed the day!  Winnie got a nintendo DS from Tooder because she's such a good nurse!

 Winnie also got a hippo suit to make lounging more fun!  And June got a banjo!  Santa, Mom and Dad, and Nana and Papa all had to make that dream come true!  Banjos are expensive!

 Klive got a giant Jurassic World Lego set.  He was set for days!

 The snow fell and fell.  I think Uncle Buck shoveled our driveway 4 times in one day!  And the bishop even came over and blew out part of it for us! We didn't mind being snowed in at all!

 The week after Christmas is always the best!  My house is always covered in paper, cardboard, and piles of presents, but the kids are happy as pigs in slop!  Oh, and June had already learned 2 songs by day 3!

The Dogabeeties

 Poor Toods hasn't been feeling too well for the past couple of months. He also started drinking gallons of water and tinkling all over his floor.  I would mop the tinkle, but the floor was forever sticky!  We took him to the vet, but we knew what was going on.  He had a bad case of the "Dogabeeties," as Klive named it. He spent a few days getting his blood sugar regulated at the vet's office and then came home to some drastic life changes, including a new diet and insulin shots twice a day.  

Nurse Winnie has done such a good job taking care of her two boys.  She does all the feeding and makes sure Toods gets his shots exactly at 7:00 morning and night.  Seriously, she sits and watches the clock so he is right on schedule.  Toods is doing great! He's loosing weight, laying off the water and has a spring in his step again.  He's also really loving having a brother.  Toods and Poncho - BFF's!

Festive Cast

If you've got to spend the holidays in a cast, might as well make it a festive one! Such nice nurses at the orthopedic clinic make having a broken arm almost fun!

You Want a Christmas Card? Here's Your Christmas Card!!!

 Social media has made it way too easy to forgo traditional Christmas cards and just add one to your Facebook post.  I apologize to everyone who normally gets one in the mail from us, but it's been a busy year, we didn't get family pictures and this is just the best we could do.  That being said, I think the group shot with the dogs is my new favorite picture of all of my kids - furry ones included.  Just look at Tooder's precious face! He was totally loving being squeezed like a sausage into that holiday dog sweater!

 The kids all wore their new Elf tees!

 Merry Christmas!

 We just like smiling! Smiling's our favorite!

Gingerbread Houses in Genola/The Dirty Trick!

 "Come down to Genola," they said.  "We'll make gingerbread houses," they said. "It will be fun," they said . . .

 So we came . . .

 We constructed . . .

 We sugar-overloaded . . .

 We played with our cousins . . .

 And then it happened. . . 

 After the last suitcase was loaded into the van, after we had hugged our goodbyes, this girl developed a major case of bleeding heart.  You see, about a month earlier, this poor, defenseless little pup began squatting in a bag of DI clothes in Yaya and the Babe's garage. We bought him proper bed, but Winnie was convinced he was going to freeze to death if we left him behind.  SOOOOO, her sap parents turned a blind eye to this little stowaway in our van and brought him home.

 Meet Poncho Choncho Sonakabitchee.  The good news is that Tooder and Poncho have been instant best friends.  Just a couple of old guys who enjoy naps, snacks and walking the fence perimeter in search of stray cats.

Somebody got an early Christmas present . . .

No one works harder than this guy right here! And no one deserved a brand new fancy ride more than he did! Also, no one fought the urge to buy a new truck more than he did! One morning I sneakily talked him into going to the Chevy dealership to just "look" at what they had to offer. What a sucker, he believed me! I knew we were going home with one if I had to sell a kidney and sign the dotted line myself! Now, someone's got a little buddy attached to his hip even more than before the truck came home with us. I think he's hoping to inherit this sweet ride when he gets his license.  His first order of business was to explain to his dad why we now needed a new trailer to haul the new ATV he's had his eye on. What a boy!

Thanksgiving at Nana and Papa's

Nana and Papa opened their home to the whole Tozier crew for Thanksgiving.  I need to make a cardboard cutout of Kolby to bring to all the family gatherings he misses due to work.  We missed him!

 Turkey time!

 It was a beautiful, delicious holiday meal with great company!

Gramp wins the award for best smile ;)

 Nana and all her best buddies!

 These cousins never get tired of their time together!

 I was in charge of kid games in the basement but what started as a balloon turkey shoot turned into an epic nerf battle, thanks to Funcle Drew!

 That looks like a kill shot!

 We gave the year's most popular game a try - Watch Ya Mouth!  It must have been invented by a dentist or orthodontist sucking laughing gas! Happy Turkey Day!