Christmas Day!

"You gotta get up, you gotta get up, you gotta get up, its Christmas morning!"

WOW!

Santa came!

Mom gave us this Byer's Choice Caroler santa this year. Isn't he so cute? Mom and Gigi have quite the colection of Carolers.

WAKE UP LIAM!

"Dad! that flash is bright!"

"Oh, its Christmas morning! Happy Birthday Jesus!"

Look!

St. Nick gave Liam blocks, a guitar and a fish!

Jammin' with dad

Chirstmas morning is great. Liam is playing with his new toy airplane, his fish and eating chocolate all before breakfast.

See mom, its chocolate!

One of Gigi's friends made this stocking for Liam she is like 96, she gave it to us before we decide to call William Jr, Liam so his stocking says Will. It is super cute it actually matches mine that she made when I was born too.

Will opened Liam's stocking with him and read the letter Santa left for Liam.

Playing with the nativity Oma and Pops gave him.

Happy Birthday baby Jeusus!

Pops, Oma and Gigi came over in their Jammies to have Kringle.

We have had Kringle on Christmas morning for years. Another one of Gigi's friends gives it to her. For those of you who don't know Kringle is a danish pastry. Gigi brings it from Wisconsin. Yum!

Gigi and I in our Jingle Jammies

Pops and Liam couldn't resist the first White Christmas in 80 years. Pops took Liam out to explore the snow.

OOO, cold!

Eating the snow

Sharing with mommy

Round 2

This time with a coat for Liam.

Making a snowball

Pops is eating the snow ball. Look at Liam's face, "Pops what are you doing?"

You're so funny Pops!

Little Li-Man Sno-Man

Snow man in the forest

After Liam's very short morning nap we headed over to Yiayia and Kiwi's

More fun to be had by all...

Aunt Cheech (Cece) and Aunt Cookies (Brooke) with Moosh (Baby Max)

Beautiful Christmas tree!

A stocking for everyone, Yiayia made those are they pretty?

Liam's big gift was a red wagon. What little boy doesn't want a big red wagon? Thanks Yiayia and Kiwi!!!!

I think I will give the dog a ride first.

Sorry about the video I forgot I couldn't turn video

Liam helping daddy

Cousin Max was given a "Clip clop" like Liam got last year. Liam was giving Clip clop a ride in his new wagon

then he added his new teddy from Aunt Cookies and Uncle Spicy (Brooke and Sivey)

Opening his stocking

Playing his new recorder

Yiayia and Brooke took the boys on a brisk Christmas day walk

Matt and Andrea with the newest Crum baby Drew. Merry Christmas baby Drew.

Christmas Eve

Merry Christmas!

All dressed up in our Christmas best

Oma makes "Snowballs" for the kids to unravel. It was Liam's first time to get to do one.

Gigi and Liam played with the toys afterward

The cousins (We miss you Bevers)

Gumbo...MMM!!

Pops read the Christmas Story to the kids

Liam's Christmas dinner

Snow outside!

Liam Playing the Piano

The Giese kids prepared a show. They even printed off play bills. So impressive. It brought back memories, I can't tell you how many shows we have done on the "Stage"

Will played with Liam while the other kids did the show.

For the second act Will turned off the lights, after that Nicole told him that the cameras wouldn't pick it up with out the lights:

Will and Ella Played the songs from their piano recital for gigi.

At the end the kids were sweet enough to let Liam play too. They are such great cousins!

good times

It is present time!

The Snadman brought PJs for the kids. Liam wasn't so sure about the footed legs but he got used to them.

They were so cute. Thanks sandman!

Awww!

Thanks Bevers for the Leap Frog barn. Liam loves it!

The Gieses gave Liam a xylaphone. He plays it all the time. He loves music.

Will is reading Liam one of his new books from Gigi. It is a flap book he loves to open and shut the flaps.

Opening a present from Pops and Oma. It was a nativity set Liam could play with.

He is giving baby Jesus a kiss.

Back at home will and I get ready for St. Nick's visit

The sandman visited us too

Will's new "Jingle Jammies" tecnically I didn't buy them from

 Old navy but I like the name so that is what they are.

Will found these Jingle Jammies for me but they were the wrong size. Check out these super soft yellow socks. Cozy!

I'll let you know what I exchange them for. Hopefully they have the same ones there.

Night night!

Twas the night before Christmas and All through the house not a creature was sturing not even a mouse.

White Christmas

The first White Christmas in Dallas in 80 years! That is right 80! That means Will and I have never seen a white Christmas. Needless to say we were really excited.

Watching the snow, ready with his coat to brave the snow storm

Smelling the Christmas tree

Sing with me...

Girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes

Snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes
Silver white winters that melt into Springs

These are a few of my favorite things

Snowflakes that stay on Liam's eyeLashes... these are a few of my favorite things!

Will and I took some video, it was bitterly cold and the snow was blowing sideways, so they are a bit blurry and bumpy but fun to watch. It hadn't started to stick to the ground yet.

Later Christmas eve we came home to a nice frosted apartment

My car was on the end of a line of cars. You can tell the snow was blowing sideways onto the side of my car. It looks like powdered sugar...mmmmmm!

Sing with me...

Snow, it won't be long before we'll all be there with snow

Snow, I want to wash my hands, my face and hair with snow

Snow, I long to clear a path and lift a spade of snow

Snow, oh, to see a great big man entirely made of snow

Where it's snowing

All winter through

That's where I want to be

Snowball throwing

That's what I'll do

How I'm longing to ski

Through the

Snow, those glist'ning houses that seem to be built of snow

Snow, oh, to see a mountain covered with a quilt of snow

What is Christmas with no snow

No white Christmas with no snow

Snow

I'll soon be there with snow

I'll wash my hair with snow

And with a spade of snow

I'll build a man that's made of snow

I'd love to stay up with you but I recommend a little shuteye

Go to sleep

And dream

Of snow, snow, snow, snow, snow

Irving Berlin's White Christmas

I love that movie! A real white Christmas... here... what are the chances?

Christmas Cookies

So much has happend over the Christmas holiday that I will try to fill you in on all that we have been doing.

When Gigi arrived in town we went over to Nicole and Scott's house to decorate Christmas cookies. He had a great time. It was Liam's first time. Will was working so I tried to take lots of pictures. We used to decorate every year with Grandma and Grandpa. It was fun to do it over again.

Pops and Liam by the fireplace

gettin' started

Liam's first cookie

Spread it on

scoop it up

Ella and Oma

Nicole and Wes

having fun

Nice work Will

Gigi and me

Nicole and Gigi

Will concentrating

Beautiful cookies, Ella

Liam stopped to take a snack break

Wes decorating, check out the tounge

candy cane and stocking

decorating a tree

Ella and Will

Wes' new smile, we kept telling him to open his eyes, he is so cute!

Will decorated cookies to look like the Bevers boys

James, Gary and baby Kyle

Oma and Liam discovered the sprinkles

Shake, Shake,Shake!!!

Liam is about to decorate Ella

Icing face

Tada! All of Liam's cookies

Gigi and Oma are showing Wes gigi's way to decorate. You sprinkle the sprinkles on the pan and then dip it in the mixed up sprinkles... fun!

We ate OUTSIDE! It was so nice out, can you believe in just a few days it would be snowing.

At home later that night I needed a shirt for Liam, I looked in his closet and realized that the shirt that Liz had given us at the Snip and snails shower fits him now. She said she got the size of the kids in our classroom. Wow he has grown in such a hurry! It says Sombody in Kentucky Loves me! It is my favorite tshirt of his. thanks liz!

Liam and the blowdryer

This morning Liam wanted to play with my blowdryer. He figured out how to turn it on. Will took some priceless pictures.

Love the hair!

We took some videos too, he was shaking his head in the wind, but when we go out the camera he stopped.

He is so fun!

Decorating contest

Our Apartment complex has a decorating contest every year. Last year Liam was new to the Crum family and I was having a hard time getting everything done. But this year, thanks to my parents for letting us borrow a bunch of stuff, I decided to continue my dad and my tradition of the out door christmas lights. I found some super inexpensive stuff at target at the $1 spot and used some old stuff too. The prize was some money off of rent and since things are a bit tight I decided to try my best with what we had. We could really use the extra discount right now.

I found this tinsel wreath for 2.50 and a pack of 24 bright snow flakes and hung it on the back side of our fireplace.

I made a "Texas" snowman out of an old pillow that was ripped and put a small tree on the front of Liam's car. Snowmen need christmas trees too.

I hung the rest of the brightly colored snowflakes from the roof of our porch.

I went around the doors and windows with the bright lights and lined the front with lit garland

Our candle lantern even had garland. The apartment manager, Alice, had given Liam a little battery operated candle that changed colors, the other day at the Christmas party. I put some "snow" in the lantern with the candle.

The lights are a bit Grizwald family Christmas but I thought it was fun. I had never lined the windows before.

I had an extra wreath in the closet so I made a bright snowflake wreath to match the porch

The front needed something too.

Our competition! The tree plays music and flashes

Liam by the tree, wow how he has grown.

TADA!!!!! Will found this on our door this afternoon...

We WON third place! Not too shabby! What a blessing, we really can use every little bit.

Will's hair cut

Will and I decided that it would be cheaper if I would learn how to cut his hair. So the other day I attempted to do so! It was a bad time to have a mis-communication. I was going to trim it and try to style it. He told me to use the shears. Having only used them once in my life (Barrett's High and Tight army do) I trusted will that the guard I was using would be long. Uh not so much!

I had to take a picture in the middle cus it looked like the 80-90s do where the top was super long and the sides were short. The reverse mullett. Hehe

Look at all the hair. I was a bit shocked at the first swipe when all that hair fell.

Looks good! I'll learn how to style it next time

Shooooorrrrtttt!

Liam's 1st Gingerbread House

Last Sunday was a busy day! Nicole had run a marithon, Mom and Aunt Nita had walked the Half, The Heights had its big "Three Trees" event and we decided to squeeze in some gingerbread house decorating while we celebrated Stephen's birthday. Whew!

Like the absent minded mom I am I forgot our camera so Pops took some pictures for us.

He had so many more but I didn't have a lot of time to e-mail them to myself. I'll hit the highlights.

Will and I were at Three Trees during the first part of the night. Sweet Yiayia babysat while Will and I were at church. Thanks Yiayia! Three Trees is our Church's event to help less privelidged families have Christmas. The kiddos go play in our preschool, childrens, and youth areas while a host from our church takes the parents to pick out presents for each kid. They are given Payless gift cards to buy shoes and wal-mart or target card for nessesities. Will and I had a sweet family with a 5 year old boy and a 7 year old girl. The parents only spoke spanish. I was ashamed of my lack of spanish knowledge considering how much spanish I took. We took them to meet Pastor Miguel of the Lighthouse Church and it turned out that they knew him from an apartment ministry the Lighthouse does. I asked the dad if they thought that they might come next Sunday and he said they would. It was great! The second we walked into the Chapel, where the Lighthouse meets, all sorts of people came to say hello, or Hola, and made them feel so welcomed. Will and I were so thankful that the members of the Lighthouse were saying the things we couldn't remember how to say. Praise the Lord, God did some great work at Three trees.

Meanwhile... back at the Hammond casa:

Will and Ella started the decorating.

Laura and the girls were in town to see Mamma Mia finish the race. How fun to continue our tradition with them. It brings back good memories.

Mamma Mia and Emma

Happy Birthday Stephen!

Liam concentrating

Ella is such a sweet cousin, she was showing him how to do it.

The top... yummy!

Flyin' solo! way to go Liam. Looks good!

Proud mommy and daddy. Notice Liam's icing goat-tee, toword the end he was tasting more than decorating. That's okay, that is part of the fun!

Liam's Lip Twiddle

Will and I always love when Liam learns a new trick. Lately Liam has been twiddling his lip. We will be driving some where and hear him in the back seat, or we will be rocking him in the dark and he will start to lip twiddle. We laaugh everytime he does it.  Now he will do it any time you wipe his face too.

Liam was done with his snack and Will was cleaning him up. He wanted out of the highchair but I managed to catch it on camera. Watch it and see if you don't laugh too.

"Okay, I performed my trick now let me out of this chair." He signed all done so we stopped to let him down. Funny though!

The Crum Christmas Tree 2009

Liam picked out the perfect tree here is what we did last night:

It was raining and cold but we ventured out to Lowe's to see what kind of trees they had

We picked this one. They really did have low prices.

Isn't it beautiful?

I det Liam down so he could smell the tree and look around.

Oops! Liam still isn't the most stable of boys. I guess that is why they call them toddlers.

Smelling the trees

Before Liam went to bed we showed him the tree set up in the den. He was so excited!

I couldn't see this but Will said Liam kept making the tree "Tickle" him he was holding his hands up like "I'm not touching it daddy" but he would bump his tummy on a branch and then laugh...

This is what I caught:

Up go the lights

I put up the Angel

I handed Will the camera and told him to be artsy He took this awesome picture! I Love the colors!

All done! YEA!

This morning when Liam came in the room he pointed to the tree and the Lights. After saying don't touch a zillion times he found our tub of popcorn and accidentally spilled it...

And I thought the tree would be a problem.

Oops! I think I'll have popcorn for breakfast!