The Hamby House: January 2009

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Slumber Party

We've had a little guest around the Hamby House! While my friend Jodi has been in the hospital delivering her and Nate's third adorable baby girl, we've had the honor of hosting their oldest daughter Naomi. My girls have known I was the "on-call" person for Jodi when she went into labor, so every time the phone has rang for the last 3 weeks, the girls immediately wanted to know, "Is it Miss Jodi? Is she gonna have the baby? IS NAOMI COMING OVER?!" Well, the day finally arrived (or the middle of the night, as it were!) and Naomi came to stay with us. These three girls have had a blast playing with each other! Our only real squabble came last night when the 3 of them couldn't all squeeze into 1 twin bed and someone didn't get to sleep with Naomi! Here they are playing Pirate Ship Tea Party (don't ask!) on the top bunk:

Saturday, January 17, 2009

from Preston's school journal

(Paul is actually 34, but it's still cute!)

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Shadows

The Day After Christmas

On the 26th, we traveled to Attica to spend Christmas with my Dad's side of the family. Nearly everyone was there, with the exception of my parents, Holly and her family, and Shelly as they are all, of course, in Alaska (Shelly had flown back for her holiday break from KU). My cousin Robyn and her family couldn't make it from Kentucky either (miss you Rob!). We still had a big crowd of more than 30, and had a great time eating, opening gifts, eating, playing outside (it was a pretty nice day, just a little windy), eating, playing cards, and eating. Did I mention eating? The peanut clusters, peanut brittle, peanut butter balls, cherry mash, cheeseball, and chex mix get me every time! Also during the afternoon, Paul took Preston out with his gun to the silhouette range across the creek from my grandparents' house to shoot a little. The kids were pretty worn out when we left that evening. Come to think of it, we all were! We had done a lot of "Christmas-ing" in a short amount of time! Whew!!

Christmas Day

Christmas Day turned out to be much more relaxed than previous years. Since we had gotten a headstart on the meal, the cooking part of the day was pretty easy. The big crowd of family that we were expecting quickly dwindled when several family members got the stomach bug that was going around. It ended up just being us, Gram and Grandad, Aunt Jan, and Great Grandma. Paul was happy that he didn't have to drag out more table and chairs, and that we had so many leftovers! :) After dinner, Paul and the kids played with their new toys and Preston had a little BB gun target practice. I spent most of my post-dinner time laying on the couch waiting for the excessive amounts of food to digest!

Gram and I in our festive aprons!

just cookin'

the little kids' table

the big kids' table! ;)

Aunt Jan and Gram

Daddy and the kids play with Breckyn's new playdough

that OJ carton didn't stand a chance!

we love Gram!

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Christmas Morning

The kids were up by 6am or so on Christmas morning, but we were amazingly able to hold them off until 7:45! They were pretty happy with their gifts, which included a BB gun for Pres and the makings of a Hannah Montana band for the girls! Plenty of toys, games, crafts, and dvds rounded out the haul.

WOW!!! Santa was here!!!

a new BB gun!!

waiting patiently for Mom to snap the picture

tearing into the gifts!

Kellyn has some of the best expressions! Here is one of the many I captured that day.

Aunt Jan helps Breckyn open her new tea set from Aunt Holly and family

digging into the almost-forgotten stockings!

Hannah and her Sister (uh, also named Hannah)

Santa ate his cookies!

the Hannahs practice for their new band

Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve, we got dressed up and attended our church's beautiful service at 5:30, where we were reminded of the real reason we celebrate this wonderful season! When we got home, we had a quick dinner and changed into our Christmas jammies before heading out to see the lights. When we got home, the kids got ready for bed and set out Santa's cookies. We were so happy that Gram and Aunt Jan could enjoy all the fun with us! After the kids were in bed, we ladies got to work in the kitchen to get a headstart on the next day's big meal.

lookin' sharp!

the backseat drivers!

our tour guide and me

Paul and Mitzi check out the lights

Christmas in Hutchinson

The weekend before Christmas, we traveled to Hutchinson to have our Christmas celebration with Paul's family. Friday evening, we had a yummy pizza dinner, then the kids opened their gifts. After we had them settled in bed, it was our turn to see what we got! After the wrapping paper was cleaned up, half of us vegged in front of the TV while the other half played a board game before bed. The next morning, the kids were all up early to check their stockings and munch on donuts. Christmas dinner was fettucine alfredo and lasagna - a nice change from all the turkey we eat during the course of the holiday season! After lunch, it was more vegging for the adults while the kids played with their new toys and Aunt Stephanie helped them make personalized snowman magnets. We were even able to sneak out for a little shopping! We all had a great time!

the tree and stockings